SOAN 337: Globalization, Culture, and Everyday Life
MW 1:20-2:35, Alumni 108
Colgate University
 Spring 2005 Professor Thomas Hall
 NEW Office:  B3 Alumni, x7042, email:  tdhall@mail.colgate.edu
 OFFICE HOURS:  M 4-5, TU 2-3, W 11-12, & by appointment
Last Updated 4-24-05
Study Guide for Final
COMPLETE LISTING

The Final will consist of 4 question, the total exam is worth 200 points out of 1000 total.  For weighting of class activities see Grading and Attendance.

1. Compare and contrast the explanations for globalization provided by Clark, Sklair, Chase-Dunn & Hall, and any two of Keohane & Nye, Robertson, Meyer et al., or Appadurai. 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? Be sure to discuss Hobson, Gunn, and several of the readings in Kasinec and Polushin.

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 of 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 ameliorated.

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 will happen.

5. In the debates over globalization and resistance to it, a discussion emerged about whether one can oppose globalization locally or 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 Clark, Sklair, and Lechner in formulating your answer.

6. Tip O’Neill once said “all politics is local.” Clark argues that we must shift to a global paradigm. All the world-systems analysts say that failure to attend to system level processes will lead to misunderstanding globalization. How can these seemingly contrasting views be reconciled? of if not, how and why not?

7. When did globalization begin? This requires that you define what you mean by globalization and that your comment on the evidence in the readings, especially Hobson, Gunn, Kasinec and Polushin, Sklair, Hall & Chase-Dunn. The point here is NOT which time you pick, but your reasoned defense of that selection.

8. Sklair, Clakr, Chase-Dunn & Hall, Hobson, and any two of Keohane & Nye, Robertson, Meyer et al., or Appadurai all 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?

Send comments or questions to tdhall@mail.colgate.edu
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