From political movements to technological advances to representations of race, capitalism influences everything. Explore its power.
The Global Capitalism Integrative Pathway will cultivate critical thinking on the topic of capitalism as a social, economic and cultural form. Students will explore the historical origins and dynamics, social structures, lived experiences of, challenges to, and power of capitalism in a broad range of global and local contexts and across multiple media. The Pathway provides opportunities for students to explore the ways in which capitalism influences cultural representations and contestations, political institutions and movements, social inclusions and exclusions, technological and scientific advancements, and the dynamics of production, commerce and exchange. Themes include the environment, sustainability, the production and consumption of knowledge, dispossession, ecology, gender, identity, imperialism, labor, migration, representation, race and social movements.
While students construct their own animating questions, some possible examples include:
- Is it possible to escape the colonial gaze in museums honoring the history of indigenous peoples?
- How does global capitalism promote or discourage democratic representation in the United States?
- How has capitalism impacted colonized peoples' public health and access to care?
- Does capitalism foster social mobility as advertised in the “American Dream?"
- Is it possible to eliminate the class inequalities generated by capitalism?
- How can government policy exacerbate or mitigate the negative effects of global capitalism?
- Is a truly sustainable food system possible under a global neoliberal economy?
- How has literary production derived from a global capitalist culture represented black women?
- How do capitalist institutions perpetuate the “culture of poverty”?
