Access to the Dollar Street website

Income can often tell you more about how people live than location can. Using the website Dollar Street, you are given a way to visualize how other people around the world live. This will help you determine whether the world is flat or spiky. In other words, has globalization leveled the economic playing field, or has it created more inequality? You will consider this question about today’s world, using pictures from around the world to help you draw conclusions.

Comparison
You will compare families around the world today to draw conclusions about economic equality—or inequality.

In this activity, you will use the Dollar Street website to think about the question, “Is the world flat or spiky?”

Dollar Street is a powerful way to visualize how other people live around the world. Dollar Street imagines a world where everyone lives on the same street and the houses are ordered by income: the poorest people live at one end, and the richest live at the other end. Dollar Street really comes alive when you start comparing objects. As Bill Gates says, “I found the photos of toothbrushes to be particularly interesting. The families at the poorest end of the street use their fingers or sticks to clean their teeth. But once you reach a certain income level, everyone starts using a plastic toothbrush with bristles.” The more time you spend on Dollar Street, the clearer it becomes that all of us have the same basic wants and needs but our means of addressing these wants and needs is often quite different.

You are going to fill out the Dollar Street Project worksheet using the website. You can pick whichever three families you want, but you should be able to explain your choice. You might choose to look at three families on different continents, or within the same continent; or perhaps, even within the same country.

Once you’re done filling out the organizer, use the information you’ve found to help you answer the following question: Based on the families you learned about, has globalization leveled the economic playing field, or has it created more inequality? You will write a two-paragraph response to this question using evidence from the organizer to support your claims. Be prepared to share your ideas with the class. It’s likely that you and your classmates came up with pretty different responses to the final question—why do you think that is?

After World War II, many countries came together to create international institutions like the United Nations, with aims such as reducing and preventing violence. Economic institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank were also formed with the goals of maintaining economic stability and relieving poverty. Old and new international non-governmental organizations also worked on a global scale, like Amnesty International and others, to inform and mobilize world opinion, creating a sense of global community and responsibility. Author, Eman M. Elshaikh suggests that the impacts of these institutions should be carefully measured against their initial and shifting goals.

This article introduces major international institutions formed after World War II, which continue to operate in the world today. Pay attention to the aims of these institutions, and how some of these aims have shifted. This reading connects to all three of the main Unit 9 Problems, urging you to consider international institutions in the context of human rights and genocide, the costs and benefits of globalization, and the ways in which global networks have changed our sense of identity. Elshaikh’s introduction of these institutions will help you extend all three frame narratives you have been given.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What were some of the priorities of the United Nations at the time of its creation? What was the historical context?
2. What were the aims of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)?
3. How does the United Nations differ from a “world government,” a label that some critics used for it? Can you connect this to the Bennett Sherry reading, “Why Does Genocide Still Happen?” about the aims and effectiveness of the United Nations in preventing conflict and genocide?
4. Consider the initially stated aims of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, and the later shift in the goals of these economic international institutions, along with the World Trade Organization, created in 1995. How did these aims shift?
5. What are the aims of the international non-governmental organizations introduced by Elshaikh and how does this help you understand globalization as defined in Unit 9?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. The Unit 9 questions ask you to consider the “flattening” effect of globalization, but also the “lumpy” aspects of the world today. Have international institutions like the UN and IMF helped make the world flatter or lumpier?
2. When you consider the international institutions that Elshaikh introduces here, how do you think that they impact our sense of identity as national citizens? What about as global citizens? Can you extend Elshaikh’s work here? How can we assess the effectiveness, the benefits, and the costs of these international institutions?

This essay describes the rapid economic development of the People’s Republic of China. She begins by introducing the post-World War II rule of Mao Zedong, which included significant economic gains but also massive famine and political chaos. Soon after Mao’s death in 1976, Deng Xiaoping led a period of rapid growth under what he termed “socialism with Chinese characteristics.” In the four decades that followed, in spite of growing inequality, environmental degradation, and political oppression, China has emerged as a leading economic power and raised millions out of poverty.

