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NEW YORK CITY COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY
The City University of New York
School of Arts & Sciences
Department of Social Science
Course Outline
Course code: SOC 3301
Course title: The Emerging Global Society
Class hours/credits: 3 class hours, 3 credits
Prerequisite: ENG 1101 and one of the following: any Sociology course (SOC), ECON 1101 or HIS 1102
Pathways: World Cultures and Global Issues
Catalog Description: This course will explore the social, economic, political and ecological dimensions of the
globalization process. A number of issues related to global inequality will be discussed including population
growth, hunger and poverty, environmental degradation and the rise of ethnic conflicts.
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS*
Title: Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism
Author: Richard H. Robbins
Publisher: Allyn and Bacon
and
Title: Taking Sides: Global Issues
Author: Harf and Lombardi
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
* The textbook(s) used in a particular section will be chosen by the instructor.
COURSE INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES/ASSESSMENT METHODS
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Describe the various positions in the debate about
economic, social and cultural globalization.
2. Reflect about the positive and negative ways that
globalization affects your everyday life as well as the
everyday life of people in less affluent countries
around the world.
3. Discuss the growing interconnectedness of national
societies around the world.
4. Analyze the moral obligations that global
interconnectedness implies for the citizens of rich and
powerful countries like the USA.
5. Explore the connections between globalization and
ASSESSMENT METHODS*
Combination of exams including multiple choice and
short essay assignments, fieldtrip, lectures, discussions
of multimedia materials, in-class discussions, small
group workshops, and oral presentations.
Combination of exams including multiple choice and
short essay assignments, fieldtrip, lectures, discussions
of multimedia materials, in-class discussions, small
group workshops, and oral presentations.
Combination of exams including multiple choice and
short essay assignments, fieldtrip, lectures, discussions
of multimedia materials, in-class discussions, small
group workshops, and oral presentations.
Combination of exams including multiple choice and
short essay assignments, fieldtrip, lectures, discussions
of multimedia materials, in-class discussions, small
group workshops, and oral presentations.
Combination of exams including multiple choice and
modern capitalist society’s economic and
technological dynamism.
short essay assignments, fieldtrip, lectures, discussions
of multimedia materials, in-class discussions, small
group workshops, and oral presentations.
GENERAL EDUCATION LEARNING OUTCOMES/ASSESSMENT METHODS
LEARNING OUTCOMES
KNOWLEDGE: Demonstrate an understanding of the
concepts and theories deployed by sociologists in their
analysis of globalization.
SKILLS: Develop and use the tools needed for
communication, inquiry, analysis and productive
work.
INTEGRATION: Work productively within and
across disciplines.
VALUES, ETHICS, AND RELATIONSHIPS:
Understand and apply values, ethics, and diverse
perspectives in personal, civic, and cultural/global
domains.
* may vary slightly per instructor to suit their own needs
ASSESSMENT METHODS
Quizzes, exams, essays, class discussions, and oral
presentations, in-class small group work.
Combination of class discussions, oral presentations,
in-class small group work, essays, and exams.
Quizzes, exams, essays, class discussions, and in-class
small group work that draws on various resources in
sociology and other disciplines.
Combination of class discussions, oral presentations,
in-class small group work, and essays that engage
directly with the questions about values, ethics,
responsibility, and diversity.
SCOPE OF ASSIGNMENTS AND OTHER COURSE REQUIREMENTS*
Quizzes; midterm and final exams including multiple-choice and short answer questions; essay assignments;
participation in-class discussions; participation and contribution to small-group projects; oral presentations.
* may vary slightly per instructor to suit their own needs
Capstone Course Statement:
This course fulfills the LAA/LAS Associate Capstone requirement, though it can also be taken for other
requirements and electives. The City Tech LAA/LAS Associate Capstone is designed for students entering their
second year in the program. LAA/LAS Associate Capstone courses are meant to prepare students to continue
their studies in a bachelor's degree, third-year, or junior, level. In addition, Associate Capstone courses are
meant to help students develop an awareness of the importance of knowledge, values and skills developed in
general education courses; and to integrate this knowledge, these values and these skills into their advanced
academic study and professional careers. Please ask the instructor if you have any questions about what the
LAA/LAS Associate Capstone requirement entails.
