Lecture 12

Globalization

Globalization literally means a series of events that occurs in a global scale, i.e., around the earth, and it is opposite to localization or regionalization, which only concerns with specific problems and issues that only affected a small part of the earth.

It is a complex process of social change that involves several dimensions of human endeavors including social, political, economic, cultural, religious, linguistic and technological.

However, the study of globalization usually examines and focuses on the emergence of a global culture system which is heavily dominated by many Western perspectives and ideologies, e.g., secularism, materialism, capitalism and consumerism.

Some of the examples of the emergence of globalization: the existence of a world-satellite information and communication system, the emergence of global patterns of consumption and consumerism, the emergence of global sport such as the Olympic Games, the emergence of world-wide political and economic bodies such as UN and WTO, the growth of a global military system such as NATO, the recognition of a world-wide ecological crisis such as global warming and natural disasters, and health crisis such as AIDS and bird-flu virus, H5N1.

Four dimensions of globalization:

Economical dimensions: A free flow of goods and capital which are mostly dominated by Western corporations. Less than 20% of industrialized populations are in control of about 80% of total manufactured goods internationally traded.

Social and cultural dimension: Free movement of information and ideas around the globe due to easy access of global transportation and the advancement of information and communication technology. However, it is the Western cultures and lifestyles that are mainly being propagated, while other cultures are gradually losing their influences on the future generations. The impact of globalization in language, for example, made English as the dominant language of the globalized world, and it is predicted that perhaps 90% of the language spoken today will become extinct in the next century.

Political dimension: Propagation of Western style of democracy and liberalism. Political authority of non-industrialized countries is heavily supported by powerful Western countries in order mainly to protect the economical and political interests of the latter.

Environmental dimension: Global environmental crisis that is affecting the whole globe, which is mainly due to the over-consumption of material resources and lack of concern of preserving the environment that marks the beginning of the Industrialized Revolution in many of the industrialized countries. Many of health disasters that occur nowadays are due to the improper utilization and management of resources and technology that leads toward many new illnesses and propagation of the old ones such as AIDS, SARS, H5N1, various kinds of cancers, various kinds of respiratory illnesses, and water-borne diseases.