Chapter 1
Economic imperialism is a situation in which one nation assumes economic power or influence over the
others.
Globalization is a phenomenon. Schottle (1995) states that “globalization stands for quite a large public
spread across the world as one of the defining terms of the 20th century social consciousness.”
Rosenau (1996) recognizes such a tendency when he states that:
“Globalization is not the same as globalism, which points our aspirations for an end state of affairs
wherein values are shared by or pertinent to all the world’s five billion people, their environment, their
roles as citizens, consumers and producers with an interest in collective action designed to solve
common problems. Nor it is universalism—values that embrace all humanity.”
For McGrew (1990), globalization is described as something that is comprised of multiple sameness and
interconnectedness that go beyond the nation-states. It is a process in which individuals and
organizations in one part of the world are affected by the activities, affairs, and convictions on another
part of the globe.
Appadurai (1996) proposed five dimensions of global cultural flow, namely ‘ethnoscapes,’
‘technoscapes, ‘mediascapes,’ ‘financescapes,’ and ‘ideoscapes.’ These landscapes are created due to
movements of people, technologies, information through media, money and commodities, and political
ideas.
For Steger (2005 & 2014a), the term globalization should be limited to a set of intricate social processes
that modify prevailing social statuses based on the modern regime of self-dependent nation-states.
Steger (2005) uses the term globality to mean globalization as a condition. For him, globality denotes
“future social condition characterized by thick economic, political, and cultural interconnections and
global flows that make currently existing political borders and economic barriers irrelevant.”
Moreover, globalization is defined as an ideology. Steger (2014b) defines ideology as a system of widely
shared ideas, patterned beliefs, guiding norms and values, and ideals accepted as truth by some groups.
Steger (2014b) uses the term globalism to mean globalization as an ideology. He then identifies five core
claims of globalism.
First, globalization is about the liberalization and global integration of markets; second, globalization is
inevitable and irreversible; third, nobody is in charge of globalization; fourth, globalization benefits
everyone; and fifth, globalization furthers the spread of democracy in the world.
Globalization is also defined differently depending on someone else’s expertise, experience, and
perspective.
Through globalization, the world has become a borderless world. Communication technology makes the
world shrink. McLuhan (1964) believes that media has connected the world in ways that created a global
village. Global village was McLuhan's ideal in the 1960s that has become a reality during the later part of
the century. More so, globalization is referred to as cultural imperialism. It is the conviction that there is
a “better” culture.
One objective working definition is that of Steger’s (2013): “Globalization refers to the expansion and
intensification of social relations and consciousness across world-time and world-space.”
From this definition, four attributes of globalization can be drawn. First, globalization has various forms
of connectivity such that it can be economic, political, or cultural. Second, globalization allows for the
expansion and stretching of social relations. Third, globalization intensifies and accelerates social
exchanges and activities. Fourth, globalization occurs worldwide.
Globalization may be defined and conceptualized from different lenses, but an interdisciplinary
definition is necessary. Some scholars consider it as a process, a condition, or an ideology. Experts from
different fields of social sciences also define globalization based on their specialization or expertise. But
a working definition has to encompass all definitions of and notions about globalization. Steger’s
definition, for the purpose of this module, is the most unbiased working definition.