Labor Studies Syllabus
A comprehensive, free curriculum on workers' rights, labor history, and the future of work. Twelve courses covering the American labor movement from Haymarket to Amazon, workplace law, public sector unions, women's labor, global supply chains, wage theft, the gig economy, and the economic forces shaping working lives across race, gender, and identity.
12Courses
144Chapters
864Topics
I. Labor History & Foundations
The long arc of American labor — from colonial artisans through the Gilded Age battles to the New Deal and the present-day organizing wave.
1 The American Labor Movement: From Haymarket to Amazon 13 ch.
- Before the Movement: Labor in Early America
- The Industrial Revolution and the Birth of the Working Class
- Haymarket, Homestead, and Pullman: The Violent Birth of Labor Rights
- The Rise of the AFL and Craft Unionism
- The IWW and Radical Alternatives
- The New Deal and Labor's Golden Age
- The Post-War Compact: Labor, Capital, and the Cold War
- Civil Rights and Labor: An Uneasy Alliance
- The Reagan Revolution and the Breaking of PATCO
- The Decline: 1980-2010
- Right-to-Work and the War on Unions
- The New Labor Movement: Starbucks, Amazon, and Beyond
- What Unions Do: The Evidence
2 Labor Law and Workers' Rights 12 ch.
- The Constitutional Foundations of Labor Law
- The National Labor Relations Act: Labor's Magna Carta
- The National Labor Relations Board
- Taft-Hartley and the Rollback
- Collective Bargaining: How It Works
- Strikes, Lockouts, and Economic Weapons
- At-Will Employment: The American Exception
- Employment Discrimination Law
- Wage and Hour Law: The FLSA
- Workplace Safety: OSHA and Its Limits
- International Comparison: Why Is US Labor Law So Weak?
- Labor Law Reform: The PRO Act and Beyond
3 Economic Coercion in the United States 12 ch.
- What Does Economic Freedom Actually Mean?
- Economic Coercion Without Chains
- The Minimum Wage and Labor Discipline
- Healthcare as an Employment Leash
- Housing, Debt, and the Cost of Saying No
- Billionaire Influence and Policy Design
- Why These Outcomes Are Not Accidental
- Cultural Conflict as Economic Distraction
- Why Opposition Often Fails
- How Other Democracies Limit Economic Coercion
- Ethical Limits of Market Power
- Paths Toward Genuine Economic Freedom
II. Sectors & Systems
Labor in specific contexts — public sector workers and their unique politics, women's paid and unpaid work, and the global supply chains that connect workers across borders.
4 Public Sector Unions: Teachers, Police, and the State 12 ch.
- The Rise of Public Sector Unionism
- Are Public Sector Unions Different?
- Teachers Unions: Education's Most Powerful Players
- The Red State Revolt: Teachers Strike Back
- Police Unions and Accountability
- Police Unions and Politics
- Firefighters, Paramedics, and First Responders
- The Postal Service and Its Workers
- State and Local Workers: The Battleground
- Scott Walker's Wisconsin and the Anti-Union Offensive
- Janus v. AFSCME: The Supreme Court Strikes
- The Future of Public Sector Labor
5 Women's Labor: Paid, Unpaid, and Undervalued 12 ch.
- The History of Women's Work
- The Cult of Domesticity and the 'Working Woman'
- Women and the Labor Movement
- The Gender Pay Gap: Causes and Controversies
- Occupational Segregation: Pink Collar and Blue Collar
- The Maternal Penalty
- Unpaid Domestic Labor
- Care Work: The Crisis Economy
- Domestic Workers: Nannies, Housekeepers, and Exclusion
- Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
- Family Leave and Work-Life Policy
- The Pandemic and Women's Work
6 Global Labor: Supply Chains, Sweatshops, and Solidarity 12 ch.
- The Globalization of Production
- The Race to the Bottom?
