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What Is Globalization
What Is Globalization
Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments
of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information
technology. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic
development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world.
Globalization is not new, though. For thousands of years, people—and, later, corporations—have been
buying from and selling to each other in lands at great distances, such as through the famed Silk Road
across Central Asia that connected China and Europe during the Middle Ages. Likewise, for centuries,
people and corporations have invested in enterprises in other countries. In fact, many of the features of
the current wave of globalization are similar to those prevailing before the outbreak of the First World
War in 1914.
But policy and technological developments of the past few decades have spurred increases in cross-
border trade, investment, and migration so large that many observers believe the world has entered a
qualitatively new phase in its economic development. Since 1950, for example, the volume of world
trade has increased by 20 times, and from just 1997 to 1999 flows of foreign investment nearly doubled,
from $468 billion to $827 billion. Distinguishing this current wave of globalization from earlier ones,
author Thomas Friedman has said that today globalization is “farther, faster, cheaper, and deeper.”
This current wave of globalization has been driven by policies that have opened economies domestically
and internationally. In the years since the Second World War, and especially during the past two
decades, many governments have adopted free-market economic systems, vastly increasing their own
productive potential and creating myriad new opportunities for international trade and investment.
Governments also have negotiated dramatic reductions in barriers to commerce and have established
international agreements to promote trade in goods, services, and investment. Taking advantage of new
opportunities in foreign markets, corporations have built foreign factories and established production
and marketing arrangements with foreign partners. A defining feature of globalization, therefore, is an
international industrial and financial business structure.
Technology has been the other principal driver of globalization. Advances in information technology, in
particular, have dramatically transformed economic life. Information technologies have given all sorts of
individual economic actors—consumers, investors, businesses—valuable new tools for identifying and
pursuing economic opportunities, including faster and more informed analyses of economic trends
around the world, easy transfers of assets, and collaboration with far-flung partners.
Globalization is deeply controversial, however. Proponents of globalization argue that it allows poor
countries and their citizens to develop economically and raise their standards of living, while opponents
of globalization claim that the creation of an unfettered international free market has benefited
multinational corporations in the Western world at the expense of local enterprises, local cultures, and
common people. Resistance to globalization has therefore taken shape both at a popular and at a
governmental level as people and governments try to manage the flow of capital, labor, goods, and
ideas that constitute the current wave of globalization.
Globalization
Globalisation (or globalization) describes the process by which regional economies, societies, and
cultures have become integrated through a global network of political ideas through communication,
transportation, and trade. The term is most closely associated with the term economic globalization: the
integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct
investment, capital flows, migration, the spread of technology, and military presence.[1] However,
globalization is usually recognized as being driven by a combination of economic, technological,
sociocultural, political, and biological factors.[2] The term can also refer to the transnational circulation
of ideas, languages, or popular culture through acculturation. An aspect of the world which has gone
through the process can be said to be globalised.
Definitions
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word 'globalization' was first employed in a publication
entitled Towards New Education in 1952, to denote a holistic view of human experience in education.[3]
An early description of globalization was penned by the American entrepreneur-turned-minister Charles
Taze Russell who coined the term 'corporate giants' in 1897,[4] although it was not until the 1960s that
the term began to be widely used by economists and other social scientists. The term has since then
achieved widespread use in the mainstream press by the later half of the 1980s. Since its inception, the
concept of globalization has inspired numerous competing definitions and interpretations, with
antecedents dating back to the great movements of trade and empire across Asia and the Indian Ocean
from the 15th century onwards.[5]
The United Nations ESCWA says globalization "is a widely-used term that can be defined in a number of
different ways. When used in an economic context, it refers to the reduction and removal of barriers
between national borders in order to facilitate the flow of goods, capital, services and labour... although
considerable barriers remain to the flow of labor... Globalization is not a new phenomenon. It began
towards the end of the nineteenth century, but it slowed down during the period from the start of the
First World War until the third quarter of the twentieth century. This slowdown can be attributed to the
