Significance of Place in the Context of Globalization - Assignment Example

Significance of place in the context of globalisation Our world since its origination has been a ‘hotbed’ of activity. That is, the mental and physical activities of humans have transformed our globe from an archaic one to an advanced one. Many movements in the course of world history have initiated or boosted this advancement. It was only after industrialization that advancement or growth spread to various parts of the world or to various places, which in a way changed lives of many people. As time flowed, new movements or changes started to have effect on various places, changing the notion of ‘place’ and thereby changing the lives of people and international relations, aiding as well as affecting it. Among the many movements, globalisation had and is also having a major impact in various places or parts of the world. Globalisation literally means the transformation of local phenomena into a global one and when Doreen Massey’s conceptualization of place is analysed from globalisation context, it is clear that place cannot be a static and it will become a ‘global’ sense of place or even a global village or place. So, this paper will analyse how the advent of globalisation is turning our globe into a global village, with boundaries between places and countries being erased or merged and how it is impacting the social place. Background Globalisation is a practice of interacting and mixing or assimilation among people, companies and governments of different places or countries whose significant feature is international industrial and financial business structure. Globalisation may be thought of as the widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of contemporary social life, from the cultural to the criminal, the financial to the spiritually. More formally, globalisation can be categorized as a process that embodies a transformation in the spatial organization of social relations and transactions (Wiley, Nandi & Shahidullah 1998, p. 21). Hyperglobalism conceive globalisation as a new age of economic integration that is characterized by open trade, global financial flows as well as multinational corporations. Hyperglobalism is driven by capitalism, communications and transportation technology, integration into one world market and it is increasingly eroding state power and legitimacy. However another perspective is, and one that spans the entire politico-ideological spectrum - consists of what might be called the hyper-globalists, who argue that we live in a borderless world in which the national and thereby conceptualisation of place is no longer relevant (Dickens 2008, p. 6). Because of this context, the so said social relations and transactions are assessed in terms of their extensitivity, intensitivity, velocity and impact and the rate at which they generate transcontinental or interregional flow and networks of activity, interaction and exercise of power. This transcontinental or interregional flow only makes it significant Massey’s conceptualisation of place. That is, as she argued for the importance of place in global sense of place, it is clear that it is against essentialised or static notions. In that context, the places will not have single or few identities, instead will have multiple identities. Likewise, the places will not be frozen in times, instead they will be part of a continuous processes, aided by some external factors (in this case globalisation). Finally, places cannot not be enclosures and thereby closed, it has to be open and as part of continuous process will develop and evolve further. That is, with globalisation impacting majority of the countries and the lifestyle of sizeable number of people, the places that constitute the country and in which the people dwell also face significant impacts. Forces causing globalisation and the resultant impacts on the concept of place Among the many economic based movements, globalization is the one which had and is still having major impact on the economic development of many countries and its people worldwide. “The word globalization marks a set of transitions in the global political economy since the 1970s, in which multinational forms of capitalist organization began to be replaced by transnational” (Appadurai, cited in Meyer and Geschiere 1999, p307). Economic part of globalization is the key because with the whole world becoming a kind of global village, barriers between the countries are broken with integration happening mainly in the economic aspects. “It is hard to escape the grand statements: the world is getting smaller; we live in a global village; speed-up has conquered distance; time, finally, has annihilated space. We read of the death of distance, and that geography too is dead.” (Massey). In this scenario, foreign organizations, using the globalization plank, have entered and will also enter various sectors of the businesses leading to the establishment of many industries and thereby having an impact on the notion of place as well as social change. Communication technology and the worldwide marketing of western cultural aspects have also triggered globalisation. Developments as well as advances in information technology have been another most important driver of globalisation by spectacularly transforming the many places and thereby economic life. Information technology gives individual economic actors like the consumers, producers, investors and businesses an important tool for identifying and pursuing the underlying economic opportunities. This has been possible through the use of faster and more up to date analyses of global economic trends, easy transfer of assets and partnership with distant partners Globalization is one of the most controversial issues in these modern times. Among the political scientists in general it has both strong proponents and radical opponents that attempt to find arguments in favour of their perspectives. It is beyond any doubts that globalization affects national cultures and economies but the scholars still disagree whether such influence is overwhelmingly positive or negative. One section assumes that the places with similar socio-cultural characteristics tend to be influenced by the policy transitions of one another. They are more open to any changes if they see that the places or nations with many common features have succeeded from such decisions (Simmons & Elkins, 2004). Culturally comparable nations tend to form unofficial or official ‘groups’ and follow the lead of one of them which is the most successful. If