LundU: Globalisation and Social Change

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2014:

Online

Admission into the D-GLOBISS Diploma in Global Issues.

For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability
Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage
Policy, academic requirements for this course are articulated in the Course Description, Course
Objectives and Generic Skills of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to
those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found
at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

The aim of the course is to present major social scientific concepts referring to trends and problems of the current transformation of societies throughout the world. The key concepts are globalisation and social change. The concepts should enable the students to better understand causes, processes and consequences of globalisation of all major action spheres of societies. The core-module is divided into three parts: a/ Modernisation. b/ Globalisation and social change in different parts of the world. and c/ Prospects of globalisation processes. The first part refers to the concepts surrounding modernisation in a long-term perspective: the emergence of modern states and nations, industrialisation, urbanisation, the development of democratic governance and welfare states. The second part focuses on globalisation processes in the world after the Second World War: changes between different phases of capitalism and between socialism and capitalism. The last part discusses how the systematic comparison of common features and differences in current development of societies in the world opens new vistas to the explanation and management of social processes.

On the completion of the course, students shall:

• have acquired knowledge about research problems, theoretical traditions, and research results in the study of globalisation and social change in a comparative perspective;
• be able to apply the acquired knowledge in studying specific globalisation processes;
• be able to formulate a relevant research problem in the area covered by the course, and have the ability to theorise, generalise and discuss this problem;
• be able to follow the development of knowledge on globalisation and social change;
• be able to contribute to a common learning environment and to the group dynamic aspects of learning.

The course commences with a series of seminars online, that introduce and analyse the relationship between globalisation processes and contemporary cultural changes. Collaborative and comparative learning, students from different countries forming collaborative learning groups, is one of the pedagogical principles of the course. As part of the learning process the student shall read, discuss and comment on each other’s assignments. The assignments consist of a minor comparative "field study", individually written papers, group assignments and active participation in virtual seminars. Examination will take place continuously during the course. Re-examination will be offered after the end of the course.

A list of readings will be provided at the start of the course.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Transcripts are sent from the international partner university approximately six weeks after the completion date of the course, therefore students are advised not to take this subject in the final semester of their undergraduate program if they wish to graduate in the December ceremonies.

Due to the varied grading schemes used by partners teaching into the U21 Diploma in Global Issues grades will be scaled according to the University of Melbourne standards using the grading scale online at http://www.mobility.unimelb.edu.au/outbound/u21/gip

Please note this subject has non-standard teaching and census dates.

Teaching dates: 20th January 2014 to 23rd March 2014
Census date: 7th February 2014