FINAL GRADE DISTRIBUTION – elements and weight of factors determining the students’ grade*
Midterm exam: 20% of the grade
Final exam: 30% of the grade
Quizzes: 20% of the grade
Essay: 20% of the grade
Attendance/Participation: 10% of the grade
* may vary slightly per instructor to suit their own needs
GRADING SCALE
A
AB+
B
BC+
93-100
90-92.9
87-89.9
83-86.9
80-82.9
77-79.9
C
D
F
WU
WF
70-76.9
60-69.9
59.9 and below
Unofficial Withdrawal
Withdrew Failing
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY
Students and all others who work with information, ideas, texts, images, music, inventions, and other
intellectual property owe their audience and sources accuracy and honesty in using, crediting, and citing
sources. As a community of intellectual and professional workers, the College recognizes its responsibility for
providing instruction in information literacy and academic integrity, offering models of good practice, and
responding vigilantly and appropriately to infractions of academic integrity. Accordingly, academic dishonesty
is prohibited in The City University of New York and at New York City College of Technology and is
punishable by penalties, including failing grades, suspension, and expulsion. The complete text of the College
policy on Academic Integrity may be found in the catalog.
COLLEGE POLICY ON ABSENCE/LATENESS
A student may be absent without penalty for 10 percent of the number of scheduled class meetings during the
semester as follows:
Class meets
1 time/week
2 times/week
3 times/week
Allowable Absence
2 classes
3 classes
4 classes
It is the responsibility of the instructor to keep accurate records of every student’s attendance and to inform each
class orally and in writing of the applicable attendance policy during the first two weeks of class meetings each
semester.
Excessive Absence
If a student’s class absences exceed the limit established for a given course or component, the instructor will
alert the student that a grade of “WU” may be assigned. If a student remains officially registered for a course
and never attends that course, a final grade of “*WN” will be assigned. If the student withdraws officially from
the course, he/she will be assigned a grade in accordance with the existing withdrawal policy of the College.
Appeals
A student wishing to appeal the excessive absence status and the impending grade should request a meeting
with the chairperson of the department in which the course is offered. The chairperson will consult with the
instructor to render a decision. A student wishing to appeal a “WU” grade may do so through the Committee on
Course and Standards.
Lateness
It is the responsibility of the instructor to keep a record of lateness and to inform each class orally and in writing
of the lateness policy during the first two weeks of class meetings of each semester.
SAMPLE SEQUENCE OF TOPICS AND TIME ALLOCATIONS*
Week 1-2
Part I.
Introduction and Global Capitalism and the Making of the Consumer
Readings: Robbins, chapter 1 (pages 3-31)
Globalization defined
Globalization and the various spheres of social life (economy, politics, culture)
Introductory overview of the problems accompanying globalization (inequality, environmental degradation,
cultural homogenization, religious fundamentalisms, international conflict and terrorism)
Culture and Social Institutions
Consumerism as a culture
Nature vs Nurture and the social construction of human needs
Weber, Veblen and the connection between consumption and social status
The rise and distinctiveness of the consumerist way of life in modern capitalist society
These issues will be illustrated by reference to the book’s discussion of ‘Kinderculture in America: The Child as
a Consumer’. The discussion of Kinderculture will also raise the following issues:
The Role of Children in Capitalism
The Social Construction of Childhood
The process of socialization and its contribution to the construction of the consumer
Week 2-3
Global Capitalism and the Worker
Readings: Robbins, chapter 2, ‘The Laborer in the Culture of Capitalism,’ pages 32-58
The Structural Components of the Capitalist Economy
Commodities
Money
Labor Power
Means of Production
Production
The Cycle of Capitalist Production (the Interaction of Capitalism’s Structural Components)
Commodity Fetishism
Characteristics of the Global Working Class
Geographical Mobility
Segmentation
Discipline
Resistance
Proletarianization or the creation of a global working class
The Growth of Overseas Assembly Plants and the New International Division of Labor
Week 3
Taking Sides: Immigration to the U.S.
