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     Soc 450: Globalization and Social Change
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Fall 2004

Instructor: Dr. Gonzalo Santos

Class: Tue. & Th., 10:30 am - 12:35 pm, DDH-K104
Dr. Santos' Office: DDH-AA205     Phone: 664-2191
Office Hours: 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm, Tue. & Th.

emailsantos_class@csub.edu

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Textbooks:

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Course Content:

This course explores the dynamics of globalization in the contemporary world, as it affects, and in turn is affected by, the world's social structures and its processes of social change. We will focus on three broad and interrelated areas, economic, cultural, and geoplotical, in the same order as the textbooks listed above: (a) the universally tried and mostly failed saga of "national development" in the world's South, from the end of the colonial era and the Cold War through the present era of neoliberal integrationist schemes, and its intimate relation to the economic structures of global stratification, past and present; (b) globalization and culture, especially the process of cultural hybridization, contestation, and commodification; (c) the geopolitical aspects of present-day globalization, especially the crisis of U.S. global hegemony, and the ensuing world disorder from the end of the Cold War to today's so-called War on Terror.

Course Structure:

The course will be run as a seminar. Students will form groups of two or three and will take turns introducing and analyzing the assigned readings for each session, followed by class discussion. Attendance is mandatory (please, no tardiness or early departures, as these will be penalized) and all students must come prepared to discuss the readings - either with their formal presentations, or with their reading assessments if they are not presenting.  Copies of both presentation outlines and reading assessments must be turned in to Dr. Santos at the beginning of each class session.

The students will also write two research papers on topics related to the areas covered in the course.

Class Presentations: At the beginning of the course, all students will be organized in groups of two or three. Every class, by rotation, two student groups will divide up and present the assigned readings of the day; each group presentation & class discussion will last about an hour, with an short break in between; the groups will previously coordinate with each other and within themselves how they "split" the readings.

Each presenting student will introduce and summarize his/her own selection of the readings, and raise a few key issues and questions for subsequent discussion. Time allotted per individual presentation will be 10-to-15 minutes. Each presenting student must provide the class with enough copies of a one-page outline of his/her presentation, including two or three questions to discuss (please put these at the end).

Please put on top of your outline page your name, the date, and the reading selection you are presenting. The outline should use roman numerals for the main areas of the presentation (I., II., III., etc.), with lower-case letters -- a), b), c), etc. -- for subtopics; avoid narratives and paragraphs and just focus on well-organized titles and subtitles. At a minimum there ought to be (I) an introductory section identifying the topic(s), (II) a section going over the main subjects, arguments, and facts, (III) a summary/conclusion section, and (IV) a section for questions/issues for discussion.

It is strongly recommended students bring their full presentations written up in cards that follow the order of the topics and subtopics in their outlines. Visual aids - big charts, overhead slides, PowerPoint slides, handouts, etc. - may be included in the presentations but are not required.

The presentations will be graded based on: (a) the conceptual & organizational quality and clarity of the outline, (b) the analytical strength of the presentation, including the questions posed at the end, and (c) the quality, clarity, & style of the oral presentation (plus any visual aids).

Reading Assessments: All students must come to class prepared to discuss the assigned readings for the day. To ensure that they do, students who are not presenting must bring to class a written "reading assessment," of no more than a page or two, of the assigned readings for the day. No late reading assessments will be accepted, unless the students has an authorized absence from Dr. Santos.

These reading assessments must not summarize or describe the readings, but must personally and critically respond to them, express what the student thinks about them: they should identify the areas of strong agreement and disagreement with the author, explaining why, as well as the areas or topics of interest to pursue, or anything in particular that caused amazement, perplexity, or surprise. Whatever you write, you should explain your specific analytical and personal reasons for doing so. The reading assessment need not cover every issue found in the assigned readings for the day, but it should demonstrate you read everything and chose well what to comment on (early topics are always suspect!). A very bad assessment will reveal the student read very little or very superficially just to do the assignment (it's called "going through the motions"). A good assessment will demonstrate the student really read all the material and did a serious effort to chose and critically grapple with the main issues involved.

At the end of the reading assessment, students should always list a couple of questions or issues for class discussion. Dr. Santos will randomly select a couple of students to read their assessments and/or questions in the discussion periods. Please put on top of your reading assessments your name, the date, and the readings you are assessing.

Note: Students presenting on a given day do not need to submit any reading assessment.

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 individual papers related to different aspects of the volume's topic. The first volume is due on Thursday, October 21 in class. The second volume is due on Tuesday, November 30, before noon, at Dr. Santos' office.

