COWORLD

MODULE 1: Topic 2 - Metaphors of Globalization

The Nature of Globalization
A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is
not literally applicable. As with any aspect of world politics, globalization is bound up in metaphors. The
countless and widely varying examples include 'creol- ization', 'flexibilization', 'glocalization', 'McWorld',
and 'virtual reality'. Such utterances generate mental associations that can deeply shape overall
knowledge of globalization.

Metaphors of Globalization
The metaphors of globalization describe the process of globalization and how these phenomena can be
best articulated. In general, it is described in two opposing poles – the solid and liquid, and how it flows.

Solid and Liquid

Solidity refers to barriers that prevent or make difficult the movement of things. Furthermore, solids can
either be natural or man-made.

• Liquidity refers to the increasing ease of movement of people, things, information, and places in
the contemporary world.
• Liquid phenomena change quickly and their aspects, spatial and temporal, are in continuous
fluctuation.
• Space and time are crucial elements of globalization.

Flows
Flows is the movement of people, things, places, and information brought by the growing “porosity” of
global limitations (Ritzer, 2015). As Landler (2008) put it: “in the global financial system, national borders
are porous”. This means that a financial crisis in a given country can bring ramifications to other regions
in the world.

Defining Globalization
• The term globalization first appeared in Webster’s Dictionary in 1961; it is then classified as either
(1) broad and inclusive or (2) narrow and exclusive;
• Ohmae (1992) stated that “globalization means onset of the borderless world” – an example of a
broad and inclusive type of definition
• Robert Cox’s definition is narrow and exclusive – “the characteristics of 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
world”.
Recent definition by Ritzer (2015) – “globalization is a transplanetary process or a set of processes
involving increasingly liquidity and the growing multidirectional flows of people, places, and information
as well as the structures they encounter and create that are barriers to, or expedite, those flows”; this
assumes that globalization could bring either or both integration and/ or fragmentation; although things
flow easily in a global world, hindrances or structural blocks are also present, these blocks could slow
down one’s activity in another country or could even limit the places a person can visit.

Flows of Globalization
Flow is the movement of people, things, places, and information brought by the growing “porosity” of
global limitations (Ritzer, 2015). Goods and services around the world can be easily facilitated due to
growing globalized business transactions. Watch this video about global flow of trade.