Readings: Harf and Lombardi, 212-231.
Contribution of Immigration to U.S Population Growth
Current vs Historic Levels of Immigration in the U.S
Impact of Immigration and Population Growth on the Environment
International Development as an Alternative to Immigration Policy
The Moral Dimension of the Immigration Debate
Impact of Open Immigration on American Culture
Assimilation and the Absorptive Capacity of the United States
United States: A Melting Pot or a Salad Bowl/Quilt/Mosaic?
Impact of Immigration on the Labor Market and Disadvantaged Groups in the United States
Week 4
Global Brain Drain
Reading: Harf and Lombardi, 236-245.
White-Collar/Professional vs Blue-Collar/Unskilled Migration
‘Brain Drain’ or ‘Brain Circulation’?
Source Countries and Destination Countries of Brain Drain
Reasons for the ‘Brain Drain’
The Role of U.S Higher Education in the Brain Drain
Moral Dimension of the Brain Drain Debate
Week 4-5
The Role of the Merchant, Industrialist and Capital Controller in the Rise of Global Capitalism
Reading: Robbins, chapter 3, pages 59-101
The Era of the Global Trader
International Trade Before Capitalism (A Trader’s Tour of the World in 1400)
The Economic Rise of Europe and its Impact on Africa and the Americas
Mercantilism
The Rise of the Trading (or Joint Stock) Company
Session 9: The Era of the Industrialist
The Industrial Revolution and the Reasons Behind it
The Role of the Textile Industry in Early 19th century Capitalism
The Debt of Early Capitalism to the Africa (slave labor) – Americas (cotton) – England (textile industry)
triangle
Imperialism
The Era of the Corporation, the Multilateral Institution and the Capital Controller
Corporation Defined
The Rise of Corporate Influence over Politics
Corporate Influence over Ideology and Culture: The Principles of Corporate Libertarianism
The Bretton Woods Regime of Global Capitalism and its Institutions (IMF, World Bank)
The Exhaustion of the Bretton Woods System and the Global Debt Crisis
Globalization Today: The Rising Power of Capital Controllers and Global Financial Markets
Week 6
The Role of the Nation-State in the Rise of Global Capitalism
Reading: Robbins, chapter 4, ‘The Nation-State in the Culture of Capitalism’, pages 102-130.
Nation and Nationalism
Weber’s Definition of the State
The Emergence of State Societies and Wittfogel’s ‘hydraulic theory’ of state development
The Transformation of States into Nations and its Instruments
Creating the Other
Language, Bureaucracy and Education
Violence and Genocide
Globalization and its Effect on State Sovereignty and the Westphalian inter-state system
Midterm Exam
Part II: Global Capitalism and its Problems
Week 7
‘The Problem of Population Growth’
Reading: Robbins, ch. 5, pages 133-162
Facts and Projections About World Population Growth
UN’s 1994 Cairo Conference on Population Growth
Malthus, the Neo-Malthusians and the Revisionist Response
The Case of India and China
Carrying Capacity
Malthusianism as Ideology
Demographic Transition Theory
Determinants of Population Growth and Decline
Population Growth in the Capitalist Periphery
Wealth Flows Theory and its Social Implication
Population Growth and Gender Inequality
Week 7-8
Hunger, Poverty and Economic Development
Reading: Robbins, ch. 6, pages 163-193
The Evolution of Food Production
Hunting and Gathering
Slash and burn or swidden agriculture
Irrigation or plow agriculture
Capitalism and Agriculture
The Neocaloric and the Green Revolution
The Anatomy of Famine and Endemic Hunger
Solutions to Poverty and Hunger
Economic development
Foreign Aid
Targeting Vulnerable Populations: The Grameen Bank and Microcredit
Field Trip to the United Nations
Week 8
‘Is Environmental Stress Caused by Increased Resource Consumption Rather than Population
Growth?’
Reading: Harf and Lombardi, 128-142.
