NPC

MODULE 2 – LECTURE 1 – BENLAC CHAP.2

GLOBALIZATION & CULTURAL & MULTICULTURAL LITERACIES

Objectives:
1. Be able to develop a clear and practical understanding of:
a. globalization and its implication on both the national and individual level;
b. cultural and multicultural literacy in the Philippines;
c. one’s personal level of cultural and multicultural literacy.

Unlocking of Unfamiliar Words

1. phenomenon –
2. gleaned –
3. unprecedented –
4. inescapable –
5. couched –
6.

Let us EXPLORE

Globalization is the process of interaction and integration between people, business

entities, governments, and cultures from other nations, driven by international trade and
investment and supported by information technology (Levin Institute, 2017).
Because our exposure to the concept of globalization has largely been through an
economic lens. It is tempting to limit globalization as something that concerns economists
and businessmen. But globalization and its effects go beyond import or export and Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI). Now scale this up to the point where it is not just two people from
two different nations interacting, but millions of people, from nearly two hundred different
countries, where we are no longer integrating just languages or mannerisms or food recipes,
but everything from styles of clothing, forms of entertainment, education, technology,
manufacturing, ways of doing business, ideas, and whole worldviews. This is globalization as
we know it today.
Globalization as a phenomenon is not new. Nations and cultures have been
interacting and integrating with one another for millennia. Consider how so much of the
Chinese, Arab, and Indian cultures have become part of our own; these interactions and
subsequent integrations did not happen recently, but even during centuries before there was
even a political entity known as the Philippines.
What is different now, is the spread at which globalization is happening, its overall
scope, and its effects on the lives of ordinary people. Not only are we interacting with,
learning from, and integrating knowledge gleaned from other cultures and nations at an
unprecedented rate, there is now also a sense that no matter where one lives or how limited
is one’s face-to-face interaction with members of another nation or culture and how limited
one’s time is spent online, globalization and its effects are inescapable. Even remote villages
will be exposed to the latest KPOP hit, if they have the access to a radio, if they have access to
a kerosene stove, they will feel the effects of the fluctuations in oil prices originating from
Arab nations. All these things take place without having to know anyone from or anything
about Korea or Middle East.

The Effects of Globalization

The effects of globalization are multi-dimensional. They range from economic to

cultural, on both national and individual levels.
Meyer summarizes the effects of globalization as follows:
1. economic, political, and military dependence and interdependence between
nations;
2. expanded flow of individual people among societies;
3. interdependence of expressive culture among nations; and
4. expanded flow of instrumental culture around the world.

Economic Dependence/Interdependence

When the term globalization entered the Philippine public mindset in the early 90s, it
was popularly understood to be a mainly economic phenomenon, and a negative one at that.
The idea that foreign-owned businesses could come into the country and freely “set-up
shop,” thereby choking-out local industries was not a welcome thought, even though it was
erroneous.
While Philippine society has come to realize that this early perspective represented a
shallow understanding of globalization, the fact of the matter is that globalization has
brought economic development to our society as a whole. By attracting Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI), new technologies, employment opportunities, and money have come into
the country.
This does not mean, that there have been no negative effects of globalization.
According to Kentor (2001) notes that foreign capital dependence increases income inequality
in four ways: (1) it creates a small, highly paid class of elites to manage these investments,
who create many but usually low-pay jobs; (2) Profits from these investments are repatriated,
rather than invested in the host country, therefore inhibiting domestic capital formation; (3)
Foreign capital penetration tends to concentrate land ownership among the very rich; and (4)
Host countries tend to create political and economic climates favorable to foreign capital that
in turn limit domestic labor’s ability to obtain better wages. In simple words, “the rich
become richer, and the poor become poorer.”
Hout (1980) observes that international dependence tends to suppress adult wages,
which in turn perpetuates the role of children as economic necessities, leading to explosive
population growth.
In a chain reaction of negative effects, this explosive population growth creates a large
sub-sector of society that is insulated from economic development yet competes for
resources with the rest of the population. Coupled with the economic inequalities in which
this society is couched, this encourages political instability, resulting in policies that favor the
redistribution of income, which in turn discourages investment, which then slows economic
growth.

Political and Military Dependence/Interdependence

A survey conducted in late 2018 found that three in five Filipinos believe that the
United States would intervene on behalf of the country in case of war (Viray, 2018). Despite
the current very conservative stance of the U.S on its foreign policies, this can be taken as
evidence of the Philippines’ dependence on both the political and military power of the U.S.
in order to maintain its sovereignty as a nation-state in the Southeast Asia. Similar things can
be said of Russia and the many communist nations throughout the world.
The point is that where there are some forms of economic
dependence/interdependence, political dependence/interdependence is not far behind, as
the participating nations strive to protect their investments and interests in one another.

Expanded Flow of Expressive and Instrumental Culture

Expressive culture deals with how a particular culture expresses itself in its language,
music, arts and the like. Globalization encourages the monetization of these cultural artifacts
and their import/export among participating cultures; the increase consumption of which
changes the consuming culture.
Instrumental culture refers to “common models of social order” (Meyer, 2000) – that
is, models or ways of thinking about and enacting national identity, nation-state policies both
domestic and foreign, socio-economic development, human rights, education, and social
progress.

Expanded Flow of People among Societies

The fact that globalization encourages the movement of people between nation-states
should come as no surprise to us. The PSA estimates that there were 2.3 million OFWs during
the period of April to September 2017, who were responsible for up to 205.2 billion pesos in
remittances.
Meyer (2000) observes three reasons for this: socio-economic migration, political
expulsion, and travel/tourism.
Socio-economic migration explains the Philippines’ OFW phenomenon. Filipinos travel
abroad to find better economic opportunities for themselves and their families for lack of
said opportunities here.
Political expulsion, has more to do with trying to escape the political climate of a
particular country, thereby facing an individual to seek asylum in another more favorable
country.
 Travel for the sake of leisure is a strong indicator of economic development as more
and more Filipinos are able to finance short-term travels abroad, fueled by curiosity that is
fed by social media and enabled by globalization.