Globalization Soc Change

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

The main purpose of this course is to familiarize the students with historical, theoretical, and empirical discussion of the globalization process in the developing countries (“Third World”), particularly during the last few decades. The concept of “globalization” came into public attention in the 1990’s and was defined by one theorist as “a social process in which the constraints of geography on social and cultural arrangements recede and in which people become increasingly aware that they are receding.” Globalization process is typically traced through three arenas of social life, namely: the economy, the polity, and the culture. The focus of the course is on the latter two, specifically in countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Globalization has created a more unified and systematic place, however that does not imply a more harmonious world. Alongside other forces of “homogenization’, one also finds the forces of “differentiation” an resistance. This resistance to globalization, or at times to its western-orientation, has taken diverse forms: nationalism, environmentalism, religious revivalism/fundamentalism, movements against the World Bank and the I.M.F. and even radical democratic movements. The real goal of this course is, therefore, to critically examine various definitions, characterizations, and evaluations of the globalization process. The course is divided into three main sections: A) General theoretical framework for analyzing “Third World,” B) Conceptualizing globalization; and C) Middle Eastern Politics in the age of globalization.