Globalization and Society

This course analyzes how globalization and the transportation and telecommunications revolutions that underlie it are transforming society. The changing scales of economic and political activity and organization have had dramatic consequences on the experiences and opportunities of both corporate and individual actors. Networks (Castells) and Re-scaling (Brenner) are probably the two concepts that best synthesize these on-going transformations.
The concept of 'networks' captures the transformations in the organization of production and distribution of goods and services in capitalist economies and the emergence of new networks of solidarity between capitalists, workers, and other groups of citizens (expressed both as organization, mobilization, and inter-personal interaction) which transcend old nation-state boundaries. Global networks are also the highways on which flows of persons (old and new migrants ago) increasingly move between countries in search of new opportunities for economic advancement and personal self-fulfilment.
The concept of 'Re-scaling' encompasses the changing geographic scope of economic and social activity and the subsequent changes in the economic roles of cities, regions, and nation-states.
The course not only provides an overview of the social transformations captured by the terms 'Networks' and 'Re-scaling' but also of their impact on the citizens' experiences, patterns of consumption, and identity, and, consequently, on the reception that these changes have among the population.