GLOBALIZATION, DEVELOPMNT & SOCIAL CHANGE

Winter 2017
Sociology 48-227
University of Windsor, Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology
Mondays 7:00 pm 9:50 pm
Professor: R. Cheran
Office Hours: Mondays: 11:30am-12:30pm; Tuesdays 10:00 11:30 am
CHS: 150-1
Phone: (519) 253-3000 ext. 2194
Email: cheran@uwindsor.ca
Teaching Assistants: Samantha Wauthier <wauthies@uwindsor.ca>; Travis Reitsma
<reitsm1@uwindsor.ca>
Course Description:
Globalization, Development and Social Change are key words that animate the
contemporaryeconomicandpoliticalprocesseslargelydictatedbyneoliberalism.While
weall arefamiliar withtheseterms andconcepts,werarelyconsidertheir historical
originsorpoliticalandsocialdynamics.Thiscourseexploresthenatureandmodesof
globalization and development from an interdisciplinary perspective. The course
maintainsthatglobalizationisthedominanttrendreshapingsociallifeeverywhere,while
recognizing that social and political outcomes are fashioned through interaction with
other processes as well. The course critically evaluates the relationship between
globalization, inequality and poverty; as well as issues of gender, ethnicity,
development,socialjusticeandhumanrights.Inthesecondhalfofthecourse,wewill
examineavarietyofresponsestothedominantformsofglobalizationtoexplorepossible
alternatives and the importance ofrethinking globalization. At the endof the course
studentswillhaveacomprehensiveknowledgeofvariousdimensionsofglobalization
anddevelopmentandtheirimpactonthehumanconditionaswellasmovementsresisting
orproposingalternativesandsocialchange.
Films mostlydocumentaryarecriticalcomponentsofthecourse,andstudentsshould
takethemseriously.Takenotesonthem. Asampleofquestionsstudentsneedtoask
include:Whatkeypointsdoesthefilmmakerwanttomake?Doesheorsheprovide
convincingevidence?Whatdidyoulearnfromthefilm?Howdoesthefilmrelatetothe
readingsandothermaterialsinthecourse?
Media/ Alternative Media:
Most of us know very little about the rest of the world. Most Canadian newspapers carry
very little international coverage apart from superficial reporting on immediate crises,
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and the network news shows are even worse. However, there are a few bright spots in the
bleak media landscape. I strongly urge all students to sample each of the following news
shows regularly during this course.
The Agenda on TVO
Al Jazeera English (not yet freely available here but you can access it on the net)
The Real News Network: www.therealnews.com
Evaluation in brief:
Globalization Journal: 20%
Midterm Exam: 25%
Essay: 25%
Final Exam: 30%
Evaluation in Detail:
Globalization Journal
Over the course of the entire semester students will maintain a journal in which they will
respond to the weekly reflection questions given at the end of each chapter of the book:
Globalization: The Transformation of Social Worlds. Four journal entries of 400 words
each should be submitted. For each journal entry, you can select TWO questions from a
chapter. Each entry is worth 5% to the total of 20% of the overall grade. All four journal
entries are due on or before: March 27, 2017 in class.
Midterm Exam (in class): March 1, 2017: The midterm exam will consist of two parts.
The first part will consist of short answer questions while the second part will consist of
an essay question (students will answer 1 of 3 questions, 3 4 pages). The mid-term
exam covers all lectures, readings and films from the first day of class to February 27,
2017. (25% of total grade)
Final Exam, 8:30 am April 7, 2017. The three-hour final exam will consist of three
parts. The first two parts will consist of short answer questions while the third part will
consist of an essay question (students will answer 1 of 3 questions, 3 4 pages). The
Final term exam covers all lectures, readings and films from the first day of class to the
last day of class. An exam study guide will be posted on our BB site on March 27 2017.
(30% of total grade)
Short Research Essay: 6-7 pages, typed and double- spaced (1,500- 1750 words),
excluding references. The essays must have a minimum of six sources of books and
journal articles. Two Internet sources are permitted but absolutely NO Wikipedia.
Essay topics:
1.

