Reading No.

4.

Theorizing
Globalization
(Source: Chapter 2. Globalization: The Essentials. George Ritzer. UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 2011)
OUTLINE
•Imperialism 1. General Learning Objective:
•Colonialism
•The Concept of Development To explain globalization and its
•Americanization processes through the frames of
•■ Anti - Americanism as a Global Process imperialism, colonialism,
development, and
•Neo - Liberalism
•■ Neo - Liberalism: Basic Ideas
Americanization.
•■ The Neo -Liberal State 2. To examine the similarities and
•■ Critiquing Neo -Liberalism: Karl Polanyi differences among these
Contemporary Criticisms of Neo -Liberalism
•■
processes.
•Neo -Marxian Theories
•■ Transnational Capitalism
•■ Empire
 Imperialism
- a broad concept that describes various methods
employed by one country to gain control
(sometimes through territorial conquest) of
another country (or geographic area) and then to
exercise control, especially political, economic,
and territorial, over that country (or geographic
area).
Imperialism
 Over time, the notion of empire, and of the
process of imperialism, came to be associated
with rulership over vast geographic spaces and
the people who lived there.

It is this characteristic that leads to the

association between imperialism and
globalization.
Imperialism
The term imperialism came into widespread use in the late
nineteenth century as a number of nations competed for control
over previously undeveloped geographic areas.

Imperialism came to have a negative connotation as it raised

about the need for political (and cultural) control by the imperial
powers.

Lenin: the economic nature of capitalism leads capitalistic

economies, and the nation- states that are dominated by such an
economic system, to seek out and control distant geographic
areas.
DaviD Harvey: “Capitalist imperialism”
 a “new imperialism” which has arisen, with the
United States as its prime (if not only)
representative.

 it as a contradictory fusion of economics and

politics, but the “two processes intertwine in
complex and sometimes contradictory ways” –
political imperialism and economic
imperialism.
COLONIALISM
Creation by the colonial power of an administration in
the area that has been colonized to run its internal
affairs.
 Edward Said: “ imperialism means the practice,
the theory, and the attitudes of a dominating
metropolitan center ruling a distant territory; ‘
colonialism ’ , which is almost always a
consequence of imperialism, is the implanting of
settlements on distant territory”
 DECOLONIZATION
It is the process of dismantling the hidden
aspects of those institutional and cultural forces
that had maintained the colonialist power and
that remain even after political independence is
achieved.
Neo-Colonialism
It refers to the processes of control by colonial
powers over the former colonies, and other
nation - states, in a more indirect and subtle way
through cultural and educational institutions,
focusing on economic control and exploitation.
Post-colonialism
 the era in once- colonized areas after the colonizing power has
departed (although post- colonial thinking and work could
already be well under way before the colonizing power
departs).

 relates to a critical issue in globalization studies today, that of

national identity, especially the difficulty of gaining identity (as
a Filipino, for example) after the colonial powers (the Spanish,
Americans, Japanese) have departed.

 Who exactly is the Filipino today?

 THE CONCEPT OF
DEVELOPMENT

It refers to the post WWII global project

primarily concerned with the economic
development of specific nations,
usually those that were not regarded as
sufficiently advanced economically.
Import-Substitution

This economic principle suggests that in

order to undergo development, Southern
countries had to develop their own
industries instead of focusing on
producing for export and relying on
imports from other countries, especially
the North.
Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI)

It is a form of investment by an
economically superior firm in one
nation- state in a firm in another
nation- state with the intention of
controlling it.
Foreign Aid
 A development project offered by developed countries to
those that were less developed which encompassed
financial assistance, technology, as well as aid in terms of
food.

 While such aid was certainly helpful in the short run, in the
longer run it often adversely affected the ability of some
countries to grow and produce their own food or develop
their own technology and therefore led to greater
economic dependency in some less developed countries.
 Critiques of Development Theory
1. Dependency Theory (Andre Gunder Frank, 1969)
 development programs led not so much to the development of poor countries
in the South, but more to a decline in their independence and to an increase in
their dependence on the countries of the North, especially the US.

