Globalization and Social Divisions

The course examines how social diversity and inequality are produced, understood, and enacted in the context of growing global integration. It will explore how existing social arrangements create and maintain social differences among people - social class; race and ethnicity; age, gender and sexuality; citizenship and nationality - and are influenced by cultural, economic and political processes that are increasingly spanning across borders. Analyzing the implications of global forces, relations, and institutions - e.g. the media and cultural industry, tourism, religion, social movements and the human rights regime - will help students understand why the social construction of diversity and inequality today should overcome the "methodological nationalism" that often characterizes the study of social divisions. Instructor: Paola Bonizzoni