Blog Assignment 1:What is globalization? / YIHUA WANG

Summary

 This chapter discusses an ongoing and no accepted debate: what’s the globalization? To be more specific, the globalization here we are talking about is a general concept but not under some certain topics, such as global governance, global citizenship and human rights, etc.

 The reason why the concept, globalization, is not define yet is because there are so many different perspectives across the world. Thus, some researchers believe that the globalizations are in the plural, as opposed to a single process of globalization. Although the predecessor, Velho (1997), has spoken of globalization as an object and people should think of globalization as a single process.

 The widespread use across the world of this term began only after 1989. On the one hand, some people take mainly economic position on globalization. On the other hand, some people prefer a broader view, which is a strong characteristic of the currency of the concept.

 In fact, these two opinions now are converging. The concept of globalization is not only economic, but also includes social, political and cultural aspects. For examples, on the social side, the movement called antiglobalization in the 1990s west. In terms of economy, the most representative example of globalization is multinational corporations. In addition to the above, several crucial social scientific factors were greatly neglected while people concentrating upon the capitalistic conception of globalization. The world is becoming increasingly interconnected, emphasizing the concept of the world as a "single place." This perspective has had an important impact on social sciences such as sociology, political science, and anthropology, reassessing traditional concepts such as society, sovereignty, and territory, and focusing on the boundaries between different types of societies that are affected by globalization processes such as migration and a phenomenon transcended by hybridization.

 Although globalization is not a single concept, it has some diffident defining features. Increasing connectivity, also called interconnectedness sometimes, is thought as the most important and widest single defining feature. Despite this point is a little bit misleading.

 However, the author believes that the increasing global consciousness runs in complex ways with increasing connectivity. And connectivity and consciousness must be unraveled. Indeed, some disciplines have given much more attention to one or the other or neglected the latter. In particular, while connectivity has been considered by political scientists, international relations specialists and economists as the defining feature of globalization, consciousness has been studied more by anthropologists, sociologists and cultural historians. For example, Samuel Huntington predicted that the major world conflicts would not be ideologically based, but rather focused more on civilizational issues after the Cold War. But after the tragedy of 9/11, people realize that globalization indeed involved much more.

 Interesting aspect

As for the dimensions of globalization, there are three main aspects, that is the economic, the political and the cultural. Among them, culture has received special attention, largely due to the impact of the economy. And this chapter gives some examples, such as Nike, Starbucks and McDonald, etc. And it has been found that in spite of attempts to spread the consumption of goods or services around the world in a relatively homogeneous way it is necessary to adapt brands to local circumstances. Although the Internet has shortened the distance in the physical sense of the world, it is impossible to conceive of connectivity without attending to social interaction, particularly but not only long-distance interaction.

 To summarize, we can establish that globalization encompasses key dimensions: cultural, social, political, and economic. It is important to emphasize that when we mention the social dimension, we are encompassing communication as well. Moreover, this enumeration does not imply that any single dimension holds greater significance than the others. It is also not asserting that elements such as environmental or ecological changes are disregarded. Ultimately, the essential element lies in human perception of the environment, highlighting that environmental concerns are intricately woven into contemporary human culture.

 Following Immanuel Wallerstein, the world has not become a single place under the aegis. The author believes that Wallerstein's views challenge the idea that the modern world can be systematized along imperialist lines. As the international system changes, countries as individuals can also play an important role in defining globalization. At the same time, globalization cannot only be thought of from a macro perspective. Every human being as an individual can also be exposed to the context of globalization. Human beings both depend on society and may also have an impact on society.

 People would like to say that there do have a ‘a globalized world’. But sometimes some interesting phenomena also appear in the process of economic globalization, that is, glocalization. The concept of glocalization is one which has received considerable attention within the confines of business studies, the case of McDonald in Indian. But it should be clear that there can be no criterion as to what a fully globalized world might look like. In fact, the globalization is an inevitably but self-limiting process. Because when we considered the globalization with respect to the glocalizing aspects of diffusion, then it inherently limits itself. However, on the other hand, if we think more along the lines of Ritzer’s globalization, then globalization cannot be regarded as self-limiting since globalization as a homogenizing force would be in theory a perpetually ongoing process until everything in the world has been enveloped by it.

Conclusion

 First, globalization consists of two major directional tendencies, increasing global connectivity and increasing global consciousness. Consciousness does not imply consensus, merely a shared sense of the world as a whole. Second, globalization has a particular form, one which has been, to all intents and purposes, consummated by the founding of the United Nations organization.

 Although people are always trying to reify globalization, globalization is not a thing and not an ‘it’. Globalization is a conceptual status, as opposed to its being an ontological matter. Rather, the goal should be to explore what globalization is, with due regard for spatial and temporal variation, and to pursue a goal that can never be fully achieved. We maintain that more sophisticated frameworks for discussions of globalization are needed for effective and credible critical analysis. Criticism for the sake of criticism only makes globalization a negative buzzword, and we need to reduce this indulgence. Only effective and credible critical analysis can we better discuss globalization and establish a better framework for globalization.