Labor Studies
The Liberal Studies Program of the College of Arts & Sciences offers a Concentration in Labor Studies as an option within the program. As an academic discipline, Labor Studies has its roots in both the social sciences and in the workers' education movement of the early twentieth century. Labor Studies as a discipline acknowledges insights into the labor field which have emerged from decades of university-union cooperation in labor affairs apart from the traditional framework of industrial relations. According to this concept, Labor Studies is the academic examination of issues which confront people in the pursuit of their need for rewarding employment. The focus of inquiry is on workers as individuals, as members and/or leaders in their unions or associations, and as citizens of their communities.
People in pursuit of rewarding jobs and careers have employed and continue to develop a variety of individual and concerted strategies to cope with the dynamics of change in society including the development of unions and other workers' associations. Because these unions and associations also conduct autonomous economic, social, and political programs which transcend their labor relations nexus with management, Labor Studies reaches beyond industrial relations and addresses an additional set of questions and concerns.
Thus Labor Studies takes as its focus the individual worker, the unions and associations that workers develop, and the internal and external relations of those unions and associations of other societal institutions in the United States and around the world. The scope of Labor Studies is dictated by the needs and interests of workers and employees, including their individual, group and organizational problems at the workplace; their relationships with their employers; and their interactions with the larger community, economy, and polity.
In addition, two related certificates in the labor studies field are offered: the Labor Studies Certificate and the Labor Studies and Labor Relations Professional Certificate.
For more information about the Concentration in Labor Studies and the Certificate Programs, please click here.OR look at the FIU catalog course descriptions here
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