Wall Street / Main Street

4 credits · Undergraduate

As longstanding symbols in U.S. history and culture, “Wall Street” and “Main Street” refer to streets that intersect at right angles and places that represent the antithesis of each other: Wall Street is home to nefarious big banks run by greedy financiers, while Main Street is home to “mom-and-pop” shops patronized by people of modest means who live in the surrounding wholesome small towns. This course will examine critical junctures in the intersection of Wall Street and Main Street in the 20th century U.S., how and why the two streets have been understood to point in opposite directions, the extent to which that understanding makes sense, and how and why the relationship between Wall Street and Main Street has evolved over time.