The Promise: if the less developed countries simply follow the same path taken
by developed countries, they too will become developed.

The Fact: the developed countries were never in the same position as the less
developed countries today; the developed countries were undeveloped while the
less developed countries were (and still are) underdeveloped.
The result is that the path followed by the former is not necessarily the best one
for the latter.
Andre Gunder Frank rejects the idea that the solution to
underdevelopment lies in the diffusion of capital,
technology, institutions, values, and so on from the
developed world into poorer countries.

He contends that the less developed countries can only

develop if they are independent of most of these capitalist
relationships which, after all, are really the cause of their
lack of development.

It is capitalism that is the cause of development in the

developed nations and of underdevelopment in the less
developed nations.
 THE CONCEPT OF
UNDERDEVELOPMENT

it is a created form of poverty which involves

the idea that instead of bringing economic
improvement, development brings with it greater
impoverishment and dependency.
2. World System Theory (Immanuel Wallerstein, 1974)

It envisions a world divided mainly between the core and the
periphery with the poor countries (periphery) being
dependent on, and exploited by, the rich nation – states
(core), with the developing countries (semi-periphery)
mediating the processes.

 The development project was basically a failure since the

world clearly remained, and remains, characterized by great
inequalities.

 The whole development project came to be seen as

offensive since it tended to elevate the North, and everything
about it, especially its economic system, while demeaning
AMERICANIZATION
It refers to the importation by non - Americans of products, images, technologies,
practices and behavior that are closely associated with America and American
culture.

4 sources of fear after Americanization and which were also direct threats
to Americanization:
1. Japanization 2. Asian Tigers 3. European Union 4. China

Today, the fear of Americanization was no longer of industrial giants, many of which are
declining (and disappearing), but rather of the impact of huge companies in the realm of
consumption such as Coca Cola and McDonald’s.

Anti-Americanism
It entails an aversion to American culture in particular and its influence
abroad, and the rejection of American foreign policy and a firm belief in the
malignity of American influence and presence anywhere in the world.
 Neo-Liberalism
Liberal commitment to individual liberty, a belief in the free market and
opposition to state intervention in it.
Free Market: The market needs to be allowed to operate free of any impediments, especially those
imposed by the nation - state and other political entities. The free operation of the market will in the
“long run” advantage just about everyone and bring about both improved economic welfare and
greater individual freedom (and a democratic political system).

Free Trade: the unlimited processes through which one can engage in profit-making in the free
market
Deregulation: the elimination of any form of restraints and control from the state regarding the operation of
the free market.

Structural Adjustment: These were the conditions of economic “restructuring” imposed by organizations
such as the World Bank and the IMF on borrowing nation - states.

Limited government: This is the concept that no government can do things as well as the market and a
government should not intervene in it.

Double Movement: Coexistence of the expansion of the laissez -faire market and the reaction against it.
Critiques of Neo-
Liberalism

Karl Polanyi: laissez - faire system

came into existence through the
assistance of the state.

Leslie Sklair: Transnational Capitalism

Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri :

Empire
 Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s Empire
 “Empire” is a far more subtle and complex network of global
political/economic/cultural processes than imperialism and which
are exercising a new form of control.

-A more “decentered” view of globalization; imperialism was a

modern process and perspective that was “centered” on the nation -
state (Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the US), but the declining
importance of the nation - state requires a very different view of
control exercised on a global scale.

- To Hardt and Negri it is the power exercised by a decentered

empire today that has replaced the power exercised by imperialism
in the past.
 CLASS ACTIVITY: FIELD ASSIGNMENT

THEORY AND LOCAL CONTEXT: VISUALS AND NARRATIVES

1. Community Transect Walk

2. Anatomy of the Mall

Output: Analysis of local narratives and visual images