Misconceptions about the Term Globalization - Essay Example

Lecturer: Globalization Introduction There are very many misconceptions about the term globalization, with very many people associating the term with merely the advent of the internet. However, this is the contemporary understanding of the concept and its effects; this is because of various scholarly works and the information from the media, as the trend of recent decades. It is a widely held misinterpretation that globalization commenced in the 1960s, a period when the world was beginning to experience the impacts of the cold war. In most social science and humanities disciplines, they mostly refer to this time period for the acceleration of the global community and the effects of the community coming together. In other disciplines, mostly economics, international relations, political science, cultural studies, films and media, marketing and advertising, and communication, the probable date when globalization actually began was from1970s. It is difficult to comprehend such a significant occurrence in world history just began in the last four or three decades ago. These occurrences that began in about four decades ago merely accelerated the process of globalization, and as such they do not predict the actual date of globalization, they are just the antecedents of globalization. This paper seeks to get the deeper meaning and definition of the term globalization and the important factors that accelerated it. The paper also analyses three different phenomena which show indicate the existence and slow spread of globalization which dates back nearly 600 years ago and finally I would carefully present my own perception of the concept. Shortcomings of the Presentist Approach The mere understanding of the concept of globalization from the perspective of complex connectivity only refer to the concept in modern times, but ideally the analysis of the term implies economic, social, cultural, and political activities of human began much further in time. The term globalization was initially used in the business disciplines; in fact, it was first used in this field in 1970s, is has since spread out to other studies. According to Jones ‘….thinkers began to refer to this process as globalization and by the 1980s this was already becoming one of the key vogue concepts pushed in both the academic literature on management and in the popular business literature”. The rise in the use of the term is mostly associated with the post war periods when many multinational corporations were setting up footprints in other countries, then the growth in information and communication technology, jet travel, global value chains, global advertising and global finance. The presentist views of the term globalization do reveal very many short comings of their understanding of the term. First, due to their leanings, very many research works on globalization tends to overlook structural patterns, they present as original the older features and misreading of contemporary trends. Second, this view implies a Eurocentric view, meaning that world history probably began with the rise of western imperialism many dub it as the “the rise of the west”. Consequently, this perception of globalization ignores or down plays contribution to globalization by non western societies. These perceptions tend to downplay the historical perspective of the concept and present a narrow understanding of both history and globalization with understanding of the term modernity. Vary many historians have accounted for the concept without necessarily referring to the word itself, in fact; they recorded happenings that implied globalization before the advent of the word globalization. By any account, this is merely a semantic problem, as historians have found evidence of wide and deep infrastructures of global network amongst different societies without necessarily using the term globalization. Globalization is an approach that asserts that the world has never been isolated, unconnected communities, trade and other social interactions have enabled the connectivity of people throughout human history, and in fact, the term globalization should be associated with the first exchanges between communities from different regions. To establish a deeper understanding of the concept, it is imperative to include empire, civilization, interplay of multiple zones, world economy, world system, networks, cities and innovations. Economist have often defined globalization differently but which is assigned a given time frame and quantified, according to Radetzki (12) they regard the convergence of commodity prices across continents as the emergence of globalization. The convergence of different economies into the global economy is perhaps the standard way of understanding this concept. This occurred about 500 years ago, at around 1500, although there are historians who lay claim that the year could have been in 1200s (Peoples, James and Garrick 364) Globalization and Emergence of Early World Economies Globalization as a concept can be traced back to the fourteenth century when networks of trade that were defined by transfer of goods and money and mobility of people across the world from Europe to the Middle East through the Mediterranean going down to North Africa and over most parts of Central Asia. This was a wound network of trades in commodities, which led to merchants from different parts of the world being connected and becoming aware of others in ways that were hitherto not apparent. These interactions not only contributed to the spread and exchange of goods, but it also permitted people to experience and appreciate various cultures from around the world. Due to the long distance that limited traders’ reach, the trade linkage was composed of at least eight interlinked systems clustered into three different routes covering the European, the