What is Globalization?

Globalization Concepts, Meanings, Features, and Dimensions

Globalization is the process in which people, ideas and goods spread throughout the
world, spurring more interaction and integration between the world's cultures,
governments and economies.
Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies,
and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and
investment and aided by information technology
Globalization is the process of integration of economies across the world through cross-
border flow of factors product and information
Globalization is an expansion, and intensification of social relations and consciousness
across
world time and world space. It is about growing worldwide connectivity
Globalization is considered a multi-dimensional process involving economic, political,
technological, cultural, religious and ecological dimensions. It suggests a dynamic process
of change that results in either positive or negative development. It leads to the creation
of something new; it involves the multiplication of social connections and various activities
that transgress traditional and political, economic, cultural and geographical lines.
Characteristics of Globalization
1. It involves both the creation of new social networks and
the multiplication of existing connections that cut across
traditional, political, economic, cultural, and geographical
boundaries.
2. Globalization is reflected in the expansion and the stretching
of social relations, activities, and connections.
3. Globalization involves the intensification and acceleration of
social exchanges
4. Globalization processes do not occur merely or an objective,
material level but they also involve the subjective plane of
human consciousness.
***Historical Periods of Globalization
1. The Prehistoric Period (10000 BCE-3500 BCE)
2. The Pre-modern Period (3500 BCE- 1500 CE)
3. The Early Modern Period (1500-1750)
4. The Modern Period (1750-1970)
5. The Contemporary Period (from 1970 to present)
*Dimensions of Globalization
1.Economic Dimension
This refers to the extensive development of economic relations across
the globe as a result of technology and the enormous flow of capital
that has stimulated trade in both sources and goods
2.Political Dimension
This refers to an enlargement and strengthening of political interrelations
across the globe
3.Cultural Dimension
This refers to the increase in the amount of cultural flows across the globe.
Cultural interconnections are at the foundations of contemporary
globalization
4.Religious Dimension
Religion is a personal or institutionalized set of attitudes, beliefs,
and practices relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to
an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity
5. Ideological Dimensions
Ideology is a system of widely shared ideas, beliefs, norms and
values among a group of people. It is often used to legitimize
certain political interests or to defend dominant power structures.
Ideology connects human actions with some generalized claims
Major Ideological Claims of Advocates of Globalism
1. Globalization is about the liberalization
and global integration of markets.
2. Globalization is inevitable and irreversible.
3. Nobody is in charge of globalization.
4. Globalization benefits everyone.
5. Globalization furthers the spread of
democracy in the world.
Globalization as a process, condition and ideology
Globalization as a process…
Globalization is viewed as a multidimensional set of
social processes that generate and increase “worldwide
social interdependencies and exchanges while at the
same time fostering in people a growing awareness of
deepening connections between the local and the
distant. This view argues that Globalization is about the
compression of time and space brought about by
changes in technology and the political, cultural and
economic aspects of human existence.
Globalization as a condition…
Globalization is also referred to by scholars as
globality. According to Scholte (2008), globality is a
social condition characterized by trans-planetary
relations, globality is about the establishment of social
links between people located at different places of our
planet. Here, our planet is not treated aas a collection
of geographical units but as a social space or an
arena of social life.
Globalization as an ideology…
Following the line of reasoning of globalization scholar
Michael Freeden, explains that globalization exists in the
people’s consciousness because it consists of a set of
coherent and complimentary ideas and beliefs about the
global order. In other words, he believes that
globalization is a political belief system that benefits a
certain class.
*According to Freeden, globalization as an idealogy
has six (6) core claims.
1. Globalization is about the liberalization and
global integration of markets
2. Globalization is inevitable and irreversible
3. Nobody is in charge of globalization
4. Globalization benefits everyone in the long run
5. Globalization furthers the democracy in the world
6. Globalization requires a global war on terror