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Sociology 2:
Class 19: Globalization,
Culture, Identity 2
Copyright © 2008 by Evan Schofer
Do not copy or distribute without permission
Announcements
• No office hours on Thursday June 5
• Final exam: Tuesday June 10
• Midterm review sheet handed out last week
– Also on course website
• Format similar to midterm
• Topics: All course material… with main emphasis on
material covered after the midterm
• Final review sheet issue:
• “Boomerang effect” not on final
• Today’s Class: Globalization & Culture
• What is culture, and how does globalization affect it?
• Is culture/identity a source of conflict?
Review: Identity/culture
• Two views of identity/ethnicity/culture:
• 1. Primordial view
• Culture/ethnicity/identity is deeply rooted, fundamental
• 2. The “social constructionist” view:
Culture/ethnicity/identity are malleable: They
change over time and with social context
• People exhibit different identities in different contexts
• Identities disappear and return (or are “re-invented”)
• Political processes and social circumstances shape and
alter identities
• Research evidence favors this view…
Culture and Conflict
• Huntington: Cultural differences will lead to
global conflict: A clash of civilizations
– Issue: There are many bloody conflicts raging in
developing countries
• Westerners often attribute them to enduring ethnic
hatreds: sad but inevitable
• Some see them as hints of future “clash” of civilizations
– Responses
• Bowen: “The Myth of Global Ethnic Conflict”
• Hironaka: “Ethnic Conflict in Weak States”
– Focus: civil wars (not global conflict)
Perspectives on identity/culture
• Question: Do ethnic hatreds explain civil
wars?
• Hironaka’s Argument: No…
• Civil wars are a product of political struggle… made
worse by:
– Weak governments
– External funding & weapons that support conflicts…
• Emphasis on ethnic identity/conflict = a Western
stereotype… not at all describing what is happening “on
the ground”.
Perspectives on identity/culture
• Example: Katangan revolt in the Congo
• Typical account: war is result of “tribalism and ethnicity”
(p. 131, citing Young)
• Actually, Katangans aren’t an ethnic group!
• Katanga a province (like a US state) filled with many
different ethnic groups
– Often, the provincial borders split ethnic groups… which fought
on opposite sides
• Rather, the war was rooted in economics and politics
– For instance: Katanga was wealthy; they wanted to stop
people from migrating, taking jobs.
Perspectives on identity/culture
• Issue: Katangan war did help solidify the
“Katangan” cultural identity
• People began to be willing to “die for Katanga”
• But, it would be a mistake to assume that conflict was
caused by strong cultural identities
– Example: Cold War: I knew people in high school that wanted
to “Nuke those commie Russian bastards”
– Now, it seems odd/quaint…
• Even strong identities can dissolve; Or, be replaced by
others (e.g., desire to fight radical Islamic
fundamentalists).
Local Reactions to Globalization
• So, if globalization doesn’t inevitably lead to
ethnic conflict… what’s up with Al Qaeda?
– The general issue: How can we understand
reactions against the West?
Local Responses to Globalization
• Local reactions against Western culture,
imperialism:
• 1. Opt out. Ignore or shun the external culture
– Examples: Many indigenous groups, the Amish
• Historically most common. Arguably the most
“authentically” traditional response to outsiders
• Typical outcome: children abandon traditional culture;
traditional groups shrink or disintegrate
– Many traditional societies do not have strong institutions of
social control… can’t compete with Western education, media,
labor market.
Local Responses to Globalization
• Reactions against Western culture:
• 2. “Reactionary movements”: Social
movements that attack the system, offer an
alternative
• Examples: French social movement against American
food, popular culture; Some Islamic fundamentalists.
– Note: Some movements attack a specific (or symbolic) part of
the dominant culture. Others are total rejections of it.
• Examples from readings, personal experience?
Local Responses to Globalization
• Kurzman reading: “Bin Laden and other
Thoroughly Modern Muslims”
• Argument: There are two kinds of reactionary
movements: “Traditional” and “Modern”
– Traditional Reactionary Movements:
• Ex: The Taliban in Afghanistan
– Mostly fight to get outsiders to leave
• Usually organized by actual indigenous people
– Participants are usually local
• Not very common…
Local Responses to Globalization
• Kurzman reading: (cont’d)
– “Modern” Movements:
• Ex: Bin Laden & Al Qaeda
– Typically organized by highly educated people
• More like a social movement
– Sophisticated use of media, etc…
• Not really a very “local” response at all…
• Argument: These are modern social movements.
