Assessment 1-Positions Paper: Globalization

Like every issue, globalization has its pro and cons. According to Carnegie Endowment,

“Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and

governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and

aided by information technology. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on

political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in

societies around the world.”

John Thompson, a Cambridge sociologist states that; “Globalization only takes place

when activities are organized, planned or coordinated on a global scale and when activities

involve some degree of reciprocity and interdependency- that is, when there is a real degree of

inter-connectedness between different locales/locations.” For example, the hugely successful and

phenomenal Live Earth.

The term Globalization is over-rated and controversial. Globalization exists because of

the advancement in technology or more importantly, the media. America is the most influential

country because so many other countries consume American goods and the media keeps

disseminating all things American. Almost everyday, we’re exposed to the American culture. On

the way to college, work or universities, all along the road, we’re exposed to advertisements of

Oreo, McDonald’s, Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Knocked Up, Beyonce’s advertisement for

Samsung, and Penelope Cruz for MNG, just to name a few. Globalization is also translated as the

domination of American goods and services.

That is just the external view, inside the car, we listen to English songs and laugh at the

DJ’s with fake American accents and even a trip to the rural areas, we’re being bombarded by

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advertisements of Coca-Cola and even paddy farmers have an Astro satellite dish on their roof

and to make things even more “culture shock,” farmers and their families are watching American

Idol, Jamie Oliver and MTV. This shows that, globalization affects everyone politically,

economically, socially, technologically, culturally and environmentally.

Positive effects of globalization politically are the development in the developing

countries. Countries are getting more and more liberal and previous ruling systems are abolished.

For example, the Chrysanthemum Empire in Japan finally allowed a female to rule after

hundreds of years. Economically, globalization is a blessing to developing countries because

developing countries are the targets of major conglomerate organizations because of the free

trade zones that opens many new markets and job opportunities which will help develop these

countries because of the numerous business opportunities which is a boost to the economic

sector, enabling people to have cheaper services especially in the telecommunications field.

Besides that, positive effects of globalization socially and culturally are the people will be

more exposed to other cultures and are more aware and informed of the people in other parts of

the world and are more open to other cultures. For example, almost everyone is aware of the

plight in Africa and the war in Iraq. Environmentally, people are more aware that they have to

care for the environment and Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth is so popular thanks to globalization.

Proves that one message can be disseminated to the mass audience all over the world.

Finally, to end the positive effects of globalization is the technology sector. Globalization

is born out of technology and through technology, we can have access to the ‘Library of the

World; The Internet. Globalization is also a blessing to the telecommunications sector as it

enables people to keep in touch through cheaper communication means services like Skype that

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enables 2 individuals from different parts of the world to communicate real time for a minimal

amount, creating a borderless world. For example, a user in Australia can communicate with

another user in Russia via webcam and it feels like a face-to-face interaction.

Additionally, many people appreciate the familiar feeling especially in the food industry.

Globalization has given people the warm fuzzy feeling when they’re away in another country.

For example, a person can walk into Starbucks in any part of the world knowing that their coffee

will taste the same or McD’s knowing that McChicken or Fillet O’Fish taste exactly back home.

On the other hand, negative effects of globalization politically are the main concern of a

corrupt government. For example, the turmoil in Aceh and the religious prosecution of the Chin

clan in Mongolia that turned them into refugees in Malaysia because of their country’s corrupt

government. Economically, smaller, local business establishments will not be able to compete

with the major conglomerate corporations that targets developing countries to take advantage of

the free trade zones. Like the lead of an article in The Australian, “Increasing globalization

means stiffening competition, and the need for greater efficiency.” Those smaller businesses will

be at the losing end.

Besides that, negative effects of globalization socially and culturally is the social stigma

of the people in developing and Third World countries due to the exploitation by the developed

nations on cheap labor and overworked workers to keep a balance with supply and demand. For

example, Nike’s “sweatshops” and culturally, the world is being “Americanized” or the term

Cultural Imperialism. For example, almost everyone owns an iPod, young generation drinks a

can of Coke everyday and many young girls are behaving more like Paris Hilton.

