Deck 20: Globalization in a Changing World

Question 1

Samuel Huntington's controversial thesis contends that there is a clash of civilizations occurring. He argues that the sources of conflict between groups of people are primarily about:

A) access to natural resources
B) cultural issues that support civilizations
C) environmental degradation
D) domination through economic strength

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Jared Diamond's explanation of the collapse of Rwandan society:

A) focuses on ethnic rivalries that remain in Rwanda
B) emphasizes cultural and political explanations and minimizes environmental factors
C) emphasizes environmental factors and minimizes political and cultural factors
D) focuses on political instability

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following hold the perspective that regionalization within the world economy produces less integration and that national governments continue to play a vital role in the economy?

A) skeptics
B) hyperglobalizers
C) transformationalists
D) world systems theorists

Answer 3

A

Question 4

If hybridity in the global film industry is also true in the clothing industry, we might expect to see:

A) lower-quality clothing made from production processes that cannot be clearly traced or held accountable
B) fashion models from the global south
C) clothing styles that fuse, blend, and borrow from various cultures
D) one culture's clothing style become globally dominant

Question 5

Which of the following would argue that globalization is producing a borderless world in which national governments are no longer in control of their own economies, resulting in a loss of faith by their citizens?

A) skeptics
B) hyperglobalizers
C) transformationalists
D) postmodernists

Question 6

Globalization in the twenty-first century is:

A) an ongoing process that began centuries ago
B) different from earlier global movements because nation-states are now more independent than ever before
C) primarily a cultural phenomenon
D) a level of interconnectedness that is historically unprecedented

Question 7

Globalization has sparked the growth of organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the United Nations, all examples of:

A) international governmental organizations
B) transnational corporations
C) international nongovernmental organizations
D) globalized political institutions

Question 8

Which of the following would argue that compared with patterns of trade a century ago, the world economy is less global and more regionalized, meaning that trade and exchange happens only in a few geographic areas among a few groups?

A) hyperglobalizers
B) transformationalists
C) postindustrialists
D) skeptics

Question 9

The most far-reaching economic influence on social change in the modern world is considered to be:

A) the invention of the wheel
B) the invention of the printing press
C) industrial capitalism
D) democracy

Question 10

A sociologist conducts a study about the ways in which globalization produces "compression of time and space." Which setting is best for observing this process?

A) a call center in India that relies on Internet-based telecommunications infrastructure
B) a yoga class in Canada where yoga, an Eastern practice, is used as a fitness and beauty regimen
C) an impoverished village in Rwanda where the effects of the Rwandan genocide are still being experienced
D) a board meeting of an international governmental organization where power elites make decisions

Question 11

The most significant political factor in speeding up patterns of change in the modern world was the:

A) invention of the electronic voting machine
B) emergence of the modern state
C) commitment to less government involvement in social life and the economy
D) spread of democracy

Question 12

Which of the following believe that globalization is challenging the power of nation-states?

A) hyperglobalizers
B) transformationalists
C) skeptics
D) transitionists

Question 13

Many industrial workers have been unemployed and left without the skills required in a knowledge-based economy because of:

A) discrimination against factory and industrial workers
B) new types of education that train workers for the knowledge economy
C) long-standing employment patterns
D) global trade and new forms of technology

Question 14

According to the text, one of the next steps in the technology race is:

A) time
B) compression of space and time
C) nanotechnology
D) microtechnology

Question 15

Which of the following see the political structures of countries adapting to challenges from new forms of economic and social organization, which range from corporations to social movements?

A) skeptics
B) hyperglobalizers
C) transformationalists
D) postindustrialists

Question 16

A skeptic believes that globalization:

A) is having major consequences across the globe
B) has been occurring for more than a century and that its effects are overstated
C) is creating unprecedented levels of inequality and misery in the world
D) is largely coming to an end

Question 17

Why is writing considered key to the development of large-scale organizations, a major social change in human history?

A) Chiefs, lords, and monarchs were able to declare their power in permanent form (writing).
B) Ordinary people were able to communicate across greater distances of time and space.
C) Writing allowed for record-keeping, which is necessary for large organizations.
D) Elites gained literacy first, so they gained organizational power.

Question 18

Religion can be a cause of social change. Sociologists classify religion as a _________ cause of change.

A) political
B) premodern
C) cultural
D) secondary

Question 19

According to the text, social change is:

A) disruptive because for most of human history, societies did not experience social change
B) sometimes necessary but costly in terms of disruption to individuals and systems
C) present in all societies but is especially intense in the modern era
D) desirable because its benefits greatly outweigh its costs in almost all instances

Question 20

Transformationalists believe that globalization is a dynamic and open process that is subject to influence and change because:

A) it has been occurring for centuries and has been managed fairly successfully in the past
B) it is a decentralized, unpredictable, and contradictory process
C) multinational corporations will alter its patterns to serve their needs
D) interregional relations will alter its dynamics

Question 21

Sociologists who see an agenda in the spread of Western-made films and television programs that promote the West's political, social, and economic interests call this process:

A) hyperglobalization
B) cultural imperialism
C) Westernization
D) differentiation

Question 22

In terms of people's working lives, globalization makes it more likely that individuals will experience a:

A) stable job for life
B) work-related safety net consisting of employer-provided health care and retirement
C) self-made career path with several changes over their lifetime
D) higher earnings potential

Question 23

You are doing a study of globalization and inequality. In mapping the extremes of wealth and poverty, you compare the industrialized north with which region of the world?

