Globalisation looks at the roots of globalisation and how it has changed through history up to the present.  It considers how globalisation affects different countries around the world today. The book then explores the arguments made by both sides in the debate and assesses the effects of globalisation on the environment and culture. Finally, students can find out how globalisation affects them and how to learn more about the issues involved. Author: Adam Hibbert
Level: 1.g/C-D

(Replaces The Globalisation Issue)

Foreign travel and the internet have made the world a much smaller place. Some say increased trade has allowed large corporations to take advantage of workers in developing countries. Others believe that free trade is an economic necessity:

Key Facts;  Glossary Index;  Additional Resources (websites etc.);  Index.

What in the world has the power to liberate women in Iran while provoking antagonism between Catholics and Protestants in Scotland, to heat up class warfare in the US heartlands, to profit local gangsters and create local — and international — celebrities? Franklin Foer tours the politics and culture of football from Milan to Tehran. He examines the game’s role in sustaining ancient hatreds and rivalries (Serbia's Red Star and Croatia's Dinamo); in supporting the migration of players and the rise of the football oligarchs (such as Silvio Berlusconi, President of AC Milan); and in defending the virtues and vices of old-fashioned nationalism. As Foer points out, the Balkan War, anti-Semitism, Jewish identity, racism, social integration, media manipulation, and American patriotism have all been influenced by, or had a dramatic effect on, football. On his travels, Foer encounters a collection of fans that is stranger than fiction, not least a fan club in Serbia that turns into a brutal anti-Muslim paramilitary unit. The result is an unforgettable parade of uniquely memorable fans, each set into his — or her — unique political and cultural context. Perhaps football doesn't fully explain the world, but Foer has written a witty, insightful snapshot of world football. Whether you use excerpts or the whole book, there are lots of good things here: a grotesque game in Theresienstadt concentration camp; fascinating interviews on the Rangers-Celtic rivalry; Iranian women struggling against strict edicts to attend matches; a short description of his own upbringing, describing why his liberal, middle-class parents, living in a prosperous suburb of Washington DC, pushed him towards playing soccer rather than basketball, baseball or American football: because “soccer came to represent the fundamental tenets of yuppie parenting, the spirit of Sesame Street and Dr Benjamin Spock.” (255 pages)
Level: Gymnasiet etc/Library/Depot/A great resource for interdisciplinary projects about sport or globalisation