COLLOQUIUM IN BLUE COLLAR POLITICS

Since 2016, scholars and journalists alike have been paying more attention to “Working Class
Voters.” While these voters have always been an important bloc within the American political
system, recent events underscore the need to understand the political behavior of a broad swath
of the voting public. Similarly, American political life is increasingly polarized by place, with
Republicans concentrated in rural areas and Democrats in urban ones. Class and place are
therefore essential variables for understanding modern American politics.
In this course—which is taught by an instructor from a rural, working-class background—we
will examine the identity, opinions, behavior and power of the American working class. We will
also consider the role of place in shaping American politics. We will employ sources from
several social sciences, including political science, sociology, and economics. Along the way, we
will consider several important questions about working class politics within the context of
broader topics in these fields: Identity formation, parties, race, elections, and public opinion, to
name a few.