Anthropology, Global Studies

College of Arts & Sciences

In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, marking the end of the Cold War and the triumph of capitalism on a global scale. In the two decades that followed, the world entered a “globalization boom,” as capitalism rapidly expanded around the world at the promotion—and, at times, the behest—of western powers and the international organizations that they led. As proponents of globalization widely claimed, market-oriented policies were necessary to ensure economic growth. Yet today, some 35 years later, critiques of capitalism are widespread. In 2019, climate activist Greta Thunberg stood before members of the United Nations and condemned global policymakers’ insistent “talk about money and fairytales of eternal economic growth” while “entire ecosystems are collapsing.” In public culture, movies and TV series like Parasite (2019) and Severance (2022-present) make commentaries about the absurdities of capitalism and the vastly unequal social conditions that have developed in their wake. Across the world, workers are grinding the global economy to a halt by organizing work stoppages in demand of better labor conditions.