Took this class during COVID. Honestly this class is very eye-opening to me in my opinion. This class is about neoliberalism and many of the weekly readings (which can be pretty heavy not going to lie) will take on perspectives and experiences from populations and communities who were (and continue to be) affected by neoliberal policies. With that said, do consider that this class may alter how you view governments, class structure, economics, and global affairs because of the readings that talk about global trade, poverty, employment, racism, indigenous communities, working/low-income classes, debt, etc. All in all, you may alter your views and opinions on capitalism, socialism, or even communism during or after this class. (I am not going to bring up political lefts and rights cause no I will not bring up politics in this review)
The lectures are pre-recorded and asynchronous so you can watch lectures any time you want. The lectures can range from 40 minutes long to almost 2 hours, and Professor Kelley adds on additional information in lecture that happen in real-time (few examples: COVID-19 and healthcare, as well as the largest working class protest among farmers in India that happened in late 2020), meaning that Prof. Kelley does not recycle information every quarter he teaches this class, and that he is attentive and cares about the struggles that happen in the world and teaches/notifies us in lecture.
I never attended Prof. Kelley's office hours, however he was very understanding to the conditions we were in (obviously because of COVID) and altered the class a bit as the quarter went on. He even gave us an extension and reduced the readings in week 6/7 because of the presidential election.
The content/information of the class can go back to the Magna Carta and all the way to present day (more like 2008). From week 5/6 to week 10, the readings will focus more on readings from 1970s-present day tbh.
25% Essay 1
25% Essay 2
25% Group Project (your group is your discussion section that you are enrolled in)
25% Participation, usually in your discussion section. How your participation is graded is based on your TA, for example, attendance and/or weekly paragraphs about the readings.
Advice: for essays, while you are allowed to use readings AND lectures for your essays as evidence/support, TAs are more interested in seeing how you mainly use the readings to shape your argument. Doing all of the readings every week is not necessary, but you should read at least 70% of the readings by the end of the class for the essays.
I took this class as a GE, and I would say that this was a manageable GE, just do not do ALL of the readings and lecture the day before your discussion because that is just overload on you.
Again, this class focuses on the humanities/morals in economics, money, and institutions. I think this is a very important class to take if you want to understand how (historically) marginalized people have been disciplined by institutions guided by business and money and why we continue to see how working and low-income communities, as well as different communities of color are affected by these same institutions today.
I hope you enjoy this class! Good luck :)

Robin Kelly is a great professor. His lectures were concise and force you to think critically about the last 40 years in a way that I had never been offered before at a school. Recent history is a difficult thing to teach, but through a genuine understanding of neoliberalism, especially is a year such as 2020, it feels easier to understand why the US is the way it is. If you are an ardent supporter in the free market (ie. an economics major), I urge you to take this class. Have your beliefs challenged — think critically. Come to your own conclusions.

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While Professor Kelley assigns a lot of reading and gives dense lectures, there are no tests, so memorization of material isn't necessary. I would recommend taking notes only on what is interesting or seems important, as this will help when writing the mid-term and final papers. The group project (your group is your entire discussion section) was a quite a mess, but everything worked out well in the end.

History 12B was an extremely easy GE--I highly suggest it. But be fair warned if you have no interest in politics, you will be bored with the course material. Professor Kelley was a nice professor and was occasionally funny in class.

Your class grade is complied from four things:
- you have 2 papers (One around midterms and the other during the last week)
-a final group project with you whole discussion(relatively easy didn't require too much input of effort...hopefully TA is a good facilitator)Due the second to last week
-Attendance to you DISCUSSION, Not Class. Professor Kelley does not take any type of attendance for lectures so you can skip some here and there. But make sure to attend you discussions.

Lectures:
Professor Kelley goes off slides, but he adds onto them--doesn't read word for word
Rarely post the slides online; occasionally he will and he'll mention in class that he will. Most of the time the slides were not posted--so take notes.
Not pod-casted.

Notes:
Highly recommend you take notes you will need them for you papers

Reading:
-Professor Kelley gives a lot of reading, I did none of it--got an A in the class.
-You are required two books you can find pdf's online so you don't have to but them.
-The making of global captialism: https://the-eye.eu/public/concen.org/Criticism%20of%20Capitalism%20and%20Globalization%20-%20Collection%2010/Panitch%20%26%20Gindin%20-%20The%20Making%20of%20Global%20Capitalism%3B%20the%20Political%20Economy%20of%20American%20Empire%20%282012%29.pdf
-we're all fast food workers now: https://andrewchernoff.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/we_are_all_fast-food_workers_now_by_annelise_orlec.pdf

Papers:
The two papers are:
- 5-7 pages
-you can not use outside sources(you must use notes from lecture or from the assigned readings)
-grades depend on your TA, so hopefully they grade easy, if not make good relationship with them

History 12B is a course that is quite specific in scope for a GE; it is focused specifically on neoliberalism, and more bluntly the negative aspects of neoliberalism. It is taught from a politically left perspective.

The pace of the course is very quick, so you need to keep up with the readings (which can be fairly heavy at times, but nothing insanely overwhelming). Professor Kelley's lectures are jam-packed with information, and he emphasizes the importance of listening and understanding as opposed to trying to rapidly transcribe everything he is saying. He uploads all of his slides.

The coursework consists of two papers and a final group project. There are no tests. The two papers are pretty straightforward essays of moderate length (roughly 5-6 pages), but the group project is kind of a mess. Your entire discussion section will be a group, so you will need to coordinate a lot of things.

Your TA will be grading all your stuff so developing a good rapport with them goes a long way.

I would recommend this course to politics junkies, as it is more of a political science course than a history course. I personally found the material quite fascinating, but I could see how it could become dry for some people.

My favorite class I've taken at UCLA! There are a LOT of readings - you don't need all of them, but there are some that are very helpful when it comes to writing your papers. My best advice would be to take really good notes in lecture and try to at least get to half the readings during the week, because they're crucial for saving time when you're writing your papers. I did not additional research, just used all class material readings notes and notes I had already made from lecture. I didn't enjoy trying to get 20 people to make a single project together, but ultimately it worked out in the end. Overall the best class I've taken, Kelley knows so much and is one of the most engaging lecturers I've ever had.

This is a great class, if you chose to take it you will learn a whole lot. Prof Kelley is so passionate and dynamic that you will not find lecture a drag. The two papers are very straight forward. As for the group project, I would say it is easy if you have group of dedicated people. Overall one of the best classes I have taken at UCLA.

Professor Kelley is definitely passionate about what he is teaching, but he is also extremely biased and I didn't find his lectures particularly interesting. The class is fairly easy to get an A in. You can pretty much chill until you have an assignment due. There is a group project that sucks though. Overall chill class.

The class was pretty easy, the readings were sometimes a lot but you don't really have to do all of them just do enough to have arguments for your papers as the papers have to be written entirely from the readings. I thought the lectures were interesting but not entirely helpful for the essays (the readings are all you need for that). We watch two movies in lecture and I found both very interesting. The final project was odd in that it was a group project with the entire section as a group but not too bad in the end.