A Critical Sociological Account of Contemporary Forms of Globalization - Term Paper Example

Name: Professor: Discipline: Date Globalization and Identity Introduction The big idea of the 2th century is globalization this is a term that lacks an accurate definition. Globalization is in danger of becoming if it has not already, a cliché of the times. Nonetheless, the terminology globalization captures the elements of a broad perception that there is a deepening, broadening, and speeding up of the global interconnection of all humanly aspects of living from the environmental to the financial, from the criminal to the cultural. Behind the grandiosity of globalization, bombasts located in academic, as well as public debates, lay three diverse accounts of the characteristics and meaning of globalization currently, they are referred to as the transformationalist sceptical and hyper globalist views. A hyper-globalist would reason that humans live in a progressively global world in which countries are being subjected to massive political and economic processes of change. These factors fragment and erode the nation-states and political progressions of change, in these situations, countries are gradually becoming the agents of the decisions and not the makers of the decisions. The sceptical argument denounces the hyper-globalists view and believes that modern-day global events are not unheard-of. In their perspective, while there has been an intensification of social and international events in the current times, it has enhanced and strengthened state powers in numerous areas. For the transformationalist, the argument revolves around globalization is that it is creating a brand new political economic and social environments that, even though uneven, are serving to change country powers and the framework in which the countries do business. These states do not, however, predict the outcome since they believe it is uncertain, but claim that the political environment is no longer, and cannot be further be simply based on a country. These three positions leave an opening for a massive global drift in the political, cultural, social and economic scenes and colossal implications. Essay The term globalization handily may be comprehended as a set of processes of which symbolize a revolution in the spatial organization of social transactions and relations, creating interregional or transcontinental flows and linkages of activities, power and interaction. Globalization is characterised by four types of transformations. Four types of change characterize it: the first involves globalization broadened in the scopes of political, social and economic activities to across the political frontiers, continents and regions. Secondly, it includes intensification, of the scale of growth of the interconnections and flows of investments, trade, culture, migration, and finance. Thirdly, the emergent intensity and extensity of the global interconnectedness may be linked to the speeding up of the worldly processes and interactions, due to the fruition of the global systems of communication and transport that lead to the increase of diffusion of goods, ideas, information people and capital. Fourthly, the increasing speed and intensity of worldwide interactions should be associated to the entrenching impact such that the consequences of distant happenings can be vastly significant elsewhere, and yet the local developments can come to have massive worldly magnitudes. In this thought, the limitations between global matters and domestic affairs become more and more indistinct. In total, globalization can be understood of as the intensifying, widening, acceleration and growth on the impact of the global interconnections. Through perceiving globalization in this aspect, it, therefore, becomes promising to plot empirical patterns of the globe of global relations and links across every main sector of human activity, from the cultural to the military. From the pre-modern, through to the (1500-1800), early modern, current (19th to the early 20th century), to the present-day period, idiosyncratic can be noted with respect to their differentiated organizational and systemic attributes, which are usually uneven. These patterns comprise of unique types of globalization. Through comparisons and contrasts these altering historical forms can be identifies more accurately which is a phenomenal about the current approach. Consequently, to progress an account of globalization it is required that one turn from a general concern with its formulations to an evaluation of the chief domains of interactions and concerns through and in which humans and the global process evolve and identify themselves. Contemporary forms of globalization include: Financial globalization: this is the interconnection of the globes financial systems for instance though the stock markets. Technological globalization: is the linking of the world among nations through technologies like the internet, television, telephone and radio. Cultural globalization: is the merging of all worldly culture through cuisines, language and entertainment. Many individuals criticize cultural globalization as the destruction of the local cultures. Sociological globalization, there is the growing belief that all humans are global citizens and should be treated with the same standards and all have equal rights. Capital punishment according to the world’s view is immoral, and women should have equal rights as compared to women Globalization is here to stay, and its effect is being felt all over the globe from the new-born child in the city to the old man