This essay focuses narrowly on the economic development of China in recent decades, and how this period of rapid growth followed the chaotic Cultural Revolution. You should consider how this article supports and extends the frame narrative of community in the context of China, especially on the world stage. How might the rapid rise of a country change its cultural and national fabric? Also consider how this evidence might contribute to your evaluation of the production and distribution frame narrative?

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What were some of the important developments in the economy of the People’s Republic of China in the years shortly after its 1949 founding?
2. What led to the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution and what were some of the results?
3. What were some of the important aspects of the post-Mao policies under Deng Xiaoping?
4. Alongside the increasing national wealth of the People’s Republic of China that Elshaikh outlines, what are some of the downsides of this economic growth?
5. Can you connect aspects of China’s rise to the requirements of “neoliberal” policies that Elshaikh introduces in her essay on “International Institutions”?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. When we consider the “rise of China,” what parts of the story might be lost when we only look at economic growth? Elshaikh hints at these when she mentions growing inequality, environmental degradation, the persecution of minorities in China, and other factors. What happens when we tell the story of post-Mao China without mention of the 1989 protests and crackdown in Tiananmen Square, or 2019 events in Hong Kong?
2. In terms of the “communities” frame narrative, how important do you think it is to a country’s sense of community to be wealthy and powerful on the world stage? How might increasing national wealth like that of the People’s Republic of China in recent decades change the ways people within the country view themselves and their national bonds?
3. Deng Xiaoping referred to post-Mao reforms as “socialism with Chinese characteristics.” Based on the evidence in this reading, is this just capitalism under one-party rule? Why or why not?

There is no doubt that China is a modern superpower and a hub of globalization, under the authoritarian rule of the Chinese Communist Party. But what does that actually mean for the Chinese people? Do they celebrate their new economic wealth? Or do they suffer under the weight of state surveillance and tight control? In this video, with the help of Dr. Crystal Chang, we explore the successes, and costs, of China’s great social contract.

For the past century, globalization has come to connect us all to each other. Yet it looks different, and is experienced in different ways, in different regions. The Chinese experience is very important for understanding these different views. We can benefit from understanding the unique choices made by the Chinese state, and the costs and benefits it has brought to Chinese people. These choices are often quite different from our own society, and through this video and the expertise of Dr. Crystal Chang you can evaluate them for yourselves.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you watch the video.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video:

1. According to Francesca, about what proportion of the world’s population is Chinese?
2. What does the data suggest has happened to China’s economy over the past century? What has been the impact on Chinese people?
3. According to Dr. Crystal Chang, why do the Chinese people generally support or allow the Communist Party to continue to govern, despite being authoritarian?
4. According to Professor Chang, how has China benefited from globalization, and how has that changed over time?
5. Does the Chinese government allow and encourage dissent? How does it discourage negative opinion?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. Consider Dr. Chang’s evaluation of both freedoms and economic change in China. Do you think it is worth giving up some freedoms, and allowing some oppression, if most people are benefiting economically? Compare these choices to the ones made in your own country.

The credit for China’s transformation back into an economic powerhouse in the 1980s—after almost two centuries of economic stagnation and decline—is often credited to Deng Xiaoping. But the little-known Premier Hua Guofeng, who governed from 1976 to 1980, probably played a key role in rolling over from hardline communism to a more open system, transforming the global economy in the process. Often purposefully written out of history by his successors, he may have been the architect of transition, or perhaps he was just lucky to govern in a period when global and national trends were shifting.

This unit focuses on the issues and trends surrounding globalization, particularly in the late twentieth century. China’s transition to the world’s manufacturing center and the huge economic growth of “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” is a big part of how that history has unfolded. Hua Guofeng’s biography will provide you with a view of that transformation that is different from the high-level articles you have read.

Read 1: Observe

As you read this graphic biography for the first time, review the Read 1: Observe section of your Three Close Reads for Graphic Bios Tool. Be sure to record one question in the thought bubble on the top-right. You don’t need to write anything else down. However, if you’d like to record your observations, feel free to do so on scrap paper.

