QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY

DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

LESSON 1

Introduction to Globalization

Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, students are expected to:
1. Identify the underlying philosophies of the varying definitions of globalization.

Globalization: A Working Definition

Most accounts view globalization as primary an economic process. When a newspaper
reports that nationalist are resisting “globalization”, it usually refers to the integration of the
national trade. When activist refer to the “anti-globalization” movement of the 1990s, they
mean resisting the trade deals among countries facilitated and promoted by global
organizations like the World Trade Organization.
Globalization scholars do not necessarily disagree with people who criticize unfair
international trade deals or global economic organizations. In fact, many are sympathetic to
the critique of economic globalization. Academics differ from journalist and political activist,
however, because they see globalization in much broader multiple theories and perspectives.
Academics call this an interdisciplinary approach.
The best scholarly description of globalization is provided by Manfred Steger who
described the process as “the expansion and intensification of social relations and
consciousness across world-time and across world-space.” Expansion refers to “both the
creation of new social networks and the multiplication of existing connections that cut across
traditional political, economic, cultural, and geographic boundaries.” These various
connections occur at different levels. Social media, for example, establish new global
connections between people, while international groups of non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) are networks that connect more specific group – social workers and activist - from
different corners of the globe.
Intensification refers to the expansion, stretching and acceleration of these networks.
Not only are global connections multiplying, but they are also becoming more closely-knit
and expanding their reach. For example, there has always been a strong financial market
connecting London and New York. With the advent of electronic trading, however, the volume
of that trade increases exponentially, since traders can now trade more at higher speeds. The
connection is thus accelerating. Apart from this acceleration, however, as the world becomes
more financially integrated, the intensified trading network between London and New York
may expand and stretch to cover more and more cities. After China committed itself to global
economy in the 1980s, for example, Shanghai steadily returned to its old role as major trading
post.
It is not only in financial matters that you can find these connections. In 2012, when
the monsoon rains flooded much of Bangkok, the Honda plant making some critical car parts
temporarily ceased production. This had a strong negative effect on Honda-USA which relied
heavily on the parts being imported from Thailand. Not only was it unable to reach the sales
targets it laid out, but the ability of the service centers nationwide to assist Honda owners
also suffered. As a result, the Japanese car company’s global profit also fell.
The final attribute of this definition relates to the way people perceive time and space.
Steger notes that “globalization process do not occur merely at an objective, material level
but they also involve the subjective plane of human consciousness.” In other words, people
begin to feel that the worlds has become smaller place and distance has collapsed from
thousands of mile to just a mouse-click away. One can now e-mail a friend in another country
and get a reply instantaneously, and as a result, begins to perceive their distance as less

GE 3 – The Contemporary World/AMELIA B. BUMMAR-PASCUA/lesson 1

 QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

consequential. Cable TV and internet has also exposed one to news from across the globe, so
now, he/she has their greater sense of what is happening in other places.
Steger posits that his definition of globalization must be differentiated with an ideology
he calls globalism. If globalizations represents the many processes that allow for the
expansion and intensification of global connections, globalism is widespread belief among
powerful people that the global integration of economic markets is beneficial for everyone,
since it spreads freedom and democracy across the world. It is a common belief forwarded in
media and policy circles.
For now, what is crucial to note is that when activist and journalist criticize
“globalization” they are, more often than not, criticizing some manifestations of globalism.
Often, these criticisms are warranted. Nevertheless, it is crucial to insist that “globalizations”
as a process refers to a larger phenomenon that cannot simply be reduced to the ways in
which global markets have been integrated.

What is Globalization?

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. This process has effects on
the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity,
and on human physical well-being in societies around the world.

Globalization is not new, though. For thousands of years, people—and, later,

corporations—have been buying from and selling to each other in lands at great distances,
such as through the famed Silk Road across Central Asia that connected China and Europe
during the Middle Ages. Likewise, for centuries, people and corporations have invested in
enterprises in other countries. In fact, many of the features of the current wave of
globalization are similar to those prevailing before the outbreak of the First World War in
1914.

But policy and technological developments of the past few decades have spurred
increases in cross-border trade, investment, and migration so large that many observers
believe the world has entered a qualitatively new phase in its economic development. Since
1950, for example, the volume of world trade has increased by 20 times, and from just 1997
to 1999 flows of foreign investment nearly doubled, from $468 billion to $827 billion.
Distinguishing this current wave of globalization from earlier ones, author Thomas Friedman
has said that today globalization is “farther, faster, cheaper, and deeper.”

This current wave of globalization has been driven by policies that have opened
economies domestically and internationally. In the years since the Second World War, and
especially during the past two decades, many governments have adopted free-market
economic systems, vastly increasing their own productive potential and creating myriad new
opportunities for international trade and investment. Governments also have negotiated
dramatic reductions in barriers to commerce and have established international agreements
to promote trade in goods, services, and investment. Taking advantage of new opportunities
in foreign markets, corporations have built foreign factories and established production and
marketing arrangements with foreign partners. A defining feature of globalization, therefore,
is an international industrial and financial business structure.

