全球华力量分析1) INTRODUCTION.pptVIP

HELLO! Welcome to a course that doesn’t exist in this form anywhere else in the world. GLOBAL FORCES IN A CHANGING WORLD …A study of world cultures from global perspectives What is happening in our world? Change is coming at us very quickly. What we counted on yesterday may not even exist today. What is happening to me, my family, my friends, and my culture? What lies ahead for my society? Where will my society be in 20 years…50 years? Will the world be different in 20 years… 50 years? Is that a trick question? This course is an attempt to interpret our changing world. Anyone who says they know what is happening is either 1) a non-human higher power who does know what is happening, 2) lying, or 3) a fool who thinks he/she knows but doesn’t. To paraphrase Christopher Farrell, The signs of a great transformation in world history are all around us. Chinese capitalists… Russian entrepreneurs... Internet pioneers… all of us are groping to understand what’s going on. We are all groping… hands extended, carefully feeling our way through life, not knowing for sure what’s out there. When I first began thinking about this course, I was very excited. Then I became anxious. I had this general idea of what this course would be, but I couldn’t put my arms completely around it. I quickly realized that this course is much bigger than I am… that I was developing a course for which there is no model… that I was on my own. I don’t know what’s happening. I am a PhD sociologist, but I am just a simple human struggling to understand the world around me. I invite you to join me on a journey in this course. MAIN POINTS FROM THE SYLLABUS I shall cover the most important points in the course syllabus and ask you to read all the boring parts of the syllabus yourselves. Thanks. COURSE DESCRIPTION … 1) analyzes periods of cultural development with a special emphasis on recent culture change and global integration (globalization) and 2) analyzes and compares the