Read 2: Understand

On the tool, summarize the main idea of the comic and provide two pieces of evidence that helped you understand the creator’s main idea. You can do this only in writing or you can get creative with some art. Some of the evidence you find may come in the form of text (words). But other evidence will come in the form of art (images). You should read the text looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the main idea, and key supporting details. You should also spend some time looking at the images and the way in which the page is designed. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What was the great transformation in China’s economy that took place after 1976?
2. What did Hua Guofeng do as Premier to help lead to this transformation?
3. Who usually gets credit for the reforms that led to this growth, according to the author? Why does Hua Guofeng not?
4. How does the artist use artistic design to demonstrate the transformation in China’s economy between 1976 and 2016?

Read 3: Connect

In this read, you should use the graphic biography as evidence to support, extend, or challenge claims made in this unit of the course. On the bottom of the tool, record what you learned about this person’s life and how it relates to what you’re learning.

1. How does this biography of Hua Guofeng support, extend, or challenge what you have learned about China’s economic transformation in the 1980s?

To Be Continued…

On the second page of the tool, your teacher might ask you to extend the graphic biography to a second page. This is where you can draw and write what you think might come next. Here, you can become a co-creator of this graphic biography!

In this article, historian Bridgette Byrd O’Connor introduces aspects of how items we use every day, from a cup of coffee to a smartphone, are connected to vast global networks of production and distribution. Using the examples of the iPhone and Starbucks coffee, she explains some of the controversies and criticisms that have been directed at these massive corporations and their global footprints. O’Connor also notes some of the efforts both companies have made to respond to these criticisms.

This article introduces the networks surrounding two famous brands and will help you evaluate the production and distribution frame narrative. Consider how the examples of Starbucks and Apple provide evidence to identify trends in the global flow of goods, money, and labor. This article will help you respond to the Unit 9 Problem, which asks you to consider the impacts of globalization. What does this article tell you about the experiences of people at either end of these production chains, from Chinese factories and Brazilian coffee farms, to the hands of the consumer, maybe yours?

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. How, according to the author, do cheap labor and unregulated workplaces influence global trade?
2. How has the American economy changed in recent years as manufacturing jobs are lost to automation or moved to countries with lower labor costs?
3. Besides the extremely high costs that would probably be required to manufacture iPhones in the United States, Apple CEO Tim Cook also notes the lack of skilled workers in the United States as a reason for moving manufacturing to China. Why does this lack exist, according to the article?
4. What are “conflict minerals” and what are some examples?
5. Why is it difficult to know what products have achieved certification and met ethical standards, such as being “ethically sourced” or “Fairtrade”?
6. What kind of complaints against Starbucks are mentioned in this essay, and what are some examples of the company’s responses?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. How does this article fit into the larger production and distribution frame narrative for this course? Are companies like Apple and Starbucks really new, or are they similar to older ways of doing business around the world?
2. Starbucks and Apple have both engaged in efforts to counter or reassure critics that their business practices are ethical. Why do some companies act in immoral ways? What do you think drives the efforts by Starbucks and Apple to act in an ethical way? How does their behavior compare to businesses and reform movements you encountered back in Unit 4?

In this activity, you will choose a product and try to trace its production and distribution path around the world, as was done with the iPhone and coffee in the article “Goods Across the World.” While our lives may seem like they mostly function on a local level, this will reinforce just how global everyday life has become.

In this activity, you’re going to try to trace a product around the world, as was done in the article Goods Across the World.” You will take the following steps to research and illustrate the movement of your product. Choose something you use in your everyday life. It must be made of different components, or parts, and cannot be an iPhone or Starbuck’s coffee.

1. Conduct some Internet research to figure out where the components of this product originated before they were assembled into your product. Limit this to five components.
2. Add these locations to your world map.
3. Then, try to find out where the components of the product traveled to be assembled to make your final product, and add these locations to the map.
4. Add your current location.
5. Draw arrows to show where the component parts originated, where they traveled, and how they eventually got to you.

When you’re done, post your final map in your classroom, and then take a few minutes to see what other products were traced. Now, think about which products’ “origin stories” surprised you the most, which surprised you the least, and if you will do anything different in your everyday life to lessen the environmental impact and any hidden costs associated with the product, such as low-wage or child labor.

In November 1999, thousands of protesters converged on the streets of Seattle, Washington to protest the World Trade Organization during its annual conference. The protesters were there to voice their opposition to globalization and what they saw as its negative effects. Things quickly turned violent. This article explores the motivations of the diverse groups of protesters and those of the ministers inside the World Trade Organization meeting. The clash between police, protesters, and the WTO symbolized opposing views on the benefits and dangers of globalization.

