The literature on globalization of services has tended to focus on advanced industrial nations, underestimating the important role Southern markets have played. Given the complexities of the global economy, much can be gained from exploring the ways in which flexible management practices and workplace culture in the United States and India have increasingly conjoined under an emerging set of common principles. In particular, one finds similar phenomena contributing to patterns of job insecurity in both countries: non-standard employment contracts, long working hours, growing emphasis on individualization, and increasing control over workers. Interestingly, workers in both countries have similar strategies in staying employed as well as dealing with the growing insecurity. In neither country, however, has employment precariousness resulted in a backlash against the government.
We present a learning module to engage students in the global inequality debate using Google Public Data World Development Indicators. Goals of this article are to articulate the importance and urgency of teaching global issues to American students; situate the central debate in the globalization literature, paying particular attention to global inequalities and trajectories of convergence or divergence in life chances; and demonstrate the value of engaging students in the analysis of macro-level data. These data enable students to test assumptions concerning gaps in opportunities that separate wealthy societies from poor societies and determine whether these gaps are narrowing or expanding. Depending on the course content and combinations of indicators studied, students reach different conclusions concerning the merits of a “flat world” thesis. We find that teaching about global inequalities and engagement with global data reshapes students’ beliefs and enhances student interest in the concerns of global relations.
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