All topics - group as well as individual - must be pre-approved by Dr. Santos: for the first paper, no later than October 5; for the second paper, no later than November 9.

Each volume should be bound and should include a title page and a table of content, listing each paper by title and author. Each individual paper should be between 10 and 12 pages long (excluding the bibliography). For a precise guide on the paper's format and citation style, go to:

http://www.csubak.edu/~gsantos/guide-paper.html
Each individual paper should pose a central argument, or thesis, or hypothesis, and include the following sections: an introduction, stating the thesis/topic, as well as the theoretical approach and methodological framework of the paper; an analytical section on the relevant historical & contemporary processes, facts, data, related to the topic; this section should not only be descriptive, but it should include your critical analysis to explain these things, as well as other plausible alternative explanations in the literature and your critique of them; your summary and main conclusions; a bibliography; appendices (if any). The bibliography ought to reflect a good search on the World Wide Web, as well as consulted books and scholarly journals in the library. Appendices should include charts, graphs, and figures covering the pertinent topic - the better selected, relevant, and more global in nature, the better. No need for a group bibliography - each papers' own will suffice.

Grading: Each  research paper is worth 25 points - adding up to half of the grade. Together the class presentations are worth 25 points - a quarter of the grade. The reading assessments together are worth the other 25 points. Every absence is penalized by taking one point off the final grade (apart from the zero grade you'll get for either a failed presentation or a missing reading assessment); tardiness/early departures are penalized by 1/2 point off. The final letter grade will be assigned, on a scale of 0 to 100, as follows:

Office Hours & Communications with Dr. Santos: Dr. Santos' office hours will be 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm, Tu & Th. All students are encouraged to visit Dr. Santos during his office hours, especially to discuss their upcoming individual research papers and class presentations, or any question they may have from the class discussions, the textbooks, etc..

Visits by appointment are also possible, as well as brief consultations by phone during office hours. Email is discouraged for any other business than basic, factual, one-line communications (e.g., will be absent or late).

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Schedule of Reading Assignments

Tuesday
Presenting Groups
Thursday
Presenting Groups
9/14
 
INTRODUCTION


.
9/16 
McMichael
Introduction

Development and Globalization
No Groups
Presentations
9/21

McMichael
Chapter 1

Instituting the Development Project

1 & 2 9/23
McMichael
Chapter 2

International Framework of the Development Project
3 & 4
9/28 
McMichael
Chapter 3

Global Economy Reborn

5 & 6
9/30 
McMichael
Chapter 4

Demise of the Third World

7 & 8
10/5
 
McMichael
Chapter 5

Implementing Globalization Project

9 & 1
10/7

McMichael
Chapter 6

Disharmonies in Globalization Project
2 & 3
10/12
 
McMichael
Chapters 7 & 8

Resisting Globalization

4 & 5
10/14 
Nederveen Pieterse
Intro., Chapters 1 & 2

Consensus, Controversy, Migration

6 & 7
10/19


 
Nederveen Pieterse 
Chapters 3 & 4

Clash, McDonaldization, Hybridization

8 & 9
10/21
1st. research papers due

Nederveen Pieterse 
Chapters 5 & 6

Anti-hybridity backlash, Global Mélange

1 & 2
10/26 
Chomsky
Chapters 1 & 2

Priorities, Imperial Grand Strategy

3 & 4
10/28 
Chomsky 
Chapter 3

New Era of Enlightenment

5 & 6
11/2 
Chomsky 
Chapter 4

Dangerous Times

7 & 8
11/4 
Chomsky 
Chapter 5

The Iraq connection 

9 & 1
11/9
Chomsky 
Chapters 6 & 7 

Dilemmas of dominance; cauldron of animosities

2 & 3
11/11



 Holiday!

No Class
11/16 
Chomsky 
Chapter 8 

Terrorism and justice

4 & 5
11/18
Chomsky
Chapter 9, Afterword


A passing nightmare?
Afterword
6 & 7
11/23 
Web Reading

Mike Davis
Planet of Slums

8 & 9
The deadline for the second research papers is
Tuesday, November 30, noon,
at Dr. Santos' office.
.

My group number is: _________

Other group members' names/phones/email addresses:

1. _______________________________________________________________________________

2. _______________________________________________________________________________

3. _______________________________________________________________________________

My group's presentations will be on:

          Date:                                         My own presentation will be on these selected chapter/pages:

1. _______________________________________________________________________________

2. _______________________________________________________________________________

3. _______________________________________________________________________________

4. _______________________________________________________________________________

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