inward-looking policies pursued by a number of countries in order to protect their respective
industries... however, the pace of globalization picked up rapidly during the fourth quarter of the
twentieth century..."[6]
Tom J. Palmer of the Cato Institute defines globalization as "the diminution or elimination of state-
enforced restrictions on exchanges across borders and the increasingly integrated and complex global
system of production and exchange that has emerged as a result."[10]
Thomas L. Friedman has examined the impact of the "flattening" of the world, and argues that
globalized trade, outsourcing, supply-chaining, and political forces have changed the world permanently,
for both better and worse. He also argues that the pace of globalization is quickening and will continue
to have a growing impact on business organization and practice.[11]
Herman E. Daly argues that sometimes the terms internationalization and globalization are used
interchangeably but there is a significant formal difference. The term "internationalization" (or
internationalisation) refers to the importance of international trade, relations, treaties etc. owing to the
(hypothetical) immobility of labor and capital between or among nations.[citation needed]
Effects of Globalization
Globalization has various aspects which affect the world in several different ways
Industrial - emergence of worldwide production markets and broader access to a range of foreign
products for consumers and companies. Particularly movement of material and goods between and
within national boundaries. International trade in manufactured goods increased more than 100 times
(from $95 billion to $12 trillion) in the 50 years since 1955.[13] China's trade with Africa rose sevenfold
during 2000-07 alone.[14][15]
Financial - emergence of worldwide financial markets and better access to external financing for
borrowers. By the early part of the 21st century more than $1.5 trillion in national currencies were
traded daily to support the expanded levels of trade and investment.[16] As these worldwide structures
grew more quickly than any transnational regulatory regime, the instability of the global financial
infrastructure dramatically increased, as evidenced by the Financial crisis of 2007–2010.[17]
Economic - realization of a global common market, based on the freedom of exchange of goods and
capital.[21] The interconnectedness of these markets, however, meant that an economic collapse in one
area could impact other areas.[citation needed] With globalization, companies can produce goods and
services in the lowest cost location. This may cause jobs to be moved to locations that have the lowest
wages, least worker protection and lowest health benefits. For Industrial activities this may cause
production to move to areas with the least pollution regulations or worker safety regulations.
Job Market- competition in a global job market. In the past, the economic fate of workers was tied to
the fate of national economies. With the advent of the information age and improvements in
communication, this is no longer the case. Because workers compete in a global market, wages are less
dependent on the success or failure of individual economies. This has had a major effect on wages and
income distribution
Health Policy - On the global scale, health becomes a commodity. In developing nations under the
demands of Structural Adjustment Programs, health systems are fragmented and privatized. Global
health policy makers have shifted during the 1990s from United Nations players to financial institutions.
The result of this power transition is an increase in privatization in the health sector. This privatization
fragments health policy by crowding it with many players with many private interests. These fragmented
policy players emphasize partnerships and specific interventions to combat specific problems (as
opposed to comprehensive health strategies). Influenced by global trade and global economy, health
policy is directed by technological advances and innovative medical trade. Global priorities, in this
situation, are sometimes at odds with national priorities where increased health infrastructure and basic
primary care are of more value to the public than privatized care for the wealthy.[25]
Political - some use "globalization" to mean the creation of a world government which regulates the
relationships among governments and guarantees the rights arising from social and economic
globalization.[26] Politically, the United States has enjoyed a position of power among the world
powers, in part because of its strong and wealthy economy. With the influence of globalization and with
the help of the United States’ own economy, the People's Republic of China has experienced some
tremendous growth within the past decade. If China continues to grow at the rate projected by the
trends, then it is very likely that in the next twenty years, there will be a major reallocation of power
among the world leaders. China will have enough wealth, industry, and technology to rival the United
States for the position of leading world power.[27]
Among the political effects some scholars also name the transformation of sovereignty. In their opinion,
'globalization contributes to the change and reduction of nomenclature and scope of state sovereign
powers, and besides it is a bilateral process: on the one hand, the factors are strengthening that fairly
undermine the countries' sovereignty, on the other – most states voluntarily and deliberately limit the
scope of their sovereignty'.[28]
Informational - increase in information flows between geographically remote locations. Arguably this is a
technological change with the advent of fibre optic communications, satellites, and increased availability
of telephone and Internet.
