Globalization and Inequality - Essay Example

Globalization and Inequality Globalization and Inequality Globalization is the process where the world exchange views, technology, ideas, products and cultural aspects to create international integration. The term globalization increased significantly in the twentieth century (Rourke, June, 2001) due to advances in the transport and telecommunication infrastructure. These include the development of the steam ship and the railway, which allowed people to explore the world and the rise of the telegraph and the proliferation of the internet into the rest of the world. Globalization has had its effects both positive and negative in the world. Some of the positives include transfer of knowledge through education and the internet and the negatives could be the industrialization’s adverse environmental effects. Globalization encompasses a range of social, economic and political aspects. Since it not only affects the economies of countries, this paper will look at the negative effects it has had on the equality of the world’s population. In order to effectively discuss the issues of inequalities due to globalization, I will proceed to first look at its impact on individuals, its impacts on populations, its effects on countries and finally its effect on the world as a whole. Globalization is a social process where social activities that are happening in distant countries affect local occurrences and influences the way we react to certain situations. The spatial arrangement of social relations is such that their velocity and extensity is increased. For instance, anyone with access to a computer and internet can view what is happening in the world. This is both beneficial and detrimental to an individual. This because access to information renders one knowledgeable and knowledge is key for development for any individual. However, access to such information has had a psychological effect on minds of young impressionable teenagers. International news channels portray the deplorable state in which African and Middle East people are in. this creates a sense of discomfort for the young mind as they might not wish to visit such places in fear of being confronted by such harsh realities. However, sometimes news networks may only portray this kind of information to increase their ratings, as this is not usually the case throughout the regions. Globalization has had a significant impact on gender equality. Globalization has a great potential of reducing gender inequality. First, the diffusion of the information and communication technologies ICT has eliminated the need for physical strength in employment. The use of the cell phone has translated in more jobs for women. The theory behind gender equality is that education should grant women the same opportunities as men when it comes to access to information, employment opportunities and economic independence (Report, 2012) . This has transformed the duties of the modern woman in that it has made it possible for women to have employment and still raise a family. However, traditional duties of a woman, moreover motherly duties still stand. For instance, the job sector has ensured that the working woman is entitled to at least three months leave in the case of a pregnancy during the period close to birth of the baby (Report, 2012). However, after the birth of the child, the employment sector in most countries does not consider the time the new mother requires to effectively raising her child because they expect them to return promptly to work or risk losing their jobs. This puts constraints on the schedules and the budget of a recent mother because at the end of the day they still have to figure out a way to take care of their babies themselves or hire expert help on raising their children. In line with this is the fact that new fathers are also not considered when it comes to getting a break from work to fulfil their parenting roles putting even more constraints on the modern day woman. Industrial revolution is another significant milestone in the globalization process. The history of globalization shows that this brought about the shifting of production from the developed countries to the developing countries saw an increase in the demand for labour-intensive employment. In many developing countries, particularly in Asia and Central America industrialization promoted female labour force participation and the feminization of employment in the manufacturing industry. For instance in in the Republic of Korea, the share of women employed in manufacturing grew from six percent in 1970 to around thirty percent in the 1980s and early 1990s (Report, 2012). Recent reports have however shown a decline in the percentage of female labour in the Republic of Korea to fourteen percent in 2007. A reason for this could be the globalization of information and education. The Republic of Korea case is just one example of a decline in the number of unskilled workers the industrial sector is hiring. With globalization came about the collective call to education by all governments in the world. As a result, the need for trained and professional labour has increased immensely at the expense of untrained workers (Alderson & Nielsen, 2002). Job opportunities that exist in the market demand for graduates with at least diplomas or degrees for jobs for example in the law sector, architecture, investment banking and many other jobs. Proliferation of technological advances could also be another reason for this trend of reduced unskilled labour. This is because most manufacturing factories and production firms have adopted the use of machines to mass-produce their products. This has been at the expense of human labour. The use of machines has increased because it is popular belief that they save time, as they are faster and more efficient than human beings, who are prone to errors. The decrease in the level of unskilled labour could also be explained by the fact that some of the technology the firms employ in manufacturing firms require a level of knowledge that is why education plays a significant role in the people the firms are hiring. Another important trend to note in current employment trends has been the disparity in the age bracket employers are hiring. Technology has leapt to the forefront of the most used tools by industries and other sectors the world over. Hence, the world expects everyone to be able to use the technology available to better his or her life. However, this is not the case for most people and it has nothing to do with education but everything to do with age. The older generations are not familiar with technology developed in the twenty-first century. Most of world’s population born in the early twentieth century learnt to do