This article will help you respond to the Unit Problem and evaluate the pros and cons of globalization. It also gives you evidence to evaluate globalization and identify how and why it is resisted, using the three frames of this course.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What is the WTO?
2. Who were the groups who came to protest, and why were so many different people against the WTO?
3. What is the WTO’s main goal?
4. What did the N30 group list as their main goals?
5. What were the results of the protests?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. Based on this article and other things you have learned about resistance in this course, do you think violent or non-violent protest is more effective?
2. How were anti-globalization movements like N30 and J8 different from and how were they similar to the reform movements of the long nineteenth century?

3x5 note cards or cut up paper

This sourcing collection, along with the Quick-Sourcing Tool, gives you an opportunity to practice a quicker kind of sourcing than you do in the sourcing practice progression. The tool and the process for using it—specifically designed for unpacking document collections—will help you be successful when responding to DBQs.

Note: If you are unfamiliar with the Quick-Sourcing Tool or the process for using it, we recommend reviewing the Quick-Sourcing Introduction activity in Lesson 2.1.

The Quick-Sourcing Tool can be used any time you encounter a set of sources and are trying to respond to a prompt or question, as opposed to the deeper analysis you do when using the HAPPY tool that is part of the sourcing progression.

First, take out or download the sourcing collection and review the guiding question that appears on the first page. Then, take out or download the Quick-Sourcing Tool and review the directions. For Part 1, you’ll write a quick summary of each source in terms of how it relates to the guiding question (we recommend using one note card or scrap of paper for each source).

For Part 2, which uses the first four letters of the acronym from the HAPPY tool, you only have to respond to one of these four questions. You should always include the historical significance or “why” (the “Y” in “HAPPY”) for any of the four questions you choose to respond to.

In Part 3, you’ll gather the evidence you found in each document and add it to your note cards so you can include it in a response later. Once each document is analyzed, look at your note cards and try to categorize the cards. There might be a group of documents that support the claim you want to make in your response, and another group that will help you consider counterclaims, for example.

To wrap up, try to respond to the guiding question.

This collection explores economic changes that happened during the late twentieth century. Some of these changes have been described as neoliberal, which means that they encourage free trade, discourage government intervention in markets, and call for fewer regulations. In this collection, you will see how some of these changes cascaded across China, Chile, Western Europe, the United States, and Southeast Asia. You will also hear voices critical of these changes.

The primary source excerpts in this collection will help you assess the continuities and changes that took place in the global economy from 1900 to the present. This will also help you understand global economic networks and interactions in our modern world. In addition, you’ll work on your sourcing skills using the Quick-Sourcing Tool.

We recommend using the accompanying Quick Sourcing activity (above) to help you analyze these sources.

This activity will give you a visual representation of how to reframe a topic you’ve already examined. It’s also an important way for you to understand globalization through the lens of the course frames of communities, production and distribution, and networks.

This is likely the third time you’ve seen a version of this activity, which will run in much the same way as the first one you completed earlier in the course. However, this time you’ll be asked to create your own yarn network using the same products you researched in the Follow the Product activity. Then, working in groups, you’ll write a brief narrative for your product and explain how your product relates to each of the course frames.

The first time this activity was used, we wanted to spark your curiosity and reward your ideas and observations. This time we’re asking you to dig a bit deeper by looking at our interconnected world through the lens of the course frames in order to analyze how our interconnected world relates to them.

Part 1

Arrange the class according to your teacher’s directions and follow along as the narratives for each product are read. Make sure you hold onto the yarn if it gets passed to you, and remember that it could come your way multiple times!

Part 2

After your class has made the webs for the three products, examine the yarn networks to see how interconnected the world is today, with products and parts moving back and forth around the world. Then, you’ll work in the small groups you were assigned to when you completed the Follow the Product activity. Each group will create a yarn network that represents the paths your chosen product followed. Next, your group will write a two- to three-paragraph narrative for your product that explains how it connects to each of the course frames. Your teacher will collect these paragraphs to assess how well you understand our interconnected world as seen through the lens of the course frames.