Globalization Lecture 2 Dimensions

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GlobalizationLecture 2 - Dimensions
What is it? Global capitalist economy
diminishing political power of nation-state
governments (Marxists Right-wingers) Social
relations- stretching (Giddens) Culture a
sense of global consciousness (Robertson)
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• 1) Globalization of Politics
• - The end of the nation-state?
• 2) Globalization of Social Relations
• - The stretching of social relations
• 3) Globalization of Culture
• - Homogenization Cultural imperialism
• - Culture clashes
• - Heterogenization

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Globalization of Politics

• Nation-state has sovereign power
• - Treaty of Westphalia (1648)
• - Draws up defined borders
• - Each state controls affairs in its own
  territory. SOVEREIGNTY
• - Other states cannot interfere in a states
  business
• Globalization undermines sovereignty of states
  i.e. undercuts power of a state to control things
  in its territory
• Martin Albrow the nation-state is rapidly losing
  power

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• Nation-state IS losing power
• Economically
• 1) power of TNCS
• 2) forces of world market
• Politically
• 1) International bodies and law
• e.g. United Nations, European Union
• 2) Global protest movements e.g. Greens
• Culturally
• 1) Cultural influences from all over world
• 2) Trans-national media public opinion

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• Nation-state IS NOT losing power
• Hirst Thompson
• - TNCs do not have total control of national
  economies
• - States still have primary control over taxes
  welfare spending
• - International bodies like UN made up of, and
  dependent on, nation-states
• - States developing increasing control of borders
  and migration e.g. passports

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Globalization of Social Relations

• Giddens the disembedding of social relations
• - social relations transformed from purely local
  or national to more global
• - communications technologies travel
  technologies
• - dispersal of populations across globe
• migrations and diasporas

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• Ulrich Beck
• Trans-national social connections
• - public life trans-national business
  relationships
• - private life relatives friends in different
  countries inter-marriage between national
  groups, etc.
• Multiple, non-national affiliations and
  identities
• Cosmopolitanism a persons identity is decoupled
  from the nation-state

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Undermining the idea of Society

• John Urry, Ulrich Beck, Roland Robertson
• 1) Cannot use the idea of society any more
• 2) Invented in later 19th century Durkheim
• 3) Society bounded unit a thing
• Society nation-state
• e.g. British society, German society, etc
• 4) Reflects out-dated social conditions
• 5) Need new ideas to reflect global conditions

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Undermining the idea of Society

• Drop idea of society
• Use other ideas from classical sociology
• Max Weber Sociality (social relations)
• Georg Simmel Social networks
• (Norbert Elias social chains)
• Global networks
• facilitated through electronic communications
  networks

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Undermining the idea of Society

• Ulrich Beck Cosmopolitan sociology
• 1) The main focus is not society but the whole
  world
• 2) Examine multiple, intersecting world-spanning
  processes
• 3) Avoid West-centric outlooks
• John Urry Sociology Beyond Societies
• 1) Global flows
• 2) Social processes like liquids
• 3) Liquids pouring rapidly across the world
• Flows unpredictable and uncontrollable
• 4) Unconstrained cross-border mobility of people
  and things

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• Zygmunt Bauman
• Free chosen mobility for wealthy
• - transnational business-people
• - global tourism
• Forced mobility for poor
• - migrant workers, refugees
• - ever more controls on mobility of poor
• Information mobility world divides into
  information rich and information poor

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Globalization of Culture

• Emergence of a global culture?
• What might this look like?
• Positive whole world shares same ideas and
  values?
• World Cup, Olympic Games
• Negative local cultures destroyed?
• Cultural homogenization?
• Cultural heterogenization?

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Cultural Imperialism

• Westernisation / Americanisation of the world
• Domination of American consumer brands
• McDonalds, Nike, Coca-Cola, Gap
• (McWorld - Benjamin Barber)
• Global cultural homogenisation
• Same consumer goods everywhere
• Same ways of thinking everywhere
• This is bad (left-wing critics e.g. Noam Chomsky)
• This is good (right-wing critics e.g. Francis
  Fukuyama)

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Cultural Imperialism

• Dominance of American mass media
• Oligopoly of big media companies
• - Disney, Warner, Sony
• Imbalance of cultural flows
• from core to periphery,
• not vice versa

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Culture Clashes

• Benjamin Barber Jihad vs. McWorld
• - Local identities, nationalisms, religious
  traditions
• - Develop in opposition to McWorld
• - McWorld creates Jihad
• Samuel Huntington Clash of Civilizations
• - European-Christian, Russian-Christian,
  Arabic-Muslim, Chinese, etc.
• - All in conflict symbolically materially

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Cultural heterogenization

• Roland Robertson
• 1) People in local cultures reinterpret global
  culture products in light of their own values
  interests
• 2) Global culture is always limited by local
  cultures
• 3) Mixtures of global and local cultures
• - process of glocalization
• - local becomes global global becomes local
• 4) Perceived threats to local identity
• - strong assertion of local identity
• Globalization reinforces local cultures
• Globalization produces new local cultures

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Hybridization Creolization

• Anthropologists Ulf Hannerz
• 1) No culture is ever pure
• - Always a mixture of influences
• 2) Previously (relatively) separate cultures come
  into contact with each other
• 3) Globalization Complex mixtures of cultures
• - creole cultures, hybrids

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• Globalization of religion
• - other options than the local religion
• - religious syncretism mixing and matching
• New Age religions bits of Christianity,
  Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Celtic paganism
  witchcraft, etc.
• Globalization of food
• - fusion cuisine e.g. French-Japanese,
  Anglo-Indian
• Globalization of music
• - World music
• - Buddhist-techno, Spanish rap, Hungarian rock
• Relativization of ones own cultural traditions

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Limits of Hybridization Ideas

• 1) Local cultures commercialised
• Sold to Westerners by media and
• big business fashion trends
• 2) Enforced hybridization
• - Western culture imposed on non-West
• - Westerners choose non-Western cultures
• 3) Most people still primarily
• enmeshed in local culture?
• Global culture has superficial effects?

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Points to Consider

• Economic Globalization spread of global
  capitalism. Effects?
• Political Globalization decline of
  nation-states power. True?
• Social Globalization stretching of social
  relations across world. Everyone, equally?
• Cultural Globalization homogenization, culture
  clashes, heterogenization. Which?
• Which is most important?
• How does each of these effect the others?