The Contemporary World

Lesson 1: Introduction to the Concept of Globalization

Lesson Objectives:
• Identify the underlying theories, concepts and the varying
definitions of globalization.
• Recognize specific instances when cultures spread globally.
• Determine how globalization affects the lives at the micro-level

A. What is Globalization?
• the primary driving force of the contemporary world
• it is complex and multifaceted
• a phenomenon that occurs at multiple levels and a process that
affects people differently (Abinales & Claudio, 2018).
Other definitions by various scholars and authors
• Globalization means the onset of the borderless world. – ( Ohmae,
1992 )
• Globalization is a trans planetary process or set of processes
involving increasing liquidity and the growing multidirectional flows of
people, objects, places, and information as well as the structures they
encounter and create that are barriers to, or expedite, those flows. –
Ritzer, 2015
• Globalization is the intensification of worldwide social relations which
link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped
by events occurring many miles away and vice versa. – Giddens,
1990
• Globalization refers to the compression of the world and the
intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole. – Robertson,
1992
• Globalization is the phenomenon by which markets and production in
different countries are becoming increasingly interdependent due to
the dynamics of trade in goods and services and the flows of capital
technology. – OECD, 2002
• Globalization implies the weakening of state sovereignty and state
structures. – Beck, 2000
 • Globalization is the establishment of the global market free from
socio-political control. – Nikitin and Elliott, 2003
• Globalization is “de-territorialization” or the growth of
“supraterritorial”* relations between people. – Scholte, 2000

*It mainly refers to the degeneration of the traditional state boundaries as a result of
trade and economic activities
• Globalization is a process of cross-cultural interaction, exchange, and
transformation. – Cooppan, 2001

• Globalization is usually used to refer to the integration of national

markets to a wider global market signified by the increased free
trade.

• the “expansion and intensification of social relations and

consciousness across world-time and across world-space.”
Manfred Steger (Abinales & Claudio, 2018).

Different kinds of globalization occur on a multiple and intersecting

dimension of integration that he calls “scapes” ( Anthropologist Arjun
Appadurai)
1. Ethnoscape refers to the flow of people across boundaries.
Ex. Labor migrants or refugees or leisure travellers
Global movement of people

2. Mediascape refers to the flow of media across borders.

Media is shared rapidly regardless of geographical borders.
Ex. Brazilian Telenovelas may provide entertainment on long
distance African bus trips.
Flow of culture

3. Technoscape refers to flows of technology. Apple’s iPhone is just one

example of how the movement of technologies across boundaries can
radically affect day-to-day life for people all along the commodity chain.
Ex. Demand for new products drives a fast and furious pace of
production
Circulation of mechanical good and software
 4. Financescape refers to the flow of money across political borders.
Like the other flows discussed by Appadurai, this phenomenon has
been occurring for centuries.
Ex. Global transfer of money have immediate effects on economies
around the world
Global circulation of money

5. Ideoscape refers to the flow of ideas. This can be small-scale, such

as an individual posting her or his personal views on Facebook for
public consumption, or it can be larger and more systematic.
Ex. Political Ideas move around

B. Theories on Globalization: How does globalization take place?

Theories on globalization see globalization as a process that can either
increase homogeneity or heterogeneity.
Homogeneity refers to the increasing sameness in the world as cultural
inputs, economic factors, and political orientations of societies expand to
create common practices, same economies, and similar forms of
government.
Homogeneity in globalization is associated with the following concepts.
1. Cultural Imperialism - a concept that means that a given culture
influences other cultures. This pertains to the imposition by one usually
politically or economically dominant community of various aspects of
its own culture onto another nondominant community.

Colonizers used law, education, and/or military force to impose various

aspects of their own culture onto the target population. Motivated, in
part, by a desire to purge local populations of allegedly barbaric,
uncivilized customs and mores, colonizers also knew that the best way
to mitigate resistance by the colonized was to eradicate as far as
possible all traces of their former way of life.

Ex. European Influence in architecture, Vigan Heritage Village

2. Media Imperialism. This refers to the global flow of media imposed to
developing countries by the West. It is a theory based upon an over-
concentration of mass media from larger nations as a significant
variable in negatively affecting smaller nations, in which the national
identity of smaller nations is lessened or lost due to media
homogeneity inherent in mass media from the larger countries.
Ex. Netflix

3. Neoliberalism. This sees competition as the defining characteristic of

human relations. It redefines citizens as consumers, whose
democratic choices are best exercised by buying and selling, a process
that rewards merit and punishes inefficiency.
Ex. A political and economic policy model that emphasizes the value of
free market capitalism while seeking to transfer control of economic
factors from the government to the private sector.

4. McDonaldization - McDonaldization is the process by which Western

societies are dominated by the principles of fast-food restaurants. This
concept was developed by American sociologist George Ritzer which
refers to the particular kind of rationalization of production, work, and
consumption. The basic idea is that these elements have been
adapted based on the characteristics of a fast-food restaurant—
efficiency, calculability, predictability, standardization, and
control—and that this adaptation has ripple effects throughout all
aspects of society.

Heterogeneity pertains to the creation of various cultural practices,

new economies, and political groups because of the interaction of
elements from different societies around the world.

Associated with this is the concept of glocalization. Glocalization sees

globalization as a process wherein global forces interact with local
factors or a specific geographic area. The term is a combination of the
words "globalization" and "localization." The term was coined in the
Harvard Business Review, in 1980, by sociologist Roland Robertson,
 who wrote that glocalization meant "the simultaneity—the co-
presence—of both universalizing and particularizing tendencies."

C. Dynamics of Local and Global Culture: Perspectives on Global

Cultural Flows
There are three perspectives on how cultures flow globally:
1. Cultural Differentialism. This emphasizes the fact that cultures are
essentially different and are only superficially affected by global flows.
The interaction of cultures is deemed to contain the potential for
catastrophic collision. (Note: This usually results to state wars and
racial discrimination as well as culture clash)
Ex.The Amish, While the heart of this culture is not greatly affected by
any of these forces, still they continue to persist as they always have
been

2. Cultural Hybridization. This emphasizes the integration of local and

global cultures. Globalization is considered as a creative process
which gives rise to hybrid entities that are not reducible to either global
or the local. (Note: This is similar to the concept of “glocalization”. New
culture is made out of the local and foreign culture.
Ex.Global restaurant chains like Kentucky Fried
Chicken or McDonald’s (KFC), modifying their menus to suit the tastes
or mores of different cultures.

3. Cultural Convergence. This stresses the homogeneity introduced by

globalization. Cultures are deemed to be radically altered by strong
flows, while cultural imperialism happens when one culture imposes
itself on and tends to destroy at least parts of another culture. (Note:
This perceives that the world is having a universal global culture that
will eventually dissolve the local culture.)
 Ex. Global sporting events like the Olympics and the World Cup are
examples of cultural convergence. Sports have been adopted into
different cultures and societies. A soccer ball is one of the most
recognizable items in the world thanks for cultural convergence.
Technology is another example of cultural convergence.

D. The Roots of Globalization

Below is a timeline of notable events in the development of globalization:
• 1897 – Charles Taze Russell coined a related term - “corporate
giants” that refers to the largely national trusts and other large
enterprises of the time.
• 1930 – the word “globalize” as a noun appeared in a publication
entitled Towards New Education where it denoted a holistic view of
human experience in education.
• Late 1980’s – the word “globalization” was coined by Theodore
Levitt.
• 2000 – the International Monetary Fund (IMF) identified 4 basic
aspects of globalization (trade and transactions; capital and
investments; movements and migration; and knowledge and
dissemination)