Global and Sustainable Development of Social System - Essay Example

188897 Wallerstein said capitalism is first and foremost a social system and he traced the evolution capitalism has gone through over the centuries. According to him, the economy and capitalism underwent many stages like Medieval Prelude, division of labor in New Europe, period of core regional benefits of England, France, Holland, while peripheral and semi-peripheral regions also benefitted, and the external areas simply tried to keep up with the advancement of the economy in the above-mentioned regions. The Medieval Prelude, the age of empires and powerful kings when world economy was formed and became pre-runner of today's economy was the first and the most influential period that laid the foundation to a world system. The late fifteenth century became the origin of monetary manipulations to make it more profitable and Nation States got created in their original form. The New European Division of Labor too coincided between 1450 and 1640 (actually he clubbed these two periods together), when social classes and ethnic groupings came into existence with bureaucratization, which is the "process aided the limited but growing power of the king. By increasing the state power to collect taxes, the kings eventually increased state power to borrow money and thereby further expand the state bureaucracy," http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/wallerstein.html At the end of it all the supreme power vested in the absolute and greatly empowered monarchy. These periods also saw homogenization of the local population when minorities got expelled and capitalist groups without local standing were either hated or feared (e.g.: Jews, protestants). During this period, Catholic Church became strong and even threatened the States. Militia was established to protect the emperor's regime and the state from outside invasion. The kings were free from the earlier feudal laws and many enlightened emperors used the opportunity to inspire institutions, arts etc. and the local bourgeoisie got strengthened. Northwestern European states improved by 1640 while Spain, Italy and Liberian America declined and England became the most important state. Division of labor, fall in wages, Europe becoming the centre of capitalism, increase of politico-economic groups etc. happened during this time and finally, industrialization stepped in. The third and fourth stages occur in 18th century and beyond and this capitalism belongs to the industry and not to agriculture. This period is marked with exploration and exploitation of new markets, competitive world systems, shifting of core regions into industrial concerns and manufacturing. Division of labor between labor class and landowners became part of the development of capitalist world economy. He says political and economic conditions completely changed the north-western Europe after the end of feudalism. With the imperialistic policies Europe became a major power in the world. He traces the modernization of the world through the historical and economical happenings and he feels that modern society and world system have increased the disparity between haves and have-nots because the relationship between the core, peripheral and semi-peripheral remained relative and not constant. During these developments, other problems like sexism, racism, where biology defined the position and such positions are socially unchangeable, cropped up. World system commoditized everything and the politics for accumulation, struggle for benefits and truth as opiate crept in. Wallerstein has rendered powerful contribution to sociological practice. "What distinguishes the historical social system we are calling historical capitalism is that in this historical system capital came to be used (invested) in a very special way" Wallerstein (1983, p.14). The world system he has detailed still remains one of the best theories, an all-enveloping perspective. "A world-system is a social system, one that has boundaries, structures, member groups, rules of legitimation and coherence. Its life is made up of conflicting forces which hold it together by tension, and tear it apart as each group seeks eternally to remould it to its advantage," Wallerstein (1974, p.347). Dussel differs from Wallerstein in many ways. He chooses to define the world system in two paradigms. His first modern paradigm says that modernity is absolutely a European centered and its periphery as Other than reason. In the periphery cultures, individuals, histories, agencies and groups exist for their own benefit and subjectivity. Dussel's second paradigm is Planetary. It is described as the co-existence of 'systems that include differences, agencies, subjectivities, all with variable degrees of complexity in both center and periphery'. The Eurocentric paradigm of Dussel is connected with Central Europe. The paradigms even though very different describe the present world system in terms of racism, historical class, and ethical sense. Earlier roots of the conflict have not been able to totally disappear, but science that travelled from Renaissance to enlightenment from secularization to secularism, have provided favorable atmosphere. Contrary to this, Dirlik argues that capital moves towards global saturation and this could happen when absolute colonialism is established; locals struggle to keep their regional movements alive against the absorbing tendencies of capitalism and this might lead to multiculturalism and ethnic revival. Dirlik is for intensification of refocusing of the existing theory. He talks about late capitalism, flexibility etc. to work towards multi cultural approach. While talking about the global cities that have given rise to a new trend in global capitalism, the cities being, London, New York, and Tokyo, Sassen says that it is a new urban regime. "These cities play, then a strategic role in the new form of accumulation based on finance and on the globalization of manufacturing. The clearest representation, if one were to abstract a simplifying image from the complexity of this reality, is that the global city replaced the industrial regional complex centered on the auto industry is the key engine for economic