CSOC 26A04 - Sociology and politics of globalization

Many scholars and opinion-makers claim that the age of globalization, which started in the 1980s, is over after the COVID-19 pandemic and the advent of neo-nationalist and illiberal governments across the world. While these governments advocate trade tariffs and border walls, cosmopolitan ideals seem to have lost intellectual traction. Still the world has never been so connected through the internet, and the cross-border mobilities of capitals, goods and people are very close to all-time highs. This course will address the following questions: How much globalization is there – and how much was there in the past? What has fostered its unprecedented rise in the late 20th and early 21st century? What are the individual and collective costs and benefits of this process? What are the political controversies about it? Did globalization bring societies closer together or exacerbate existing cleavages?



DESCRIPTIF SEANCES DU COURS :

Classes

1. Globalization: A Multidimensional Concept While a popular concept, globalization can and must unpacked into several dimensions. Which ones?

2. Globalization in History: A Longue Durée View Historians are well-aware that humankind has gone through different periods of intensification of (relatively) long-distance connections. How did they start, how did they end?

3. Transnational Connections (I): Economic Exchanges International trade is the cornerstone of the last wave of globalization. Really?

4. Transnational Connections (II): Political Alliances Regional alliances and supranational organizations blossomed in the last wave of globalization. Will they decline after it?

5. Transnational Connections (III): Human Mobility For average individuals, globalization means transnational travel. For everybody?

6. Transnational Imaginations Globalization has coincided with the rise of the internet. And the rise of global culture?

7. Mid-term test

8. Global Cities: How Specific Is Globalization to Urban Spaces? Metropolis were there before the last wave of globalization. Or they changed in nature because of globalization?

9. Global Citizens: Are Denationalized Lives Possible? Did globalization weaken national identities and made (at least) some people real cosmopolitan?

10. Globalization and Inequalities: Which Relationship? Within-country inequality rose in the globalization age, but between-country inequality declined. How comes?

11. Contested Politics: Who are the Friends and Enemies of Globalization? Globalization is anathema to populists. With good reasons?

12. Global Society, Global Sociology: Epistemic Construct, Normative Utopia? Are nations the building block of human societies in our age or should we rather think human society as a planetary phenomenon?

Ettore RECCHI

Séminaire

English

Autumn 2025-2026

The course is designed to be interactive and will consist of lectures, class debates, and group work based on either online research or guided analysis of original datasets. Basic skills in data analysis (in R, Stata or SPSS) are welcome but not compulsory. Students will be assessed by their participation in class work and discussions (15%), one-two class presentations (15%), a mid-term test (20%) and a final test (50%). Attendance is compulsory; no more than two absences are admitted. Please note that weekly readings are compulsory and will be discussed at the beginning of class sequentially (i.e., at the beginning of class 2 we discuss the reading presented and listed under class 1).