Welcome to Our Globally Connected High School Social Studies Homeschool Course

Course Sample for Globally Connected High School Social Studies Homeschool Course

Objective: to learn what is happening with globalization today
Lesson 1: Theories on Globalization

There are so many theories on globalization that people have developed subcategories of theories. We will look at a few theories and their meanings, but be aware that there are many more out there that can be studied. The three main theories are liberalism, political realism, and Marxism.

The liberalism theory of globalization believes that globalization is just an extension of market expansion in capitalist societies. The theory is that people just want two things: to maximize their economic potential and to exercise basic freedoms. As they attempt to expand their market, they spread these two ideas across the world.

In the theory of political realism, nations want expansion and power. This expansion and power leads to the spread of ideas and goods to other countries. The theory takes one of two tracks from here. Some believe that if one nation gets too powerful all the other nations have a collective resistance to hold it in place. Another theory believes that one nation with the most power is a stabilizing force in the world.

The theory of Marxism revolves around social class and inequalities in society. Karl Marx believed that capitalism would eventually erase all barriers or boundaries between nations in order to make the whole world into one big market. There are other theories very similar to Marxism but make different categories the focus of the inequality. For instance, a feminism theory sees the inequality stemming from the different sexes and not social class.

While there are many theories, the central themes to each theory involve markets and the spread of goods, ideas, and culture. Each theory places the emphasis on a different part of globalization, which results in the primary focus of each theory being slightly different.

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