THE

CONTEMPORARY
WORLD
Introduction to the
study of Globalization
Prepared by:
Ma. Janda Ira Felina M. Benedictos
Instructor 1
Philippine Merchant Marine Academy
What is Globalization?

Many view globalization as an economic process.

It is defined by Manfred Steger as “the expansion

and intensification of social relations and
consciousness across the world-time and across
world-space”
What is Globalization
• Expansion
– It refers to the creation of new social
networks and the multiplication of
existing connections that cut across
traditional, political, economic,
cultural, and geographic boundaries.
(e.g. social media, NGOs)
What is Globalization
• Intensification
– It refers to the expansion, stretching,
and acceleration of these networks.
What is Globalization
Steger also noted that “Globalization
processes do not occur merely at an
objective, material level but they
also involve the subjective plane of
human consciousness.”
 Globalization vs. Globalism
• Globalization represents the many processes
that allow for expansion and intensification of
global connections

• Globalism is a widespread belief among

powerful people that the global integration of
economic markets is beneficial for everyone,
since it spreads freedom and democracy
across the world.
Globalization as Globaloney

• A small number of scholars argued that the existing

accounts on globalization are incorrect, imprecise, or
exaggerated. They observed that everything that can
be linked to some transnational process is cited as
evidence for globalization and its growing influence.
Thus they coined the term “Globaloney”.
Three categories of the critics of
Globalization
A. Rejectionists
Dismisses the utility of globalization as an
analytical concept
Argues that globalization like nationalism is a
complex and ambiguous phenomenon. Any
definition will legitimate some claims and
delegitimize others
Three categories of the critics of
Globalization
B. Skeptics
Emphasizes the limited nature of current globalizing
processes.
The historical analysis of economic globalization by
Hirst-Thompson claims that the world economy is not
a truly global phenomenon. But one centered on
Europe, Eastern Asia, and North America.
The Shortcoming of the Hirst-Thompson thesis lies in its
attempt to counteract neo-liberal economic determinism
with a good dose of Marxist economic determinism
Three categories of the critics of
Globalization
C. Modifiers
The final group of the critics of globalization
disputes the novelty of the process.
Implies that “globalization as a label is frequently
applied in a historically imprecise manner
Three categories of the critics of
Globalization
C. Modifiers
It is similar to the criticisms of the proponents of
the world-system theory which argues that the
modern capitalist economy that we have today
has been global since its inception five centuries
ago.
That is why they reject the term globalization as
referring exclusively to relatively recent phenomena.
Emphasizes that globalizing tendencies have
been proceeding along the continuum of
modernization for a long time.
 Approaches to the study of
Globalization
• Globalization as Economic Process
• Globalization as Political Process
• Globalization as Cultural Process
Globalization as Economic Process
– This economic perspective sees globalization as a
real phenomenon that signals an epochal
transformation in world affairs
– Proposes that the study of globalization be moved
to the center of social scientific research. It should
closely examine the evolving structure of global
markets and their principal institutions
Globalization as Economic Process
– The Bretton Woods Conference and its post war
evolution as discussed by Schaeffer (2005). Is
where economic globalization is thickly
embedded. Its collapse in the early 1970s gave
rise to neo liberalism in the 1980s
Globalization as Economic Process
– Aside from the issue of free trade , perhaps the two
most important aspects of economic globalization
relate to:
• the changing nature of the production process
– Evidenced by the subsidiaries of powerful transnational
corporation (TNCs) in several countries
• the liberalization and internationalization of financial
transactions
– Its key components include the following
» Deregulation of interest rates
» Removal of credit controls
» Privatization of government owned banks and financial
institutions
Globalization as Economic Process
– The ability of TNCs to outsource their
manufacturing jobs which results to the cut in
labor costs. It is the main reason why they
disperse their economic production processes into
many discrete phases which is done by low-wage
workers in the “Global South”.
Globalization as economic process
– The increased mobility of the different segments
of the financial industry arose from the
liberalization of financial trading which also
allowed fewer restrictions and a global view of
investment opportunities.
– The liberalization of financial transactions was
further accelerated by Internet based
technologies
Globalization as Political Process
• The analysis of Political processes and institutions.
In this research agenda two questions emerged:
– What are the political causes for the massive flows of
capital, money, and technology across territorial
boundaries?
– Do these flows constitute a serious challenge to the
power of the nation state?
* The abovementioned questions implies that economic
globalization might lead to reduced control of national
governments over economic policy.
Globalization as Political Process
• An influential group of scholars considers political
globalization as a process intrinsically connected
to the expansion of markets
• Langhorne discusses that “Globalization has
happened because technological advances have
broken many physical barriers to worldwide
communication which used to limit how much
