SOC 301: Topics: Globalization, The Long View
1-3:50 Wed Asbury 117
DePauw University
Fall 2007 Professor Thomas Hall
 Office:  106 Asbury, x 4519, email:  thall@depauw.edu
WEB: http://fs6.depauw.edu:50080/~thall/hp1.htm
 OFFICE HOURS:  Tu & Th 1:15 - 3pm; W 4-5pm; & by appt
Last Updated Sunday December 02, 2007
Study Guide for Final

The Final will consist of 4 question, the total exam is worth 25% of your grade.  For weighting of class activities see Grading and Attendance.

1. Compare and contrast the explanations for globalization provided by Sklair, World-Systems Analysis [Wallerstein], and Robinson. Be sure to address origins of globalization, processes of globalization, and possible futures.
NOTE: not all these theorists actually address ALL these issues so for some your comment might be: “X does not discuss topic Y.”

2. What insights do we gain into contemporary globalization from study older processes of globalization or “globalization-like” processes in "pre-modern," that is, before ca. 1450 CE? Be sure to discuss Hobson and Liu & Shaffer.

3. We have seen many arguments about globalization and who benefits and who is harmed by it. List and justify what you consider to be: 1) the top three benefits of globalization; 2) the top three harms of globalization. Based on the readings and analyses and discussion in this term, then: 1) make suggestions how the benefits of globalization might be more widely spread, or shared, or if already global made even better; and 2) discuss how these harms might be eliminated or at least abated.

4. From most of our readings it is clear that globalization has many insalubrious consequences, some intentional, some unintentional, many unforeseen. What are some of the ways people have reacted to, and tried to limit these unhappy consequences? In your REASONED analysis how likely are these efforts to be?
NOTE: The point is reasoning, NOT want you want to happen, but what you think or argue it might actually happen.

5. In the debates over globalization and resistance to it, a discussion emerged about whether one can oppose globalization locally or only globally. Clearly, too, the local and the global are linked. How then should people work to control the harmful effects of globalization [which includes specifying what those harms are, and for whom]? You should draw on at least Sklair, Robinson, and Lechner & Boli in formulating your answer.

6. Tip O’Neill once said “all politics is local.” All the world-systems analysts say that failure to attend to system level processes will lead to incomplete understanding of globalization. How can these seemingly contrasting views be reconciled? or if not, why not?

7. When did globalization begin? This requires that you define what you mean by globalization and that you comment on the evidence in the readings, especially Hobson and Liu & Shaffer, lectures, and also Wallerstein. The point here is NOT which time you pick, but your reasoned defense of your selection.

8. Sklair, Wallerstein, Robinson, and Hobson, present theories of globalization. Which ones are best for explaining the ORIGINS of globalization? Which ones are best for predicting future directions of globalization?  For both WHY & HOW?

9. How does the study of silk road trade and study of Asian origins of many inventions help us to better understand contemporary, that is this decade, globalization processes?

10. Some one claims, " the silk road traffic was long ago," and further claims that even if many "inventions" originated in Asia it was Europeans who put them to work. How might you refute those claims. Note: this is to be an intellectual, fact-driven, commentary, not baseless opinion of fistacuffs!

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