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This course explores various theoretical attempts to broaden the meaning of “politics” by examining three spheres of action typically equated with “personal” life: work, family, and consumption. The following questions orient our inquiry: what does the phrase “the personal is political” mean, and what sort of political solutions does it typically endorse? What can we learn about politics by studying family dynamics? Why do Americans work so much, and how does “work ethic” discourse promote punitive social policies? What is the relationship between our everyday acts of consumption and larger political phenomena such as climate change and racialization processes? What can theories of intersectionality tell us about such dynamics?