Spring 2013  |  SOC 4321 Section 001: Globalize This! Understanding Globalization through Sociology (66812)

Instructor(s)
Class Component:
Lecture
Credits:
3 Credits
Grading Basis:
A-F or Audit
Instructor Consent:
No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:
In Person Term Based
Class Attributes:
UMNTC Liberal Education Requirement
Delivery Medium
Meets With:
GLOS 4221 Section 001
Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
 
01/22/2013 - 05/10/2013
Mon, Wed 01:00PM - 02:15PM
UMTC, West Bank
Blegen Hall 155
Also Offered:
Course Catalog Description:
Globalization of organizations, political relations, and culture. Dependency, world systems theories. Growth of international nongovernmental organizations, their impact on state policies and civil society. Expansion of international norms. Globalization of popular culture.
Class Description:
From the factories of Shenzhen to the high plateaus of La Paz to the trading floors of New York City, people from around the world are becoming increasingly interdependent. This course offers an overview of the processes that are forcing and encouraging people's lives to intertwine economically, politically, and culturally. We will start with the most basic questions: What is this thing called globalization? Is it at all new? What are the forces behind it? Second, we will explore the idea that this latest era of globalization is marked by dramatic transformations in the ways we work, do politics, play, and communicate. Moreover, we will look into the ideas that capitalism has changed significantly, that the division between rich and poor has intensified, and that the sovereignty of governments and the basic rights of people are being challenged. We will learn about a few key actors, such as the World Bank and the World Trade Organization, and understand their main objectives and effects. We will discuss the world of immigration, of fast-moving finance capital and Hollywood/Bollywood cultural products, and the slower moving domains of everyday life, as they are experienced in Jamaica, the U.S., Mexico, India, Bolivia, Argentina, and South Africa. Along the way, we will look at globalization from below, or social movements working to bring about social change (within and across national boundaries) by contesting the worst effects of economic, political, and cultural globalization. In all, this course will use a number of texts, films, lecture, discussion, and student debates, to help us become fluent in the different scholarly concerns on globalization and its many social forces, connections, and imaginations.
Grading:
Other Grading Information: papers, research projects, quizzes, attendance
Class Format:
25% Lecture
75% Other Style guided discussion
Workload:
~75 Pages Reading Per Week
~25 Pages Writing Per Term Other Workload: (two 2-4 page papers, three 5-8 page papers);
Textbooks:
https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/66812/1133
Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
28 March 2011

ClassInfo Links - Spring 2013 Sociology Classes Taught by Michael Goldman

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