things in a different manner and in fact, prefer to do those things the way they have always done them. Therefore, younger generations have overrun the ICT sector, who are more familiar with all issues to do with technologies. In fact, this trend has had a great influence on the business world with most businesses having people under the age of thirty running them. Leadership positions have therefore shifted from the older generations to the younger generation unlike previous cases where experience was the major determining factor as to who gets a leadership role (Rourke, June, 2001). With the elimination of language barriers due to education, cultural exchange has taken place. This is essentially a good thing as people get to learn and therefore appreciate different cultures. However, this has been the cause of major cultures being watered down especially in continents that were under colonization. For example, North America was the primary location for Native American who were descendants of Indian Origin. However, the current North America has little to no cultural proof to the Native American ever existing because of the migration into the continent. The current habitats of the land are of many different origins that are quite contrary to the indigenous population that had settled there. Through globalization, new patterns of inequalities are produced. Certain classes in the society benefit from it while others do not. In such a scenario, globalization involves interconnectedness compared to interdependence. Interdependence produces a sense of equality in the society. In the case of contemporary globalization, such equality does not exist. Global relations are rarely symmetrical (Sociology, 2002). In this case, the Western civilization and the multinational corporations are the dominant parties. Therefore, these dominant parties end up controlling the globalization by shaping its concepts according their values. This way they end up influencing governments and corporations as well as other powerful institutions in order to shape globalization. Therefore global ideologies end up having underpinnings that influence social relations. On the same note, most countries in the world speak languages such as English. French, Spanish and have English as their official language. Teachers deliver the syllabi in most schools in English. The result of this has been the watering down of native languages especially in Africa. In relation to this, majority of people regard people who speak their native language in developing countries as uneducated. Though this is not usually the case in most instances, the assumption is widely made throughout the world. So globalization has failed in equalizing the use of languages as native languages are still regarded as primitive and are being watered down along with indigenous cultures. Globalization has removed communication barriers as well as trade barriers among countries in the world. The result of this has been foreign investments increasing in the third world. This has not only affected countries’ economies but also individual progress. When in comes to investment, one requires capital in order to invest. Majority of citizens in developing countries are middle to low-income earners. They spend their income mostly to raise their families and provide basic needs. People who have a little money to spare in order to invest have done so and received huge returns (Alderson & Nielsen, 2002). The result of this has been the rich having the lion share of investments while the poor struggle to make ends meet. This has been the greatest manifestation of inequality due to globalization. Instead of the gap between the poor and the rich reducing because of all the advancement, the richer have become richer while the poor remain poor. Inequality has proven to be especially destructive to growing economies. This is because when paired with ineffective government policies and underdeveloped market. It creates an environment that slows down progress. According to (Cornia & Court, 2011), unstable economic trends for instance discourage foreign investment in developing countries. However, the borrowing rates of developing countries due to integration of financial activities all in an effort to make the world smaller make the developing countries’ economies have weak credit. Because of this, the rich and developed countries can exploit this weakness by choosing whichever market they wish to enter as after all the country owes them. Lack of education in smart borrowing has made this to be a continuing trend in the underdeveloped countries that rely on foreign aid. The national debts of these countries is usually very astonishing. As a result, most developing nations cannot dig themselves out of the international debt they are in because the developing countries are exploiting their markets for their own gain which, pushes them further down the rabbit hole that is international debt. Globalization has affected the economies of certain countries especially the developing nations. Economists have observed that with the removal of trade barriers among countries, there has been an increase in the import and export activities. Developing countries are mostly exporting agricultural products, which do not fetch a very high market value. Their counterparts in the developed world export services such as financial aid and oil among other items that have an increased market value. The result of this has been that there is a disparity in the level of income gained by developing countries through international trade which mostly favours the developed economies as opposed to the developing economies. Migration to developed countries has been another vital factor that has affected the economies of countries. With the elimination of trade barriers thanks to the invention of the steam ship and railroads, historical explorers made new discoveries in the world like the trade route to India and the discovery of the ‘dark continent’ also known as Africa. The result of thjis brought about colonization of the world by mostly European countries like Britain, France and Germany. During the industrial revolution, demand for unskilled labour to work in their developing industries increased significantly. The result of this was that colonialism not only robbed off Africa and part of Asia their labour force that was economically productive, the also robbed it of its natural resources particularly minerals such as gold, diamonds and platinum which Africa had vast deposits of. Industrialization made Europe to boom in the nineteen to the twentieth century at the expense of the African continent, which the colonialists left working on their traditional ways of generating income (Movius, 2010). This in major ways affected