MGMT, PSYC, ILS

ILS2090 Midterm Exam

Choose three questions and write brief essays (roughly 3-4 paragraphs) that address the questions that are posed about these texts. Be sure to thoroughly analyze the texts by addressing specific moments/quotes while you answer the questions about the underlying themes that these authors are trying to express.

1. How do the principles of Benjamin Franklin, as expressed in the readings of this term (Autobiography) connect to the ideals of the farmer, as expressed by Paul Harvey’s words in “So God Made a Farmer”?

2. Discuss one reading/film that deal with the dangers/drawbacks of work. Discuss how either the Wagner Act or the Fair Labor Standards Act spoke to the conditions described in this reading/film.

3. Read the following quote from Time Wars by Jeremy Rifkin, who is commenting on the factory life but also about a worker mentality that stretches back farther than the time of modern industry. Analyze this quote and apply at least one text to help illuminate what Rifkin’s point:

“Getting workers to accept the new conception of time ultimately depended on the ability of the owners to convince the average laborer that through a combination of diligence, punctuality, discipline, and hard work he could better his lot in life, secure greater material wealth, improve his station in society, and assure a better future for his children” (111).

4. Some texts express the desperation felt by workers who find themselves outside the working world. The poem “What Work Is” touches on this theme. Compare and contrast how the workers in this poem and another poem of your choosing deal with the prospect of not having work.

OR

4a. Walt Whitman and Philip Levine both reflect themes related to industrial work, though they present very different views. Compare and contrast a Whitman poem with a Levine poem. Do they have any areas of connection or do they represent two completely opposite views?

5. Some texts address the pleasures and satisfaction of work. Choose two pieces and compare and contrast them, explaining how they depict work in this way.