Theories of Globalization in Communications - Essay Example

? THEORIES OF GLOBALISATION IN COMMUNICATION Introduction Globalization is a hazy concept that have been discussed over a decade around the world and given different definition depending on the subject of discussion in terms of economical, societal and political situations. Globalization is the expansion of economic, social and political activities of one region so that these activities have impact on people and their way of life in a different region of the world which can be miles away (Stohl 2004, P. 223). Globalization is a process of expansion of communal association across the world (El-Ojeili and Hayden 2006, P.12) as a result of lenient bylaws and enhanced communication in both public and private sectors. Globalization is associated with new expertise such as use of internet, communication and cultural exchange across diverse continents and areas and has led to increase in international trade, international capital flow, flow of information, cultural exchange and international movement of labor (Fischer 2003, P3). Though globalization has been given varying definitions as well as its impacts across various disciplines such sociology, economics, political and cultural, there is a common acknowledgement of development of information and communication technology as a major contributor to globalization. Therefore communication is a major element of globalization (McAnany 2002, P 3). Globalization has led to emergency of global markets that has both negative and positive effects on people in regards to their occupation, spiritual values, and personality. The theory of globalization is wide and therefore it interpretation has several effects on understanding of globalization and can be subdivided into several theories with universal focus to social analysis and changes (El-Ojeili and Hayden 2006, P.2). This paper will outline and critically evaluate theories of globalization in communications. Theories of Globalization There are different theories in regard to globalization but most of them are based on a common viewpoint, worldwide associations and pattern (Ardalan 2012, P. 94). Previously definitions on globalization suggested that it is a continues process that have existed from long time ago as people travelled to different areas to trade to the current state of globalization where trade barrier has been minimized with free movement of labor and capital across nations. In recent times globalization has been expanded to include economic, cultural and political theories. Globalization has been associated with development of information and communication technology and there communication is an important factor of globalization. Each theory can be explaining under different consideration depending on the current situation and discipline of study but all theories depend and interact with the other theories and therefore the theories of globalization will be discussed as follows for easy understanding: World economical theory World political theory World cultural theory World communication theory World economical theory People around the world have interacted over a long period for trade and globalization has been associated with the spread of capitalism and trade in the globe (Robinson 2007, P 125). Growth and development of contemporary world economy has been associated with traditional European trade that have evolved and expanded over time to the whole world due to global market, multinational companies, international borrowing and lending, international trade organization, environmental regulatory bodies and communication technologies that connect people across the continents. European economy developed in sixteenth and seventh centuries and later started venturing into other parts due to development of technology and this later grew to world trade (Lechner 2001). With improved technology there was improved production, established military group and developed modes of transport that helped to reinforce economic ties with different areas thus growth in European economy. Europeans had skilled work force while non Europeans provided manual laborers and unrefined material and this brought about unequal economic growth (Lechner 2001). In this case economy was divided into two main segments that are the core areas and peripheral areas. The core areas were the rich and elite that had skilled labor, capital and resources for production while the peripheral areas provide cheap and unskilled labor. Europeans redeveloped their economy and reshaped the way people traded to exchange of merchandise and labor for accumulation of revenue and profit making. Across the globe powerful economies such as United States, Japan and Europe controlled less influential along with less developed nations through the entrepreneurial structure s with the intention to complete for supremacy and capital disparity. By twentieth century capitalist had traversed to all regions of the world, most regions had developed their economies, establishment of equal human rights and there was divergence of trade where economic growth could not be achieved through exploiting new areas and thus stall of entrepreneurships globalization (Lechner 2001). This led to introduction of trade barriers and controlled market that minimized the trade crisis but only for a short period of time as it caused unemployment, economical wreck and political flux (El-Ojeili and Hayden 2006, P. 49). This crisis motivated growth in production among several states and need for financial and monetary quantifier as states aim at motivating growth of diverse economy with public and private corporations, proper labor laws and investments towards nationwide prosperity as well as growth of welfare in many nations with the protection of unemployed, ailing, disabled and aged. British economist Keynes advocated for financial control, debt regulation to reduce joblessness, economic downturn and gloominess that were caused by capitalism however his hove was opposed by United States of America (El-Ojeili and Hayden 2006, P. 49). Keynes recommendations did not eliminate unemployment, recession and economic downward spiral and therefore emerged need for wide-ranging economic appreciation and free trade. Neoliberals argued that planning economies and social territory could weaken effectiveness, improvement of technology, and capital produced by competition in a free economy and politically stable states. Governments were willing to deregulate markets, condense social expenditure, Private Corporation and increased