The No-Nonsense Guide to Globalization - Essay Example

Globalization It would not be an exaggeration to point out that the word globalization is one the most popular at the present moment. On the one hand, some people celebrate the increased economic cooperation between the companies that are located at great distance and the most optimistic ones try to see the early signs of the world society. On the other hand, there are also people who compare globalization to new imperialism, making parallels between multinational companies like McDonalds and fearless and strong empires of the past which were primarily preoccupied with enlarging the territory that they control. Nevertheless, the former, namely a more optimistic, approach is considered to be dominant, so many people think about globalization as the next stage of the development of humanity. This paper will prove that the pattern of globalization that can be witnessed in the world reminds the process of enclosure and the struggle of the people who are collectively called anti-globalists is a sign of their desire to reclaim and extend their influence on the local territory. If one takes a close look at the process of enclosure that happened in the previous centuries, one will be able to find several similarities between and the modern day globalizations. One of the most obvious ones is focuses on changes that are introduced in the daily lives of the people. If in England the peasants were forced to become the working class who bought products from the money that they earned from their newly established employers; the modern people are turned into consumers by force and even against their will. For example, the people of the Soviet Union lived a relatively happy life and did not think about fast food restaurants. However, when the first McDonald’s was opened in Moscow there was a line that lasted several kilometers to taste the new meals. While this may partially be explained by the peculiarities of social life in this country, similar example might also be found in the modern world when corporations extent their reach and the local population has no choice by to buy their products. Another interesting peculiarity of the process of globalization which makes it quite similar to enclosure is that the major actor and the driving force includes powerful organizations the influence of which can hardly be resisted (Ellwood, 2010). Continuing the parallel with enclosure, one might recall that in England the peasants were not able to resist the above mentioned process even with the help of legislation. A similar situation may be witnessed now when the multinational companies have powerful lobbyists that make sure that the governments do not adopt rules and regulations that are too harsh for the business. Finally, there is yet another aspect that allows the researchers to justify the on going pattern of globalization as enclosure: in spite of the fact that this process has undisputable negative effects on different areas of life, not only limited to economy, it is primary performed for the good of the people. It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that the poor peasants of England saw enclosure as a process that disrupted their way of life; however, it was implemented to boost effectiveness of production and introduce changes into the economic life. A similar kind of thinking might be witnessed today as well. There is another question that should be carefully examined which focuses on the resistance that the process of globalization has faced all over the world. To begin with, one might point out that it is quite natural for the people to demand more power over their land. Indeed, globalization largely contributes to introduction of foreign actors into the social life of a particular country which distorts the balance of powers in particular area or industry. That is why it is rather obvious that the local actors will see this process as a threat to their dominance, especially as the newly introduced player has a better quality or carries out aggressive policies with regard to winning the hearts of the local people. What is more important is that the center of resistance of the process of globalization is primarily the conservative part of the society. Speaking of the latter, one would make no mistake pointing out that it will never cease to exist which means that there will always be a group of people that would disapprove the new values which are brought from outside. This is a rather significant aspect since it puts emphasis on the fact that the process of globalization will always have opponents and will be able to proceed only if the people are responsible for it put a sufficient amount of efforts to overcome this resistance. Finally, it would be rather advantageous to examine the way the logic of enclosure might operate with respect to people’s freedom of movement, the notion that is usually referred to as radical imagination and the ecologies of which we are a part. Speaking of the former, one would not make a mistake pointing out that the proclaimed freedom of movement in the globalized world has an interesting backside to it: while the borders are said to be transparent, only those who possess the required qualities or meet certain standard are able to enjoy this freedom of movement and those are do not witness a completely different picture of the world (Walia, 2013). There is one peculiar notion that has been developed in the process of discussing globalization. It received the name of radical imagination and is irreplaceable while considering the place of the people in the modern world. Thus, it is argues that people should adopt a proactive approach to life especially at the present moment when there are different essential changes in the world happening (Haiven & Khasnabish, 2014). Otherwise, the population will not be able to exercise its right to governmen themselves and the role of the people will be diminished to ordinary consumers while the role of decision makers will be adopted by other people. Lastly, the question about the relationship between the logic of enclosure and the ecologies that people belong to is an important one as it shows the effects of globalization from a broad perspective. Thus, one might suggests that the above mentioned ecologies should be regarded as a result of influence of a large number of factors that gradually influenced the people. That is why, it is rather logical to expect that the introduction of a new force is likely to distort the existing state of affairs no matter how much this new force will be willing to adapt. In addition to that, the latter usually brings new values, so the influence that it is likely to have will probably be a negative one. Having examined all the points which were discussed in the paragraphs above, one will be able to come to the following logical conclusion: the process of globalization is a complex social phenomenon one dimensional evaluation of which is unacceptable. In other words, it is extremely important to provide a different approach towards globalization other than the one which is being advertized. Thus, according to it, there is a considerable number of similarities between the process of personalization and enclosure which happened in the previous centuries. To being with, one might mention that people change their state in the social life unwillingly. Secondly, this process is largely driven by forces that one can hardly resist to. Finally, despite the obvious negative consequences this is done for the greater good of the people. References Ellwood, W. (2010). The no-nonsense guide to globalization (3rd ed.). Toronto: New Internationalist. Haiven, M., & Khasnabish, A. (2014). The radical imagination: Social movement research in the age of austerity. London: Zed Books. Walia, H. (2013). Undoing border imperialism. Edinburgh: AK Press and the Institute for Anarchist Studies. Read More