HIST 3470 Creative Destruction: The History of American Captialism

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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