Select from the following list ONE object, activity or service that is important and

essential to our life:

The kind of full time/part time work you engage in for wages
The kind of food you like to eat
Brand of clothing you like
Political or community involvement or volunteering
A public service that you rely on (education, health etc)
Research the way that object/activity/service has been shaped by the processes of
economic, cultural and/or political globalization.
2.
Discuss Canadian Aid to developing countries. Does it make any difference in the
poor peoples lives?
3.
What are anti-globalization social movements? How do they organize, operate
and create change?
4.
Students are also welcome to select their own topic. The topic should have
relevance to the course and must be approved by the Instructor/ Teaching Assistant. The
essay is due on Tuesday April 11, 2017. Please submit your essays to the Instructor or to
the TAs. (25% of total grade).
Required Reading:
1. Globalization: The Transformation of Social Worlds. Edited by Stanley Eitzen and
Maxine Baca Zinn. Wadsworth, CENGAGE learning.2012. (Available in the
Bookstores).
2. On line journal articles. Most of the links are given in the reading schedule. Some
of the articles you need to locate. Some of the articles will be available as PDFs in
the course BB site. Please check the BB site regularly for any updates.
Suggested Reading:
Manfred Steger, Globalization: A Very Short Introduction (London: Oxford University
Press, 2009).
Web Resources for your Essay and general reading on globalization:
Please visit: http://www.globalpolicy.org/globalization/links-and-resources-onglobalization.html
I encourage students to look for books, documentaries and journal articles in addition to
the ones I have suggested above. Jennifer Soutter at the Leddy library will help you with
materials and research: jsoutter@uwindsor.ca

Class Schedule/Readings
Week 1: January 9, 2017
Introduction: Globalization, Development and Social Change.
Reading Chapter 1 in Globalization: The Transformation of Social Worlds
(hereafter GTSW).
Week 2: January 16, 2017: History of Globalization
Reading:
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/11/opinion/snapshots-of-globalizations-firstwave.html?_r=0
Globalization and its History:
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu.ledproxy2.uwindsor.ca/doi/10.1086/511251
The above article is a review article of several useful books.
Week 3: January 23, 2017: Theories of and debates in Globalization
Reading: Chapter 2 in GTSW
We will be studying the following theorists: Anthony Giddens, David Harvey,
Saskia Sassen and Richard Falk.
Week 4: January 30, 2017: Economic and Political Globalization
Reading: Chapters 4 and 5 in GTSW
The IMF story:
50 years is Enough
http://www.50years.org/institutions/

Week 5: February 6 ,2017: Transnational Corporations and Globalization

Reading:
Transnational Corporations: How to control them? See:
http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/theenvironment/general-analysis-on-the-environment/49383.html
Film: The Corporation (selected episodes).
Week 6: February 13, 2017: Cultural Globalization.
Reading: Chapter 6 in GTSW
Liza Featherstone, Si Se Puede, in Antipode 36 (2), special issue on
Geographies of Anti-Sweatshop activism, March, 2004: 198-202.
Also Available as a PDF file on the course BB site.

Week 7: February 20, 2017: READING WEEK. No Classes

Week 8: February 27, 2017: Midterm exam in class
Week 9: March 6, 2017:
Development, Globalization and Gender
Reading: Chapter 7 in the GSTW
Week 10: March 13, 2017: Globalization from Below and Social Change
Reading:
Fair Trade and the International Moral Economy: Within and Against the
Market, CERLAC Working Paper Series, York University, June 2003: 1-9.
Available online;
Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke, Who Owns water?, Fight-Back in
Bolivia, and water Apartheid in The Nation, September 2, 2002;
Available
online
Week 11: March 20, 2017: Globalization and Transnational Migration
Reading:
Chapter 2 in GSTW
Week 12: March 27, 2017: Globalization and Resistance: Anti-Globalization Movement
and rethinking Globalization.
Reading:
Chapters 8, 9 and 10 in GSTW
Week 13: April 3, 2017: Review/ Totorials