Postgraduate Course: Globalization (SCIL11016)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course critically examines the subject of globalisation from a sociological perspective. Globalisation is a vast topic, and no one course can cover all its aspects. This course aims to give the student grounding in the most fundamental aspects of globalisation, with exploration of selected substantive topics ('case studies') to help root the general in the particular. We examine the concept itself, the central themes of changing communications, social networks, and experiences of space and time, and the major economic, political and ideological dimensions of globalisation. The view taken in this course is that, while there have been distinctive social changes associated with globalisation in recent decades, to understand this process we need to regularly relocate it in a long-term historical perspective. Globalisation has been happening for centuries, and to understand current processes of globalisation, we need to relate them to a deeper history of globalisation. We also need to be careful about talking of globalisation as if it were one thing. In fact this very broad term encompasses an array of different social processes that need to be distinguished in order to be better understood. |
| Course description |
This course critically examines the subject of globalisation from a sociological perspective. Globalisation is a vast topic, and no one course can cover all its aspects. This course aims to give the student grounding in the most fundamental aspects of globalisation, with exploration of selected substantive topics ('case studies') to help root the general in the particular. We examine the concept itself, the central themes of changing communications, social networks, and experiences of space and time, and the major economic, political and ideological dimensions of globalisation.
Globalisation is also a very popular topic, resulting in a lot of loose and poorly thought-through talk and writing around the subject. The view taken in this course is that, while there have been distinctive social changes associated with globalisation in recent decades, to understand this process we need to regularly relocate it in a long-term historical perspective. Globalisation has been happening for centuries, and to understand current processes of globalisation, we need to relate them to a deeper history of globalisation. We also need to be careful about talking of globalisation as if it were one thing. In fact this very broad term encompasses an array of different social processes that need to be to be distinguished in order to be better understood.
1. Introduction: conceptualising globalisation critically, Gëzim Krasniqi and Angélica Thumala (21 Sept.)
We interrogate the very concept of globalisation. Is it a system? A process? When did it begin? What does it mean to look at it sociologically, historically, politically, economically? What is meant by such cognate terms as ¿globalism¿ and ¿globality¿?
2. ¿Communications¿, ¿networks¿ and ¿space/time compression¿ Gëzim Krasniqi
(28 Sept.)
If one idea ties together the diverse literature on globalisation, it is that communication has accelerated, and space and time have become ¿compressed¿, as messages, information, ideas, commodities, money, people, and so on, move ever more extensively and rapidly around the globe. This is frequently linked to the idea that new kinds of social networks are forming in this new context. We explore these ideas.
3. Case Study: Global production and China as world factory, Sophia Woodman
(5 Oct.)
In this class, we will consider how production processes have been remade in an era of global economic integration, exploring some different ways of thinking about the forces involved in turning China into a factory for the world. Should we think of these changes as mainly driven by capital? To what extent is the state also an actor? How about labour? What difference have efforts to create ¿global labour standards¿ made? How do the different scales on which these sets of actors operate contribute to shaping the conditions of the ¿world factory¿? We will also explore how the specific institutional landscape of work and residence in contemporary China has facilitated the integration of Chinese factories into global chains of production, and consider the dynamics of transnational campaigns to address resulting systemic violations of workers¿ rights there.
4. Economic processes: trade, markets, capitalism, world-systems, Jonathan Hearn (12 Oct)
Most conceptions of globalisation emphasise the role of economics, trade, market exchange, capitalism, and high finance. The previous lecture examined ¿world factories¿ based in China, and the next one will look more closely at recent processes of ¿financialisation¿. We will examine ¿neoliberalism¿, particularly as a species of global ideology, in lecture 9. This lecture examines the key concepts of ¿capitalism¿ and ¿world systems¿ and then goes on to explore these questions: What kinds of economic connections existed between societies before capitalism? In broad terms, how has capitalism evolved? And crucially, why has it had such expansionist, globalising tendencies, and do these have limits?
5. Case Study: Financialisation of the economy, Nathan Coombs
(19 Oct.)
