1. Why do writers such as Cowie and Boehm’s interpret “Born in the U.S.A.” as telling the story “of the transformation of white, male working-class identity”? Explain your answer.

Essay Assignment

Purpose – This assignment will develop further students’ abilities to assess and use the scholarship on the working-class, and will particularly challenge them to explore key questions in labour studies. To provide students with some direction in their research, the essay questions deal with subjects that are discussed at length in one of the articles in the coursepack. Hence doing an intensive examination of the arguments of labour scholars is also a key part of the assignment.

Assignment – Write an essay that answers one of the questions below. Your essay should draw upon the relevant material in your coursepack, plus THREE (3) other sources. Part of the evaluation will be the quality of the material you find, ie. its relevance, whether it is sufficiently scholarly, etc. Your essay will also be judged on how effectively you build and argument by taking a position and supporting it with the material from your research. You may bring American examples and scholars into your essay, if and when appropriate, but be aware that the American context is different that the Canadian one! 

1. Why do writers such as Cowie and Boehm’s interpret “Born in the U.S.A.” as telling the story “of the transformation of white, male working-class identity”? Explain your answer. 

2. Just how much protection does the ‘Duty to Accommodate’ really provide vulnerable workers? Explain your answer. 

3. “Through the rise of emotional labour, the demands of many jobs on workers are becoming deeper and more personal.” Do you agree with this statement? Explain why or why not. 

4. “Once you take a close look at the rise of precarious labour, you realize that its impacts are profound and wide ranging.” Do you agree with this statement? Explain why or why not. 

5. Why is it such a major struggle for some workers merely to ensure that they get paid for all of the work they have done? 

Citations: Citations and a bibliography are required. You can use either footnotes (numbers in the text) or references in brackets. If you use the latter, include the author, publication year, and page number– eg. (Carson, 2015, 214).
Plagiarism is a serious offence. Be sure that you know what it is. For your own protection, retain your rough work and a copy of your essay.