Programme overview

Learning goals

After successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Discuss theories and empirical research on globalization and migration
• Analyse the impact of globalization on global migration patterns and vice versa
• Summarize and present theories and the results of scientific studies on the economic, cultural, political and social aspects of globalization
• Apply theoretical insights from the globalization literature to a case study on or ongoing debate around migration
• Research and write a paper about a subdimension of globalization and its impact on migration

Course description:

Globalization, understood as the massive increase in flows of goods, services, ideas and people across borders and the widening and deepening of global interconnectedness and interdependence between places, is without a doubt among the most profound societal transformations of the last centuries. By definition, globalization is a transnational, boundary-crossing process that depends on the mobility of not only capital, but also labor. Technological and technical advances have created communication and transportation networks that allow for unprecedented levels of human mobility for transnational elites. Yet, paradoxically, the situation of refugees and ‘undesirable’ migrants is characterized by immobility despite these advances. We will therefore investigate how (im-)mobility is produced, experienced and governed in a globalized world.
 
In this course, we explore the intricate and complex relationship between globalization and migration in further detail. We draw on insights from the sociological literature on globalization to grasp how global migration brings about changes in various spheres of social life. First, we review sociological theories on the meaning of ‘globalization’ as a process of societal transformation. Next, we investigate the effects globalization has had on the scale, composition and dynamics of migration patterns and, vice versa, how migration has facilitated global change. In the remaining sessions, we further dissect and examine the relationship between globalization and migration by zooming in on its economic, cultural, political and social dimensions.
Throughout, we learn to consider how globalization at times operates as a force of universalization and homogenization and, at other times, as a force of polarization and heterogenization. Globalization can lead to the formation of integrated labour markets, cosmopolitan cultures and transnational social ties, but it can also give rise to global inequality, localism and right-wing populism. Both the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ of globalization are considered in this course, ranging from hyper-mobile transnational elites to immobilized undocumented workers. Rather than solely conceiving of globalization in trans- and supranational terms, we will also explicitly investigate how globalization manifests itself at the local level.