individual competition. Neoliberalism highlights that administration in governments of both developed as well as developing economies—ought to reduce its instruction and regulation on cross border capital movement, exchange of goods and service and labor movement in order to promote free trade and increase international trade (Wang 2009, P. 79). Global index has risen in all regions across the world including Asia and Africa due to increased activities across the global and this has led to great challenges such as trade, borrowing and lending internationally, free movement of labor and climatic changes and solution to these challenges requires global approaches (Ramos and Ballell 2009, P 259). Expansion and growth in economical aspect is considered as the main cause of transformation in cultural practices and political principles in the modern day world and hence it has been suggested that modern globalization as a result of historical of world’s economy that has necessitated changes in other aspects of the society namely political, societal and way of life (El-Ojeili and Hayden 2006, P. 49). Globalization has sources of power and authority at international, countrywide and states level since as multinational enterprises moves its operation to different regions in the world technology, skills and experiences as well as capital are more valued than land and conventional sources of authority. Most power is lost to across national borders regional organizations for example European Union that is changing the distribution of resources and capital across individual nations as compared to international institutions operating remotely across different continents (Buckley and Ghauri 2004, P 83). The three major world’s intergovernmental institution that operate across the globe in different continents are World Trade Organization, World Bank and International Monetary Fund have been on the fore front in promoting globalization economically by encouraging open markets and liberated trade. In the economic point of view globalization encourages centralized markets through liberalization of ways of doing business and finance, abolition of charitable and arbitrary social financial support, leniency in regulation of foreign investment by multinational enterprises, privatization of government and public institutions and corporation and control and regulation of monetary circulation and exchange rates to make sure there is price permanence and minimize inflation (Buckley and Ghauri 2004, P 83). Development of modern technology in communication for example use of internet, social sites and interactive websites has a major effect on international companies’ management, production, sales and marketing and thus changes in the international movement of labor to emerging economies that are also embracing production, import of raw materials and export of finished goods. This has led to earlier shift where super economies were the producers with high skilled labor to emerging economies with skilled labor and improved technology in production that were previously considered as a source (Ramos and Ballell 2009, P 259).of cheap manual labor. Globalization has therefore led to distribution of resources and capital, reduction in poverty levels in peripheral economies and equal distribution of skilled labor. However there are still unequal levels in development across different continents, high poverty level in developing economies, level of technology use in developing countries is still low, human trafficking and slavery on increase, high immigration rates to super economies for employment, environmental degradation and climatic changes (Ramos and Ballell 2009, P 260). World political theory Globalization has mostly been associated with development of borderless nation and states by deregulation of trade, free flow of capital, international diversification of Multinational Corporation, powerful international regional organization, worldwide intergovernmental organization, cultural exchange, movement of people, emergency of worldwide social societies and communication across continents. All there leniency is reducing power and authority of state and national governments (El-Ojeili and Hayden 2006, P. 89) and therefore globalization is polarizing democracy and politics. In the nineteenth century, most public and private organization elaborated the ideas of state and national sovereignty as well as individual rights but later this change when nations at different economic and developmental levels started to establish similar institutions (Lechner 2001). There are about 200 nations currently in the world that has national borders, structured rules and regulations, monopoly control over power and are legitimate and accountable to its people or citizens (El-Ojeili and Hayden 2006, P. 89). Modern nations can be traced back to industrial, trade and military forces changes in Europe in the nineteenth century from unregulated operations to regulated states and countries boundaries. In French there was centralized authority, military forces and citizens had rights and responsibility from their states. When free markets failed and there was growth in skilled labor from different areas across the globe states governments started to regulate flow of capital to attain stable economies. The states governments regulated non effective trade activities, international lending and borrowing and labor therefore were able to fund their activities and established public institutions though the strategy was not effective and economies were depressed (El-Ojeili and Hayden 2006, P. 90). Due to high cost of living, government management crisis and economical depression there was weakening of states politically and government services were open for privatization and shift of neoliberal was encouraged. Neoliberalism enhances expansion of markets across the border to boost different nation’s economy and thus political activities are affected due to borer security and movement of people (Tobias S. n.y P. 3). Politics helps to create authority and power through lay down rules and regulation and is embedded in culture of nation’s government and its citizens. Globalization weakens the relation between government principles and economic strategy since it reduces the governments’ powers and revenue due to reduced export and import collections of funds (Potrafke 2009, P. 107). Reduced revenue to the nation’s policy makers reduces the capacity to perform their national duties in policy making and implementation. Financial integration generates pressure on policies