Globalization

Rico Nisperos

WHY DO YOU NEED TO STUDY THE WORLD?

1. Cure parochialism. From close-mindedness to stretched imagination, outlook,
and concern. One’s concern is not only for their immediate context or environment.
2. It can teach you more about yourself. With knowledge about other countries,
World Health Organization:
one can compare their society’s condition with that of other societies/countries. This
Globalization is “the increased interconnectedness and interdependence of
comparison may point out uniqueness and even similarities.
peoples and countries, is generally understood to include two inter-related
3. You are interacting with the world. As global citizens, being aware of what is
elements: the opening of international borders to increasing fast flows of goods,
happening with the world is a given. With all the interconnectedness and
services, finance, people and ideas; and the changes in institutions and policies at
interdependence, the events happening outside us might bring a positive or
national and international levels that facilitate or promote such flows. Globalization
negative impact.
has the potential for both positive and negative effects on development and health.
How did Globalization Began?
Thomas Friedman
 Trading of rare commodities like salt, spices and gold
“the inexorable integration of markets, transportation systems, and communication
 In other words, there is exchange of goods among traders of different
systems to a degree never witnessed before- in a way that enabling corporations,
countries mainly because some of these commodities and goods are not
countries, and individuals to reach around the world farther, faster, deeper, and
found in their own country.
cheaper than ever before”
Example: Silk Road (silk is a highly prized commodity) is an Asian ancient
trade route that linked China and Europe via an overland route to exchange
GLOBALIZATION: A WORKING DEFINITION
silk, wool, gold, silver, jade, tea, spices, etc.
Manfred Steger
 Advancement in transportation and communication resulted to an easier
 “The term globalization should be used to refer to a set of social processes
and increased exchange of information and goods easily.
that are thought to transform our present social condition into one
 Geographical challenges are no longer an issue.
globality.
 “The expansion and intensification of social relations and consciousness
 Globalization represents the global integration of international trade,
across world-time and across world-space.”
investment, information technology and cultures. Government policies
designed to open economies domestically and internationally to boost
development in poorer countries and raise standards of living for their
people are what drive globalization.
The literature on definitions of globalization revealed that definitions could be
classified as either.
1. broad and inclusive
2. narrow and exclusive
• Ohmae (1992) -”globalization means the onset of the borderless worlds…”
• Robert Cox – “the characteristics of the globalization trend include the
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 word.”

VARIOUS DEFINITIONS OF GLOBALIZATION

• Thomas Larson (2001) - “the process of the 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)
• Martin Khor, the former President of the Third World Network (TWN)regarded
globalization as colonization.
Anthropologist Arjun Appadurai (1996) identifies multiple and intersecting
dimensions of global cultural flows he calls ‘landscapes’ or ‘scapes’ (Steger, 2014:
13).
These five conceptual dimensions are:
1. Ethnoscape. Flows of people. The movement of people.
2. Technoscape. Flows of technology. Development and boom of technology that
facilitates cross-border connections and transactions. E.g. the internet, information
technology, and engineering.
3. Finanscape. Flows of money. The flow of global capital. International banking
and cash systems allow this to happen. E.g. credit card systems.
4. Mediascape. Flows of information. The production and dissemination of
information through electronic means. The access of people to modern popular
culture. E.g. access to international entertainment like Hollywood films, K-drama,
and anime; media such as newspapers, magazines, the social network.
5. Ideoscape. Flows of ideas. Ideologies of state, and social movements. E.g.
posting of your views on a certain event or human reality on Facebook; religious
missionaries spreading their doctrines to other regions or countries;
environmentalism.

HOW CAN WE APPRECIATE THESE DEFINITIONS? HOW

CAN THESE HELP US UNDERSTAND GLOBALIZATION?
1. the perspective of the person who defines
globalization shapes its definition.
2. Globalization is a debate, and the debate is globalization.
It is an uneven process that affects people differently.
3. Globalization is reality.