SOC-20043: Globalisation and its Discontents

School of Sociology and Criminology

SOC-20043

Globalisation and its Discontents

Co-ordinator:

Dr Mark Featherstone Room: CBC0.014, Tel:34179

Teaching Team:

Ms Deborah Tagg, Dr Andy Zieleniec, Miss Jo-Anne Watts, Miss Claire Lewendon, Garry Crawford

Lecture Time:

See Timetable...

Level:

Credits:

Study Hours:

150

School Office:

Programme/Approved Electives for

Criminology Single Honours (Level 2)
Sociology Dual Honours (Level 2)
Sociology Major (Level 2)
Sociology Minor (Level 2)
Sociology Single Honours (Level 2)

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Yes

Barred Combinations

None

Prerequisites

None

Description

Globalisation has brought some great wealth, but it has plunged many more into the depths of poverty. While rich westerners grow more prosperous, millions of others in forgotten parts of the world continue to die of poverty, war, and disease. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, complacent westerners believed that they were, in practical terms, untouchable. This conceit was, of course, destroyed by the events of September 11th 2001. However, we must recognise that the spectre of insecurity which now haunts the west has always been the normal condition for most of the rest of the world. In this respect we can say that the terror attacks on New York and Washington finally woke the west to its global inheritance. That is to say that we have been given a taste of the fear and insecurity which has affected most of the world&©s population for more or less the whole of the 20th century.

Insofar as the condition of the global poor has started to impact upon our own lives, we have woken up to the rest of the world. While this situation may be deeply troubling for many people, it would be too easy, and ultimately futile, for the west to try to cordon itself off from the rest of the world. On the contrary, rather than trying to hide from the problems of globalisation, the west must attempt to think about the underlying causes of the current turbulent situation. This consideration is necessary in order to prevent further terror attacks on the west, but also to improve the lives of people in other parts of the world. It is too easy to say that because these people live far away, we have no responsibility to work to improve their situation. Due to globalisation we have become responsible for everybody in the world, regardless of their race, nation, class, or gender. For these reasons it is now, more than ever before, important for sociologists to study the subject of globalisation.

Following this rationale, Globalisation and Discontents divides the study of globalisation into three sections: history, discontents, and governance. In the first division the module is concerned to address the emergence of globalisation (industrialism to post-industrialism and Americanisation) and the rise of the new global economy. The second part of the course considers the future of the human rights society (political participation, citizenship, and the law) and the discontents (environmentalism, anti-capitalism, immigration) that necessarily accompany the birth of the world risk society. After the assessment of the key expressions of global discontent, the third division of the course is concerned with the political struggles that characterise attempts to construct a world society. To this end the module considers the politics of multiculturalism, thinks through the recent rise of fundamentalism and terror insofar as they can be seen to represent archaic forms of local anti-global identification, and assesses the value of humanitarian war as a means for upholding law in the turbulent global society.

The lectures will focus on
The Origins of Contemporary Global Society: Industrialism
The High Tech Society: Post-Industrialism
The American Century
The Post-Modern Society
The End of History and the Critique of Empire
The Risk Society: Economy and the Crash
Environmental Destruction and Global Catastrophe
Global Protest (Anti-Capitalism-Environmentalism)
Global Societies: Immigration and Multiculturalism
The Rise of Fundamentalism: War, Violence, Human Rights

Formative Assessment and Seminar Activities
Two hour seminars are split between lectures, tutorials, and other activities such as DVD screenings and web exercises which include the following:

Group work - Students each submit 500 words for formative assessment
Student Presentations
Close Reading - Students submit 500 words for formative assessment
Student Debate - Students submit 500 words on the dualistic nature of global politics for formative assessment.

Talis Aspire Reading List
Any reading lists will be provided by the start of the course.

http://lists.lib.keele.ac.uk/modules/soc-20043/lists

Aims

To encourage students to think about private problems through the lens of global events and understand the social world in terms of worldwide networks
To study contemporary world events and think about their relationship to issues of globalisation
To provide opportunities through seminar discussion and essay in which students may develop their skills of scholarly discussion and exposition of complex ideas
To enable students to understand the idea of uneven development and recognize that globalisation is not a flat process

Intended Learning Outcomes

Students who successfully complete this module will be able to

explain processes of globalisation and how these have developed over the course of history
discuss the ways in which processes of globalisation impact upon the world and critically analyze these in written work
explain the relation of the central concerns of sociology, such as social inequality, to process of globalisation, thus developing understandings obtained at level 1
review the political positions influencing both processes of globalisation and the various accounts of these processes and critically assess the relative validity of these accounts
review the different approaches to understanding processes of globalisation
employ concepts and theories to analyze events and situations beyond their original context

Study hours

20 contact hours (2 hour weekly seminar)
60 hours tutorial preparation
70 hours assessment preparation

Description of Module Assessment

01: Research Proposal weighted 20%

500 word proposal
Students complete a 500 word proposal for the case study project assessment at the end of the module. This is a mid-term assessment.

02: Project weighted 80%

3000 Word Project
Students complete a 3000 word project on an aspect of the course, such as the relationship between ethnic conflict and globalisation in a particular nation or region. This is approved by the module tutor through the mid-term proposal assessment. This is an end of term assessment.

Version: (1.06B) Updated: 03/Oct/2013

This document is the definitive current source of information about this module and supersedes any other information.