
- •Ethnocentrism
- •2. Speaking.
- •3. Writing.
- •4. Project work.
- •5. Vocabulary:
- •Informational society
- •(By т. V. Evgenyeva)
- •Vocabulary:
- •Text 1 Religion
- •Text 2 Of the word “Religion” and other words of uncertain identification
- •Idol, to preach, sign, to reveal, to suppose, to confide, origin.
- •Text 1 Organizations, Goals, Tactics, and Financing
- •Text 2 m odern Era of Terrorism
- •Text 4 Drug Trafficking and Terrorist Organizations
- •4. Current events.
- •5. Vocabulary:
- •Text 2 Drug abuse
- •Text 3 Juvenile delinquency. Causes and Effects
- •2. Speaking.
- •3. Writing.
- •4. Current events.
- •Unit 6 Human rights Reading and translating.
- •Text 1 Historical Background
- •Text 2 The Soviet dissidents.
- •Text 3 Women rights
- •Text 4 Minority groups
- •3. Current events.
- •6. Vocabulary:
- •S ome principles of ecology
- •Applications of ecology
- •Applications of ecology
- •Goals of ecology
- •2. Speaking.
- •3. Writing.
- •5. Current events.
- •International trade
- •Text 1 The Scope of Trade
- •International Bodies and Agreements
- •Text 3 World Trade Organization
- •2. Speaking.
- •3. Writing.
- •5. Current events.
(By т. V. Evgenyeva)
Read the text below, translate it and learn the new words:
Normally,
debate on globalization emphasizes its economic aspect. However, this
cannot always account for the emotional reaction of consciousness not
only in those countries where the economic consequences of
globalization are foreseen as negative, but also in the prospering
countries in the West. The mass
consciousness is unable to rationally estimate the pros and cons of
globalization process in the economic sphere.
Its reaction is spontaneous and is based on causes that cannot be
always clearly understood.
In this connection politic-psychological approach to analyzing the consequences or challenges of globalization is likely to be productive. The central category in such analysis can be a concept of "an image of the world". An image of the world is a whole system of man's notions of the surrounding natural and social reality and his place in it. A whole noncontradictory image of the world is an essential basis for identifying oneself as a personality.
This conception having been elaborated within the framework of psychology (it first appeared in A. Leontyev's works) includes psychological as well as cultural components.
I
mage
of the world which is present both in individual and mass
consciousness is formed on society's cultural and historical
tradition. It is one of major mechanisms for maintaining group
identities of various social communities, including the national and
state ones, and in the context of political process it becomes a
foundation for political orientations and political conduct of
individuals as well as large groups of people. Thus, the image of the
world category can play a leading role in the analysis of political
processes.
A destruction of one's customary image of the world forming in some or other culture provokes usually a negative emotional reaction in mass consciousness. It is in this way that the process of globalization is perceived by mass consciousness arousing a feeling of danger which cannot be dearly understood.
In today's Russia the searching for the answers to the challenges of globalization is complicated by the fact that Russia has been developing over the past decade in conditions of socio-cultural crisis, i.e. in conditions the social structure and society's systems of cultural symbols supporting its identity have been simultaneously destroyed.
A person's self-identification in the Soviet period was based on an image of the world which has been shaping for a long time, i.e. on a system of socio-cultural and political myths determining an individual's perception of surrounding natural and social reality as well as his own place in it. The image of the world of a soviet citizen generally did not contradict the basic cultural stereotypes which were formed in the Russian mass consciousness over Russia's entire history. Being mythological by its nature, this image, nevertheless, used to stabilize, and rather successfully at that, people's conciseness and behavior.
The destruction of the Soviet image of the world which started by perestroika and which was especially intensive after 1991, has led to shattering the entire system of people's notions and judgments. The values and norms which would determine the process of an individual's self-identification suddenly changed their meaning and commonly recognized objective proved to be pointless. The destruction of a person's self-identification as a Soviet man with no adequate substitution for it resulted in what modern scholars term as identity crisis including a loss of personality's self-identity (a loss of perception of one's whole "ego"), the collapse of the system of personal meanings (a loss of the meaning of life) and the narrow wing of active image of space and time.
In a critical situation mass consciousness ranges, as a rule, from an absolute passiveness, escapism, escaping from society to different sub-culture groups and sometimes committing suicide to non-motivated aggression which is often revealed as a constant search for "the image of an enemy" which can be represented by someone from other racial, ethnic, confessional and political communities.
Hence, the peculiarity of the Russian situation is that Russian society has to look for answers to globalization in conditions when it by itself is actively searching for its national and state identity (which provokes constant debates about the national idea for Russia), i.e. a new integral image of the world. In other words, society is seeking for an answer to the question "Who are we?" while it is being offered to join into a wider global "we" for whom our community's "we" and the subject-matter of our exhausting pursuits do not bear any meaning and sense at all. A typical reaction of mass consciousness to this controversy can be either an attempt, sometimes an unconscious one, to withdraw, to forget about the problem or aggressively oppose it.