such as interest rates. Globalization has increased connectivity of individual and states across the world and thus influenced governance and political orders in the world due to complex security apparatus and criminal networks and it’s hard to differentiate private, public and international player in some sectors such as criminology (Frodin 2011, P. 2). It’s clear that globalization has implications on the governances of independent states through reduced power of regulation, emergency of other centers of power to regulate and manage various activities within different nations, development of intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental institutions. The governments have changed their rules to fit international rules and in some cases international policies are considered superior than national rules especially the developing continents like Africa has been under pressure by some international organization to attain certain levels of globalization (Brown 2008. P. 43) World cultural theory Culture is the way of life, ideas, practices and beliefs of people (Ampuja M. 2010) in a certain state, country, ethnicity group, institution or company. These beliefs guide the way they interact with other people within and without the group. Globalization leads to emergence of ethics and values that are common across the globe due to communication technologies and can be considered to have dissolved diverse cultural practices and believes to create a common culture across the globe (Movius 2010, P. 6). Initially information used to flow from one source but with globalization information can be from different sources due to improvement in communication and information technologies. Cultural theory focuses on making the world like a particular place and can be traced back to Europe in the seventeenth century when cross national and states border communication and development of transport allowed interaction of people from different societies and developed common institutions (Lechner 2001). The world stated acting in the same direction at individual, sates and national levels. Global culture focuses on religion, ethnicity, communication channels, international tourism, global consumption and production, nationality and cultural beliefs (Robinson 2007, P 141). Initially cultural globalization focused on various religions such as Christianity, Islam as well as Buddhism but in recent time the focus has changed to exchange of cultural and traditional products, growth and development of cultural based industries due to secular thoughts of nationality, social interaction and modernization (El-Ojeili and Hayden 2006, P. 135). Recently there has been an increase in consumption of cultural products that seem to portray way of life, beliefs, cultural practices and ideas of certain communities in both developing and developed countries. People are not only interested in goods that portrays their cultural practices but there has been a rise in export of cultural products. This growth can be associated in deregulation of trade barriers and emergency and development of information, transport and communication channels and technologies. For example there has been an increase in television viewing across the world as well as use of internet and social media sites (El-Ojeili and Hayden 2006, P. 136). Cultural globalization has led to understanding of people with different cultural background in that in the current state of international diversification of corporations and enterprises, travelling for business and leisure, movement both skilled and unskilled of labor and flow of capital. Most company employs workers from different countries, ethnic groups and religion but they are able to interact and work together to achieve a common goal. The process of cultural globalization is still going on and supporter of globalization argues that elimination of traditional cultural practices and uptake or modern western culture will lead to simplification of individual preferences and value, freedom, democracy and eventually economical growth while those opposing it argues that it lead to depletion of good cultural practices and eliminate diversity in formal and informal groups. World communication theory Communication is a key element in economic development and growth in a nation, state and organization. Globalization, culture, information technology and communication have a relationship with the emergence of global village. Use of technology enables individuals to access new and unexploited markets, increases competitive advantages of a company, easy access to information for improvement of skills and increases management and administrative effectiveness. However individuals who are not able to access communication technologies can be left out in the economic, social and cultural development of globalization (Qureshi 2011, P. 249). Development in technology innovations and use of technology has facilitated communication and interaction of people across the globe from different location and this has facilitated growth and improvement in production process, industrial process, exchange of ideas and distribution process. Development of communication channels, mode of transport can be traced in the eighteenth and nineteenth century when people started to travel across different regions for trade. Definition of globalization by different scholars, policy makers, economist and sociologist have acknowledged that communication and use of technology has facilities connections and thus communication is a crucial accelerator of globalization due easier flow of goods and services, flow of information, flow of capital, international trade and movement of people (McAnany 2002, P. 3). In recent times of 1980s and 1990 there has been remarkable increase in global interaction and communication and this has been associated with rampant growth of internet based solutions and information technologies (Borghoff 2011,P. 1128). The use of internet, emergence of social networking site, development of interactive web based solutions and other communication and information technologies are making companies to diverse their operations into different nations while stiff maintaining their centralized domestic operation . For example sending of letters trough post office has been replaced by emails which are faster and can be sent across continents and this further support globalization which focuses on harmonization of activities. These faster modes of communication allows companies and institutions to manage and control its operations in different