Re: reference suggestion -- 2nd try

Sure you have a lot of help already, Boles, but for "business time", 
you may want read Cipolla's "Clocks and Culture", or David Landes' 
"Revolution in Time".  They are both texts, the former is a slim thin 
text, the latter is weighty but you may be able to find a chapter of 
interest.  Regarding Global Cultures, try the Jameson and Miyoshi 
ed. (1998) text, it has some not so difficult-to-read essays which 
may set the fresh mind on a fresh track.  For fashion and 
costumes try Mary Evans' (1938/1950)"Costume Throughout the 
Ages", Lippincott.  You may also want to read NYT Business 
Section, the fashion pages - or ask threehegemons to keep you 
posted on Armani or Dior's latest innovations on the fashion front.  
On the general theme of the business of culture and the culture of 
business, Veblen's "Theory of the Leisure Class" is a compelling 
read (you may want to extract a chapter w.r.t. the same from the 
Portable Veblen).  Wallerstein's essays I need not remind you of.  
The EPT essay is actually difficult for first year students, but good.
In any case, if you have more questions, feel free to post.... 

From:                   "Elson Boles" <boles@svsu.edu>
To:                     "'WORLD SYSTEMS NETWORK'" <wsn@csf.colorado.edu>
Subject:                reference suggestion -- 2nd try
Date sent:              Thu, 2 May 2002 10:11:09 -0400

I'm reposting this for your help.  Surely there's some intelligent and
well-read person out there who has run across something that approaches
what I'm looking for.

(Steve sent one recommendation which comes close to fitting the bill --
Meyers et al article 'the nation-state and world society' in The
Globalization Reader (eds. Boli and Lechner) -- but it's a little too
difficult for intro students as he noted).

I'm looking for two articles for an introductory level Global Cultures
course.

1.  an article on the modern interstate system / political institutions
is a cultural formation or process, that is, how people across the
planet have become socially organized and interact through the modern
political institutions (sovereign states, diplomacy, international law,
etc.) and ideology (e.g. sovereignty, national development, modern
"civilization," the rule of law, diplomacy, etc.).  That is, a
not-too-long article which sums up and introduces students to the basic
idea that the interstate system is a global and globalizing cultural
institution.

2.  an article with similar intentions but focused on modern business
forms as cultural forms, including such aspects as the spread of the
modern business suit, the cultural of office buildings and factories as
common cultural-architectural forms, profit and wealth accumulation as a
creed, rationalization of work organization, impersonal bureaucratic
organization, the port city, industrial, and corporate cities and their
environs.  (On business time, I'm considering EP Thompson, but that
doesn't cover the 20th century).

If you know of articles that speak to these issues and can be understood
by undergraduate students, I'd very much appreciate hearing from you.

Elson Boles
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Sociology
Saginaw Valley State University
University Center
Saginaw MI, 48710