- Sweatshops: Definition, Reality, and Debate
- The Rana Plaza Collapse and Its Aftermath
- Made in China: Labor in the World's Factory
- The Maquiladoras: NAFTA and Mexican Labor
- Agricultural Labor Across Borders
- International Labor Standards: The ILO Framework
- Corporate Codes of Conduct: Voluntary or Toothless?
- Consumer Campaigns and Worker Power
- Cross-Border Organizing: International Labor Solidarity
- Climate, Trade, and the Just Transition
III. Exploitation & Enforcement
The unsexy realities of workplace violations — stolen wages, dangerous conditions, misclassified workers, and the systemic failures that let it continue.
7 Wage Theft, Exploitation, and Worker Safety 12 ch.
- What Is Wage Theft?
- The Scale of the Problem
- Who Gets Robbed? Demographics of Wage Theft
- The Industries: Restaurants, Retail, Construction
- Misclassification: Employee or Contractor?
- The Enforcement Gap
- Workplace Safety: The Right Not to Die at Work
- OSHA: The Underfunded Watchdog
- High-Hazard Industries: Meatpacking, Construction, Agriculture
- Heat, Smoke, and Climate: Emerging Workplace Dangers
- Retaliation: The Silencing of Worker Complaints
- What Would Real Enforcement Look Like?
IV. The Future of Work
The transformation of employment in the 21st century — platform capitalism, automation, the hollowing out of the middle class, and what comes next.
8 The Gig Economy and the Future of Work 12 ch.
- What Is the Gig Economy?
- The Platform Business Model
- Employee vs. Contractor: The Classification Battle
- California's Prop 22 and the Corporate Playbook
- Algorithmic Management: Your Boss Is an App
- Warehouse Work: Amazon and the New Factory
- Remote Work: Liberation or Exploitation?
- AI and Automation: The Jobs Question
- The Hollowing Out of the Middle
- Portable Benefits and the New Social Contract
- Organizing the Unorganizable
- What Do Workers Want?
9 The Ungovernable Economy 16 ch.
- The New Gilded Age
- Who Owns the AI Infrastructure
- AI-Driven Market Dynamics
- Pathways to Crisis: Coordination vs Emergence
- Historical Precedents
- Infrastructure Chokepoints
- Regulatory Failure
- From Trigger to Cascade
- Winners and Losers
- The Benign Scenario
- Early Warning Signs
- Policy Responses
- National Defense Strategies
- The Normie's Survival Guide
- Connection to Dollar Dominance
- After the Singularity
V. Labor and Identity
How race, ethnicity, and sexuality intersect with work — the economic experiences of Black, Hispanic, and LGBTQ+ workers in America.
10 LGBTQ+ Economics: Work, Wages, and Wealth 10 ch.
- Workplace Discrimination: History and Law
- Bostock and the Future of Workplace Rights
- The LGBTQ+ Wage Gap
- The Closet at Work: Coming Out and Staying In
- Transgender Employment: Unique Challenges
- LGBTQ+ Entrepreneurship
- Rainbow Capitalism: Pride as a Market
- LGBTQ+ Poverty and Economic Insecurity
- LGBTQ+ Financial Planning and Wealth Building
- The Economics of Coming Out of the Closet
11 Black Economic Life: Labor, Business, and Wealth 9 ch.
- Slavery as an Economic System
- Sharecropping, Debt Peonage, and Economic Subjugation After Slavery
- Black Labor and the American Worker
- Black Entrepreneurship and Business Districts
- Housing Discrimination and the Racial Wealth Gap
- The Black Middle Class: Growth, Fragility, and Paradox
- Black Poverty, Mass Incarceration, and Economic Exclusion
- Reparations and Economic Justice
- Contemporary Black Economics: Tech, Media, and New Wealth
12 Hispanic Workers in America 12 ch.
- The Hispanic Workforce Today
- Industries Where Hispanics Work
- Essential Workers
- Farm Workers
- Day Laborers and Informal Work
- Wages and the Pay Gap
- Workplace Safety and Exploitation
- Unions and Labor Organizing
- The Professional Class
- Government and Military Employment
- Economic Contributions
- The Future of Hispanic Work