"Globalization
is defined as the spread of worldwide practices, relations, consciousness, and
organization of social life. Globalization theory emerged as the result
of real world concerns with the dramatic transformations of globalization as
well as a reaction against the earlier perspective of modernization theory.
Globalization can be analyzed culturally, economically, and politically. Across
each of these foci, theorists are divided over whether globalization results
in homogenization or heterogenization. Some cultural
theorists see globalization as producing homogeneity as a
consequence of cultural imperialism. Others see it as
producing distinctive local forms. Among economic theorists, some assert that
globalization produces homogeneity as a result of the
spread of the market economy with the aid of international organizations such
as the IMF. Others focus on the heterogeneity of local markets and the existence
of flexible specialization (glocalization). Some political/institutional
perspectives focus on the growth of a single model of governance around the
world. Others assert that globalization has resulted in intense nationalist
retrenchment."(1)
Ongoing
conflict at the core of different cultures
Civilization
(end of cold war, decline in political differences, rise of cultural differences)
Enduring
Broadest level of identity and self-identification
Transnational
A totality: aligned with religion, race, and other "tribal"
elements.
First era: up to 1500, wide separation, no significant
contact
Second: 1500-WWII, dominance of the "west."
Third phase: "multicivilizational system"
(Sinic, Japan, Hindu, Isalmic, Orthodox, Western Europe, North America,
Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, and Africa)
Decline
of the west
Yet,
acceptance of modernization
Rise
of the east: collectivism and resurgence of Islam
Clash
between "western arrogance," "Islamic intolerance,"
and Sinic
"assertiveness."
Western
"universalism" versus perceived reality of "imperialism"
Western
concerns with WMD, Democracy, immigration--lead to "fault lines."
Problem
of the West--especially USA: multiculturalism
technoscapes (configurations of all sorts of technology--especially
the informational sort and the "stuff" that moves through them.)
financescapes (global financial markets and the flow of money)
mediascapes
(ability to produce and the imagines produced) (CNN, Al-Jazeera)
ideoscapes (political images and ideals)
Global
processes--independent of particular nation-states, disjunctures (Japan
and media versus immigration), differential impact leading to heterogenization.
"Global flows and -scapes
are fluid transnational processes whereby mass media, identities, technology,
financial practices, and political images tend to produce cultural hybrids."
(1)
Nation state decline (boundaries of limited importance)
Transnational corporations
Transnational capitalist class (not owners of means of production, per se: corporate executives, state bureaucrats, technocrats, mass-merchants and media executives)
Globalization is not the problem, it's the form it has taken
"Many
of the most important perspectives on the economic aspects of globalization
are associated with Marxian theory. Leslie Sklair
describes two systems of globalization. The capitalist system is now dominant
but it is shadowed by an antiglobalization movement
fed by the problems of class polarization and ecological instability.
Sklair accords priority to transnational corporations and
a class of transnational capitalists which share global interests
and perspectives that transcend national origins. Within capitalist globalization
the culture-ideology of consumption is particularly important because it creates
a global mood that is beneficial to transnational corporations. Sklair
hopes that national protectionism and new social movements will succeed in countering
the negative consequences of capitalist globalization in the coming century.
Integrating Marxism with postmodernism, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri offer a
postmodern interpretation of the global economy centered on the concept of empire.
They suggest the globalization is governed by an empire that cannot be traced
to any single nation or place and is omnipresent. Lacking territorial
and temporal boundaries, empire seeks to control thought, action, interaction,
groups, and even biopower. It seeks to be a
juridical power based on such things as norms, ethics and truth which compels it to incorporate new places, to affirm
differences, and to stratify and manage these differences. Hardt
and Negri suggest that the multitude
which sustains empire in various ways may be a force that is capable
of overthrowing empire and creating a counter-empire." (1)
Fragmegration
(fragmenting and integrating at the same time)
The
Development of New Micro-Electronic Technologies (cell phones, email,
etc--boundaries and states--less important versus "digital divide")
The
Skill Revolution (analytical skills versus illiteracy)
The
Organization Explosion (NGO: integrate those involved, fragment with outsiders)
The
Bifurcation of Global Structures (state centrism versus subnational, transnational,
and NGOs)
The
Mobility Upheaval (people on the move (tourism integrative--terrorism
fragmenting), political attempts to control and regulate waning.
Weakening
of Territoriality (inability of states to control and regulate borders
(border wall) yet, solidarity of regional/tribal allegiances (Bosnians
in STL)
Authority Crises (decline in authority of the state, "subgroupism,"
politics of identity.
The
Globalization of National Economies (transnational economic flow)
"James
Rosenau's ideas about distant proximities and fragmegration are illustrative of the thinking of political
scientists on the subject of globalization. With distant proximitiesRosenau seeks to capture the paradoxical sense that
what seems remote is also close at hand in a global world. Fragmegration holds another uneasy opposition:
the idea that the world is both fragmenting and integrating at the same time.
Rosenau sees fragmegration
arising from a number of sources including new technology, a new emphasis on
analytical skills, an explosion of voluntary organizations with global reach,
the vigorous activities of subnational and transnational
organizations, intensified mobility via travel and migration, the weakening
of nation-states, the transfer of loyalties away from nation-states, and the
globalization of national economies. These changes have created new challenges
for states seeking to find new ways to govern in a fragmegrating world." (1)
1.
Much of this page comes from the "Instructor's Manual" to accompany Contemporary
Sociological Theory and Its Classical Roots: The Basics, Second Edition,
George Ritzer, Mcgraw-Hill, 2007. The Instructor's Manual was prepared by James
Murphy, University of Maryland, College Park and Todd Stillman, Fayetteville
State University. These excerpts are from chapter 10. 2. Ritzer, George. 2007/2010/2013. Contemporary Sociological
Theory and Its Classical Roots: The Basics. 2nd/3rd/4th editions. St. Louis: McGraw-Hill
URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/3210/3210_lectures/globalization.html
Owner: Robert O. Keel: rok@umsl.edu
Last Updated:
Friday, August 14, 2015 9:48 AM