Language - the most popular first language is Mandarin (845 million speakers) followed by Spanish (329
million speakers) and English (328 million speakers).[29] However the most popular second language is
undoubtedly English, the "lingua franca" of globalization:
About 35% of the world's mail, telexes, and cables are in English.
Approximately 40% of the world's radio programs are in English.
Competition - Survival in the new global business market calls for improved productivity and increased
competition. Due to the market becoming worldwide, companies in various industries have to upgrade
their products and use technology skillfully in order to face increased competition.[31]
Ecological - the advent of global environmental challenges that might be solved with international
cooperation, such as climate change, cross-boundary water and air pollution, over-fishing of the ocean,
and the spread of invasive species. Since many factories are built in developing countries with less
environmental regulation, globalism and free trade may increase pollution and impact on precious fresh
water resources(Hoekstra and Chapagain 2008).[32] On the other hand, economic development
historically required a "dirty" industrial stage, and it is argued that developing countries should not, via
regulation, be prohibited from increasing their standard of living.
London is a city of considerable diversity. As of 2008, estimates were published that stated that
approximately 30% of London's total population was from an ethnic minority group. The latest official
figures show that in 2008, 590,000 people arrived to live in the UK whilst 427,000 left, meaning that net
inward migration was 163,000.[33]Cultural - growth of cross-cultural contacts; advent of new categories
of consciousness and identities which embodies cultural diffusion, the desire to increase one's standard
of living and enjoy foreign products and ideas, adopt new technology and practices, and participate in a
"world culture".[34] Some bemoan the resulting consumerism and loss of languages. Also see
Transformation of culture.
Spreading of multiculturalism, and better individual access to cultural diversity (e.g. through the export
of Hollywood). Some consider such "imported" culture a danger, since it may supplant the local culture,
causing reduction in diversity or even assimilation. Others consider multiculturalism to promote peace
and understanding between people. A third position that gained popularity is the notion that
multiculturalism to a new form of monoculture in which no distinctions exist and everyone just shift
between various lifestyles in terms of music, cloth and other aspects once more firmly attached to a
single culture. Thus not mere cultural assimilation as mentioned above but the obliteration of culture as
we know it today.[35][36] In reality, as it happens in countries like the United Kingdom, Canada,
Australia or New Zealand, people who always lived in their native countries maintain their cultures
without feeling forced by any reason to accept another and are proud of it even when they're acceptive
of immigrants, while people who are newly arrived simply keep their own culture or part of it despite
some minimum amount of assimilation, although aspects of their culture often become a curiosity and a
daily aspect of the lives of the people of the welcoming countries.
Greater international travel and tourism. WHO estimates that up to 500,000 people are on planes at any
one time.[citation needed][37] In 2008, there were over 922 million international tourist arrivals, with a
growth of 1.9% as compared to 2007.[38]
Greater immigration,[39] including illegal immigration.[40] The IOM estimates there are more than 200
million migrants around the world today.[41] Newly available data show that remittance flows to
developing countries reached $328 billion in 2008.[42]
Spread of local consumer products (e.g., food) to other countries (often adapted to their culture).
Worldwide fads and pop culture such as Pokémon, Sudoku, Numa Numa, Origami, Idol series, YouTube,
Orkut, Facebook, and MySpace; accessible only to those who have Internet or Television, leaving out a
substantial portion of the Earth's population.
The construction of continental hotels is a major consequence of globalization process in affiliation with
tourism and travel industry, Dariush Grand Hotel, Kish, Iran
Worldwide sporting events such as FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games.
Incorporation of multinational corporations into new media. As the sponsors of the All-Blacks rugby
team, Adidas had created a parallel website with a downloadable interactive rugby game for its fans to
play and compete.[43]
Social - development of the system of non-governmental organisations as main agents of global public
policy, including humanitarian aid and developmental efforts.[44]
Technical
Increase in the number of standards applied globally; e.g., copyright laws, patents and world trade
agreements.
Legal/Ethical
The creation of the international criminal court and international justice movements.
Crime importation and raising awareness of global crime-fighting efforts and cooperation.
Religious
The spread and increased interrelations of various religious groups, ideas, and practices and their ideas
of the meanings and values of particular spaces.[45]
Culture Effects
Culture" is defined as patterns of human activity and the symbols that give these activities significance.
