Chair of Anthropology/Sociology Department
Education
New School for Social Research
Ph.D. Department of Sociology and Committee on Historical Studies
Dissertation: Alliances Across Ethnicity, Skill, and Gender: A Structural and Identity Based Analysis of Two Strikes in the New York City Clothing Industry, 1885-1921.
Contact
CAS 132
(401) 254-3059 phone; (401) 254-3286 fax
trothschild@rwu.edu
Courses
- Introduction to Sociology
- Sociological Imagination
- Social Stratification
- Sociological Perspectives on Race
- Gender
- Collective Social Movements and Social
- Change
- Globalization and Identity
Research Interests
Social Movements Identity: Labor and Immigrant Organizing, Gender, Stratification, Race and Ethnicity, Historical Sociology
Selected Presentations and Publications
Rothschild, Teal. “Peer Review Assignments and Student Perceptions: Social Context, Ownership, and Engagement”. New England Sociological Association, Regis College. Weston, Massachusetts, April 23, 2005.
Rothschild, Teal. “Teaching Globalization and Inequality.” American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. San Francisco, California, August 11- 15, 2004.
Rothschild, Teal. “Teaching Class and Inequality: How Students Get Inequality and Privilege”. How Class Works: A Conference At Stony Brook University. Sponsored by the Center for Study of Working Class Life. State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York, June 10-12, 2004.
Rothschild, Teal. Social Stratification Courses: Syllabi & Instructional Materials. A Guidebook. Fifth Edition. Editors Scott Sernau and Johnnie Griffin. American Sociological Association. 2004.
Rothschild, Teal. ‘Talking Race’ in the College Classroom: The Role of Social Structures and Social Factors in Race Pedagogy. The Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development. Volume 31, Number 1, January 2003 (31-38).
What I Am Working on Now
Labor Narratives: A Meta-Analysis of the Discourse on the Status of Organized Labor and Immigration Since May 1, 2006 'A Day Without an Immigrant'
This project is complex in that it connects the sub-fields of sociology of work, labor studies, and the sociology of immigration. Since the turn of the twenty first century, there has been a consensus that organized labor is in decline. In 1954 39 percent of the private sector workforce was in unions; today only 9 percent are…(Clawson, 2003). National unions such as the AFL-CIO have called for an effort to ‘reinvigorate labor from below’. This has called attention to the historical and contemporary connection that organized labor has had and continues to have invested in immigration. Labor scholars have struggled to redefine the status of contemporary organized labor, but have been unable to do so. They have questioned why American workers have failed to develop powerful unions similar to the ones that exist in other industrialized countries. Some have argued that the ascent of neo-liberalism is both cause and consequence of organized labor’s decline and contribute as well to the long-standing debate over American exceptionalism in the context of the twenty first century. (Fantasia and Voss). Yet, there has been little systematic analysis on the literature about organized labor with particular attention to immigrant workers since the turn of the twenty first century.
Currnetly, I am writing up two articles from this research. The first focuses on anti-immigrant sentiment and the construction of ‘the worker, and the second article focuses on the absence of labor in immigrant organizing efforts.
Over the next few years, I plan to complete ethnography of several workplaces, and develop interview protocol for students to assist in interviewing random samples of the general public on their attitudes of the status of organized labor and the plight of legal and illegal immigrant workers. This would contribute to the student/faculty research occurring on campus, and provide mentoring to able sociology students.