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 Finally, to end the negative effects of globalization is the development of technology. It

has enabled users to plagiarize, download files, open file sharing that led to a lot of copyright

issues. Almost anything and everything can be found on the internet and can be obtained illegally

which will lead to serious intellectual thefts. Environmentally, forest are cleared to make way for

development which in long term, which will cause the pollution and extinction.

Audiences and media users are better served with globalization because they receive all

the benefits and they don’t lose anything except a hint of their individuality. Since all the huge

corporations will be competing amongst themselves, the consumers will benefit from the low,

competitive prices. If not, they just have to download whatever they want, from the latest hits, to

Paris Hilton’s One Night in Paris, the latest episode of Desperate Housewives, the latest season

of the satirical House, to assignments and to computer softwares such as Flash, Microsoft, and

Adobe just to name a few.

The losers in the era of media globalization have got to be the youth and the mass

consumers. There’s an advertisement on MTV for the show, Pimp It Up. In the ad, an old man

said, “Nowadays, kids don’t want ready made cars, they want to pimp it up” shows how much

we’re influenced by American goods. Another example is Anya Hindmarch’s “I’m Not a Plastic

Bag” bag which is phenomenal and sold out in London within the first 3 hours. Malaysia and

Asia was not spared of the trend as many were fighting over the limited edition bags. Malaysia

caught the fever when E! showed stars like Keira Knightly, Sienna Miller and Lily Allen toting

those bags. The older generation blames of globalization is the loss of their cultural identity. For

example, older generation wears traditional clothing and believes in, if you’re Chinese, you must

know how to speak Chinese. No excuses. English is frowned upon and deemed as a betrayal to

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their ancestral roots. The winner in the era of globalization is the one that could manipulate the

situation to their advantage.

The effects of globalization have to be studied from every possible angle. The term

globalization has been used as “scapegoat” every time something goes wrong. When there are

job losses, economic recession, inflation and the increase in the cost of living, it’s easy to point

fingers and blame Globalization. In a sordid way, globalization has brought a new meaning. To

be competitive, and customer oriented for businesses. The article in The Australian then

continued to read; “Globalization has meant that Australian businesses have been more open to

competition and has meant that they have to get efficient and competitive or get out!”

Overall, globalization brings a different meaning to each and every individual. Besides

that, each and every generation derive a different meaning to the term Globalization. It would be

shallow and ignorant to just know about globalization. For a developing country, being able to

influence and manipulate globalization for their benefit would be a great help to the country. One

person who manipulated and influenced people to their advantage is Oprah Winfrey. Whatever

books that she “recommends” will be sold out. Few books were The Secret, She’s Come Undone

by Wally Lamb and Saving Grace by Sarah Brady. All she has to do is to hold the book on her

show and by next day, it’ll be sold out.

Cultural Anthropologist, Appadurai.A. states that “The world is fragmented, disjoined and cannot

be simplified into an East vs. West or 1st World vs. 3rd World model which most of the people still

perceive the world today, because the world is more than that. Like a Chinese proverb; “As a

human, Everyday, we’ll have something to learn.” In conclusion, we have a lot to learn from the

term Globalization and as long as we’re humans, we’ll learn something new everyday.

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(1511 words)

REFERENCE:

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2007, What Is Globalization?

http://www.globalization101.org/What_is_Globalization.html, (accessed September 17,
2007).

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Athabasca University, Canada’s Open University, 2001, Special Issues,
http://globalization.icaap.org/copyright.php, (accessed September 17, 2007)

United States of America, U.S Copyright Office, 2007, The Library of Congress: U.S Copyright
Law http://www.copyright.gov/, (accessed September 17, 2007)

A.Oxley, Australian APEC Study Centre, Monash University, 2001, Free Trade Agreements in
the era of globalization - new instruments to advance new interests – the case of Australia
http://www.apec.org.au/docs/oxley2002d.pdf, (accessed September 17, 2007)

Appadurai, Arjun.1990. “Disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy”. Modernity
At Large:Cultural Dimensions of Globalization, 27-47. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press