area from a remote location thus lowering production, communication, transport and management cost. Internet provides a platform where teams or groups can hold meetings, share their experiences, pool their skills and communicate from different region as compared to holding meetings in a one physical site. And therefore people from different regions can interact and share their ideas making the world appear like a small village (Borghoff 2011, P. 1129). Communication is the key element to ay organizational growth (Borghoff 2011, P. 744) Modes of communication are major cause of international and borderless interactions and thus cultural, economic and political changes. Globalization process has been traced back to long time ago as people travelled for trade but development in communication technology has quickened the process of economic growth and thus globalization by improving interaction of developed and less developed nations. Technology allows sharing of information from different sources and therefore exchanges of cultural practices and beliefs flows in all direction and this has affected ways of life in both developed powerful economies and less powerful economies nevertheless western culture is spreading at a faster rate and it might eliminate the traditional cultures of less developed nations. Development in any institution is based on sharing of knowledge (Kaarna 2010, P.556). Conclusion Globalization focuses in harmonization of human activities such as trade, cultural practices, industrial processes, communication channels among others. It can be traced back to many decades ago and has been considered as a complex process that is still going on and the future cannot be clearly explained. Globalization can be described in different aspects since it encompasses all elements of society such as political, cultural and economical. Through globalization there has been expansion in multinational companies, creation of employment and improvement of living standard thus promoting equality across the globe. Discussion of globalization is far from over due to its complexity and several theories have been advance to explain this process. Any theory to explain globalization should also include other factors of development such as information and communication technologies. The effects of globalization are positive effects and negative on the societies as well as Indi duals and it is also important to consider these impacts. Globalization focuses on national and international interactions and cannot be fully evaluated at individual levels. Though the outcome of globalization affects individuals, its development can only occur when there is an interaction. Governments, international organizations, regional trade organization should strike a balance in regulation of economic activities to ensure that people and government enjoy the benefits of globalization. References Ampuja, M 2010, ‘The Media and the Academic Globalization Debate: Theoretical Analysis and Critique. Media and Communication Studies Research Reports. Viewed 27 April 2013 Ardalan, K 2012, 'Globalization and development: four paradigmatic views', Journal Of International Business Research, 11, pp. 93-119, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 April 2013. Borghoff, T 2011, 'The Globalisation of Firms as Social Systems', Chinese Business Review, 10, 9, pp. 744-767, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 April 2013. Borghoff, T 2011, 'The Role of ICT in the Globalization of Firms', Journal Of Modern Accounting & Auditing, 7, 10, pp. 1128-1149, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 April 2013 Brown, G 2008, 'Globalization is What We Make of It: Contemporary Globalization Theory and the Future Construction of Global Interconnection', Political Studies Review, 6, 1, pp. 42-53, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 April 2013. falseBuckley, P J and Ghauri, P N 2004, ‘Globalization, economic geography and the strategy of multinational enterprises’Journal of International Business Studies Vol. 35. 2: 81-98. Viewed 27 April 2013 El-Ojeili, C and Hayden, P 2006, ‘Critical Theories of Globalization’. Palgrave Macmillan. New York. Viewed 27 April 2013 Frodin, O 2011, 'The Art of the Possible - The Bullet or the Ballot Box: Defining Politics in the Emerging Global Order', Theoria: A Journal Of Social & Political Theory, 58, 128, pp. 1-20, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 April 2013. Fischer, S 2003, ‘Globalization and Its Challenges’ ely0119.03 Citigroup. Viewed 27 April 2013 Kaarna, K 2010, 'Understanding accelerated internationalization: Integrating theories for analyzing internationalization paths', Economics & Management, pp. 556-561, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 April 2013. Lencher, F 2001, ‘Globalization theories: Synopsis and Analysis’. The globalization website. Viewed 26th April 2013 McAnany, E 2002. ‘Globalization and the Media: The Debate Continues’. Communication research trends Volume 21 (2002) No. 4 Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture. Viewed 27th April 2013 Movius, L 2010, ‘Cultural Globalisation and Challenges to Traditional Communication Theories’. Journal of Media and Communication 2(1) (January): 6-18. ISSN: 1836-5132 Online © Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia licence Viewed 27th April 2013 Potrafke, N 2009, 'Did globalization restrict partisan politics? An empirical evaluation of social expenditures in a panel of OECD countries', Public Choice, 140, 1/2, pp. 105-124, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 April 2013. Ramos, J and Ballell, P 2009, ‘Globalization, new technologies (ICTs) and dual labor markets: the case of Europe’. falseJournal of Information, Communication & Ethics in Society Vol.7. 4: 258-279. Viewed 27 April 2013 Robinson, W 2007, ‘Theories of Globalization’ RIT06.indd. Viewed 27 April 2013 Stohl, C 2004,‘Globalization Theory’. 10-Mumby.qxd. viewed 27 April 2013 Tobias, S ( n.y), ‘Neoliberal Globalization and the Politics of Migration in Sub-Saharan Africa’. Journal of International and Global Studies. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 April 2013. Qureshi, S 2011, ‘ Globalization in development: do information and communication technologies really matter?’. Information Technology for Development Vol. 17, No. 4, October 2011, 249–252. Wang, J 2009, 'Some Reflections on Modernization Theory and Globalization Theory', Chinese Studies In History, 43, 1, pp. 72-98, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 April 2013. Read More