90-771 Jobs & Communities Left Behind
12 units, Carnegie Mellon University
CMU has been at forefront of technological progress since its founding in 1900. Technological change has societal consequences, some good, some bad. This course will investigate how technological change, accompanied by its economic and environmental impacts, can leave entire communities behind. It will go further in addressing what public policy can do about anticipating the negative consequences and remedying them. Our investigation will focus on the coal communities of western Pennsylvania. They provided the human and natural resource to grow the legendary steel industry and power the regions electrical generation. Those communities were created by industry to attract a flood of immigrants to live and work for one reason...extracting and processing coal. The demand for their product grew steadily from 1870, peaking in the 1940s, and continues today. Over time miners wages lifted their households into the middle class. Over time, the number of mining jobs declined steadily as technology replaced them. Over time, global economic competition leveled the demand by steel for the miners product. Over time, environmental concerns leveled the demand for the miners product. Over time the number of people, young and old, declined, leaving the coal communities for a better future elsewhere. Taken together, these forces caused the raison dtre for these communities to disappear. They are left looking for a future. This course will focus on understanding how public policies in particular led to the decline of Pennsylvania coal communities. With understanding in hand, students will be challenged to identify public policies that may assist in creating a better future for these communities. Or, answer the question are there none From lessons drawn from the experience of these communities, students will be challenged to ask how can negative unintended consequences of forces of change be anticipated and mitigated.
Prerequisites: none listed
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