Eric Schlosser, "Global Realization" and:

• Malcolm Gladwell, "The Power of Context"
• Beth Loffreda, Selections from Losing Matt Shepherd: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder.
• Martha Nussbaum, "Women and Cultural Universals"

For more assignment ideas involving this essay, please visit the Schlosser link-o-mat.

Schlosser and Gladwell: The Context of Globalization

In his essay about crime in New York, Malcolm Gladwell provides a conceptual framework for the study of cultural change, the “power of context.” In your essay, I would like you to consider how Gladwell might use his theory to explain the “global realization” discussed by Schlosser. Use the “power of context” to develop an argument about the cultural changes that have accompanied globalization.

As you construct your argument, consider the following questions:

How do the central issues in Gladwell’s essay – behavioral change and environmental context – contribute to our discussion of globalization? Gladwell writes about local contexts, but how can we imagine thinking about context in connection to Schlosser’s global culture?

It is probably relatively easy to imagine the sudden and ubiquitous nature of McDonald’s being the consequence of a “tipping point,” but think also about Gladwell’s argument that small changes in context can alter human character. What does this suggest to you about how we should understand Schlosser’s argument about the cultural effects of globalization?

To see the rest of the assignments in this sequence, please visit our sample sequences page.)

Piper Kendrix Williams

Back to top

Schlosser, Loffreda, Nussbaum, and : Moving from Individual Cases to a Theory about Globalization

From one perspective, globalization seems benign, even positive. After all, no one forces people to eat at McDonalds, or to watch American movies, or to wear American running shoes. We might argue that when it exports hamburgers and Coke to other countries, the U.S. also exports democracy, the rule of law, free markets, technological progress and so on. From another perspective, however, globalization might be viewed as a form of cultural imperialism, and possibly also a precursor to economic and political imperialism. It is quite likely right now that 17-year-olds in Tokyo know more about the U.S. than they do about their own culture and history. By contrast, while many people in the U.S. know all about the latest "reality" shows, the majority are probably incapable of finding Japan on an unlabeled map.

Of course, these are not the only ways to view globalization. Some observers might argue that globalization will produce a richly diverse world society. These people might point out that just as American culture flows into places like India and China, so the values and outlooks of other societies flow into the U.S. as well. One good example of this cultural reciprocity is the "world music" scene.

For your final paper, I would like you to make an argument about globalization, using as your primary evidence the texts by Loffreda, Nussbaum, and Schlosser. You may also draw on other information at your disposal, including personal experience, but you should make detailed use of all three texts. You do not have to argue "for" or "against" globalization: you may also choose, instead, to explore the complexities.

For the rest of this assignment sequence, see the Universal Human Rights, Globalization, and Social Change sequence.

Back to top