The term ¿financialisation¿ describes a shift in the nature of global capitalism since the 1980s. Rather than accumulation being driven by production, the conversion of goods and services into financial instruments to be traded on global markets has become a key driver of capitalist dynamics. Trends associated with the shift include a slowdown in economic growth, labour precarity, increasing inequality and a more crisis-prone banking system. We look at explanations for the shift including changes in the nature of corporate control in the twentieth century. We also examine how everyday life has been transformed in the era of financialisation.
6. Political processes: states, nations, empires, colonialism and hegemons, Gëzim Krasniqi
(26 Oct.)
How has politics served to integrate the world over the centuries? How are those processes changing? How has political domination, authority and legitimacy been created at ever larger scales? What are the possibilities and limits of this trend? We look at empires, the enduring powers of national states, and democratisation.
7. Case Study: Globalisation and social/political movements, Hugo Gorringe
(2 Nov.)
Contemporary movements emerge, mobilise and operate within a global context. Ideas, tactics and resources are diffused across countries and continents and both Political Opportunities and targets of mobilisation are no longer confined to the nation state in which protest arises. In this lecture we will consider globalisation as context, process and ideal in social movement enterprises.
8. Cultural processes: religion, the media, education, Angélica Thumala
(9 Nov.)
The economic and political aspects of globalisation are accompanied by the awareness of global processes and their impact upon individuals and institutions. In this lecture we discuss the development of a ¿global consciousness¿ and a ¿global culture¿ by focusing on the domains of religion, the media, and education. We evaluate the merits of the arguments and evidence in key debates around e.g. cultural imperialism, hybridity, fundamentalism, and the knowledge economy.
9. Case Study: ¿Neoliberalism¿ as a world ideological movement, Jonathan Hearn (16 Nov.)
The term ¿neoliberalism¿ is often used in ways that are almost synonymous with globalisation itself. Here we try to distinguish neoliberalism as an ideological formation with a history of articulation and growth. We consider its core economic and philosophical ideas, the socio-political context in which it crystallised, the actors, organisations and institutions through which it spread and ¿globalised¿, and briefly, what Trump and Brexit might tell us about the current state of neoliberalism.
10. Conclusion and review, Gëzim Krasniqi and Angélica Thumala
(23 Nov.)
This last class is relatively open. It is an opportunity to look back at the course and get an overview, and to raise any outstanding questions. No new readings are assigned for this week, but students are encouraged to re-read or catch up on materials from the course, and to write down a few questions in advance, before coming to class.
The course is taught through a combination of one-hour lectures by the convenor and by guest lecturers on specialist topics. Five two-hour student-run advanced seminars, allow small groups of students to present on selected topics and lead discussions, with the guidance of the course convenor. The emphasis in these seminars is more on surveying a lot of material and getting a feel for the issues, than it is on close reading of particular texts. It is not a matter of reporting back on assigned readings, but rather an exercise in defining key questions and issues within a topic area, for further investigation. Under each topic there is a list of 'resources'. Nothing is assigned. Students should read within and beyond these as suits their interest, as long as they engage with the general topic for the seminar.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2018/19, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 45 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
In this course the students are assessed by a single long, 4000 word essay on a globalization topic of their choice, agreed in consultation with the course convenor. This should be decided by the end of Week 7 to allow plenty of time to develop the essay. I will also supply a list of pre-approved essay titles. If you do not define your own topic by the deadline you will be expected to use one of these titles. |
| Feedback |
All essays are electronically marked and moderated, and given extensive feedback comments. Students are invited to submit an essay abstract outline to receive feedback in advance of submitting their essay that they can feed into the final essay. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Be able to demonstrate a clear grasp of the concept of globalisation and contending definitions of it.
- Appreciate of the importance of historical perspective for a sociological understanding globalisation.
- Grasp the importance of key concepts of 'communication' and 'social networks' for the study of globalisation.
- Know how to distinguish between economic, political and ideological dimensions of globalisation, and articulate an analytic understanding of how they interact.