A) internal poverty within the industrialized north
B) the entire continent of Africa
C) sub-Saharan Africa
D) the equatorial region

Question 24

As a result of globalization, humans now face risks created by the effects of their own knowledge and technology on the natural world, or:

A) external risk
B) manufactured risk
C) natural risk
D) hyperrisk

Question 25

According to Ulrich Beck, the hazards of the risk society:

A) are limited to environmental and health concerns
B) affect only those in the most affluent societies
C) are not restricted spatially, temporally, or socially
D) are largely controlled by new technologies

Question 26

While the government's response to Hurricane Katrina created a social problem, according to sociologists, the hurricane itself was a(n):

A) manufactured risk
B) external risk
C) health risk
D) transnational risk

Question 27

Which of the following is an accurate description of the relationship between the United States and the World Trade Organization?

A) The United States wields disproportionate influence on World Trade Organization policy development but is also subject to its decisions.
B) The World Trade Organization is an extension of the U.S. Congress and executive branch of government.
C) The United States has been able to wield its power and have the World Trade Organization approve all of its requests.
D) The United States has been the leader in the World Trade Organization in trying to place human rights issues above profit.

Question 28

According to the text, a "new individualism" is affecting people in their everyday lives in which:

A) tradition and custom are intensified
B) they must actively construct their own identities in an open and reflexive way
C) hybridization makes personal identity confusing
D) individualism is tied to local community in strong ways

Question 29

Organizations such as the World Trade Organization argue that liberalized trade regulations and reduced trade barriers will:

A) benefit developing countries
B) hurt developing nations
C) hurt developed nations
D) strengthen the nation-state

Question 30

Which of the following statements best characterizes the risks we now face as we enter a postindustrial age?

A) External risks are on the rise with the rise of climate change.
B) External risks are on the rise with the expansion of human-made activity.
C) We face an increase in both external and manufactured risks.
D) Manufactured risks are becoming more common than natural risks.

Question 31

A company that produces goods or markets services in more than one country is a(n):

A) nonprofit corporation
B) transnational corporation
C) international nongovernmental organization
D) transnational nongovernmental organization

Question 32

A manufactured risk differs from an external risk in that:

A) external risks are accidental and manufactured risks are man-made
B) external risks are environmental and manufactured risks are accidental
C) external risks come and go quickly and manufactured risks can last for some time
D) an external risk comes from the natural world and a manufactured risk is man-made

Question 33

What is President Trump's rationale for rethinking all trade agreements? He thinks that free trade agreements:

A) give U.S. funds to lesser developed nations, and charity is not appropriate for a government
B) cost Americans their jobs
C) make globalization intensify too rapidly
D) spark too much protest

Question 34

A central argument of Ulrich Beck's "risk society" is that:

A) technology makes people more likely to take individual risks
B) risky investments in the global economy seem more attractive than they really are
C) the decline of social traditions and institutions make risks more pervasive and more global
D) risky behaviors are attractive because they carry higher rewards

Question 35

Agricultural giant Monsanto is a leader in technology and the world's food supply. It is estimated that it has widespread influence on genetically modified crops because the amount of food sold in grocery stores that has some type of genetically modified ingredient is about:

A) 40 percent
B) 50 percent
C) 75 percent
D) 90 percent

Question 36

The relationship between globalization and inequality is that globalization:

A) appears to reduce inequality by expanding opportunities in the developing world
B) appears to increase inequality as people in developing nations benefit from new jobs
C) is not related to inequality because national political structures maintain consistent standards of living for their citizens
D) increases inequality as the expansion of global trade concentrates wealth within a small core of countries

Question 37

According to the text, the interdependence of a globalized world makes such environmental risks as global warming more likely but also makes it nearly impossible to find the:

A) precise causes
B) general causes
C) consequences
D) experts who can address the issues

Question 38

The consequences of the reorientation of people's thinking from the nation-state to the global stage include the fact that:

A) social responsibility extends beyond national borders, and people look to sources other than the nation-state to formulate their sense of identity
B) people have resisted the responsibility to help people who do not reside within their national boundaries
C) transnational corporations have been supporting branding through national boundaries
D) modern globalization differs from the past only in the intensity of interaction among nations

Question 39

An example of manufactured risk is the:

A) pummeling of Florida by four hurricanes in 2004
B) 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear disaster in Pennsylvania
C) November 10, 1975, wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior
D) release of smog and toxic gases by the eruption of Washington State's Mount St. Helens in 1980 and 2004

Question 40

The campaign for global justice:

A) is in favor of the policies proposed by the World Trade Organization
B) is opposed to sustainable development
C) is a movement to protest the World Trade Organization's emphasis on economic issues over human rights issues
D) argues that the World Trade Organization should do more to develop free markets in developing nations

Question 41

Some scholars suggest that what is occurring today is a transition to a new society. This new society may be called postindustrial or postmodern, the information society, the service society, or the knowledge society. Why do scholars use so many different terms? What general features of the future do all these terms have in common?

