Department of Social Sciences

CENTRAL MINDANAO UNIVERSITY

GEC 13
THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD
A.Y. 2020-2021

ANALOU CONDINO AMOR

INSTRUCTOR

This material has made available to you for your personal use only in this course. Please
ask permission from your instructor/professor for any other use or distribution.

Citation: Abinales, P. & Claudio, L. (2018). The Contemporary World. C & E Publishing, Inc.

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DEFINITION OF TERMS:

1. Important terms to remember: It appears at the beginning of every lesson. It is

a set of terms and concepts that are necessary in the understanding and
appreciation of the lesson. It is important that the student may be able to define,
explain and apply these terms and concepts.
 2. Pre-test: A pre-test may or may not be given at the beginning of the Module. It is
a tool to assess the student’s prior knowledge or the lack thereof, of the subject
matter and as such, it is not graded.

3. Post-test: A post-test is a tool to assess the students’ learning of the subject

matter after the enabling activities and the lessons are made and as such, is
graded. The weight of the post-tests varies.

4. References: The references are listed at the end of each lesson. These are
necessary to achieve the learning outcomes.

5. Lesson Assessment: A module assessment is conducted at the end of each

module to measure the student’s learning.

6. Lesson Activity: In each lesson, there will be various that you have to
accomplish individually or in groups.

MODULE 1:
The Structures of
Globalization
 At the end of this Module, the student will be able to analyze the various drivers of
globalization, and describe the emergence of global economic and political systems.

Lesson 1: What is globalization?

At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
1. Agree on a working definition of globalization for the course;
2. Differentiate the competing conceptions of globalizations; and,
3. Narrate a personal experience of globalization.

IMPORTANT TERMS TO REMEMBER!

Globalization
Global flow
Expansion
Intensification
Time and space
Globalism
Scapes
Enthoscapes
Mediscape
Technoscape
Financescape
Ideoscape

Study Guide Questions:

1. What do you mean by global experiences?
(Read the story: Gio, Latif, and the Laksa.)
2. What are some descriptions of globalization?
3. What is the working definition of globalization for this course?
4. What do you mean by expansion?
5. What do you mean by intensification?
6. What do you mean by global space and time?
7. What is the difference between globalization and globalism?
8. What does “multiple globalizations” imply?
9. What are scapes according to Arjun Appadurai?
10. What are the five (5) kind of scapes according to Appadurai?

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Required Reading(s):

1. Lesson 1: What is globalization?

Pages 2-11.
Abinales & Caludion (2018). The Contemporary World. Quezon City: C & E Publishing,
Inc.
2. Chirico, J. (2013). Globalization: prospects and problems. Sage Publications

Lesson-related videos:
Advantages and disadvantages of globalization.
Channel: Ingles VIP (July 11, 2016).
Link: https://youtu.be/i-eHj6bVU8w

A Story: Gio, Latif and the Laksa.

Channel: Patricia Dimaano (February 13, 2020).
Link: https://youtu.be/0AS65cl0pJA

What is globalization.
Channel: Rolin Corporation (Mar 7, 2015).
Link: https://youtu.be/xPD477FuqtY

GEC 13 - LESSON 1 - The Structures of

Globalization
Channel: Anli Amor
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L
_9s9B3KMuE

Lesson 1: What is globalization?

Required Reading: A Story: Gio, Latif, and the Laksa

I. Global Experiences
What hints of globalization did you find in the story?

II. Some Description

The discussion begins with two premises:
 1. Globalization is a complex phenomenon that occurs at multiple levels.
Example: You might be experiencing globalization by visiting and flying across
countries. If not, by simply eating a Big Mac at McDonalds with a phone at hand,
watching Netflix. Or, you might be enjoying every bite of your burger
with airpods on your ears listening to some EXO song
s.

2.
It is an uneven process that affects people differently.
Example: It is common for young women in developing countries to be
recruited in the internet as “mail order brides” for foreign men living in other
countries. After being promised a good life once married to a kind husband in
a to city, they end up becoming sexual and domestic servants in foreign lands.
Some were even sold off by their “husbands” to gangs which run prostitute rings
in these cities. Yes, they experienced the shrinking of the world, albeit
negatively.

III. Globalization: A working definition

Most JOURNALISTS and POLITICAL ACTIVISTS account view globalization

as primarily an economic process.
o When news reports that nationalists are resisting “globalization,” it usually
refers to the integration of the national markets to a wider global market
signified by the increased free trade.
o When activists refer to the “anti-globalization” movement of the 1990s, they
mean resisting the trade deals among countries facilitated and promoted by
global organizations like the World Trade Organization.
o Globalization scholars do not necessarily disagree with people who criticize
unfair international trade deals or economic globalization. In fact, many are
sympathetic to the critique of economic globalization.

