M ODERNITY AND G LOBALIZATION Gurminder K. Bhambra

R EVISION L ECTURE Week 19

E XAM R EVISION Context What background knowledge do you need to answer the question? Historical events? Standard sociology explanations? Critiques? Debates What are the key debates associated with this topic? What are the arguments for? Against? Conclusion What do I think about this topic?

W HAT IS M ODERNITY ? Historical background Political and Economic revolutions as indicated by the French and American Revolutions and industrialisation Sociological explanations Modernization theory Multiple modernities Postcolonial critique Debates / controversies Have we always been modern? Is modernity a linear, diffusion-ist phenomenon or a global one? Does modernity have global conditions of emergence?

I NSTITUTIONS OF M ODERNITY The French Revolution and the Modern State How does the French Revolution contribute to the idea of becoming modern? What is the relationship of the French Revolution to the modern state? Why is the state significant to modernity? Authority and Power – the French and American Revolutions How does political participation change? What is the significance of this new form of political participation to modernity?

I NSTITUTIONS OF M ODERNITY Industrial Capitalism and the Protestant Ethic How does Weber understand capitalism? Why is Protestantism important for Weber? Industrial Capitalism and Alienation How does Marx understand capitalism? What’s the difference between Marx and Weber?

S OCIOLOGICAL U NDERSTANDINGS OF M ODERNITY From Modernization Theory to Multiple Modernities What is modernization theory? What are the problems with modernization theory? What are multiple modernities? How does the theory of multiple modernities differ? Beyond Multiple Modernities What are the critiques of multiple modernities theories? How effective are these critiques?

M ODERNITY AS G LOBAL The Modern State as an Imperial State Why is it important to understand the modern nation-state as being an imperial state? Democracy – Inclusion and Exclusion How does a wider perspective alter what we might understand about the emergence of democracy? Industrialisation – Slavery and Colonialism What is the relationship of slavery and colonialism to the industrial revolution?

S OCIOLOGICAL U NDERSTANDINGS OF G LOBALISATION Why Globalisation Now? What is globalisation? How is it defined? When did it start? Why has it suddenly become important? Cosmopolitanism What is cosmopolitanism? What is its relationship to globalisation? Globalisation as Connections What does it mean to understand globalisation as connections? What does it mean for sociology?

G LOBAL C ONNECTIONS Trade, Global Economics, and Social Movements What is the relationship of social movements to global trade and economics? How does looking at the concerns of social movements alter the ways in which we might understand global trade and justice? The Transnational Family What are transnational families? What is their relationship to globalisation? Universal Human Rights What is the relationship of human rights to modernity? Why are they significant?

E XAM Q UESTIONS Read the questions – take your time – read them carefully Choose the questions you want to answer Plan your answer Answer the question asked, specifically Answer 3 questions The quality of your answer counts for more than the quantity of words Think about the question Answer the question Write legibly and neatly Answer the question

A SSESSED E SSAY Title Keep your focus on the question throughout the essay Introduction What are you looking at, why are you looking at it, how are you going to look at it Main body Clear, distinct sections, made up of paragraphs, each dealing with one theme; might use sub-headings Provide links between sections; give your essay direction Use evidence to back up your claims; reference Conclusion Reflect on the arguments you have put forward Consider the implications of what you have written Draw these points into a final concluding sentence

R EFERENCES To give information, to illustrate a point, to present a particular perspective, to present an argument or counter-argument Support your argument with more than one source Select examples from a range of sources Be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence used Why reference? To show that you have researched your material To acknowledge the source of the information used To distinguish between your ideas and the ideas of others To provide support to your ideas

R EFERENCES Harvard system The social scientists of the nineteenth century mostly operated with an idea of modernisation that endowed historical development with coherence (Iggers 1997). The general understanding of the modern world was thus premised on the idea of modernization as ‘a process of the global diffusion of Western civilisation and its key institutions’ (Wittrock 1998: 19). According to Bendix (1967), modernization theory rested on three related assumptions.

B IBLIOGRAPHY Book McLennan, Gregor Sociological Cultural Studies. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan Article Wittrock, Bjorn ‘Early Modernities: Varieties and Transitions’, Daedalus: Early Modernities summer 127 (3): Chapter in an Edited Book Spivak, Gayatri Chakrabarty ‘Post-structuralism, Marginality, Postcoloniality and Value’, in Peter Collier and Helga Geyer-Ryan (eds) Literary Theory Today. Cambridge: Polity Press Website Dimitrijevic, Nenad ‘Moral responsibility for collective crime’, Eurozine accessed 23 June

A CADEMIC C ONDUCT Plagiarism is when you intentionally pass off someone else’s work as your own, be it from a published source or from the web or from another essay (your own or somebody else’s!) If you’re using words, phrases, ideas from someone else – reference them

W EBSITES Academic writing course Undergraduate skills programme On referencing espublications/bib_cit/ On academic writing ez/resources/