Culture is what people eat, how they dress, the beliefs they hold, and the activities they practice.
Globalization has joined different cultures and made it into something different.[46]
Culinary culture has become extensively globalized. For example, Japanese noodles, Italian meatballs,
Indian curry, French cheese, and American burgers and fries have become popular outside their
countries of origin. Two American companies, McDonald's and Starbucks, are often cited as examples of
globalization, with over 31,000 and 18,000 locations operating worldwide, respectively.
Another common practice brought about by globalization is the usage of Chinese characters in tattoos.
These tattoos are popular with today's youth despite the lack of social acceptance of tattoos in China.
[47] Also, there is a lack of comprehension in the meaning of Chinese characters that people get,[48]
making this an example of cultural appropriation.
The internet breaks down cultural boundaries across the world by enabling easy, near-instantaneous
communication between people anywhere in a variety of digital forms and media. The Internet is
associated with the process of cultural globalization because it allows interaction and communication
between people with very different lifestyles and from very different cultures. Photo sharing websites
allow interaction even where language would otherwise be a barrier
Positive effects
Psycho
Psycho is a 1960 American psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film is based on
the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert
Bloch. The novel was based on the crimes of Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein.[1]
The film depicts the encounter between a secretary, Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), who is in hiding at a
motel after embezzling from her employer, and the motel's owner, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins),
and the aftermath of their encounter.[2]
Psycho initially received mixed reviews, but outstanding box office returns prompted a re-review which
was overwhelmingly positive and led to four Academy Award nominations. The film differs from many of
the other horror films of early cinema, in that it takes place in the present day. Psycho is now considered
one of Hitchcock's best films[3] and is highly praised as a work of cinematic art by international critics.[4]
The film spawned two sequels, a prequel, a remake, and a television movie spin-off.
The film is often categorized by multiple sources as a drama, horror, mystery and thriller film
Based on Psycho by
Robert Bloch
Janet Leigh
Vera Miles
John Gavin
Universal Studios
Release date(s) June 16, 1960 (1960-06-16)
Language English
Budget $806,947
Followed by Psycho II
Plot
In need of money to marry her lover Sam Loomis, Marion Crane steals $40,000 from her employer and
flees Phoenix by car. En route to Sam's California home, she parks along the road to sleep. A highway
patrol officer awakens her and, suspicious of her agitated state, he begins to follow her. When she
trades her car for another one at a dealership, he notes the new vehicle's details. Marion returns to the
road but decides to spend the night at the Bates Motel rather than drive in a heavy storm.
Owner Norman Bates tells Marion he rarely has customers because of a new highway nearby and
mentions he lives with his mother in the house overlooking the motel. He invites Marion to have supper
with him. She overhears Norman arguing with his mother about his and Marion's sexual intentions, and
during the meal she angers him by suggesting he institutionalize his mother. He admits he would like to
do so but does not want to abandon her.
Marion resolves to return to Phoenix to return the money. As she undresses in her room, Norman
watches through a peephole in his office wall. After calculating how she can repay the money she has
spent, Marion flushes her notes down the toilet and begins to shower. An anonymous figure,
presumably Norman's mother, enters the bathroom and stabs her to death. Finding the corpse, Norman
is horrified by his mother's actions. He cleans the bathroom and places Marion's body, wrapped in the
shower curtain, and all her possessions – including the money – in the trunk of her car and sinks it in a
swamp.
Shortly afterward, Sam is contacted by both Marion's sister Lila and private detective Milton Arbogast,
who has been hired by Marion's employer to find her and recover the money. Arbogast traces Marion to
the motel and questions Norman, whose lies cause him to begin to stutter. He refuses to let Arbogast
talk to his mother, claiming she is ill. Arbogast calls Lila to update her and tells her he will contact her
again after hopefully questioning Norman's mother. Arbogast enters Norman's house and at the top of
the stairs is attacked by a figure who slashes his face with a knife, pushes him down the stairs, then
stabs him to death. Norman confronts his mother and urges her to hide in the cellar. She rejects the idea
and orders him out of her room, but against her will Norman carries her to the cellar.
