CSER W3908x Gender, Race, and Labor in the U.S. 4 pts.Not offered in 2009-2010. This advanced seminar will explore the relationships among gender, race, and labor in the contemporary United States. The course will examine what counts as "work," how race and gender shape access to different types of jobs, and how particular occupations locate individuals within existing regimes of value. The work one performs-that one can perform-simultaneously reflects and produces social hierarchies. These positionings do more than index wealth and privilege; they actively delimit membership in the nation. The idea of the "American Dream," promises a classless society-a nation defined through economic opportunity for anyone willing to work hard. This foundational myth renders class invisible, obscuring how the boundaries of the "middle-class" are often directly constructed through comparison with or exclusion of specific ethnic, racial, and/or national groups. The (in)ability to prosper, then, foregrounds who is valued and valuable, as well as the shifting boundaries of citizenship. We will analyze these processes through specific examples, paying close attention not just to the ways work shapes individuals but also underscoring how individuals refuse, resist, or negotiate these processes.