Question 42

An economic order in which those who work with information and knowledge fare best is known as a(n) ________ society.

A) industrial
B) postmodern
C) postindustrial
D) white-collar

Question 43

The observation that the number of service workers has been increasing since the industrial revolution is an argument against:

A) globalization
B) the postindustrial society thesis
C) the modernization thesis
D) the industrialized society thesis

Question 44

Describe an example of how hybridity is present in an object, food, song, or film with which you are familiar. Your description should include a clear definition of hybridity.

Question 45

The feature displacing the manufacture of material goods as the basis of the production system is the:

A) consumption of material goods
B) development and dissemination of information and knowledge
C) establishment of a worldwide banking and financial system
D) vast increases in importing and exporting

Question 46

Postmodernists argue that we have reached the end of history because:

A) human consumption will outstrip the world's resources within the next generation
B) technology will make recording history more difficult
C) we are losing the sense that the human past, present, and future has a coherent narrative
D) people would rather pursue consumerism and media images than actual knowledge of the human past

Question 47

The most essential type of employee in the postindustrial order, according to Daniel Bell, is a ________ worker.

A) blue-collar
B) pink-collar
C) white-collar
D) factory

Question 48

If you were to use Jared Diamond's framework from Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed to analyze political instability in the Middle East, what are two key questions you would ask? Explain how your questions are linked to Diamond's framework.

Question 49

What, in your view, is one of the most important social changes under way in the world today? Describe two key factors shaping this change (the physical environment, political organization, culture, economics).

Question 50

Protesters against the World Trade Organization claim that it:

A) is too inclusive
B) is more concerned with human rights than profits
C) is against the interests of the developed world
D) reflects only the interests of the richest nations

Question 51

Scholars are concerned that the nation-state is becoming ineffective in solving many contemporary problems because:

A) democratic organizations, such as those that dominate the world's nation-states, operate too inefficiently to cope with current problems
B) most are too cumbersome and large to eliminate problems efficiently
C) the proliferation of nation-states negates their ability to eradicate social and economic problems
D) modern problems are found worldwide and can easily spread across nation-state borders

Question 52

Jolee currently works at a clothing retailer in the factory outlet mall in her small rural town. She is going to night school at the local community college to learn computer programming, and she hopes to graduate with a degree in computer science. Jolee's experience reflects the ________ society.

A) service
B) industrial
C) education
D) transformation

Question 53

Those who would argue that we have come to the end of an era of human history are the:

A) postmodernists
B) postindustrialists
C) skeptics
D) transformationalists

Question 54

Identify one change in information flows, and explain how this change contributes to globalization.

Question 55

Which policy proposal reflects the social vision of deglobalization?

A) tax breaks that support small businesses
B) education policy that promotes athletics and the fine arts
C) international agreements that support local and regional decision-making
D) engineering programs that teach ethics and community responsibility

Question 56

List the three perspectives in the debate of whether globalization today is something new and extreme. Which perspective do you find most compelling, and why?

Question 57

Describe two ways in which globalization influences individualism and personal identity. Do you think these changes are good or bad? Why?

Question 58

What is the main issue over which skeptics, hyperglobalizers, and transformationalists disagree? Identify one key idea of disagreement, and explain the point of view of each group.

Question 59

An example of the World Trade Organization's ruling in favor of profits and against human rights is that it:

A) voted to allow Monsanto to dispose of chemical waste in Newfoundland Sound
B) insisted that European countries import beef from the United States, even though U.S. beef is treated with potentially carcinogenic hormones
C) demanded that African countries pay a tariff for importing generic drugs
D) asked the United Nations to send troops to protect WTO members against the onslaught of violent protesters

Question 60

The World Trade Organization's position on free trade is that it:

A) has actively supported free trade regulations among all countries
B) has supported free trade only in the area of intellectual property
C) insists that poor countries open their markets while industrialized countries maintain barriers
D) has insisted that developed countries eliminate any income support for farmers so that developing countries can export their agricultural goods

Question 61

What comes after modern industrial society? Make an argument for either postindustrial society or postmodern society as the society of the future. Justify your choice, and show an understanding of both types of societies.

Question 62

Describe three ways in which globalization influences the world of work. Do you expect these changes to make work better than in the past or worse? Why?

Question 63

If you were to create a society that would be dominated by one type of risk-external risk or manufactured risk-which would you choose as the dominant risk, and why? Your answer should reflect an understanding of both kinds of risk.

Question 64

Why does Walden Bello see the need to advocate against globalization? What does he mean by "deglobalization," and how would it have positive outcomes for society?