Critically compares and contrasts the different perspectives offered by social scientists in different themes of globalization
Research Essay – Understanding Globalization
Research Essay
The assignment is a research exercise/essay which is intended to:
- present you with opportunities to define a topic and to carry out study in an area that relates to a central theme of the course and is of interest to you;
- encourage you to make systematic searches for, and use of, the growing body of secondary research material available on internet, and of electronic resources held in the library.
Choose two of the broad themes of contemporary society–information society; risk; consumerism; urbanism; global ‘love’ – and write an essay that:
- Critically compares and contrasts the different perspectives (e.g. in terms of differences and/or similarities in the areas or scope of studies, the arguments and analyses put forward to critically explain the phenomena under study; the methodologies used to generate data; the theories deployed; the historical perspectives, etc) offered by social scientists in TWO different themes of globalisation;
- Uses these insights to discuss how the TWOof the topics of Understanding Globalisation manifest and ‘play out’ in Aotearoa New Zealand. For this section you will have to research/ source academic articles and/or other valid sources e.g. newspaper reports that discuss the topic in relation to local circumstances. You are encouraged to draw on and critically reflect on your lived experiences PRIMARILY IF these can be ‘substantiated’ as having wider sociological relevance as evidenced by associated academic research, government policy, newspaper reporting, etc. If, however, your lived experiences have not be ‘substantiated’ in this manner, you can still discuss, but you need to also critically consider why these may have escaped the attention of academics, news media, government policy makers, etc.
The main point of this exercise is for you to connect analytical and theoretical material covered in the course to research/ policy making/ reporting etc that focuses on local developments or situations (including potentially, your own lived experiences).
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