B2871 - Culture and Globalization

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to investigate the role of culture in the global age. At the end of the course students will be expected to have an in depth knowledge of the theoretical and political debates on globalization/anti-globalization; to critically analyse the cultural theories and dynamics of globalization; to discuss topics such as identity, ideology, symbolic power and counter-power in our world society.

Course contents

The course will investigate the principal models for interpreting globalization, with particular reference to symbolic power, counter power, ideology and the cultural dynamics of globalization. Attention will focus on the following topics:

(i) the role of culture and ideologies in the world international system;

(ii) the dialectic of soft/symbolic power and counter-power in the global contemporary world;

(iii) the theoretical globalization/anti-globalization debate;

(iv) the debate over cultural identities in the global world; the destiny of national cultures; the cultural dynamics of globalization.

Readings/Bibliography

At the beginning of the lectures, you will find all the following texts uploaded onto the Virtuale Platform:

 

Part 1. Culture and Many Globalizations/Antiglobalizations

• C. Reus-Smit, Culture, in Id., International Relations. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2020, Ch. 7.

• D. Held, A. McGrew, Globalization / Anti-Globalization. Beyond the Great Divide, Polity Press, Cambridge 2007, Chapters 1, 8, 10.

• U. Beck, The Cosmopolitan Condition. Why Methodological Nationalism Fails, in «Theory, Culture & Society», 24, 2007, pp. 286-290.

• U. Beck, The Metamorphosis of the World, Polity Press, Cambridge 2016, pp. 3-21 (Chap. 1).

• I. Wallerstein, Culture as Ideological Battleground of the Modern World-System, in «Theory, Culture and Society», 7, 1990, pp. 31-55.

• M. Castells, Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age, Polity Press, 2nd edition 2015, pp. 1-19.

• J.S. Nye, Soft Power. The Means to Success in World Politics, PublicAffairs, Cambridge (MA), 2004, Ch. 1.

• P.L. Berger, Introduction: The Cultural Dynamics of Globalization, in P.L. Berger and S. P. Huntington (ed. by), Many Globalizations: Cultural Diversity in the Contemporary World, Oxford University Press, New York-Oxford, 2002, pp. 1-16.

• J. Nederveen Pieterse, Globalization & Culture, Rowman & Littlefield, London, 2020, Ch. 4.

• G. Ritzer, S. Miles, The Changing Nature of Consumption and the Intensification of McDonaldization in the Digital Age, in «Journal of Consumer Culture», 1, 2018, pp. 3-20.

• S. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations?, in «Foreign Affairs», vol. 72, 3, 1993, pp. 22-49.

 

PART 2. Identities and Cultures in the World System

• F. Fukuyama, Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2018.

• Sh. Benahbib, The Claims of Culture: Equality and Diversity in the Global Era, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2002, Chapters 1, 2.

• G. Crowder, Theories of Multiculturalism, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2013, Ch. 1.

• Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, MITT, Cambridge (MA), 2018, pp. 1-16 (Ch. 1), pp. 123-150 (Ch. 6).

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures and seminar classes.

All students should register to VIRTUALE.UNIBO.IT

Since the beginning of the course non attending students are kindly required to write to lorenza.gattamorta@unibo.it and inform about their status of non attending students.

Assessment methods

Attending students are required to do two written mid-term exams and to participate with a presentation+short paper in the seminars (the presentation and short paper should be on a topic of the Syllabus that will be agreed at the beginning of the course). Attending Students may sit one of the two mid-term exams as an oral exam in one of the exam sessions.

 

Non attending students should do an oral exam on the whole Syllabus + a paper of 4.000 words (bibliography and abstract included). Two weeks before the oral exam, they have to send the Paper to lorenza.gattamorta@unibo.it on a topic agreed with the Professor and related to a topic discussed in the Syllabus (the paper should show a methodology, an argumentation, the Author-Date system and a structure with: Title, Name and Surname of the Candidate, Abstract, 5 Key Words, Premise, 2 Paragraphs (each one with a title), Conclusion and Bibliography, Chicago Style (https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html#cg-journal ).

Teaching tools

Video-projector; Virtuale Platform.

Office hours

See the website of Lorenza Gattamorta