Different perspectives on the population problem: the Affluent Global North vs the Poor Global South
The Holdren-Ehrlich Identity: Environmental Impact as a Function of Population, Affluence and Technology
Impact of Population Growth on Agriculture and Food, Environment and Resources, and Quality of Life
Actions for Slowing Population Growth
Week 9
Global Inequality and Disease
Reading: Robbins, ch. 8, pages 221-249
Disease as a Social as well as Biological Issue
The Health Implications of Different Forms of Human Society: From Hunting and Gathering to Agricultural
and Urban Societies
Disease and Environmental Change
AIDS and Globalization
Globalization and the spread of the disease
Global inequality and the social/geographical distribution of the disease as well as of the blame for the disease
Week 10
The Impact of Globalization on Women (1 session of 1h15min)
‘Rich World, Poor Women’, NOW with Bill Moyers (show aired on 9/5/2003). This show discusses the effects
of the IMF- and World Bank-sponsored ‘structural adjustment programs’ on the everyday lives of Third
World women, with special emphasis on the case of Senegal.
Meaning and Origin of the term Third World
Neoliberalism and the Washington Consensus
Financial deregulation
Privatization
Trade Liberalization
Structural Adjustment Programs and their Impact on Social Services, such as Education and Healthcare
Impact of Structural Adjustment Programs on Third World Women
Week 10-11
The Impact of Globalization on Indigenous People and Ethnic Relations
Reading: Robbins, ch. 9, pages 250-277.
Indigenous People Defined
Some Characteristics of Indigenous People
Ethnocide and its Stages
The Frontier Situation
Military Intervention
The Extension of Government Control
Cultural Modification Policies
Education for Progress
Economic Development
The Case of the Guarani or the Economics of Ethnocide
Ethnic Violence and its Causes
The Case of Rwanda
Week 12
Are Cultural and Ethnic Conflicts the Defining Dimensions of Twenty-First-Century War?
Reading: Harf and Lombardi, 364-389.
The Concept of Civilization
The Growing Significance of Cultural Identities and Conflicts in the Post-Cold War era
The Clash of Civilizations thesis
Localized Civilization Conflicts vs Conflicts Along the Fault Lines Between Civilizations
The Changing Relationship of the West to the Rest of the World
Colonialism and its Legacy
Modern Constructivist vs Primordialist Interpretations of Ethnic Identity
Week 12-13
Antisystemic Protest
Reading: Robbins, ch. 11, pages 311-336
The World Revolutions of 1848 and 1968
Labor Protest: The Case of Coal Miners in Nineteenth-Century Pennsylvania
The Struggle for the Right to Form Unions
The Employers’ Efforts to Destroy Worker Resistance
Global Feminist Resistance
Gender Relations in the Culture of Capitalism
Strategies of Protest
Ecological Resistance Movements
Earthfirst!
Garrett Hardin’s ‘Tragedy of the Commons’
The Chipko protest
Describe the different types of anti-systemic protest that capitalist globalization generates
Debate the validity of the criticisms raised by each of these movements
Discuss the possibility of an alliance between labor, feminist and ecological anti-systemic movements
Week 14
The Rise of Religion as an Antisystemic Force
Reading: Robbins, ch. 13, ‘The Global Challenge of Antisystemic Religious Protest’, pages 337- 339 and 346360
Weber’s Protestant Ethic Hypothesis
Religious Fundamentalisms as anti-systemic movements
Characteristics shared by religious fundamentalisms
Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic Fundamentalism in Iran
Protestant Fundamentalism in North America
The Emergence of Fundamentalism in North America
Variations in Doctrine
The Contest between Liberation Theology and Protestant Fundamentalism in Latin America
Week 15
Review and Final Exam
Reading: ‘Is Globalization a Positive Development for the World Community?’ (Harf and Lombardi, Taking
Sides, Debate 14, pages 252-262).
The Cold War International System and its Difference from the Emerging Post-Cold War Global System
The Economic Argument in Favor of Free Trade
The Connection Between Economic Globalization and the Advance of Communications and Transportation
Technologies
The Impact of the New Global System on the Relationship Between Nation-States, Nation-States and Global
Markets, and Nation-States and Individuals
The Impact of Trade and Capital Markets Deregulation on Inequality and Poverty
* may vary slightly per instructor to suit their own needs
Revised by Diana Mincyte, Ph.D.
Date: December, 2015