Research Analysis

Week 1: What is Capitalism?
reading: Smith, “Wealth of Nations,” 3-10 (BH) Marx, “Communist Manifesto,” 11-24 (BH) Mann, “1491
Week 2: The Paradox of American Development/Deep history of the modern economy
Clark, “A Farewell to Alms,” 25-31 (BH) W August 31: Plantation Revolutions Virginia Charter, Mayflower Compact, and John Locke, 33-50 (BH) Virginia Slavery Laws, 52-55 (BH) Morgan, Slavery and Freedom, Book 1 Additional Discussion Section reading: Morgan, Slavery and Freedom, Book 2 3
Week 3: The mercantile world and the industrious revolution
Benjamin Franklin, “Autobiography,” 66-75 (BH) Additional Discussion Section reading: Morgan, Slavery and Freedom, Book 3
Week 4: The Revolution
Morgan, Slavery and Freedom, Book 4 Federalist Papers, 77-92 (BH) W Sept 14: The Capitalist Constitution, 93-99 (BH) Hamilton, “Reports,” 100-136 (BH)
Week 5: Ghost Acres and Whipping Machines
Paulding, “Letters From the South,” 139-144 (BH) Ball, “Slavery in the United States,” 161-170 (BH) Baptist, “Toxic Debt” 204-214 (BH) Nolte, “Vincent Nolte Describes the Cotton Market,” 145-150 (BH) W Sept. 21: Making the American Economy, 1815-1839 Clay, “The American System,” 152-160 (BH) Jackson, “Veto of the Second Bank,” 194-203 (BH) Additional Discussion Section reading: “Lynn Shoemakers’ Strike,” 189-192 (BH) Wilentz, “New York City and the Rise of the American…” 182-188 (BH) “The Murder of Helen Jewett,” 216-220 (BH)
Week 6: Nature’s Metropolis
Cronon, “Chicago and the Great West,” 238-245 (BH) Lincoln, “Address Before Wisconsin State Agricultural Society,” 233-237 (BH) W Sept. 28: The Civil War Ransom, the Economics of the Civil War,” Additional Discussion Section reading: Pomeranz, “The Great Divergence,” 171-180 (BH)
Week 7: Railroads and the emergence of American corporate capitalism
White, “The Transcontinentals,” 255-263 (BH) E. A. Wrigley, “Opening Pandora’s Box: A New Look…” (BBoard) W Oct. 5:
Week 8: Labor and Capital in the Gilded Age
Beckert, “The Monied Metropolis,” 246-252 (BH) Carnegie, “Gospel of Wealth,” 282-287 (BH) Addams, ‘Twenty Years at Hull House,” 288-294 (BH) Additional Discussion Section reading: DuBois, “Souls of Black Folk,” 296-303 (BH) “Jim Crow Laws,” 304-311 (BH) People’s Party Platform, Omaha, 1892, 269-276 (BH) William Forbath, “Government by Injunction”(course site)
Week 9: Big Factories, Big Immigration, and Big Discontent
Flynn, “The Rebel Girl,” 331-334 (BH) Riis, “How the Other Half Lives,” 265-267 (BH) “Preamble to IWW Constitution,” 319-330 (BH) Grandin, Fordlandia, 1-122 W Oct. 19: Mass Consumer Society and its Contents Levinson, ‘The Great A &P,” 348-353 (BH) Grandin, Fordlandia, 123-238 Additional Discussion Section reading: Taylor, “Principles of Scientific Management,” 336-343 (BH) Ford ‘Labor and Capital are False Terms,” 344-347 (BH) Debs, “Socialist Party and the Working Class,” 312-318 (BH) Grandin, Fordlandia, 238-372
Week 10: Great Depression
Roosevelt, “Second Fireside Chat,” 355-359 (BH) Cowie, “Prologue” and “Introduction” to The Great Exception, (course site) W Oct. 26: New Deal and World War II Kraus, “The Flint Strike,” 361-365 (BH) Roosevelt, ‘Emergency Measures, 1941,” 367-372 (BH) “Order to Desegregate Wartime Production,” 373-375 (BH), Kruse, One Nation Under God,(Parts I and II)
Week 11: Postwar: The Era of American Dominance
SHORT PAPER DUE
Marshall, “The Marshall Plan,” 378-382 (BH) Rostow, “Stages of Economic Growth,” 383-388 (BH) Whyte, “Budgetism: Opiate of the Middle Class,” 390-393 Nov. 2: The World Comes Back Hyman, “Rethinking the Postwar Corporation,” 384-401 (BH) Kruse, One Nation Under God, (Part III and Epilogue) Additional Discussion Section reading: Coates, “The Case For Reparations,” Atlantic June 2014 (course site)
Week 12: Neoliberalism Slouches Forth
Chang, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, Nov. 9: The Late, Great American Working Class Braverman, “Labor and Monopoly Capital,” 415-420 (BH), IBM Annual Report, 1967, 403-407 (course site)
Week 13: The Culture of Postmodern Capitalism
Huey, “Where Managers Will Go,” 422-426 (BH) Nov. 16: Commodity Chain Capitalism Chang, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, 1-214 Additional Discussion Section reading: Chang, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, 215-356
Week 14: Too Big to Fail
Davis, “Not Just a Mortgage Crisis,” 427-433 (BH) Chang, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, 357-468
Week 15: The Return of Austerity
Linda Tirado “This is Why Poor People’s Bad Decisions…” (Course site) Walter Johnson, “Ferguson’s Fortune 500 Company,” (course site),Thomas Piketty, selection on college admissions and funding, 484-487 and endnotes, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, (course site)