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Course Description

Summary

The world is changing rapidly in the 21st century, but what shape is it taking? People are on the move, spurred by shifts in the global economy, political systems, communication and technology. What is the effect of such change on human cultures and the environment? We begin by exploring some of the principal historical and contemporary drivers of change: the development of global capitalism, colonialism, postcolonialism, and the altering relationships between markets, states, and civil societies. Questions of power and inequality are central to this inquiry, as are neoliberalism, deindustrialization, flexible accumulation and the instability of financial markets. Using salient conceptual frameworks, we will explore change by analyzing its effects in different communities, investigating links between workers and consumers; mobility of capital and migration patterns of people; state sovereignty and militarization; international nonstate actors; mobilization of civil society; gender roles and social stratification; kinship systems and transnational families; religious fundamentalism; mass media and transnational subjectivities; democratization and human rights; and global justice movements.