growth and social patterning," Sassen (1998, p.338). He feels that new forms of centralisation and dispersal have arrived with mobility and agglomeration. Labor market formation has altered with the intense capital mobility. In direct foreign investments new patterns have created international transactions in service combined with service trade. There has been rapid increase in direct foreign investment in services. Financial industry has expanded with high growth of various components like formation of international equity markets, which resulted in secularization of finance. Institutional investments precipitated the economic importance of the global cities. He argues: "We posit that the transformation in the composition of the global economy accompanying the shift to services and finance brings about a renewed importance of major cities as sites for certain types of production, servicing, marketing and innovation. In addition, the internationalization of mergers, acquisitions, and financial transactions makes cities 'neutral' centers for management and coordination, for the raising and consolidation of investment capital, and for the formation of an international property market" (p.88). He talks in terms of hegemony and feels that the United States, which succeeded Europe, perhaps has the longest hegemony, which will soon be followed by other hegemonies. "After the Second World War, there had been an international regime, an international hegemony of United States as Britain, after the war disasters and losing almost all the colonies, had to step back from it imperialistic role" Sassen (1991). Coming back to Dussel, it is important to note that according to him, life should be rationalized and simplified and the relationship with nature should never be ignored. His view of capitalism is more of a sustainable development. Dussel argued transmodernity, while Wallerstein talked about historical capitalism. In a way, Dussel is more for the present and future and sustainable development is one of his fortes. Fernando's idea of sustainable development differed from the above. "For many, sustainable development indicates a radical paradigm shift in development discourse and practice. The outcomes of existing practices of sustainable development and their future prospects, however, are disappointing" Fernando (2003, p.7). Sustainable development has as many perspectives as thinkers and writers. Saying that UN General Assembly expressed serious doubts about the adequacy of the responses and their scope, Curran says "Although it accepted that 'sustained economic growth is essential to the economic and social development of all the countries, in particular developing countries', it also pointed out that 'unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, particularly in the industrialized countries, are the major cause of continued deterioration of the global environment" Curran (1998, p.3). Talking about the economic evaluation of the environmental problems, Cooper (1981, p.142) says: "It is worth reminding ourselves, however, that these problems of consultation arise particularly where environmental impacts have important effects on individual welfare which cannot be reliably valued in monetary terms. In other cases, especially where environmental damage costs can be sensibly and comprehensively measured in terms of lost production, valuation may be much less difficult and normal methods of cost benefit analysis will be applicable." Conka (1998) argues that there are conflicting views about the environmental problems and global environmental politics is full of power, ideas and contradicting voices. Ecology is placing limits to growth, while politics wants to attain full length of it. World is not infinite any more and technology is poised to be curbed if it hurts the environment. In recent years, there had been a transition from growth to global equilibrium. Environment and development are at loggerheads with the developed countries putting forth diverse arguments from the developing countries. Commons space is disappearing, pollution increasing, and legislating temperance is becoming tough. Recognition of necessity has led to self-eliminating conscience. He feels that a democracy of restraint and adoption of Buddhist principles are necessary to face the present problem. "We become rich precisely in proportion to the degree in which we eliminate violence, greed, and pride from our lives. As several thousands of years of history show, this is not something easily learned by humanity and we seem no readier to choose the simple, virtuous life now than we have been in the past. Nevertheless, if we wish to avoid either a crash into the ecological ceiling or a tyrannical Leviathan, we must choose it. There is no other way to defeat the gathering forces of scarcity," Conka (p. 71). Sustainable development should be able to curb human greed to a very large extent. Even though Conka sounds rather unrealistic, one day the world might feel that it is the only way to safeguard the earth from its humans. Sustainable development is necessary for both developed and developing countries. At the same time, perhaps the blame squarely lies on the developing countries, because it is them who went for unchecked development and brought the disaster home. While informing the developing countries to be careful, it is their work to reduce and minimize the previous mistakes and help the developing countries in the best way possible. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Curran, Susan (1998), The Environment Handbook, The Stationery Office, London. 2. Cooper, Charles (1981), Economic Evaluation and the Environment, Hodder and Stoughton, London. 3. Conca, Ken and Dabelko, Geoffrey D. (1998), Green Planet Blues, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado. 4. Fernando, Jude, 'The Power of Unsustainable Development, What is to be done' The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2003; 590; 6. 5. Sassen, Saskia (1990), The Global City, Princeton University Press. 6. Wallerstein, Immanuel (1974), The Modern World-System I, Academic Press, New York. ONLINE SOURCES 1. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/wallerstein.html 2. Read More