HIST 3470 Creative Destruction: The History of American Captialism

(Prior to Fall 2010, this course was known as HIST 43.6.
The information below might still reflect the old course numbers. Bracketed numbers, if any, are the old course numbers. Learn more...)

3 hours; 3 credits

Development of American society within the context and evolution of global capitalism, with a particular emphasis on financial speculation, the boom-and-bust nature of capitalist expansion, and the influence of both on everyday inhabitants and workers, from the colonial period to the present. Topics include: indigenous displacements and the development of regions both free and slave; the continuity of credit dependency in American history and life; the central role that governmental entities have played in American territorial expansion, environmental destruction, economic inequalities, and financial bail-outs; technological innovation, industrialization, and the rise of big business, big labor, big government, and big boom-bust cycles; shifting notions about entrepreneurship and the nature of work, leisure, consumption, education, and mobility; the myth of the self-made American and changing definitions of success and failure; and the influences of class, ethnicity, race, and gender on the material conditions of diverse populations.

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