• Discuss the implications of globalization as a context for business and organization.
• Define, discuss and compare the concepts in globalization studies, introduced in the course.
• On the basis of a journalistic text on a current issue, formulate a research problem, select readings from the course literature and apply them in an academic analysis.
• Distinguish between theoretical conception and empirical description.

The course is designed to integrate with parallel courses in British and American studies, and French, German and Spanish/Spanish American studies.

The course consists of 12 lectures that introduce students to globalisation debates as well as three workshops, each of them three days, in which the students will be trained in problem-oriented research within the subjects taught in the lectures. The course is roughly divided into three modules, following an introductory lecture which addresses key concepts from globalisation debates such as globalisation and localisation, proximity and distance, homogenisation and heterogenisation, and hybridisation:

• Cultural globalisation and media, focusing on different conceptions of globalisation, the transformation of identity and the role of traditional and new media.
• Political globalisation, highlighting the notion of territoriality, the shifting role of state and non-state actors, activism and transnational organising.
• Economic globalisation, focusing on changing forms of production, business practice and consumption.

Globalisation is a contested concept. It has been vividly discussed by economists, political scientists, sociologist, anthropologist and geographers and other academics since the 1990s, echoing classical problems and discussions in social theory. As concept, globalisation has also become popularised and is being used strategically by various social actors across the globe, including politicians, business, media and social activists operating in various regional, national and local settings.

Globalisation typically refers to profound transformations taking place within and across contemporary societies, challenging conventional distinctions between the public and private, the national and international, the global and local. It raises important questions about sameness and difference, that is, whether we a moving towards a more homogenous world or the opposite. It addresses shifts in the power of business and states, the rise of new technologies and changing patterns of economic production and consumption at the local, regional and global levels. Globalisation also relates to the construction of knowledge, identity, interaction and social bonds, including to the role of the media in changing our experience of proximity and distance. Globalisation can have very different expressions in different societal contexts. And, depending on the theoretical perspective and the moral position we choose to take, the causes and effects of globalisation can be understood, discussed and acted upon in very different ways.

This course provides an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of globalisation studies. In particular, it provides a foundation for linking important concepts from globalisation debates to the area studies components of the BLC programme, as well as to the subjects taught in other courses, including individual and group projects. Part and parceling this, the course also provides students with basic methodological skills, such as developing a research question, with a specific view to conducting small-scale empirical investigations while drawing on basic concepts of the course.