This course is designed to help you better understand the world around you. It aims to interpret social life from a perspective that is based on comparison, enabling you to gain an understanding of social transformation in the historical context. This course will introduce you to cultural variations within Hong Kong, within Asia , and around the world in the context of rapid globalization today. It covers a variety of topics including ways or forms of exchange, social inequalities, social construction of gender, politics of gender and globalization of culture . How did the process of globalization begin? Is cultural variation about to be annihilated in the face of cultural homogenization and “McDonaldization”? Or can we expect that local cultural differences may intensify?