Work, Employment, and Industrial Relations Theory
A graduate seminar from MIT Sloan School of Management tracing the multi-disciplinary foundations of research on work, employment, labor markets, and industrial relations. The course begins with the historical development of theory in the field, comparing the normative premises and methodological traditions of industrial relations to those of economics, sociology, and other contributing disciplines. It then moves through current theoretical and policy debates before a series of modules covering different disciplinary lenses used to study work and employment today. Readings draw on recent research across industries, illustrating fieldwork, qualitative, and quantitative methods used in the discipline. Materials are provided through MIT OpenCourseWare and include syllabus and readings, free to access, with no certificate offered.