the consequences of a particular policy shift are known not just for any country in general but for a country with a great degree of similarity, the nations tend to use such political agenda as an example (Simmons & Elkins, 2004). Because of globalisation, Free trade regimes are being actualized in many countries and this economic aspects is a key catalyst for a place turning into a global sphere. The basic principle of Neoliberalism is the actualization of free markets and free trade. So, it involves market deregulation, minimum intervention from the state and its government, and also increased privatization. With the actualization of this kind of political economy perspective, there will be break down of barriers to international trade as well as foreign investment. Thus, there will be adequate transfer in the control of a nation’s economy, from the state actors or government to the private sector players. Importantly, with the opening up the market, even a small marketplace will be opened up to various sections of population. So, when a marketplace witnesses influx of people from various places as well as products from various places, then the notion of place being ‘expanded’ into a global perspective gets initiated. However, on the other hand, globalization has also generated significant international opposition over concerns that it has increased inequality in places as well as in the economic sphere. That is, certain countries or even organizations develop at the expense of other countries, by ‘tapping’ their weak policies. “The rise of neo-liberal economic thinking in the West led to the view that the underdeveloped states had approached development in the wrong way. Instead of establishing inefficient state run import substitution industries, it was argued; they should have concentrated on areas in which they possessed comparative advantage (Best and Hanhimaki 329). For example, with the foreign firms enticing the maximum customers through effective and at the same time dubious marketing strategies, it leads to changes in the marketplace or any place, as they deprive the home grown business of their livelihood. “The fear that large multinationals would drive small local firms into extinction and cripple domestic entrepreneurship.” (Bhagwati, 2004, p181). Because of this deprivation, people dependent on local or home grown businesses and part of the social change suffer a lot, with economic inequality being the prime results. This inequality and the resultant differences in the lifestyle of the two groups of people create a lot of tension and even clashes, with the notion of place also undergoing maximal changes. There occurs demonstration against globalization by the local populace, with many critics branding globalization as a destroyer of home grown business, thereby negatively impacting the ‘places’. Globalisation, its resultant positive and negative economic changes, and its impact of places From earlier times, many Third World countries including Asian and African countries only indulged in agriculture for their livelihood. However, with the onset of globalization and the opening up their markets as Free Trade regimes, these countries and their governments started to focus on industrial development, by improving their own industries and importantly by facilitating entry of foreign companies. Thus, globalization and the resultant Free Trade turned out to be a great boon to these countries, thereby positively impacting the place, or if said in an another, positively developed the places, with no restrictions. Today a company in the US which is in the west approaches a company in India in the east to fulfil its software requirements. Hence an integral part of the business process done by the US firm lies on the other side of the world, in a totally distant place. This clearly shows, as stated by Massey that place is not a closed or static one, but will be part of continuous process, providing benefits to people in different corners of the world. This way both the parties get major benefits - good service and lesser costs for US, Indian software professionals get higher salaries. Also, many developing countries are on the path to the top echelons because of globalisation as they were able to manufacture many products and market to the whole world, without any static concept. For examples, it can be said there may be no country in the world, which is using at least one of the Chinese products. In China, 30 years after the counter-revolution, a new big bourgeoisie has emerged along with increasing stratification and oppression. In 2004, the Chinese proletariat manufactured 75% of the world’s toys, 58% of the world’s clothes, and 29% of the world’s mobile telephones (Levy 2007). Foreign firms provide good employment and so people from various parts of the country converge on those employment rich pockets or places, thereby clearly showing that a place impacted by globalisation cannot remain closed and will be exposed to various people and cultures. The resultant good development makes the people of those countries financially stable, and they again go in search of material comforts to various places, again impacting social change and the concept of places. The other reasons why there needs to be further economic development as part of globalisation is because there still a major portion of population living in abject poverty. To raise these people and also to sustain the current growth, countries and companies in those countries facilitate globalisation. With booming economy, there is will be rapid growth as well as poverty reduction, and this will change the landscape or locality or place, in which these people live. That is, as finances flow, the people would like to improve their living areas and also other commercial entities will also change commercial areas, to tap the purchasing power of the people. When these two happens, the place will not be a static one, as it will undergo major changes as part of the processes. On the negative side, with the advent of globalisation, business organizations have entered the domain of many countries helping them as well as destroying them. “Rapid growth and poverty reduction in China, India, and other countries that were poor 20 years ago, has been a positive aspect of globalisation. But globalisation has also generated significant international opposition over concerns that it has increased inequality and environmental degradation” (worldbank.org). That is, with the foreign firms enticing the maximum customers through effective and at the same time unethical