Technology has been the other principal driver of globalization. Advances in

information technology, in particular, have dramatically transformed economic life.
Information technologies have given all sorts of individual economic actors—consumers,
investors, businesses—valuable new tools for identifying and pursuing economic
GE 3 – The Contemporary World/AMELIA B. BUMMAR-PASCUA/lesson 1
 QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

opportunities, including faster and more informed analyses of economic trends around the
world, easy transfers of assets, and collaboration with far-flung partners.

Globalization is deeply controversial, however. Proponents of globalization argue

that it allows poor countries and their citizens to develop economically and raise their
standards of living, while opponents of globalization claim that the creation of an unfettered
international free market has benefited multinational corporations in the Western world at
the expense of local enterprises, local cultures, and common people. Resistance to
globalization has therefore taken shape both at a popular and at a governmental level as
people and governments try to manage the flow of capital, labor, goods, and ideas that
constitute the current wave of globalization.

To find the right balance between benefits and costs associated with globalization,
citizens of all nations need to understand how globalization works and the policy choices
facing them and their societies.

There are three main classifications of globalisation for the A-level politics student:
political, social and economic.

Political globalization

Political globalization refers to the amount of political co-operation that exists between
different countries.

This ties in with the belief that “umbrella” global organisations are better placed than
individual states to prevent conflict. The League of Nations established after WW1 was
certainly one of the pioneers in this. Since then, global organisations such as the World Trade
Organisation (WTO), United Nations (UN), and more regional organisations such as the EU
have helped to increase the degree of political globalisation.

Social globalization

Social globalisation refers to the sharing of ideas and information between and through
different countries.

In today’s world, the Internet and social media is at the heart of this. Good examples of social
globalisation could include internationally popular films, books and TV series. The Harry
Potter/ Twilight films and books have been successful all over the world, making the
characters featured globally recognisable. However, this cultural flow tends to flow from the
centre (i.e. from developed countries such as the USA to less developed countries). Social
globalisation is often criticised for eroding cultural differences.

Economic globalization

Economic globalisation refers to the interconnectedness of economies through trade and the
exchange of resources.

Effectively, therefore, no national economy really operates in isolation, which means national
economies influence each other. This is clearly evidenced by global recession from 2007
onwards. Economic globalisation also means that there is a two-way structure for
technologies and resources. For example countries like the USA will sell their technologies to
countries, which lack these, and natural resources from developing countries are sold to the
developed countries that need them.

GE 3 – The Contemporary World/AMELIA B. BUMMAR-PASCUA/lesson 1

 QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

CONCLUSION
All this talk of large, intersecting process may be confusing. Indeed, it may be hard to
assess globalization or comment on it because it is so diffuse and almost fleeting. Some
scholars have, therefore, found it simpler to avoid talking about globalization as a whole.
Instead, they want to discuss “multiple globalizations” instead of just one processes.
For anthropologist Arjun Appadurai, different kinds of globalization occur on multiple
and intersecting dimensions of integrations that he calls “scapes”. An “ethnoscapes”, for
example, refers to the global movement of people, while a mediascape is about the flow of
culture. A technoscape refers to the circulation of mechanical goods and software; a
financescape denotes the global circulation of money; and an “ideoscape” is the realm where
political ideas move around. Although they intersect, these various scapes have differing
logics. They are thus, distinct windows into the broader phenomenon of globalization.
Appaduarai’s argument is simple: there are multiple globalizations. Hence, even if one
does not agree that globalization can be divided into the five “scapes”, it is hard to deny
Appadurai’s central thrust of viewing globalization through various lenses.

ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY

How globalized is your home?

Go to your room and do an inventory of everything you have in your possession. You
will find out that the most essential among the “things” in your room are footwear, clothes,
computers (if any), cellphones, televisions (if possible) and maybe a radio. If you are a student,
you may also notice books, newspapers, new magazines, not to mention school supplies and
equipment.
Organize your inventory into two types: first, “things” that are made in the Philippines
and second, those that are of foreign brands. List the countries of origin of your foreign-brand
items.
Do the same thing for the kitchen and the living room. These should include
appliances.
In class, compare your list with those of your classmates to determine which countries
make the most household and personal needs you and your families have. Make a similar
list for Philippine-made stuff. In the process, discuss why certain products are made in the
Philippines while the others are produced abroad.

NOTE: CONVERT YOUR ANSWER SHEET TO PDF BEFORE UPLAODING TO THE LMS.

References:

Claudio, L.E. & Abinales, P.N., (2018) The Contemporary World. C & E Publishing Inc. Quezon City,
Philippines
(Globalization101. [Link] date retrieved January
14, 2020

GE 3 – The Contemporary World/AMELIA B. BUMMAR-PASCUA/lesson 1