in the village. Globalization influences the world in that it has brought about peaceful relations. Many countries have stemmed to trade relations with each other to boost their economies alienating from any conflicting experiences of the past. Countries are now raising capital and fortifying their stance on international trading rather than on fuelling wars. Thus for everyone on the globe it has encouraged international peace and security. Another way in which globalization has affected globalization is free trade. Free trade is a policy by which a state does not levy duties subsidies, quotas or taxes on the goods and services of exports and imports from other countries. There are selected countries that have decided to do free trading in specific sectors. This permits consumers to purchase goods and services at low costs. Globalization has endorsed international connectivity. From the inception of the internet to its spread, the world has ultimately become a smaller place. There have been exchanges of ideas and thoughts, which has ethically advanced and interweaved the mentality of individuals all over the world. Opportunities for new markets have amplified exponentially. Many companies have put up shop in diverse nations and are attracting clienteles for the brands. The ever-flourishing markets have aided states to raise capital with reference to foreign domestic investments, therefore, improving the nation’s economy. Among the most beneficial elements of globalization is that it harbours the creation of employment. This occurs because of the emergence of new organizations and markets, where a lot of unskilled and skilled labour is needed. Immigration within countries also shoots, which provides better chances for individuals al over the globe. Through giving employment, globalization aids in augmenting the standards of living among the masses, which in turn tends towards eradicating poverty. Through mutual trade supported by many states, understanding about the protection of the environment has been showed to benefit the trading countries. Most countries accepted that fact that most of the wildlife and natural resources need saving. Most of the global environmental issues like climate change and pollution get solved through conventions and discussions. The competition within different companies is home to international firms. It becomes essential for these organizations to concentrate on giving out quality services and products, in order to sustain or capture the market share. Consumers benefit in the process through getting quality products and services at cheaper rates. They also have the chance to choose their goo from a wide variety of goods and services in the market. Globalization has facilitated in conveying about social understanding and integrity all over the world. Every day the dream for a global village becomes naturalistic after taking into consideration the effects of globalization. It aided in the removal of some limitations that have dogged the world on various rounds. Propagation of democratic ideas has permeated most of the states. Cross-cultural linkages grow, and cultural diffusion occurs, this helps to reduce the differences and advocates for companionship. Globalization has endorsed tourism to new heights. Many states have tourism as their chief source of capital. International trading within diverse countries also aids in improving the number of tourists that visit different locations around the globe. With the introduction of globalization, there has been a mammoth increase in the transportation industry. Items, which took months to transport, can be easily transported and arrive at their destination in a matter of days. Because of the growth of containerization for marine shipping, costs of transportation get reduced to a great extent, reducing the price and costs of commodities in the world markets. Even with the positives of globalization on the political, economic and social fields, globalization has brought negatives to the world: With the aim of reducing costs many firms, in developed nations result to outsourcing their white-collar and manufacturing jobs to third world states like China and India where the labour cost is cheap. Most prominently, the customer services jobs are the most affected as many developing countries have large English-speaking populaces. They are mostly ready to work for a fraction of what individual would term as minimum wage. This outsourcing has resulted in resentment among the citizens of developed nations, and the affected companies are accused of taking jobs away. Globalization resulted in the increase of certain activities like, slavery and child labour. In states that have minimal or no accountability, companies employing children operate without glitches through bribing the officials, which results in an upsurge of illegal deeds. Globalization has resulted in fierce competitive markets, and unethical practices in business are an offshoot of globalization. Globalization may have inadvertently aided criminals and terrorist. The heart of globalization is the notion that food materials, and humans are allowed to move freely across borders; nonetheless the world trade centre bombing is a frightening cue that individuals with evil intent can cause harm and damage if give the chance. The poor in the society are eking out a living while the rich keep getting richer. The current uprising in the Middle Eastern countries and Occupy Wall Street are anything to go by, many people are upset with the current set up of governments, and a change should come soon and alleviate poverty. In