Unit 5: Human development and diversity

Unit 5: Human development and diversity

1. Development opportunities

• Ways of supporting the processes of human development

• The multidimensional process of human development and ways to measure it: UN Sustainable Development Goals criteria; validity and reliability of development indicators and indices, including the human development index (HDI) and gender inequality index (GII); empowering women and indigenous or minority groups; detailed illustrative examples of affirmative action to close the development gap

• The importance of social entrepreneurship approaches for human development: the work of microfinance organizations and their networks; alternative trading networks such as 'Fairtrade'; TNC corporate social responsibility frameworks and global agreements

• How actions to support human development involve spatial interactions from local to global scales

2. Changing identities and cultures

• How global interactions bring cultural influences and changes to places

• The global spectrum of cultural traits, ethnicities and identities, and ways in which the spectrum of diversity is widening or narrowing at different scales

• The effects of global interactions on cultural diversity in different places: the diffusion of cultural traits, and cultural imperialism; globalization of branded commodities, and cultural hybridity; cultural landscape changes in the built environment

• How diasporas influence cultural diversity and identity at both global and local scales

• Case study of a global diaspora population and its cultures(s)

• Differing evidence and perspectives on how diversity is changing at local, national and global scales

3. Local responses to global interactions

• The varying power of local places and actors to resist or accept change

• Local and civil society resistance to global interactions: rejection of globalized production, including campaigns against TNCs and in favour of local sourcing of food and goods by citizens; rise of anti-immigration movements

• Geopolitical constraints on global interactions: government and militia controls on personal freedoms to participate in global interactions; national trade restrictions, including protectionism and resource nationalism

• The role of civil society in promoting international-mindedness and participating in global interactions, including social media use and campaigning for internet freedom

• Two detailed examples of places where restricted freedoms have been challenged

• How acceptance of, or resistance to, global interactions takes different forms and occurs at different scales