When Arbogast does not call Lila, she and Sam contact the local police. Deputy Sheriff Al Chambers is
perplexed to learn Arbogast saw a woman in a window, since Norman's mother died ten years earlier.
Posing as a married couple, Sam and Lila check into the motel and search Marion's room, where they
find a scrap of paper with "$40,000" written on it. While Sam distracts Norman, Lila sneaks into the
house to search for his mother. Sam suggests Norman killed Marion for the money so he could buy a
new hotel. Realizing Lila is not around, Norman knocks Sam unconscious and rushes to the house. Lila
sees him and hides in the cellar where she discovers the semi-preserved and hideously mummified body
of Mrs. Bates. Wearing his mother's clothes and a wig, and carrying a knife, Norman enters and tries to
attack Lila, who is rescued by Sam.
After Norman's arrest, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Fred Richmond tells Sam and Lila Mrs. Bates is living in
Norman's psyche. After the death of Norman's father, the pair lived as if they were the only people in
the world. When his mother found a lover, Norman murdered both of them. Consumed with guilt, he
tried to "erase the crime" by bringing his mother to life in his mind. He stole her corpse and preserved
the body. When he is "Mother", he acts, talks, and dresses as she would. Norman imagined his mother
would be as jealous of a woman to whom he might be attracted just as he was of his mother's lover. His
psychosis protects him from knowing about other crimes committed after his mother's death. The
sheriff also mentions the unsolved disappearances of two other young girls.
In the final scene, Norman sits in a cell, his mind dominated by the Mother persona. In voiceover, she
explains she plans to prove to the authorities she is incapable of violence by refusing to swat a fly that
has landed on her hand. The final shot shows Marion's car being recovered from the swamp.
Controversy
Psycho is a prime example of the type of film that appeared in the 1960s after the erosion of the
Production Code. It was unprecedented in its depiction of sexuality and violence, right from the opening
scene in which Sam and Marion are shown as lovers sharing the same bed, with Marion in a bra.[98] In
the Production Code standards of that time, unmarried couples shown in the same bed would be taboo.
[99] According to the book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, the censors in charge of
enforcing the Production Code wrangled with Hitchcock because some censors insisted they could see
one of Leigh's breasts. Hitchcock held onto the print for several days, left it untouched, and resubmitted
it for approval. Astoundingly, each of the censors reversed their positions–those who had previously
seen the breast now did not, and those who had not, now did. They passed the film after the director
removed one shot that showed the buttocks of Leigh's stand-in.[100] The board was also upset by the
racy opening, so Hitchcock said that if they let him keep the shower scene he would re-shoot the
opening with them on the set. Since they did not show up for the re-shoot, the opening stayed.[100]
Another cause of concern for the censors[101][102][103] was that Marion was shown flushing a toilet,
with its contents (torn-up note paper) fully visible. Up until that time in mainstream film and television
in the U.S., a toilet flushing was never heard, let alone seen. A possible exception is the Turner Classic
Movies print of the 1959 Walt Disney film The Shaggy Dog, in which a toilet is heard flushing off-camera.
However, because of the possibility of audio dubbing in restorations and reissues of the film over the
years, today it is unclear whether or not the sound of the toilet flushing was in the original 1959 release.
Also, according to the "Making of" featurette on the Collector's Edition DVD, some censors objected to
the use of the word "transvestite" in the film's closing scenes.[17] This objection was withdrawn after
writer Joseph Stefano took out a dictionary and proved to them that the word carried no hidden sexual
context, but merely referred to "a man who likes to wear women's clothing".[103]
Internationally, Hitchcock was forced to make minor changes to the film, mostly to the shower scene.
Notably, in Britain the shot of Norman washing blood from his hands was objected to and in Singapore,
though the shower scene was left untouched, the murder of Arbogast and a shot of Mother's corpse
were removed.
Dead Poets Society is a 1989 American drama film starring Robin Williams and directed by Peter Weir.
Set at a conservative and aristocratic boys prep school, it tells the story of an English teacher who
inspires his students to change their lives of conformity through his teaching of poetry and literature.