essence, the results of globalization should creation of wealth and prosperity, but due to corrupt governments and corporate greed, money does not flow equally to all. Environmental dilapidation is a growing concern that has been deliberated fiercely on many international meeting, and it has to be agreed upon that globalization is among the most central factors that have worsened the situation. The level of raw materials required operating a factory and industry is taking a toll on the natural assets of the planet, and pollution has harshly affected the quality of air that is so vital for the survival of man. Current trends of globalization create a fresh age in human affairs. During the nineteenth century, the industrial revolution and the spread of the West marked a new era in world history; today, the satellites and microchip, are symbols of a fresh historical conjuncture. Compared with earlier periods, currently, globalization merges an outstanding convergence of dense trends of global interconnectedness, along with their unprecedented institutionalization via fresh regional and global infrastructures of communication and control, from APEC to WHO. Steered by interrelated economic, technological and political changes, globalization is changing societies and global order. Current trends of globalization are concerned with multilayered structure of leadership, extending the gap between the poorest and the richest, a greater division of societies into losers and winners, and the dissemination of political power. Consequently, globalization has become progressively more contested and politicized. Regional and national social forces fight, inside and outside current structures of regional and global governance, to promote, manage, resist or lead its impulses. The contest is vivid mainly in the contemporary contests about ensuring global human rights, controlling trading in genetically modified animals and crops and the contemporary contests on altering global finance. Caught between local demands and global forces, governments have to revise their functions and roles. The increase of regional and global political relations has reduced the command of national states. Although global and regional integration is changing the character of the political community and altering state power, any description of this as a loss or the lessening of national powers twist what is going on- as does every idea that nothing has changed. Whilst on many essential measures of national power, (from the ability to raise revenues and taxes to the capability to launch great force at their enemies), states are as powerful as their predecessors were, if not more powerful, also, the demands asked of them have increased rapidly too. Increasingly, the enhancement and nurturing of the people needs synchronized multilateral deeds. Concurrently, the declaration of transboundary problems may cause considerable changes. In accordance to this, politicians are observing a restructuring of political authority and state power. To express this, there has been a move from government to multilevel governance, as nations have become part of regional and global regimes. In the transnational world, nations deploy their autonomy and sovereignty as negotiating chips involving collaboration and coordination across shifting international and transnational networks. The authority, operations and power of state government are, changing accordingly but they are not all unidirectional. The right of states to govern within restricted areas – their independence – is not about to collapse, although the realistic aspect of this right – the actual capability of states to govern – is varying its shape. A fresh era of governance and government is rising which is pushing out customary ideas of state command as an inseparable, territorially elite form of people power. Globalization does not lead to the termination of the state, but it stimulates a variety of governance and government tactics and, in some basic respects, more of an activist state. According to this context, it is more sensible to talk about the revolution of state power. These changes create very considerable queries for democracy since the widening scale on which economic and political power often exercised, flees efficient ways of democratic control. Democracy is still rooted in a bounded and fixed territorial idea of political community. Nonetheless, globalisation interrupts this orderly communication among national territory, political space, democratic, political community and sovereignty; it allows power to run over, around and across territorial boundaries. Globalization hence creates fresh political duties: Intellectual –recasting founded concepts of social justice, liberty and equality into a logical political venture, which is strong enough to face a world, a world that implements power where on a transnational scale. This entails restructuring the principles that emphasize citizenship and the democratic political community for an era stained with overlapping communities of fate and trans-boundary politics. Institutional – this is merging the practices and institutions of democracy with the efficient authority of globalisation within global (private and public) and regional authorities. Globalization, unlike what some advocate, is not foreclosing or narrowing political discussion and choices, in contrast, it is reinvigorating and re– illuminating the modern political terrain. Works Cited Held, David. A globalizing world?: culture, economics, politics. London: Routledge in association with the Open University, 2000. Print. Read More