Soc 450: Contemporary Global Issues
Spring 2001

• McMichael, Philip. 2000. Development and Social Change. A Global Perspective, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, California: Pine Forge Press.

• Lechner, Frank J., and John Boli, eds.. 2000. The Globalization Reader. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers.

• Jameson, Fredric, and Masao Miyoshi, eds.. 1998. The Cultures of Globalization. Durham: Duke University Press.

COURSE CONTENT

This course on contemporary global issues will focus, in the same order as the textbooks listed above, on three broad areas of great importance and urgency to the world today: (a) the great unfulfilled promise of modernity to bring "development" to humanity, or at least to its vast majority in the previously-called Third World, now simply the World's South; that is, the issue for most of the 20th century just ended of persistent and growing global inequality; (b) the multifaceted nature of what has lately come to be known as globalization, and its tremendous impact on all aspects of social life; its potentials as well as its shortcomings; and the challenge to envision an alternative model of social existence; (c) the perplexing "cultures of globalization", and the challenges posed by the rise of an worldwide consumer culture on all forms of subjectivity, such as national identity, local culture, and traditional forms of everyday life.

The course will be run as a seminar. Students in groups of three will take turns introducing and analyzing the assigned readings for each session, followed by class discussion. Attendance is mandatory and all students must come prepared to discuss the readings. Students in those same groups will produce two research volumes on issues related to the course.

Class Presentations: At the beginning of the course, all students will be organized in groups of three. Each class, a student group will present three of the assigned readings of the day to the class: each student will introduce one reading, summarize it, and raise key issues and questions for subsequent discussion. Time allotted will be 15 minutes per individual presentation. Each student must provide the class with enough copies of a one-page outline of his/her presentation. Readings not selected to be covered by the student presenters will be presented by the instructor. All students must come prepared to discuss all assigned readings.

Research Papers: Each student group will design, research, and write two research volumes on topics related to the main areas of the course. Each volume will contain three individual papers related to a single broad topic. The first volume must be on global development and inequality as covered by the McMichael book, and is due on May 11 in class. The second volume can be on any of the areas or topics covered by the other two books, and is due on Wednesday, June 13, before 4:30 pm at the instructor's office. Each paper should be at least 15 pages long in standard format: double spaced, 1-inch margins, font  10 or 12; citation style as follows: "(Author's last name, year: page numbers)." Students must seek timely authorization from the instructor on their group topic and well as their individual subtopics from the instructor: for the first paper, no later than April 23; for the second paper, no later than May 23. The papers should pose a central argument, or thesis, or hypothesis (or a set of them), and include the following sections: an introduction (stating the thesis & theoretical approach); a section on the relevant historical & contemporary facts, data,  & identified processes related to the topic; your critical analysis of same and of the existing alternative explanations; your summary and conclusions; bibliography; appendices. The bibliography ought to reflect a significant search on the World Wide Web, as well as consulted books and scholarly journals in the library. Appendices should include charts, graphs, and figures global in nature and covering the pertinent time periods.

Grading: Each research paper is worth 35 points. The class presentations as a whole are worth 30 points. Each absence is worth one point off (1/2 point off for tardiness), but presentation no-shows = 10 points off! The final letter grade will be assigned, on a scale of 0 to 100, as follows:

    94-100 = A           84-86 = B              74-76 = C

    90- 93 = A-           80-83 = B-            70-73 = C-

    87- 89 = B+          77-79 = C+           65-69 = D                 < 65 = F

My Group #: _________

Group Members/phone/email: 1. _______________________________________________________

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The Group Presentations:

          Date                  My OWN Presentation

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