English 3530 Syllabus

From Wages to Walmart, and Wall Street to Wattsmart—
ENG 3530, Business, Economics, and Literature

SYLLABUS & Discussion Pod Sign-up Sheet

This reading schedule is intended to be suggestive, not prescriptive. In the event we find that we need to spend more time on a text/film than originally allocated, we can adjust our syllabus accordingly. You should also know that one of the signs of a good class discussion is that we will not have time to address all the reading that has been assigned for a certain day. Let’s proceed with the understanding that this class, like life (and economic systems) is a set of contingencies. I will announce at the end of each class what specific portion of a text we will be discussing closely for the following session. Please stay tuned!

Please check out the resources links at the bottom of this page.

Week 1 – 3	No Strange Bedfellows: Literature & Economics - America's Business Majors & The Liberal Arts Life and Labor in Victorian England – Friedrich Engels, “The Great Towns,” Condition of the Working Class in England (1845) – Charles Dickens, Hard Times (1854) – Rebecca Harding Davis, Life in the Iron Mills (1861) – Guest Speaker, TBA DP 1 _______________________ DP 2 _______________________
Week 4 – 5	Muckraking Journalism, Immigration, and Labor Reform in the United States "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach." - Upton Sinclair - Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906, selections TBA) - Chris Bachelder, "The Jungle at 100. Why the Reputation of Upton Sinclair's Good Book has Gone Bad." DP 3 _______________________ DP 4 _______________________ ** NOTEBOOKS DUE (1) AT THE END OF WEEK 4 **
Week 6 – 8	From the Roaring Twenties to The Great Depression – Bruce Barton and The Man Nobody Knows (1925): Jesus as “the Founder of Modern Business” - The Roaring Twenties: Crash Course U.S. History, #32 - The Great Depression: Crash Course U.S. History, #33 - The Great Depression (PBS, Episode 1), The Road to Rock Bottom (E #2); New Deal, New York (E #3) – John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath – Grapes of Wrath Focus Questions (to be posted) DP 6 _______________________ DP 7 _______________________ DP 8 _______________________ ** NOTEBOOKS DUE (2) AT THE END OF WEEK 8 **
Week 9 – 10	Left Behind in the (Postwar) U.S. Economy – Max Weber, “The Spirit of Capitalism,” The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1005) – Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman – Volker Schlöndorff, dir, Death of a Salesman (1985, film) DP 9 _______________________ DP 10 _______________________ ** NOTEBOOKS DUE (3) AT THE END OF WEEK 11 **
Week 11 – 13	Liquid Gold as Global Resource—The New Economy in Asia – Moshin Hamid, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (2013) – How to write an economics paper in literature, or vice versa DP 11 _______________________ DP 12 _______________________
Week 14	The Housing Bubble and Stock Market in Film or – For you interest: Films about financial crises – Adam Mckay, dir, The Big Short (2015); alternative: Jodi Foster, dir. Money Monster (2016) DP 13 _______________________
Week 15	Close to Home: Resources and Mass Tourism in the National Parks – Edward Abbey, “Polemic: Industrial Tourism and the National Parks” Desert Solitaire (1968) – A Edward Abbey: A Solitary Voice in the Wilderness (YouTube) Commercials Then and Now: From "Advertising" to Algorithmic Nano-Targeting (This section might be made into a self-standing 3-hour unit) - Schumpeter, Hidden Persuaders II (The Economist 2011) - Nicholas Carr - Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants (2016) - Kadim Shubber, Here Come The Influencers ** PAPER DUE (post-taxes) Final Exam Review and Final Exam Below please find select useful websites on Literature & Economics. This is a collection in process, as every site (or ecomomic system) must be. Please stay tuned! :)** The Muckrakers I, II => Pure Food and Drug Act (1906), Federal Meat Inspection Act (1906) Encyclopedia of Chicago: Meatpacking, Meatpacking & The Jungle, Meatpacking Images Neoliberalism--The Root of Our Problems? Can Fiction Sway Politics? (2015) Joseph Stiglitz, The Euro: How a Common Currency Threatens the Future of Europe, The Economist Why America's Business Majors are in Desperate Need of a Liberal Ars Education, The Atlantic Schumpeter, Hidden Persuaders II (The Economist 2011) Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants (2016) Maureen Corrigan, "What Peolpe Were Reading During the Great Depression." (NPR) Stephen Poole, Rethink: The Surprising History of New Ideas (NYT 2016) William Davies, The Sharing Economy Comes to Campus, (The Conversation, 2/2017) Gary Belsky, Why We Think We Are Better Investors Than We Are (NYT, 4/2017) Kadim Shubber, Here Come The Influencers (Financial Times, 5/2017) On the culture of leisure -- Joseph Pieper, David Steindl-Rast, Theodor Adorno, Margaret Mead (brainpickings, 1/2018) Developing Cities for Everyone: Architecture in 2018, Look to the Streets, not the Sky (The Con, 12/17) => Small Scale,Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement (MoMA, 3 Oct 2010 - 3 Jan 2011) A Century Ago: Muckrakers and "fake news" (The Con, 2/18) Living High and Risking High - Stock Investors and High Rises (The Con, 4/18) 7.5 Billion and Counting: How Many Humans can the Earth support? (The Con, 7/18)

Concluding note: The only dumb question is the one you don't ask. My door is always open (and if not, please knock; I will answer if I am there). Please don't hesitate to stop by during my office hours or to make an appointment via email, if you're having trouble getting started or want to talk about your ideas or progress.

From Wages to Walmart, and Wall Street to Wattsmart— ENG 3530, Business, Economics, and Literature

SYLLABUS & Discussion Pod Sign-up Sheet

Final Exam Review and Final Exam

From Wages to Walmart, and Wall Street to Wattsmart—
ENG 3530, Business, Economics, and Literature