Thus, searching for an adequate response to globalization is impossible without an answer to the question about one's own identity. This answer can be given by Russia only on condition that it succeeds in formulating its own integral and noncontraversial image of the world, an image of its own.
Exercises:
Give Russian equivalents to the following words and phrases
To emphasize the economic aspect, consequences of globalization, to estimate the pros and cons, politic-psychological approach, surrounding natural and social reality, noncontradictory image of the world, to elaborate the conception, a foundation for political orientation and political conduct, a destruction of the customary image, to provoke a negative reaction,
recognized objective, escapism, non-motivated aggression, to bear a meaning and sense
Give English equivalents to the following words and phrases
эмоциональная реакция, экономические последствия, плюсы и минусы глобализации, спонтанная реакция, психологические и культурные компоненты, массовое самосознание, формировать образ, мифологическое по природе, понятия и суждения, адекватная замена.
Define the main idea of the text.
Do you agree with the underlined statements ?
Ask problem questions.
Comment on the peculiarity of the Russian situation.
What is the author’s attitude to the topic?
What is your viewpoint on the problem?
Text 3
Polarity and Peace.
Read the text below, translate it and learn the new words:
In the wake of the Cold War and the disintegration of its bipolar structure, the long-standing debate has intensified about which type of polarity distribution—unipolar, bipolar, or multipolar—is the most stable.
One interpretation holds that "There were periods when an 'equal distribution of power between contenders actually existed ... but these were the exception rather than the rule: Closer examination reveals that they were periods of a war, not peace" (Organski 1968). If this view is accurate, then peace will occur when one hegemonic state acquires enough power to deter others' expansionist ambitions. If we think of the United States as the hegemonic power in the post-World War II system, this seemingly plausible conclusion about the stability of unipolar systems does not bode well for peace in the future. If present trends continue, the so-called "unipolar moment" of unchallenged U.S. hegemony (Krauthammer 1991) will pass and, without a dominant global leader, the twenty-first century will be increasingly disorderly.
In contrast, a second school of thought (e.g., Waltz 1964) maintains that bipolar systems are the most stable. According to this line of reasoning, stability, ironically, results from "the division of all nations into two camps [because it] raises the costs of war to such a high level that all but the most fundamental conflicts are resolved without resort to violence", (Bueno de Mesquita 1975). Under such stark simplicities and balanced symmetries, the two leading rivals 'have' incentives to manage crises so that they do not escalate to war.
Those who believe that a bipolar world is inherently more stable than either its unipolar or multipolar counterparts draw ' support from the fact that in the bipolar environment of the; 1950s, when the threat of war was endemic, major war did not occur. Extrapolating, these observers (e.g.; Lyiearsheimer; 1990) reason that because now a new multipolar distribution of global power makes it impossible to run the world from one or two centers, disorder will result:
It is rather basic. So long as there were only two great powers, like two big battleships clumsily and cautiously circling; each other, confrontations—or accidents—were easier to; avoid. Now, with the global lake more crowded with ships of varying sizes, fueled by different ambitions and piloted with different degrees of navigational’ skill, the odds of collisions become far : greater. (House 1989, AI0)
A third school of thought argues that multipolar systems are the least war-prone. While the reasons differ, advocates share the belief that polarized systems that either concentrate power, as in a unipolar system, or that divide the world two antagonistic blocs, as in a bipolar system, promote struggles for dominance (see Thompson 1988. Morgqnthau.1985). The peace-through-multipolar school perceives multipolar» systems as stable because they encompass a larger number of autonomous actors, giving rise to more potential alliance partners. This is seen as pacifying because it is essential to counterbalancing a would-be aggressor, as shifting alliances can occur only when there are multiple power centers. (Deutsch and Singer 1964).
Abstract deductions and historical analogies can lead to contradictory conclusions as the logic underlying these three inconsistent interpretations illustrates. The future will determine which of these rival theories is the most accurate.
Exercises:
Give Russian equivalents to the following words and phrases:
In the wake of, polarity distribution, to reveal, to deter ambitions, plausible conclusion, unchallenged hegemony, to result from smth, to mange crisis, to draw support, to share the belief, to promote the struggle for dominance, multipolar system, potential alliance partner, a would-be aggressor, abstract deduction, historical analogy.
2. Give English equivalents to the following words and phrase
однополярный, биполярный, многополярный, гегемония, стабильность системы, ведущие соперники, угроза войны, распределение власти, разделять мнение, союзники, существенно, историческая аналогия, противоречивый вывод.
3. Find key sentences in the text.
4. Enumerate the types of polarity distribution and comment on them.
5. Express your own idea on the following:
If present trends continue, the so-called "unipolar moment" of unchallenged U.S. hegemony will pass and, without a dominant global leader, the twenty-first century will be increasingly disorderly.
6. Suggest historical analogy to support the theory of multipolar systems.
Speaking.
Discuss which type of polarity distribution is the most stable to your mind.
Provide your arguments
Writing.
Write an essay “Pros and cons of globalization”
Current events.
Using informational internet sites find and render the information about current political events.