marketing strategies, it is depriving the home grown business of their livelihood. And this process is also having an impact on the notion of place. That is, as the home-grown businesses are competitively beaten and made to exit the commercial space or place, it negatively changes the places from the views of the local people. The government for their part as part of corrupt practices support MNCs instead of its citizens depriving them. Because of this deprivation, people dependent on local or home grown businesses and part of the social change suffer a lot, with economic inequality being the prime results. This inequality and the resultant differences in the lifestyle of the two groups of people create a lot of differences to the places, thereby tension and even clashes. So, the negative perspective about globalisation it that, it mainly focuses on the economic sphere with the entry of foreign firms holding the prominent position, and this clearly impacts social change both from the social angle as well as from the business angle, thereby negatively impacting the places. Likewise, among the many steps that countries take for economic development as part of globalisation, most of them lead to Greenhouse gases emissions (GHG) or particularly carbon emissions, one of the major causes of environment destruction. The physical aspect of place will always composed of natural environment, and this space or place gets negatively impacted or destroyed by activities related to globalisation. That is, starting from constructing new infrastructure to electrifying the infrastructure, all the activities emit carbon emissions. Electrical power is one of the main needs to sustain or accelerate the economic development. For that crucial electrical power, globalisation friendly countries particularly China and India are focusing on the main Carbon emitter, Coal as the primary source of electric generation. The Asian coal rush is expected to generate 30,000 megawatts coal-fired power over the next 10 years in the region. The IEA has projected that the worlds C02 emissions will reach 40 gigatons by 2030. The emerging economies led by China and India will contribute to more than 70 per cent of these emission” (Islam). As the current and further economic development will only lead to further emission of environment damaging carbon, environmental place and the people living in those places will face dangerous repercussions, and the catalyst seems to be globalization. Erasing of physical barriers of the ‘places’ and the resultant impacts on social change The physical separateness between the places or countries and culture has become a thing of past, with entire world and the various cultures turning into a homogeneous entity. The interaction and thereby promotion of social change is mainly brought on by the emergence of transport and communication tools, which are clear by-products of globalization. That is, as foreign countries or firms or individuals wanted to explore, interact or even wanted to do business as part of globalization, they used the above mentioned tools of transportation and communication as the aid. “The new facilities of transport and communication allowed for a rapid transformation of the horizons of expectation of ordinary people all over the World” (Claval, p9). “The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a “global village”” (McLuhan, qtd. in quotationspage.com). McLuhan used this term to show how interconnectivity among the global citizens, thereby erasing of physical boundaries and importantly emergence of global ‘pocket’ could be achieved using the progressing science and technology. That is, if one sees a village as a small place, where everyone can see, hear and talk to everyone else, where people live and work under single control and where mutual helping tendency is visible, it is possible. Coincidentally this is what happening in this whole wide world. In a village, the time taken to cover its length and breadth will be kept at a minimum. Minimum because the smallness or compactness of a village will minimize the physical distances, and with one’s bare legs one can transverse the entire village. Likewise in our world one can reach every nook and corner of the world quickly, due to the smallness or shrink ness achieved by the advanced transportation structures. In the era of super fast flights one could wake up in Tokyo, have a breakfast and business meeting in Hong Kong, have a spicy lunch in Bombay, ski in the Swiss alpine and finally have a sumptuous dinner and good night sleep in London. So, with maximum coverage in minimum possible time, one could travel from country to country, continent to continent like travelling from one narrow street to another street in a village. Nowadays, every part of the world has been explored and cultural interaction is happening to the core, with the aid of advanced transportation structures. The ‘footprint’ or even a ‘wheel mark’ and thereby cultural impact can be seen in every part of the world. So, with maximum coverage in minimum possible time, people are having maximum interaction and thereby erasing physical boundaries and impacting the social change. The other by products of globalization are communication and media. People are given a ‘front row seat’ to all the happenings with the aid of media including television, satellites, radios, mobile phones, etc. All these communication and media tools by crossing geographical boundaries or places as part of globalization are making an impact on social change. That is, like the restriction placed on foreign firms from entering new countries, media forms were also restricted from entering new territories. This happened in the earlier time and in those times, the static nature of the places was maintained without any notion of movement of process. But, with the advent of globalization and development of technology, media forms are working as a key part of globalization and thereby impacting social change. Thanks to the proliferation of channels and the increasingly ubiquitous nature of computing and telecommunications, we are entering an era when media will be everywhere and we will use all kinds of media in relation to each other. This ubiquity of media is the direct outcome of globalization that has engulfed the world and is manifesting in two types of convergence. The first is, media convergence where the ownership of media is getting concentrated in the hands of a few transnational media houses and, the second equally compelling symptom is, the increasingly central roles that digitally empowered