the pace at which Africa as a continent has been able to catch up to the economic giants of the world. Thus, it has rendered Africa to be categorized as a third world continent due to its economy still lagging behind. However in some instances post-colonial migration led to the leap of countries such as the USA surpassing the economic development levels of their colonial masters in Europe. This is because the New World as some historians refer to it (Alderson & Nielsen, 2002) has encouraged the immigration of skilled workforce into their countries, which they offer to immigrants via temporary work permits. The result of this has created a major brain drain in African countries due to the emigration of skilled labour to developed countries, which offer better compensation for their skills. African countries due to their struggling economies have not been able to offer substantial remuneration to their professional citizens who demand higher pay than most of the unskilled labour. The result of this emigration to the developed world has been a lack of technological advancement in the African continent due to the brain drain of their skilled labour. This also translates to a strain in the social lives of immigrants into the developed world. Since they are apart from their families for long periods of time, it has left children without parental figures to look up to. Their parents struggle to give them a better life while their lacking presence is a major concern to their growing children. Greater flexibility in the society has in a number of reported cases also led to higher turnover rates and job instability. For instance, in Turkey, where women benefited from the gender gap in net job creation in the export sectors, female employment was more volatile than men’s (Report, 2012). In a similar way, in Colombia, workers employed in less protected sectors have shorter job tenure and are less likely to find work in the formal sector. Nevertheless, these differences are only temporary and not affected by gender. Perhaps most worrisome about these trends is the realization that old patterns of employment segregation by gender can quickly emerge in these new industries and occupations. Therefore, what initially seemed to be a break from established gender roles in the labour market ends up proving in some cases to be a short-lived deviation. Moreover, the segregation of women seems to arise as (exporting) firms move up the value chain through recapitalization and retooling of workers, both normally associated with higher productivity and better wages. Inequality has taken route in most of Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe and part of Asia. Unfortunately, this may continue to be the trend in these countries. This is because unlike their western counterparts in the developed world where their level of democracy commands and demands an accountable government, their governments still fail to heed to the needs of their citizens. The result of this has been the people in authoritative position make it their priority to benefit themselves and their associates while in that position of power due to lack of proper accountability procedures. The lack of these measures has created a vicious cycle where one corrupt era of government has given way to another and no progress has been made in trying to rectify the major income gaps that exist in these countries. Another reason why globalization could be dis-equalizing is that global markets are far from perfect and operate on a theoretical basis. In essence, globalization of trade favours those with right capital flows and global technology. A solid example of market failure is evident in the effects of pollution. The rate of pollution if higher in developed countries than in developing countries. Nevertheless, the developed countries solely enjoy the benefits of industrialization without fully paying for their costs of pollution. The outcome has been developing countries are paying for effects of industrialization through global warming without fully enjoying the beneficial results. Similarly, the developing world feels the effects of global financial crises despite them being a direct result of financial crises in the developed countries. For example economic recession in the USA majorly affects the economic state of Mexico which is a developing economy (Cornia & Court, 2011). This inequality arises because the pinch is greater in developing economies because recession stifles investments and raises the interest rates on loans to developing countries. On the other hand, globalization has made us more aware of the ramifications of global warming therefore made us more environmentally conscious. This in turn has created a large population of pro environmentalists to the point of creating employment opportunities. Some have even gone to the extent of receiving worldwide recognition like in the case of the Nobel Laureate the late Professor Wangari Maathai. Therefore, in a way, globalization has balanced out the adverse effects of global warming. In summary, globalization has shaped major economic, political and social platforms both negatively and positively. Trade openness has increased employment opportunities for people and with the elimination of transport barriers, exchange of ideologies have taken place. However, the ideologies have been a product of the dominant markets such as USA, Britain and most of Europe. The economic disparity that exists between the developing world and the developed world continues to grow because of globalization. Gains from foreign investments only serve to make the rich richer especially in weaker economies like Africa. Gender disparity has reduced significantly due to globalization of education. However, some employment requirements still marginalize women by not affording them conducive working environments. Bibliography Alderson, A. S. & Nielsen, F., 2002. Globalization and the Great U-Turn: Income Inequality Trends in 16 OECD Countries. American Journal on Sociology, March, 107(5), pp. 1244-1299. Cornia, G. A. & Court, J., 2011. Inequality, Growth and Poverty in the Era of Liberalization and Globalization, s.l.: UNU World Institute for Development Economics Research. Movius, L., 2010. Cultural Globalization and Challenges to Traditional Communication Theories. Journal of Media and Communication, January, 2(1), pp. 6-19. Report, W. D., 2012. Globalization’s impact on gender equality: What’s happened and what’s needed., s.l.: s.n. Rourke, K. H. O., June, 2001. GLOBALIZATION AND INEQUALITY: HISTORICAL TRENDS. Cambridge, MA, National Bureau of Economic Research. Sociology, I., 2002. Sociology, Globalization and Postmepodernity: Comments on the Sociology for One World Thesis. Sage Journals , 9(2), pp. 149-159. Read More