F0817 Globalization and Multiculturalism

Generally recognized as a key feature of our times, globalization is often analyzed as a political phenomenon characterized by the supplanting of the nation-state and by the establishment of transnational communities (Brecher, Costello, and Smith, 2000; Nash, 2000), as a cultural phenomenon represented by the Westernization of culture and the emergence of local traditions at the global level (Latouche, 1996), and as a new historical phase whereby international migrations transform the global city into a fluid “melting pot” of diaspora communities, information technologies and transnational culture. Analysis of globalization might be undertaken from many perspectives. The goal of this class to shed light on the main cultural and economic aspects of globalization; explore the structural causes of urbanization and international migration; and reflect on, and become familiar with, the riches and the challenges of living in a global and multicultural society.

Specifically, the objectives of this course are: 1) to understand the major sociological theoretical perspectives dealing with the causes and consequences of globalization; 2) to study the impact of globalization across places and people; 3) to understand the social and economic consequences of urbanization, immigration and multiculturalism over different geographic contexts and population groups; 4) to help students confront themselves with the values and the challenges of diversity and multiculturalism.

This course is a journey around the world, envisioned to make you passionate about the history, the cultures, the traditions and the contradictions of different geographic areas.

It is divided into three sections.

Section one provides students with the background tools needed to understand the topic of globalization and multiculturalism. This part deals with different sociological perspectives on the causes and meanings of globalization. At the most generic level, globalization is simply defined by the shrinking of geographic space and the porousness of politically defined borders that accelerates flows of money, goods, people and culture around the world. Appadurai argued that “ethnoscapes, mediascapes, technoscapes, finacescapes, and ideoscapes” - flows in technologies, financial capital, information, and communication - have transformed the global society into a “melting pot” of peoples, cultures and Diaspora communities, and have contributed to create a multicultural society characterized by diversity and by new social relations between migrant communities and native communities. But what exactly are the forces that drive globalization and what does multiculturalism “mean”?

Section two looks specifically at issues of immigration, urbanization multiculturalism. Over the past decades, developments in global trade have led to the “emptying” and the “de-peasantization” of the global countryside (Araghi, 2001; 1995), and have pushed millions of farmers from the countryside to the global city. The percentage of the global population that lives in the countryside and works in agriculture has decreased from 82 percent in 1955 to 55 percent in 1995 (Araghi, 2001). According to Seabrook, for the first time in history half of the global population now lives in cities. The “global city” is a symbol of globalization (Sassen, 1991; 2001; 2005): the racial and cultural clustering of the global city reflects the global division of labor. The urban segregation within the global city reflects global divisions of race and class; the global city is a “space of flows” in which the dynamics of power and poverty, entrepreneurship and immigration, post-Fordism and post-industrialism, de-industrialization and tertiarization coexist and interact. How have globalization and multiculturalism transformed meanings and human interactions?

Section three is the core of our class and it looks at the specific effects of globalization and multiculturalism in different areas of the world. This section focuses on the history and traditions of , Africa, , South America, Europe and the , with the intent to substitute our stereotypical images of these countries with an in-depth analysis of their social and economic situation.

Devoting one to three classes to each area, we focus on the ways in which the movements of peoples, capital, goods, and ideas across national boundaries have led on one hand to a process of global integration, and on the other hand to heightened disparities in the access to resources and education amongst and within societies, and to cases of nation-states and world regions struggling to retain a sense of identity in the face of growing transnational influences.

In this section we compare challenges emerging from the urban processes in the peripheries, with issues arising in the urban development of the core. We examine the causes and effects of rapid urban change in the developing countries, focusing on cities such as Saigon and Beijing, New Delhi and \r\n Bombay . We study how the macroforces producing change in the countryside impel people to move to cities, and how and why certain groups experience the urbanization process differently. This section will help us reflect on the paradoxes and contradictions of globalization, and highlight how the global circulation of people, brands and ideas has homogenized cultural icons and hybridized local distinctiveness, while creating also a powerful thrust in the opposite direction. Indigenous peoples and local communities have reaffirmed their culture in the world arena and have created a “counter-trend” which challenges the hegemonic notion of globalization and emphasizes the importance of social traditions anchored in non-Western culture.