Fall 2015 - LBST 308 D100
The Labour Process: Work and Technological Change (3)
Class Number: 4146
Delivery Method: In Person
Overview
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Course Times + Location:
Sep 8 – Dec 7, 2015: Wed, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
Burnaby
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Instructor:
Matthew Greaves
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Prerequisites:
Strongly recommended: LBST 101 and/or 301.
Description
CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:
Technological change and globalization are constantly transforming the nature of work. These transformations are examined in the historical development of work, with specific emphasis on the chaining nature of the labour process in the present era.
COURSE DETAILS:
Common-sense descriptions assume that technology and labour process are neutral and progressive: technological advance is said to benefit the larger part of humanity in the long term. While in many ways an attractive conviction, this understanding belies the complexities and politics of technology and technical systems within capitalist production.
This course seeks to demystify this narrative and identify the salient elements of society that influence technological change and labour process by centering the perspective of labour and class. We begin by looking at and defining capitalism, the global economic system in which technology and labour process are inextricably situated. After exploring some of the tendencies that differentiate capitalism from previous and alternative modes of production, students will examine technological ‘improvement’ in nineteenth and twentieth century manufacturing. The political and economic implications of new manufacturing technologies and Taylorism, or scientific management, will be explored, as will examples of early manufacturing and labour’s resistance to technological change. The course will conclude with students inquiring into changes in labour and technology associated with digital capitalism.
Throughout the course, technology and labour process will be read against changes to capitalism in the Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-first Centuries. From emerging industrial capitalism to Fordism, both in its pre and post-war forms, to post-Fordism and changes associated with the rise of digital labour, The Labour Process: Work and Technological Change will treat technology and labour as sites of social struggle, made up of conflicting class interests.
COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:
Students enrolled in the course are expected to analyze labour process as an outcome of history and class struggle.
Grading
- Participation: 20%
- In-class presentation(s): 20%
- Mid-term exam: 20%
- Final Essay 40%
NOTES:
Students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss the required readings for that week and complete their assignments on time.
Students who do not hand in assignments on time will receive a late penalty for every day the assignment is late, to a maximum of seven days. Assignments more than one week late will not be accepted and will therefore receive no grade, unless the student has made arrangements with the instructor beforehand, or an emergency occurs. Assignments are not accepted by fax or email, except under extraordinary circumstances. Please keep an electronic back-up of all your completed assignments.
REQUIREMENTS:
All students are expected to read SFU’s policies concerning academic honesty and student conduct (S 10.01 - S10.04). The policies can be read at this website: www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student.html.
Materials
REQUIRED READING:
Weekly readings will be provided to students though Canvas.
Registrar Notes:
SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://students.sfu.ca/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.
Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS