Experiencing Globalization: Society, Space & Daily Life in London

As a city with complex global connections, London has been enmeshed in deepening global social, political and ecological crises, as well as becoming an important arena of conflict over efforts to address them. This course critically explores these issues by examining the city's complex relationship with the forces of globalization and the ways in which everyday life and experience in London, as well as its people, institutions, and organizations, have been shaped by - and are contributing to - global change. Emphasis is placed on critically examining the effects of neoliberal globalization, the growing global dominance of projects promoting increasing freedoms for capital under the banners of "free markets" and "free trade." Theoretical and conceptual concerns are also addressed, such as relations between the local and the global, the workings of power and contestation under neoliberal conditions, the interplay of space, class, and gender, and questions of responsibility within and beyond the limits of community and place.