Assignment
Before proceeding to this essay assignment, please review as necessary the module notes, readings and videos assigned during the previous activities of this module.
This activity will enable you to
• Understand the process of globalization and its consequences for societies, cultures, groups, and individuals.
• Identify social arrangements interpreted as unjust and articulate the implications for social
• policy and action.
• Interpret and evaluate individual and group differences and similarities and explain how they may be influenced by factors such as race, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, age, class, religion and/or disabilities (General Education Outcome #4.2).
• Evaluate leading international relations theories and assess their utility in explaining significant international political processes or events (Social Science International Relations Concentration Learning Outcome).
Read the following:
• Lechner and Boli (Eds.),(2015). The Globalization Reader (5th ed.):
o Introduction to Part I
o Chapter 4: Jihad vs. McWorld
o Chapter 5: The Clash of Civilizations
• Watch the movies
o "Jihad vs. McWorld (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site." [Video, 03:03 min]
o Samuel Huntington and the 'clash of civilizations' (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. [Video, 22:05 min]
• Read the lectures
In an approximately 750 word paper, not including the cover page, please write a well-argued essay that compares and contrasts the views of globalization expressed by Benjamin Barber and Samuel Huntington. In presenting and evaluating Barber's and Huntington's arguments, our essay should answer the following four questions:
• What are the features of "McWorld" and "Jihad" as described by the author?
• How does McWorld provoke and support Jihad?
• What does Barber find most threatening about globalization?
• How does Huntington's thesis support the fears of Jihad?