The Global Impact of Globalization

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The Global Impactof Globalization
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Introduction

• We live in an era of globalization." How often
  have we heard this? And how often have we really
  thought about what it means? Most people think
  they know what it is, but do they really?

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• The term globalization has taken on a life of
  its own.  It has become a sort of mystical,
  romantic term.
• Globalization is seen as a beneficial thing, even
  a cosmopolitan thing, a hip thing. It is seen
  as cutting edge to "go global". Many people feel
  that globalization is a great force bringing the
  world closer together.
• There are even new cuddly phrases like global
  village which make us feel good about
  globalization bringing us all closer together.
  But when we think about what globalization really
  is - when we look beneath this surface glamour -
  we can see the true meaning of the word and the
  true proponents of this phenomenon.

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• Unfortunately, globalization is not brought about
  by elementary school children writing to internet
  pen-pals (as cozy as that sounds).
• The real agents of globalization are our friends
  the multinational corporations - the
  super-companies. Globalization is nothing more
  than the product of the multinational
  corporations search for profit.
• So, rather than being driven by positive things
  like a wish to bring the world closer together,
  globalization is driven by corporations seeking
  to maximize profits, and part of that search for
  profits involves the search for cheaper labor.
• Many companies move into less developed countries
  to take advantage of the lack of organization of
  labor there which allows these companies to pay
  below subsistence-level wages.

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• Globalization is nothing more thanthe product of
  the multinationalcorporations search for
  profit.
• So, rather than making the world a more friendly
  place, globalization is leading to things such as
  "Export Processing Zones" - places where millions
  of people - mostly women - make products which
  are then shipped into the more developed
  countries and sold for a huge profit. These zones
  are integral to what globalization is and does.
  So, the next time someone talks about the global
  community, ask yourself if this is something
  we really want.

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Aspects To Globalization

• There are 4 aspects to globalization. 
• 1) We are global in our information
  exchangeobviously the internet is the best
  example of this.
• f2) We are also global in our travelwith
  airplanes and also cars, people move all over the
  place, and we get to see other countries across
  the world. 
• 3) We are global in our resource depletion. No
  society can isolate itself from global
  environmental degradation. Problems such as air
  pollution, acid rain, and climate change dont
  respect international boundaries. 
• m4) We are global in our economy.  This is what
  this presentation will focus on.

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• There are 3 aspects to this global spread of
  capitalism production, finance and markets.
• With regards to production, the products we buy
  are better traveled than we are! There are many
  social and environmental impacts from this
  practice of producing goods in the third world
  for sale in the first. This practice is called
  the global integration of production.

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• The second aspect to the global spread of
  capitalism is that of financefinancial trading
  is now a global practice. For example, you can
  buy stocks from a company anywhere in the world.
• The third aspect is that of markets. Nowadays, a
  seller sees its market as not just Canada, but as
  North America. The same products are being sold
  all around the world. Conversely, you can go
  anywhere in the world and buy the same things
  McDonalds is everywhere. This has led to global
  way of living, but it really has lead to
  the standardization of life.

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• To say that life is standardized means that life
  is becoming more uniform everywhere. This is
  occurring in different ways
• 1. Way of dressing
• - Everyone now wears jeans or a suit and
  tie. This is a European way of dressing, and so
  we are seeing the disappearance of local ways of
  dressing.
• 2. Way of life
• - It has become common for everyone to get
  a job alternative lifestyles are disappearing.
  Conspicuous consumption is also becoming more
  common.
• 3. Language
• - Everyone speaks English these days. In
  Israel, people dont learn Hebrew and Arabic,
  which would make sense, instead their second
  language is English.
• - English is now the most common second
  language in the world.

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• 4. Media
• - Standardization of media can be seen in TV
  and radio. CNN is everywhere. American and
  European music is everywhere. Often in other
  countries you will hear elevator music of Beatles
  songs rather than local music.
• - It can be seen that the standardization of
  life really means the standardization of the
  American way of life.  For example, TV shows seen
  now around the world are mainly American TV
  shows. The same can be said of music and styles
  of clothing.
• - This is all globalization, and these are
  all aspects of theglobal spread of capitalism,
  but...

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• what does capitalism really mean in an
  everyday sense?
• Really, capitalism means the combination of
  private property and wage labor. For
  example private property may be a factory, and I
  can hire people to work in my factory but I have
  to pay them a wage. This sets in motion
  a productive relation, which means someone agrees
  to work and to surrender what they make in
  exchange for a wage. An example say I have a
  cordial factory, if you worked at my cordial
  factory and then took home so many cases of
  cordial you would be charged with theftinstead
  you only get to take home a paycheck. A worker
  maybe makes 10 / hour but makes enough cordial
  in that hour worth 50, then 40 of it goes to
  the capitalist who is the owner of the factory.
  This 40 is surplus value, or profit, and this
  is the goal of capitalism.
• So what?
• Well, capitalism leads to supercorporations.

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• These days, companies are getting bigger and
  bigger. This leads to a monopoly. Certain
  companies come to dominate the landscape, region,
  sector of economy, industry or any combination.
  Some are so big they make more money than most
  countries. For instance
• 51 of the top 100 economies in the world are
  Trans-National-Corporations (TNCs)
• 70 percent of global trade is controlled by
  just500 corporations
• the 10 largest corporations revenues are 801
  billion, more than the hundred smallest
  countries
• How does such a monopoly come to be?

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• It can be horizontalwhich means across industry,
  within different sectors. For example, Irving is
  involved in retailing, paper production, mini
  homes, newspapers, kleenex, toilet paper many
  different sectors.
• It can also be verticalwhich means a company
  dominates parts of one industry. Again, take
  Irving (they are masters). They control supply,
  processing and harvesting of woodall parts of
  the same industry.
• When companies are this big, they usually
  become MNCs (multinational corporations). This
  means most of the corporations operations are
  actually outside of the parent country. For
  example Nike, while based in the US, does most of
  its manufacturing in Asia.
• In this way Supercorporations are the agents of
  globalization.

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• There are various myths out there romanticizing
  globalization, saying we live in a global village
  etc. but the driving force is these huge
  corporations.
• Globalization is the quest for cheaper
  labor. Companies do not relocate for balmier
  weather but for low wage zones, called export
  processing zones. There are over 200 of these
  zones around the world, mostly in third world
  countries without labor regulations.
• Increasingly, globalization is also about
  avoiding environmental regulations. This also
  results in terrible working conditions for those
  working in these zones, who are mostly women for
  no money.

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• The new free trade agreements (e.g. GATT, NAFTA)
  have created this global environment in which
  MNCs can move capital, technology, goods, and
  services freely throughout the world and this is
  leading to even more domination. This is the
  largest trade bloc.
• From this point of view it is easy to see that
  globalization is not a romantic notion, but
  something to be watchful of.