- Write an independently researched essay on a globalisation related topic.
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Reading List
Indicative texts:
Albrow, M. (1996) The Global Age: State and Society Beyond Modernity. Cambridge: Polity.
Beck, U. (2005) Power in the Global Age. Cambridge: Polity.
Bhagwati, J. (2004) In Defense of Globalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Castells, M. (1997) The Power of Identity, Vol. II of The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Cambridge MA and Oxford: Blackwell.
Cowen, T. (2002) Creative Destruction. How Globalization Is Changing the World¿s Cultures. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.
Dasgupta and Kiely, R. (eds.) (2006) Globalization and After. New Delhi: Sage.
Diamond. J. (1998) Guns Germs and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13, 000 Years, London: Vintage.
Giddens, Anthony (1999) Runaway World: How Globalization is Reshaping our Lives, London: Profile Books.
Featherstone, M. Lash, S. and Robertson, R. (1995) Global Modernities, London: Thousand Oaks.
Harvey, D. (2006) Spaces of Global Capitalism. Toward a Theory of Uneven Geographical Development. London: Verso.
Held, D. and McGrew, A. (eds) (2003) The Global Transformations Reader, 2nd edn, Polity.
Hirst, P. and Thompson, G. (2009) Globalization in Question, 3rd edn, Polity.
James, P. (2006) Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism: bringing theory back in. London: Sage.
Kreiger, J. (ed.) (2006) Globalization and State Power: A Reader. New York: Routledge.
Mann, M. (2011) Power in the 21st Century: Conversations with John A. Hall, Cambridge: Polity.
Mann, M. (2013) The Sources of Social Power, Vol. 4: Globalizations, 1945-2011. Cambridge: CUP.
Mittleman, J. H. (2000) The Globalization Syndrome: Transformation and Resistance, Princeton UP.
O¿Byrne, D. J. and Hensby, A. (2011) Theorizing Global Studies. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Osterhammel, J. and Niels P. P. (2003) Globalization: A Short History, Princeton UP.
Pieterse, J. N. (2009) Globalization and Culture. The Global Mélange. Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Ray, L. (2007) Globalization and Everyday Life, London: Routledge.
Ritzer, G. (2007) The Globalization of Nothing, 2nd edn, Sage.
Ritzer, G., (ed.) (2008) The Blackwell Companion to Globalization, Blackwell. (e-book)
Ritzer, G. (2011) Globalization: The Essentials. Wiley-Blackwell.
Robertson, R. (1992) Globalization: social theory and global culture. London: Sage.
Rosenberg, Justin (2000) The Follies of Globalisation Theory. London: Verso.
Santos, B. de S. (2002) Toward a New Legal Common Sense: law, globalization and emancipation. Cambridge UP.
Sassen, S. (2007) A Sociology of Globalization, W. W. Norton.
Sassen, S. (2008) Territory, Authority, Rights. From Medieval to Global Assemblages. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.
Scholte, J. A. (2005) Globalization: a critical introduction, 2nd edn, Palgrave Macmillan. (e-book)
Steger, M. B. (2009) Globalization: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stiglitz, J. (2002) Globalization and its discontents. London: Penguin Books.
Stearns, Peter N. (2009) Globalization in World History. London: Routledge.
Therborn, G. (2011) The World: A Beginner¿s Guide, Cambridge: Polity.
Waters, M. (1995) Globalization, 2nd edn, London: Routledge.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
This course is taught in conjunction with an undergraduate course of the same name. Postgraduates attend weekly lectures for that course and are invited to stay on for second hour discussion of weekly topics. Postgraduates are also required to attend a two-hour 'advanced seminar' every two weeks (10 hours over 10 weeks) in which students lead in-depth exploration of more specialised topics. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Angelica Thumala
Tel: (0131 6)50 6631
Email: Angelica.Thumala@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Joe Burrell
Tel: (0131 6) 51 3892
Email: j.burrell@ed.ac.uk |
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