Lesson No.

Metaphors of Globalization

Objective/s:

1. Identify the metaphors of globalization.

2. Understand the concept of globalization better with metaphors.

Try this Out:

Metaphor is a figure of speech in English. It does not use a word in its basic literal sense.
Instead, it uses a word in a kind of comparison. Can you give the meaning of each metaphor listed
below?

Raining cats and dogs:

apple of the eyes:

you’re my rock:

domino effect:

early bird:

Figure this Out:

In order for us to better understand the concept of globalization, we will

utilize metaphors. Metaphors make sure of one term to help us better understand another
term. In our case, the states matter – solid and liquid – will be used. In addition, other
related concepts that are included in the definition such structures and flows will be
elaborated.

Solid vs Liquid

 Solidity also refers to barriers that prevent or make difficult the movement of things.
Solids can either be natural or man-made.

Example: the geographical location of the Philippines is far from the USA,
therefore it takes a while for an American-manufactured product to be delivered to
the Philippines

 Liquid or Liquidity refers to an increasing ease of movement of people,

things, information, and places in the contemporary world. It also referred as a
medium in spreading globalization.
 Example: Television, social media, and other media platforms
that makes it easy for an information to spread.

 Flows are the movement of people, things, places and information.

Example: Poor illegal migrants flooding many parts of the

world. Another one is the virtual flow of legal and illegal
information such as blogs, pornography, and illegal migrants
recreating ethnic enclaves in host countries.

Search It Out:

Individual Work – Give atleast 3 concrete examples/

manifestations for SOLID, LIQUID, and FLOW.

MANIFESTATION
SOLID
LIQUID
FLOW

Think It Over:

Individual Work – In this activity, you are to see the actual application
of globalization on the different aspects of daily life such as politics,
music, sports, film, celebrity, and disaster.

1. Answer the following questions:

a. Enumerate at least three of the most recent songs you have listened. Where
did they originate? Identify the nationality of the writer and /or artist for each
music.
b. What gadgets or devices do you usually use to listen to music?
c. Where were these gadgets or device made (if applicable)? Where is the
company based?
d. How did you access these music? Did you purchase them online or listen to
them through Youtube, Spotify, and other music channels?

2. Using the above key ideas, present your answer in a paragraph form.
3. What metaphors are you going to use in order to improve your own
definition of globalization? Enumerate atleast 3 and explain each of
them briefly.
Supplemental Material for Lesson 2

Some metaphors to understand globalization

 Solid, Liquid, Gas

• Solidity: People, things, information and places ‘harden’ over time and therefore have limited
mobility.

• Solidity of materials: stone tablets, newpapers,magazines,books. (solidity of information before

high-tech and internet)

• Solidity of places: Mountains, rivers, oceans (solid natural)

Walls, gates, borders (humanly constructed)

Solid to Liquid or even to Gas

• With the developments on transportation, communication and the Internet; people, objects and
information can move across global more easily.

• Much of the information now available instantly around the world wafts through the air in the
form of signals beamed of satellites.

• Time in a liquid world, more important than space.

• Best example: Global Finance

Liquidity of New Age

• Eventhough globalization means more liquidity of everything, solid structures survive in the
world.

• The most important solid structure is nation- state.

The idea of Flows

• Another key concept in thinking about globalization.

Movement of people, things, information, and places due, in part, to the increasing porosity of global
barriers.

• For ex: Food flows, sushi from Japan becoming globalized all over the world.

• A different kind of flow: Migrants

• Ideas, images, information, both legal and illegal, flow everywhere through interpersonal
contact and the media, via internet, because of their immeteriality.
Types of Flows

• Interconnected flows: Global flows that interconnect at different points and times.

• Multi-directional flows: All sorts of things flowing in every conceivable direction among many
points in the world.

• Conflicting flows: Transplanetary processes that conflict with one another.

• Reverse flows: Processes which, while flowing in one direction, act back on their source.

Does globalization hop rather than flow?

• The world is characterized by great inequality.

• Therefore, all flows do not go everywhere in the world and, even when they do, they make
different effects.

*James Ferguson’s work on Africa.

• Globalization may hop rather than flow in some areas.

Some metaphors to understand globalization

• Heavy, Light, Weightless

• Example: Music records, then cassettes, then CDs, then ipods, cell phones. (heavy to light)

Heavy Structures on the World

• Trade agreements, regulatory agencies, borders, customs barriers, standards and so on..

• European Union- a structure to control global flows.

• Labor unions- a structure to control migrant flow

• IMF, WTO, World Bank- Financial structures to control global economy.

Some metaphors to understand globalization

• Structure, Process.

• Thinking about globalization in terms of processes gives it the kind of dynamism that we all
know it has and that offers profound insights into it and the ways in which it works.

• Structures: Nation-states, multi-national corporations.