Globalization in Capitalist Society - Essay Example

Globalization Globalization Globalization is the interaction between people in the world that is mostly contributed to by the interchange of products and services, for example, ideas, news and cultural resources among others. Globalization is an old concept and dates back 15th century though some scholars try to modernize it and make it a new thing in the face of the earth. Through globalization, people are brought together to a common front no matter their geographical location thus it has led to improved social, economical and cultural links between people of different walks of life, races, gender and religions. Capitalism is the situation that can be described as a free-economy where people are left to do what they want without government intervention. People are free to trade, find a job of their own and even sell their property out to whoever they wish without much interruption from the government. Capitalism as though been criticized on the ground that it exploits the poor as people carry out businesses that favor their own self interests. It is also seen as a chaotic situation because the government does not get to meddle into the business affairs of individuals making it very possible for exploitation of the resources that could be shared between people for the common good of the economy. Globalization can be viewed as capitalism around the globe as people are allowed the freedom to connect freely with whoever they feel free to trade with and this has even been made easier with technology advancements. Globalization is characterized by free flow of resources, labor, ideas as well as technological and cultural resources without any restrictions from the governments. This though, just like national capitalism, has been criticized that if favors the rich nations that stand to benefit more from the trade while the poor nations remain poor. Over the years, globalization has been allowed the freedom of capitalization in that countries can enter the global market and sell or buy what they deem right provided they can afford it. This condition set by globalization has set a concept for human response and many people are left wondering what should really be done to at least elevate this problem of capitalism in the global scene. In her article, “A Trojan Horse of a word”, Walsh brings out some of the problems that globalization has brought the people of her society who were once farmers but when they turned to the global market, many problems have come up. First, there has been emergence of crop diseases that have threatened the survival of the food crops that the people grow. These diseases were introduced due to importation of seeds and other organic planting materials and the pesticides and insecticides that were being used to treat these diseases are too expensive for the people. Secondly, there is so much dependence on the Western ways of doing things and this means that the people have stopped to be innovative because they know that the global market has set a platform where one can buy what they want when they want if. This is a great context for human response in the world as people should not be allowed to import even those things that they can produce locally. This leads to the poor countries remaining poorer and the rich nations benefiting from these capitalism conditions that are set by globalizations. Due to increased capitalism in globalization, countries can no longer produce anything in their once productive farms and have turned to even more importing of these products further worsening the situation. Due to the problems that are associated with so much capitalization in the global market, associations have come forward to air their concerns and voice the concerns of the wider society. Alliance for a New Green Revolution for Africa (AGRA) has put it across that African countries are no longer food independent due to their increased reliance of foreign materials in their farming activities which turned out to destroy the soil structure of the and making it completely unfertile. This problem could not have been there was there a control for what people buy from the international market. AGRA though suggests that this problem can be resolved by going back to the traditional use of improved seeds and to some extent use other modern inputs to see whether their yield can be increased to a given level. Karen Tranberg in her article, “Changing Youth Dynamics”, explores the changes that had taken place in Lusaka and the revolution that had taken place in the public markets, youth policies and how their regulation had become hard due to increased al forces. These external forces came from the global scene and they had affected the way trade was conducted in the streets of Lusaka. The youths became so much influenced by what has happening in the external world and had turned chaotic running battles with the police and the military over the trading space. This affected the business so much in Lusaka and contributed to their stalls being demolished but the youths persisted and this could have been as a result of free market that was practiced everywhere in the world and they could feel that their capitalism rights were being violated. Various movements have been formed in Zambia to address the problem and it saw the commissioning of new stalls by an American Organization to support trading activities in the country. One of the conditions that have been set by globalization for capitalization is that there should be ethical consumerism. This means that the gap between the producer and the consumer of the products should be bridged by letting the consumers know the processes that are followed by the producer to come up with his products. This though is a big challenge as the consumers are not able to access these processes and will therefore buy what they deem right for their own use. The producers on the other hand are not ready to give out their skills and technology used as this would result into giving out their ideas to a potential competitor. The reliability of the processes used therefore lies on the ethical guidelines that govern conventional consumerism. This is an issue that has been hard to solve as it is not clear if every producer will follow these guidelines. Another condition that has been set by globalization for capitalism is that of cooperation and solidarity which to a big extent challenges competition, accumulation and profit maximization by the capitalists. The question that begs at this juncture is should the capitalists be left to benefit at the expense of the consumers? It is an issue that forms a context for human response and some scholars went ahead to raise these issues in their articles as the factors that the people feel they concern them. Njehu, writes about some of the concerns that have been put forward concerning globalization by people who were directly affected by globalization. First, they point out that globalization had led to exploitation, colonization and oppression. This was especially where the poor had no option but to buy from their rich neighbors who would in turn exploit them leading to oppression of those people. Again it led to international debts especially for the poor countries that in the quest to keep up with the globalization trend, they would end up borrowing from the international market to match up. Some of these loans would have stringent conditions that would in turn lead to the indebted countries becoming poorer than they were initially. Unfair wealth distribution between people and nations was another concern that capitalism in globalization had led to. There were also claims that profit were considered before the interest of the people by the producers and they would even produce sub-standard products some of which had unhealthy impacts on the people. Genetically modified foods are also a common feature that brings in a reason for human considerations as well as better life for those who already have while those who did not have remained poorer by the day. Some of these concerns have been dealt with by various movements and organizations coming into play to regulate some of the concerns of the people. World Health Program, for example, has come into the global market to control the type of food that is being produced and sold to the consumers. However much capitalism there is in the global market and people should exercise their free right to buy and sell what they want, it is necessary they sell what is healthy to the people. Globalization has also brought forward the emergence of other Non- Governmental Organizations that are charged with the mandate of ensuring that the concerns of people are addressed as they come and they have succeeded in putting in place regulations that are supposed to maintain sanity in the market. Today, pure capitalism is not in play in any part of the world and to some extent globalization capitalism is not taking so many tolls on the people. The civil societies from different countries, for example, Haiti Civil Society have come up to fight for the rights of the consumers and other people who are directly affected by the globalization capitalism pact. They are strongly reacting to the issue of producers putting profit before the people’s interest and some changes are being experienced in the global market. This has worked to reduce the impact of genetically modified food getting their way into their countries and other products that have adverse reactions on the country’s natural resources, such as, soil fertility. In conclusion, globalization is the free interaction between people across the globe and the factors of production are allowed to move freely between the countries. Globalization offers the freedom for capitalism activities such that countries are allowed to buy or sell what they feel right to purchase provided they can afford it. This though has brought concerns about how the business transactions will be controlled due to some nations putting profit before the interests of the people and hence producing harmful products to the market. Movements and organization have come up though to regulate the activities of the activities in the global market and protect consumer rights. Globalization is important though as it leads to sharing of information that could be useful in the development of the countries and elevate their level of poverty and move towards self dependence and self-reliance. Bibliography Borras, Saturnino M. Jr., Ruth Hall, Ian Scoones, Ben White and Wendy Woolford. 2011. “Towards a Better Understanding of Global Land Grabbing: An Editorial Introduction.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 38, 2: 209-216. Brown, Nicholas and Imre Szeman. 2005. “What is the Multitude? Questions for Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri”. Cultural Studies 19, 3: 372-387 Castro, Arachu and Paul Farmer. 2003. “Infectious Disease in Haiti”. Science and Society 4: S20-S23. Fridell, Gavin. 2007. “Fair Trade Coffee and Commodity Fetishism: The Limits of Market- Driven Social Justice.” Historical Materialism 15: 79-104. 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