“Modern” Anti-Western Movements
• “Modern” anti-Western movements are just
like other social movements. They rely on:
• Resource mobilization: resources, organizational
capacity
• Political opportunity structure: allies, lapses in
repression
• Framing: Use of symbols, imagery (often religious).
Anti-Western Movements
• Example: Radical Islamic fundamentalist
groups
• Resource mobilization:
• Leaders are highly educated
– Some even have degrees from American universities
• Weapons & resources from US & USSR (cold war) were
critical to the formation of many groups
– Al Qaeda, for example
• Oil rich countries have tremendous resources
– It is easy to find donors for any pro-Islamic cause.
Anti-Western Movements
• Ex: Radical Islamic fundamentalist groups
• Political opportunity structure
• Radical groups clearly took advantage of friendly
regimes (e.g., the Taliban) to train, build capacity
• Relative lack of repression in US is an opportunity
– Note: Increased security after 9/11 means fewer opportunities
for protest/attacks
– Note: These groups also attack pro-US regimes like Egypt…
but repression is much greater.
• Weak unstable countries provide opportunities
– Currently: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq.
Anti-Western Movements
• Ex: Radical Islamic fundamentalist groups
• Framing: Use of symbols, imagery
• Religion provides a powerful set of images
– Enemy isn’t just bad, but “evil” & “satanic”
• Another frame: attacking “imperialism”, the “system”
– Standing up for the “little guy”, fighting the “bully”
• Reactionary movements always claim to authentically
represent locals; that they aren’t part of the “system”
– Ex: Leaders don’t emphasize educational degrees or wealth;
They emphasize the small village they came from.
Weak States & Conflict
• Hironaka: Weak states & external resources
are the primary drivers of civil war
• Not “ethnic” or Islamic” identity
– Example: Weakness in Afghanistan allows a
continuing insurgency
• ALSO: weakness in Pakistan, which creates a safe
haven
– Ex: Iraq: Unstable gov’t creates opportunities
• Money & weapons coming from: Iran, Saudi Arabia,
former soviet republics, Syria, etc. etc., etc….
Weak States & Conflict
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In the news: NY Times June 2, 2008
Taliban Leader Flaunts Power Inside Pakistan
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — With great fanfare, the Pakistani Army flew journalists to a rugged
corner of the nation’s lawless tribal areas in May to show how decisively it had destroyed the
lairs of the Taliban, including a school for suicide bombers, in fighting early this year.
Then, just days later, the usually reclusive leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud,
held a news conference of his own, in the same region, to show just who was in charge. He
rolled up in an expensive-looking Toyota pickup packed with heavily armed Taliban fighters
[and] announced he would press his fight against the American military across the border in
Afghanistan.
Mr. Mehsud’s jaunty appearance in his home base, South Waziristan, a particularly unruly
region of Pakistan’s tribal areas, underscored the wide latitude Pakistan’s government has
granted the militants under a new series of peace deals, and its impact in Afghanistan, where
NATO and American commanders say cross-border attacks have surged since talks for those
peace deals began in March.
The impunity of Mr. Mehsud’s behavior has outraged the Bush administration, which
is pressing the Pakistani government to arrest and prosecute him.
“Bringing Baitullah Mehsud, the head of this extremist group in South Waziristan — capturing
him and bringing him to justice, which is what should happen to him,” is what the United
States wants from Pakistan, Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte said last month
in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
But the Pakistani government, which at times has considered Mr. Mehsud an ally and is now
fearful of his power, appears reluctant to hunt him down. Days before his news conference,
Pakistani forces pulled back from his realm in South Waziristan as part of the peace deals.
Weak States & Conflict
• Video: Return of the Taliban
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/taliban/
• Chapters 1-3, 6-7
– Chapters 4-5 if time allows…
Anti-Western Movements
• Issue for reflection: How would strategies for
dealing with Al Qaeda differ if we think of it as
a modern social movement?
• Rather than a “traditional” reactionary movement…