Middle Eastern and the Far Eastern. During this period of long distance trade, there was existence of a market system, accumulation of capital and spread of religion through interactions of people from various cultures. One such example of an interlinked trade system that began in the Far East through to Europe and eventually brought about the emergence of capitalism is the Silk Road. It is also during this period that saw power previously centered in the upper class (aristocracy) and the church shifted to the bourgeoisie and emergence of division of labour in production. Industrial Revolution as an Impetus of Globalization Some scholars argue that globalization actually began in mid18th century with industrial revolution spanning from 1760 to 1840. During this period, the world saw a total change in the way of manufacturing which shifted from hand-based methods to use of machines, better sources of energy including inception of coal as a substitute to wood, new iron and comparatively efficient processes of iron production. There were several innovations during the industrial revolution, which started in England and later spread to other European countries and the United States. Invention of various machines and the steam engine increased industrial output and greatly reduced the cost of labor, which consequently led to surplus in production that could be exported to other countries. Railways were later constructed to allow easy transportation of goods and people, opening up underdeveloped areas, and later contributed to exchange of innovative ideas across the world. These developments and revolution in manufacturing and technology were the major factors that contributed to the emergence of the new capitalist system as countries began to compete in innovations and production of goods and accumulation of capital reached a level that had never been apparent. According to Levy-Livermore (5) volume of world commodity exchanges rose to by thirty fold; a global economy and a global financial system were created. Social and political reformations and enlightenment greatly changed European societies whose effects on economy resulted in the rise of the global market that created structures throughout the world mainly composing of production, global or international trade, consumption, and competition among rival states. As production increased due to industrial revolution, labour and market for produce became insufficient, a situation that led to European countries to seek alternatives that stretched beyond the borders of domestic markets. It is therefore clear that cheaper production and the desire to have raw materials and markets beyond domestic borders greatly promoted links among different states ad people as societies became interdependent. Developments during the industrial revolution also fostered infrastructures that contributed to the emergence of a global financial system that connected different markets closer to one another. This widespread linkage brought about by the need to acquire certain goods has been regarded as the ancient civilization’s approach to communication and spread of ideas, which consequently led to the emergence of modern globalization. Globalization and Emergence of Free Trade Agreements Following the emergence of the new world economic system mainly routed in capitalism, there has been rapid development in world economy especially after World War II. In particular, there has been significance growth in international trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) which enabled European countries to increase their influence on the world financial stage. The rapid pace of globalization was further advanced by the numerous multilateral trade negotiations of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which defined strategies of ensuring more liberal trade and investment relations between countries. The agreement also called for limitation of government involvement in regulation of the market economy and privatization of state industries. Technological developments in communication and transport also offered cheaper avenues for foreign trade. The postwar years also experienced a trend toward formation of regional economic outfits that were furthered by the free trade agreements. Regional integrations have led removal of tariffs and quotas between trading countries, establishment of custom unions and common markets that lifted economic restrictions on movement of goods and capital within the region. All these developments significantly led to better linkages between countries and regions, phenomena that have accelerated the advance of globalization in the 20th century. Conclusion Globalization has opened up very parts of the world, hitherto unknown to different inhabitants of the earth, the real point to which people really integrated into the global village is at the beginning of European colonization. Globalization is credited with the better understanding of different cultures of the world; the only undoing is the situation in which other cultures have emerged to become dominant over other cultures, easily cited is the American cultural domination over other cultures of the world. Globalization has leas to speedy interaction amongst people who are at remote locations, the virtual interactions occasioned by internet revolution. Works cited Levy-Livermore, Amnon. Handbook on the Globalization of the World Economy. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 1998. Print. Jones, Andrew. Globalization: Key Thinkers. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2010. Print. Radetzki, Marian. A Handbook of Primary Commodities in the Global Economy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press Peoples, James G, and Garrick A. Bailey. Humanity: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. St. Paul: West Pub. Co, 1991. Print. ss, 2008. Print. Read More