Labor Studies

Labor Studies | Courses | Faculty

203 Gordon Hall

Contact: Beth Berry, Assistant to the Director
Office: 203 Gordon Hall
Phone: (413) 545-4875
Email: bberry@lrrc.umass.edu

Director: Professor Tom Juravich. Associate Professors Luce, Weinbaum.

The Labor Relations and Research Center (LRRC) offers a multidisciplinary program that explores the study of work and labor, immigration, globalization, gender, and economic and social trends. These courses provide both the intellectual framework and important skills for working in social justice organizations. The program offers several undergraduate courses that complement studies in the social sciences and humanities. LRRC faculty sponsor students in the Bachelor’s Degree in Individual Concentration and the University Without Walls programs and also admit advanced undergraduates to graduate-level courses.

The Field

Labor Studies is an exciting field at the intersection of several disciplines. Using rigorous methods from disciplines such as political science, sociology, economics, and history, it analyzes issues surrounding work and explores their ramifications. Students are trained to understand and address the most important problems facing working people in the United States and in the world.

Contemporary society is confronted with a wide range of issues relating to work and labor. The rise of globalization, sweatshop labor in the United States and abroad, movements for pay equity and gender equality in the workplace, challenges of integrating work and family life, attacks on labor unions, and exploitation of immigrant labor are a few examples of challenges facing workers and their organizations, and topics explored in Labor Studies. The study of the economic, social, and political context that has shaped labor and the workplace, past and present, is also central to the field. As students prepare to enter the workplace themselves, Labor Studies courses provide a valuable analysis of the challenges they will face.

Labor Studies | Courses | Faculty