consumers play in shaping the production, distribution, and reception of media content. These two forces, the direct outcome of globalization, have led to global convergence which is marked by multidirectional flow of cultural goods around the world, with the places undergoing a lot of processes, thereby opening up more. The best examples are the role by played by the American media forms. “American popular culture has become a globalized popular culture, thereby making many places influenced by it a place of continuous process. American movies, television shows, music and books dominate foreign markets.” (Spiro, p44). American TV channels, movies, etc are entering foreign territories and impacting the local culture, and thereby impacting local places in both positive as well as in negative direction. As American films and Television shows dominate the airwaves and ‘enter’ the minds of people all over the world in a continuous way, it is interacting with the local culture thereby stressing its prominence over the local culture. That is, from Hollywood films to News channels, many forms of media mostly reflect the American government’s viewpoints and foreign policies in a positive manner, imbuing those in the minds of the people and in turn impacting the places leading to social changes. Nye (2004, p.8) puts forward this same assertion through the words of a former French foreign minister who observed that the Americans are powerful because they can "inspire the dreams and desires of others thanks to the mastery of global images through film and television". Boal (2006) in his "The Aesthetics of the Oppressed" focuses on how Hollywood and Television are acting like sedative agents of Globalisation. “Hollywood is the world’s greatest promoter and exporter of visual symbols” (Nye2004, p.47). So, the main point is, as part of globalization America is dominating and influencing various places in the world, its people and their opinion through media, thereby impacting social change and instead promoting Americanization. Gitlin in 2001 had painted a very succinct picture of the current state of social and cultural change that has been unleashed by the spate of globalization, with American prominence when he said “If there is a global village, it speaks American. It wears jeans, drinks Coke, eats at the golden arches, walks on swooshed shoes, plays electric guitars, and recognizes Mickey Mouse, James Dean, E. T., Bart Simpson, R2-D2.” (Gitlin, 2001) Role of place identification has given rise to Cultural cosmopolitanism With the ‘places’ undergoing process and becoming more open, it is giving rise to a new form of cultural cosmopolitanism. In this aspect, the new cultural cosmopolitans are progressively embracing newer forms of global cultural watermarks in order to break away from their local cultural moorings and experience a hitherto unknown and untested flavour of global culture. As witnessed among young Englishmen and women, they are breaking away from the ‘all British’ culture of earlier generations as they soak in Japanese anime and manga and the Indian export of Bollywood films and bhangra. Though it has yet to crystallize into any sort of political consciousness, it has surely started the process of opening up psyches to cultures and customs of the outside world where the younger generation experiences a sort of global oneness and solidarity with all those residing many oceans and continents away but share the same tastes and preferences. As media transcends political borders and tends to homogenize the world there have been quite rightly fears of a new form of cultural imperialism. According to this, the west, by virtue of its superior technological competence, will swamp the technologically inferior east leading to vast multitudes of young persons in the east that would be merely aping the western mores that totally lack congruence with the culture that permeates the environs they physically reside. However, when viewed from the positive perspective, globalization is leading to the formation of a culture and value system that will be truly multinational where the best of all cultures will fuse to generate an altogether new paradigm of international culture that would not carry the flotsam and jetsam of centuries of cultural servitude that has been the common malady of human society. Thus, in a way, the places, in which the culture and people dwell and evolve, will also become global spaces Conclusion To conclude, globalisation is having an impact on the economic, social and political forces of society and the world. Social and economic places, structures and concepts that were considered sacrosanct have suddenly been exposed to a series of queries and posers. These have made serious thinkers all over the world to sit up and actually ponder about the impact of such a large scale fusion of not only capital from diverse sources but, more importantly, cultural streams emanating from societies and nations that were safely insulated from each other, through the apparently insurmountable barriers of distance, language and customs. The palpable result is, like all such mammoth churnings of social and cultural things, is a curious amalgam of seamless fusion in certain areas with certain other segments demonstrating manifestations of discord. Globalisation is an omnipresent and continuous phenomenon impacting the lives of many people. As it impacts various places and thereby people in various countries, it has an impact or effect on the social change or multiculturalistic society. With globalization making both positive and negative impacts on social change, people are benefiting, losing out and even getting influenced by it. The impact of globalization will continue in the future as well, and it is up to the places and people to make sure they receive mainly benefits by positively tuning them accordingly. References Best, A and Hanhimaki, JM 2008, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Routledge, New York. Bhagwati, JN, 2004, In Defense of globalization, Oxford University Press US, New York. Boal, A, 2006, Aesthetics of the Oppressed, Translated by Adrian Jackson, Routledge, London Claval, P, M, Multiculturalism and the Dynamics of Modern Civilizations, viewed April 13, 2010 http://www.unu.edu/dialogue/papers/claval-s2.pdf Dicken, P., 2007, Global Shift: Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy, 6th Edition, Sage, London Gitlin, T. 2001, Media unlimited: How the torrent of images and sounds overwhelms our lives. Metropolitan, New York. 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