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Week 6: Globalization . Are we at the end of history?. Learning aims: . Last week: Gender. Globalization Flashcard. The Hegelian dialectic (figure 6.1) . History. End of history. Hegelian and Marxist understandings of history. Ideological challengers to liberalism (table 6.3).
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Week 6: Globalization Are we at the end of history?
The Hegelian dialectic (figure 6.1) History End of history
Living in the ‘end of history’ and the internal contradictions of liberalism Aim: Allow students to critically reflect on the myth that we are living in the ‘end of history’ by evaluating liberalism’s internal contradictions • In smaller groups, reflect on the central claim that Fukuyama makes and what it implies (5 min.) • How could Fukuyama ‘know’ that we are at the end of history? • Fukuyama claimed that liberalism’s ‘theoretical truth is absolute and could not be improved upon’. How could he claim this? • Having established Fukuyama’s central claims, critically evaluate the validity of the claim by thinking about liberalism’s internal contradictions (5 min.) • What are liberalism’s internal contradictions? • Are they unresolvable? • Are identifying these internal contradictions a useful way to challenge liberalism (and Fukuyama’s myth) or is it better to consider the alternatives?
The dialectic struggle in The Truman Show (Figure 6.2) History (ideological world) Post-history (de-ideologized world)
What is typical and deviant in the historical world of the television program “The Truman Show”? (table 6.4)
What is typical and deviant in the post-historical world of the film The Truman Show? (table 6.5)
The Truman Show and liberalism Aim: To reflect on and explore the relationship between The Truman Show and liberalism • In GROUPS of 4-5 discuss the following questions (7 min.) • What does The Truman Show tell us about liberalism’s relationship between satisfaction and consumption? • If our desires can never be fulfilled in liberalism and our encounter with liberalism’s “empty core” cannot be indefinitely postponed, what does this mean for Fukuyama’s myth ‘it is the end of history’? • What does all this mean for international relations in an ‘era of globalization? • Then reflect on the following questions (7 min.) • How are historical and post-historical spaces related in ‘The Truman Show’? • How does the film illustrate the process of endless substitution, displacement and deferral of desire at the ‘empty core’ of liberalism?