posts categorized asLaborOnline Features

Social Justice for a Global Working Class: the Midwest Labor and Working Class History’s 2016 Annual Conference

by on July 6, 2016

On June 10th students, activists, and scholars met at Purdue University for the 2016 annual Midwest Labor and Working Class History (MLWCH) conference. This year’s conference theme was “Social Justice for a Global Working Class,” and presenters were asked to tackle the question of how their research, and activism could contribute to a greater understanding of issues facing working class people around the world.

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Historic Levels of Inequality

by on July 4, 2016

The pundits always seem to miss the politics of capitalism in their effort to explain inequality.

It looks like a new book by Peter Lindert and Jeffrey Williamson, Unequal Gains: American Growth and Inequality Since 1700, is gaining traction among the punditry class, following last year’s nod to Thomas Piketty’s Capital.

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The Coup in Brazil: What It Means for Workers

by on June 28, 2016

On May 11, more than two thirds of senators in Brazil voted to advance impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff of the Workers’ Party (PT) for state accounting irregularities. The ex-Vice-President, Michel Temer, of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), has now assumed the Presidency temporarily for up to 180 days while the Senate investigates the charges.

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The Limits to Entrepreneurship: Why Innovation Won’t Solve Poverty

by on June 20, 2016
Can starting your own business rocket someone from the near bottom to near top of the economic pyramid?  It might work for a few lucky, hard working, dedicated, amazing individuals, maybe. Some do indeed generate new economic opportunities for themselves – and, in a very few cases, even for others in their community.  But that isn’t even half the story.  All too often, the results are much less rosy. Read more →

Sex Equality by What Measure?

by on June 9, 2016
Many of North Carolina's HB2’s opponents have pinned their hopes on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the once-ambiguous federal provision that now shields workers from gender stereotyping and sexualized attention. But Title VII has been an unreliable route to gender-based justice for women and sexual minorities. Read more →