The story is set at the fictional Welton Academy in Vermont, and was filmed at St. Andrew's School in
Middletown, Delaware. The script, written by Tom Schulman, is based on his life at Montgomery Bell
Academy, an all-boys preparatory school in Nashville, Tennessee.
Ethan Hawke
Kurtwood Smith
Gale Hansen
Norman Lloyd
Language English
Plot
Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard), Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke), Knox Overstreet (Josh Charles), Charlie
Dalton (Gale Hansen), Richard Cameron (Dylan Kussman), Steven Meeks (Allelon Ruggiero), and Gerard
Pitts (James Waterston) are senior students of the Welton Academy prep school, whose ethos is defined
by the headmaster Gale Nolan (Norman Lloyd) as "tradition, honour, discipline and excellence". Both
Neil and Todd are under harsh parental pressure to become a doctor and a lawyer respectively, but
Todd wants to be a writer.
The teaching methods of their new English teacher, John Keating (Robin Williams), are unorthodox by
Welton standards, whistling the 1812 Overture and taking them out of the classroom to focus on the
idea of carpe diem. He tells the students that they may call him "O Captain! My Captain!," in reference
to a Walt Whitman poem, if they feel daring. In another class, Keating has Neil read the introduction to
their poetry textbook, prescribing a mathematical formula to rate the quality of poetry which Keating
finds ridiculous, and he instructs his pupils to rip the introduction out of their books, to the amazement
of one of his colleagues. Later he has the students stand on his desk in order to look at the world in a
different way. Inspired by Keating, the boys secretly revive a school literary club, the titular "Dead Poets
Society," to which Keating had belonged, meeting in a cave in the school grounds.
Due to self-consciousness, Todd fails to complete a writing assignment and Keating takes him through
an exercise in self-expression, realizing the potential he possesses. Charlie publishes an unauthorized
article in the school newspaper, asserting that girls should be admitted to Welton. At the resulting
school inquiry, he offers a phone call from God in support, incurring the headmaster's wrath. After being
lectured by Headmaster Nolan about his teaching methods, Keating tells the boys to "be wise, not
stupid" about protesting against the system.
Knox meets and falls in love with a girl named Chris, using his new-found love of poetry to woo her. He
presents one of these poems in class, and is applauded by Keating for writing a heartfelt poem on love.
Knox travels to Chris's public school and recites his poem to her, later convincing her to go to a play with
him. Neil wants to be an actor but knows his father (Kurtwood Smith) will disapprove. Without his
father's knowledge, he auditions for the role of Puck in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. His
father finds out and orders Neil to withdraw. Neil asks Keating for advice and is advised to talk to his
father and make him understand how he feels, but Neil cannot muster the courage to do so. Instead he
goes against his father's wishes. His father shows up at the end of the play, furious. He takes Neil home
and tells him that he intends to enroll him in a military school to prepare him for Harvard University and
a career in medicine. Unable to cope with the future that awaits him or to make his father understand
his feelings, Neil commits suicide.
At the request of Neil's parents, the headmaster launches an investigation. Richard meets the school
governors and board of regents. Later, confronted by Charlie, Richard admits that he squealed on them
and made Keating the scapegoat, and urges the rest of them to let Keating take the fall. Charlie punches
Richard and is later expelled. Todd is called to Nolan's office, where his parents are waiting. Nolan forces
Todd to admit to being a member of the Dead Poets Society, and makes him sign a document blaming
Keating for abusing his authority, inciting the boys to restart the club, and encouraging Neil to flout his
father's wishes. Todd sees the other boys' signatures already on the document, and is threatened by his
father to sign it. Keating is subsequently fired.
The boys return to English class, now being taught by Nolan, who has the boys read the introductory
essay only to find that they had all ripped it out. Keating enters the room to retrieve a few belongings.
Todd reveals that the boys were intimidated into signing the denunciation. Nolan orders Todd to be
quiet and demands that Keating leave. As Keating is about to exit, Todd for the first time breaks his
reserve, calls out "O Captain! My Captain!" and stands on his desk. Nolan warns Todd to sit down or face
expulsion. Much of the class, climb onto their desks and look to Keating, ignoring Nolan's orders until he
gives up and slumps against his desk. Keating leaves happily with tears in his eyes.