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 1-06-05
Welcome to SOAN 337

The catalog description of this course is:
What does “globalization” mean, and what does it mean for societies and people facing the onslaught of global corporations? This course examines the phenomenon of globalization from a variety of theoretical perspectives, ranging from neo-liberal economics to cultural anthropology. It analyzes how each of these works defines the causes of globalization and its effects on traditional cultures, community relationships, economic wealth and justice, and political institutions. To put these theoretical works in perspective, interspersed with them will be actual case studies of real people and real communities, ranging from Chinese cities to West African villages, interacting with the forces of globalization. These case studies will allow students to test the abstract analyses and see which theories fit reality. No first-year students are admitted.

UPDATE FOR THIS VERSION BY PROF. HALL:
While I will endeavor to cover the topics in the above description, I take a somewhat different view of globalization.  I argue that it has been going on for millennia -- ever since states were invented some 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia.  We will take a quick trip through world history to understand this point.  However, I ALSO ARGUE that globalization as conventionally discussed does have several new, and quite important "wrinkles" in the last few decades.  It is only by seeing earlier processes that we can come to understand what is truly new now, what is a variation on a theme, and what is a continuation of long-term trends.

For some idea about what this course will be about you might check out my Social Change course [Soc 323] at DePauw [http://fs6.depauw.edu:50080/~thall/323f03hp.htm].  The contents will be different, a few readings will repeat, but many are new [see Course Texts Page].  The overall course structure will be similar.  I will be updating other entries between now and the start of the term.

tom hall

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