Case Study Analysis

The Case Study Analysis was a discussion board post where we started to brainstorm topics/problems for our capstone project. We had to pick 2 topics and talk about why they could be an effective research question, and explain relevant disciplines that would complement the research. While as you see, I did not end up picking either of the two topics for my project, it helped me narrow the scope of my project down to where it is now.

My first topic area/problem concerns Labor Unions in the United States and how the public perception of them changed from their successes in the early 1900's to the start of their decline in the 50's. How did the perception of Labor Unions change so drastically in the 1950's at the height of union membership to the present? For this problem, we would explore the political side of this issue, as the idea of unions became a heavily partisan issue. We would also look at the economic changes at the time of the decline and following the economic trend to the present to see any correlation between the economy to labor union participation and laws pertaining to labor unions. We would not dive into the general decline in labor union participation around the world as there were general downward trends of participation on the world scale, but the United States saw the sharpest decline for reasons to pursue for research. To pose this as a problem, we would also discuss advantages and disadvantages of labor unions strictly in the scope of the United States, and the laws associated. Whatever side you are on in this issue, Labor Unions have had a enormous impact on workers rights, and how companies and corporations can conduct their operations.

The two disciplines I would consider utilizing for this problem are Political Science, and Economics. In general, Political Science and Economics go hand in hand as many people who study Political Science are also studying the economic state of their subject. Politics in general has a huge influence on the economy and the link between the two would be egregious to ignore. In this particular problem, labor unions oversaw a change in public perception with changing economic ideas and a changing economy compared to the decades before when Labor Unions prospered. Labor Unions also became a very partisan issue and there has been a lot of legislation to look over that shows how politics and laws have shaped the public's perception on unions.

I would admit that there would be many more disciplines that could be just as useful such as History, sociology, etc... but there is so much to uncover just from these 2 listed above. As stated above, the disciplines of political science and economics really already go hand in hand, and the correlation between them shows the amount of information that is already intertwined between the two. I would also further argue that you couldn't even attempt to solve this issue with just one of these disciplines because there is a lot to unravel in regards to the problem, and there isn't one concrete answer to it. Both of these disciplines is crucial to research this problem.

My second topic/problem would be looking at minimum wage, and the effects of the proposed $15 minimum wage in the US. Looking at the past, are the main points against this proposal justified? Points such as businesses wouldn't be able to afford the increased labor costs, increasing consumer prices to offset labor costs, and the debate on should all workers be paid $15 an hour (reason brought up due to workers in fast-food industry) The scope of my research would concern looking at periods of US history when minimum wage was increased and figuring out if the same concerns were brought up then, and if those concerns were justified in the past. I would also look at the economic volatility (if any) when minimum wage was increased in the past, but also take into account that a raise from $7.25 to $15 an hour is a bigger step than the last 3 step increase of $5.15 to $7.25 from 2007-2009. Defining this as a problem, we would list the supposed advantages of raising the minimum wage, and the supposed disadvantages and through research find information about both sides, and come to a conclusion.

The two disciplines I would use for this problem would be History, and Economics. History would be useful in determining if an increase in minimum wage in the past was met with similar pushbacks, and if those pushbacks were justified. In US history since the 1938 FSLA law, we have had a total of 22 minimum wage increases for all non-exempt US workers, so there must be some evidence of backlash from some of these increases. The other discipline is Economics and it's incredibly important for this problem because minimum wage increases do affect the economy, and most of the backlash to increases are economy related. Both of these disciplines can share insight in this matter as History can look at patterns of this problem in the past, and Economists can watch for changes in our economy as a direct result of minimum wage increases. Both of these disciplines can show 2 different approaches to this problem, and each can back up the other when presented.