Globalization Chapter 1 - in PDF Form - CW
Globalization Chapter 1 - in PDF Form - CW
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Learning Objectives
Much has changed since time immemorial. Human beings have encountered many changes
over the last century especially in their social relationships and social structures. Of these
changes, one can say that globalization is a very important change, if not, the “most important”
(Bauman, 2003). The reality and omnipresence of globalization makes us see ourselves as part
of what we refer to as the “global age” (Albrow, 1996). The internet, for example, allows a person
from the Philippines to know what is happening to the rest of the world simply by browsing Google.
The mass media also allows for connections among people, communities, and countries all over
the globe.
So what is globalization? This question is probably an easy one to answer. However, many
scholars gave and tried to formulate its definitions. This resulted in different, sometimes
contradicting views about the concept. It cannot be contained within a specific time frame, all
people, and all situations (Al-Rhodan, 2006). Aside from this, globalization encompasses a
multitude of processes that involves the economy, political systems, and culture. Social
structures, therefore, are directly affected by globalization.
Over the years, globalization has gained many connotations pertaining to progress, development,
and integration. On the one hand, some view globalization as a positive phenomenon. For
instance, Swedish journalist Thomas Larsson (2001) saw globalization as “the process of world
shrinkage, of distances getting shorter, things moving closer. It pertains to the increasing ease
with which somebody on one side of the world can interact, to mutual benefit with somebody on
the other side of the world” (p.9). On the other hand, some see it as occurring through and with
regression, colonialism, and destabilization. In the mid-1990s, Martin Khor, the former president
of Third World Network (TWN) in Malaysia, once regarded globalization as colonization.
In this chapter, different definitions of globalization will be discussed. The task of conceptualizing
it reveals a variety of perspectives.
Definitions of Globalization
(SOURCE: Al-Rhodan (2006). Definitions of Globalization: A Comprehensive
Definition Writer
“Globalization represents the triumph of a capitalist world economy Immanuel
tied together by a global division of labour.” Wallerstein
“…the compression of time and space.” David Harvey
“…all those processes by which the peoples of the world are Martin Albrow
incorporated into a single world society.”
“Globalization can thus be defined as the intensification of Anthony Giddens
worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way
that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles
away and vice versa.”
“The critical point is that both sides of the coin of global cultural Arjun Appadurai
process today are products of the infinitely varied mutual contest
of sameness and difference on a stage characterized by radical
disjunctures between indifferent sorts of global flows and the
uncertain landscapes created in and through these disjunctures.”
“…globalization is ’qualitatively different’ from Peter Dicken
internationalization… it represents ‘a more advanced and complex
form of internationalization which implies a degree of functional
integration between internationally dispersed economic activities.’”
(p.1) …“the degree of interdependence and integration between
national economies.’” (p.87)
“…globalization means the onset of the borderless world…” Kenichi Ohmae
“…refers both to the compression of the world and the Roland Robertson
intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole.”
“…understood as the phenomenon by which markets and OECD
production in different countries are becoming increasingly
interdependent due to the dynamics of trade in goods and services
and the flows of capital and technology.”
“The characteristics of the globalization trend include the Robert Cox
internationalizing of production, the new international division of
labor, new migratory movements from South to North, the new
competitive environment that accelerates these processes, and the
internationalizing of the state…making states into agencies of the
globalizing world.”
“The process of globalization suggests simultaneously two images Mike Featherstone
of culture. The first image entails the extension outwards of a
particular culture to its limit, the globe. Heterogeneous cultures
become incorporated and integrated into a dominant culture which
eventually covers the whole world. The second image points to the
compression of cultures. Things formerly held apart are now
brought into contact and juxtaposition”
“…the intensification of economic, political, social and cultural Hans-Henrik Holm
relations across borders.” and Georg Sorensen
(eds.)
“The world is becoming a global shopping mall in which ideas and Rosabeth Moss
products are available everywhere at the same time.” Kanter
“Globalization is what we in the Third World have for several Marthin Khor
centuries called colonization.”
“It is a mind set, an idea set, an ideal visualization, a popular Robert Spich
metaphor and finally, a stylized way of thinking about complex
international developments.”
“Globalization is a conceptualization of the international political Robert Spich
economy which suggests and believes essentially that all
economic activity, whether local, regional or national, must be
conducted within a perspective and attitude that constantly is
global and worldwide in its scope.”
“…globalization as an ideological construct devised to satisfy David Steingard and
capitalism’s need for new markets and labour sources and Dale Fitzgibbons
propelled by the uncritical ‘sycophancy’ of the international
academic business community.”
“…globalization is not an output of the ‘real’ forces of markets and C. Walck and D.
technologies but is rather an input in the form of rhetorical and Bilimoria
discursive constructs, practices and ideologies which some groups
are imposing on others for political and economic gain.”
“’Globalization refers in general to the worldwide integration of Ricard L. Harris
humanity and the compression of both the temporal and spatial
dimensions of planetwide human interaction.’ It ‘has aggravated
many of the region’s most chronic problems-such as the
pronounced degree of economic exploitation and social inequality
that have characterized Latin America since it came under
European colonial domination in the sixteenth century.’”
“A social process in which the constraints of geography on social Malcolm Waters
and cultural arrangements recede and in which people become
increasingly aware that they are receding.”
“’Globalization’ is a myth suitable for a world without illusions, but Paul Hirst and
it is also one that robs us of hope. Global markets are dominant, Grahame Thompson
and they face no threat from a viable contrary political project, for
it is held that Western social democracy and socialism of the Soviet
bloc are both finished.”
“…globalization is a ‘world of things’ that have ‘different speeds, Arjun Appadurai
axes, points of origin and termination, and varied relationships to
institutional structures in different regions, nations, or societies.”
“…process in which the production and financial structures of Paul Bairoch and
countries are becoming interlinked by an increasing number of Richard Kozul-
cross-border transactions to create an international division of Wright
labour in which national wealth creation comes, increasingly, to
depend on economic agents in other countries, and the ultimate
stage of economic integration where such dependence has
reached its spatial limit.”
“…a spatial fix for capitalism and an ideological tool with which to David Harvey
attack socialists.”
“A ‘rubric for a varied phenomena.’” James H. Mittelman
“’Globalisation’ is the growth, or more precisely the accelerated Charles Oman
growth, of economic activity across national and regional political