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However, ACADENICS differ from journalists and political activists because they
see globalization is much broader. They view the process through various lenses
that consider multiple theories and perspectives. Academics call this
interdisciplinary approach, and it is this approach used by the general
education (GE) courses that you will be taking alongside this one.

What is then the best description for globalization?

 Manfred Steger described the process as “the
expansion and intensification of social
relations and consciousness across world-time
and world-space.”

There are three (3) important features of the definition for

globalization provided by Manfred Steger, which are as follows:

1) Expansion
a. It refers to both creation of new social networks and the
multiplication of existing connections that cut across traditional
political, economic, and geographic boundaries. These various
connections occur at different levels.
i. (thru) Social Media – new global conenctions between
people are established.
ii. United Nations, ASEAN, EU – are networks between
states/governments around the world and their
respective

2) Intensification
a. It refers to the expansion, stretching, and acceleration of these
networks. Not only are global connections multiplying, but they
are also becoming closely-knit and expanding their reach.

For example:
i. There has always been a strong financial market
connecting London and New York (thru trade). With the
advent of electronic trading, however, the volume of that
trade increases exponentially, since traders can now
trade more at higher speeds. (The connection is thus
accelerating). Apart from this acceleration, however, as
the world becomes more financially integrated, the
(intensified) trading network between London and New
York may expand and stretch to cover more and more
cities. After China committed itself to the global economy
in the 1980s, for example, Shanghai steadily returned to
its role as major trading post.
ii. It is not only in financial matters that you can find these
connections. In 2012, when the monsoon rains flooded
much of Bangkok, the Honda plant making some of the
critical car parts temporarily ceased production. This had
a strong negative effect on Honda-USA which relied
heavily on the parts being imported from Thailand. Not
only was it unable to reach the sakes targets it laid out,

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but the ability of the service centers nationwide to assist
Honda owners also suffered. As a result, the Japanese
car company’s global profits also fell.

3) Time and Space

a. Steger notes that “globalization processes do not occur merely at
an objective, material level but they also involve the subjective
plane of human conciousness. In other words, people behin to
feel that the world has become a smaller place and distance
has collapsed from thousands of miles to just a mouse-click
 away.

One can now email a friend in another

country and get a reply instantaneously,
and as a result, begins to perceive their
distance as less consequential.

Cable TV and the internet has also exposed

one to news from across the globe, so now,
he/she has this greater sense of what is
happening in other places.

Spotify and other related music apps has

exposed one to different music across the
world, so now, he/she has a variety of music
choices, of different genre, or even language.

Airplanes, ships, and cars have made travel

to different places easy. Now, one is highly
exposed to different cultures, people,
cuisines, language, ideas, and many more.

Globalization vs. Globalism

Globalization Globalism
Interdisciplinary (focus) Economic
It represents the many
processes that allow for the
expansion and intensification of
global connections.
It is the widespread belief among
powerful people that global integration
of economic and democracy around
the world.

Conclusion: Globalization from the Ground Up

Context: The intersecting processes talked earlier may be confusing. Indeed, it may be
hard to assess globalization or comment on it because it is so diffuse and
almost fleeting. Some scholars have, therefore, found it simpler to avoid
talking about globalization as a whole. Instead, they want to discuss “multiple
globalizations,” instead of just one process.

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Arjun Appadurai, an anthropologist, posits that different
kinds of globalization occur on multiple and intersecting
dimensions of integration that he calls “scapes”. They
are as follows:
1. Ethnoscape
2. Technoscape
3. Mediascape
4. Financescape
5. Ideoscape
The table shows a summary of what “scapes” are all about.

Apparudai’s argument is simple: there are multiple globalization. Hence,

even if one does not agree that globalization can be divided into five “scapes,”
it is hard to deny Appadurai’s central thrust of viewing globalization through
various lenses.

Depending on what is globalized, a different dynamic (or dynamics) may

emerge. So while it is important to ask “What is globalization?” it is likewise
important to ask “What is/are being globalized?” Depending on what is
globalized, the vista and conclusions change.

IMPORTANCE OF THE LESSON FOR THE NEXT

The structures of the lessons that follow will reflect

this multidimensional understanding of globalization. Each of
the lessons will focus on a particular kind of globalization.
Every one of them will be about different networks and
connections that are expanding and intensifying in the
contemporary world. Treat each lesson not as an end in itself
but as window to the broader phenomenon of globalization.