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UCLA Logo Labor Studies

Course Offerings

Course Offerings

The Department of Labor Studies’ major and minor programs blend classroom with field placement and applied research experiences, bringing ideas and action into a fruitful dialogue that reinforces student learning. These course initiatives engage students with professionals, community activists, and the public to gain critical perspectives on the program’s core subjects.

View full list of Labor Studies Courses:

Please note that enrollment in Labor Studies courses (LBR STD) is restricted to Labor Studies students during 1st pass. The enrollment restriction will be lifted for 2nd pass.

If you have questions about coursework and requirements, please feel free to book an academic advising appointment.

Major Research Capstone group photo

Labor Studies capstone courses offer UCLA Labor Studies graduating students the opportunity to be exposed to labor-related community organizations, worker centers, labor coalitions or labor government agencies, through an applied-research and community engagement experience.


Labor Summer Research Program student group photo

The UCLA Labor Summer Research Program is a seminar course combined with a 15 hour per week field work. It offers students a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in an applied research experience focused on the Los Angeles Labor Movement which is leading national efforts to promote social justice for working people. This research-oriented summer program will introduce students to qualitative applied research methods utilized by researchers and scholars engaged in labor studies. Through a combination of lectures, key readings, and active participation in hands-on research, participants develop an understanding of critical debates regarding the role of research and socioeconomic contexts that impact low-wage workers and their families.

While most of the courses in Labor Studies involve some degree of community engagement, Labor Studies 195B offers students an intensive and guided community engagement internship experience. Students work intensively with a community organization on a structured activity that supports the organization’s mission and the students’ intellectual development.

Interns group photo
Black Worker Center staff group photo

LBR STD M115/AF AMER M115 – We Gone Be Alright: Developing the Next Generation of Black Organizers is created in partnership between The Los Angeles Black Worker Center (LABWC) and The Center for the Advancement of Racial Equity (CARE) at Work at the UCLA Labor Center. Learning from and building on Black labor and community organizing traditions, students will develop the skills and mindsets needed for transformative leadership. Students will connect with leaders of community organizations, student organizers, and prepare for more intensive community-based work.

How can nonviolent movements confront the challenges facing us today? Join the Rev. James Lawson, Jr., and UCLA Labor Center Director Kent Wong for a 10-week Labor Studies course offered free to the public. In a series of conversations with prominent movement leaders, Rev. Lawson explores the development of nonviolent strategy in efforts to overturn segregation in the U.S. and Apartheid in South Africa, win rights for workers and immigrants, and contest mass incarceration.

Nonviolence and Social Movements event flyer