POL 3489W is also offered in Fall 2024
POL 3489W is also offered in Fall 2023
POL 3489W is also offered in Fall 2022
POL 3489W is also offered in Fall 2021
Fall 2022 | POL 3489W Section 001: Citizens, Consumers, and Corporations (34458)
- Instructor(s)
- Class Component:
- Lecture
- Credits:
- 3 Credits
- Grading Basis:
- Student Option
- Instructor Consent:
- No Special Consent Required
- Instruction Mode:
- In Person
- Class Attributes:
UMNTC Liberal Education Requirement
- Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
UMTC, East Bank
Hanson Hall 1-111
- Enrollment Status:
Open (11 of 35 seats filled)
- Also Offered:
- Course Catalog Description:
- Corporations are the most powerful actors in the global political economy. They employ millions of people, produce a wide variety of goods, and have massive effects on the communities where they do business. Although considered to be "legal persons," corporations are not living beings with a conscience. Milton Friedman famously proclaimed that the only moral obligation of corporations is the maximize shareholder returns. Yet maximizing financial returns may negatively affect humans, other living beings, and the planet. This potential conflict between profit and ethics is at the heart of this course, which focuses on how people have mobilized as citizens and consumers to demand ethical behavior from corporations. We will explore these different modes of action through an examination of corporate social responsibility for sweatshops, the industrial food system in the United States, and the privatization of life, water, and war. The course also considers how corporations exploit racial hierarchies and immigration status in their pursuit of profit.
- Class Notes:
- http://classinfo.umn.edu/?caraway+POL3489W+Fall2022
- Class Description:
- Corporations are among the most powerful actors in the global political economy. They employ millions of people, produce a variety of goods, and have massive effects on the ecological and social environments in which they do business. How do ordinary people act in order to hold corporations accountable for the effects that their activities have on communities and individuals? This course focuses on two ways that people have mobilized to counter corporate power--as citizens and as consumers. When people mobilize as citizens, they put pressure on corporations through the political system--e.g. through mass protests, lobbying politicians, and pursuing claims through the courts. When people mobilize as consumers, they use the power of their purchasing decisions to encourage corporations to change their behavior. We will explore these different modes of action through an examination of corporate social responsibility/sweatshops, the industrial food system in the US, and the privatization of life (e.g. genes), water, and war.
- Grading:
- 25% Final Exam
50% Reports/Papers
25% Class Participation
- Exam Format:
- The final exam will be an essay exam.
- Class Format:
- 40% Lecture
15% Film/Video
30% Discussion
15% Small Group Activities
- Workload:
- 80-100 Pages Reading Per Week
1 Final Exam (essay format)
2 short papers (about 9 pages total)
2 Homework Assignment(s)
- Textbooks:
- https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/34458/1229
- Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
- 1 April 2019
ClassInfo Links - Fall 2022 Political Science Classes