connected cooperative activity of any kind could
happen over long distances (2001).
Globalization as Political Process
• According to extreme
technological-determinist they explained that
since economics is portrayed as processing an
inner logic apart from and superior to politics.
They argue that politics is rendered to be
powerless in the face of an unstoppable and
irreversible techno economic juggernaut that
will crush all governmental attempts to
reintroduce restrictive policies and regulations
Globalization as Political Process
• Government will ultimately be reduced to
serving as a superconductor for global
capitalism.
• Kenichi Ohmae projects the rise of a
“Borderless world” which is brought about by
capitalism .
Globalization as Political Process
• In the long run the process of political
globalization will lead to the decline of
territory as a meaningful framework in
understanding political and social change.
• The political order of the future will be one of
the regional economies linked together in an
almost seamless global web that operates
according to free market principles
Globalization as Political Process
• In the long run the process of political
globalization will lead to the decline of
territory as a meaningful framework in
understanding political and social change.
• The political order of the future will be one of
the regional economies linked together in an
almost seamless global web that operates
according to free market principles
 Globalization as Political Process
• A second group of scholars highlight the role of
politics especially the successful mobilization of
political power in unleashing the forces of
globalization. Argues for the continued relevance
of conventional political units, operating in the
form of modern nation states or “global cities”.
– For example Schotle points out that globalization
refers to the gradual processes of ‘relative
deterritorialization’ that facilitates the growth of
‘supraterritorial’ relations between people.
 Globalization as Political Process
• A third group suggests that globalization is fuelled
by a mixture of political and technological factors.
– Gray predicts that the world economy will fragment
because it will become insupportable which will lead
to a gloomy ending to the current political efforts to
establish a single global market because of trade wars.
– A less pessimistic view is presented by a Spanish
sociologist it separates the powerful forces fuelling
globalization into three independent processes
• Information technology revolution
• Economic crisis of both capitalism and statism, and their
subsequent restructuring
• Blooming of the cultural social movements.
 Globalization as Political Process
• A fourth group of scholars approaches political
globalization through the global governance
perspective.
– David Held and Anthony McGrew as reflected in their
writings calls for an effective global governance
structures as a consequence of various forces of
globalization. If Held’s view is correct then the final
outcome will be the emergence of a “cosmopolitan
democracy” that would constitute the constructive
basis for a plurality of identities to flourish within a
structure of mutual toleration and accountability
 Globalization as Cultural Process
• Tomlinson defines cultural globalization as a
‘densely growing network of complex cultural
interconnections and interdependencies that
characterize modern social life’
• Global cultural flows are directed by powerful
international media corporations that utilize
new communication technologies to shape
societies and identities.
 Globalization as Cultural Process
• Culture no longer remains tied to fixed localities
such as town and nation, but acquires new
meanings that reflect dominant themes emerging
in a global context.
• Facilitated the rise of an increasingly
homogenized global culture underwritten by an
Anglo-American value system.
• Americanization
• referring to the global diffusion of American values,
consumer goods, and lifestyles.
 Globalization as Cultural Process
• Culture no longer remains tied to fixed localities
such as town and nation, but acquires new
meanings that reflect dominant themes emerging
in a global context.
• Facilitated the rise of an increasingly
homogenized global culture underwritten by an
Anglo-American value system.
• Americanization
• referring to the global diffusion of American values,
consumer goods, and lifestyles. (e.g. McDonaldization)
 Globalization as Cultural Process
• Robertson predicts a pluralization of the world as
localities produce a variety of unique cultural
responses to global forces which results to
“glocalization”.
– Glocalization
• A complex interaction of the global and local characterized
by cultural borrowing which leads to ‘hybridization’ or
‘creolization’
– ‘hybridization’ or ‘creolization’
» Complex mixture of both homogenizing and heterogenizing
impulses
» (e.g. music, film, fashion, language and other forms of
symbolic expression)
 Globalization as Cultural Process
• Appadurai identifies five conceptual dimensions
or ‘landscapes’ that are constituted by global
cultural flows:
– Ethnoscapes
– Technoscapes
– Finanscapes
– Mediascapes
– Ideoscapes
• Each of these ‘scapes’ contain the building blocks of the
new ‘imagined worlds’ that are assembled by the
historically situated imaginations of persons and groups
spread around the globe
Approaches to the study of
Globalization
• The main academic approaches to the study of
globalization is economics, politics, and
culture. There is much to learn about
globalization and there is still a lively ongoing
debate on what really is globalization in this
lesson we have looked at its economic,
political, and cultural dimensions.
Ideologies of Globalization
• Globalization: process, condition, or ideology?
– According to Steger globalization is a is a set of
social processes, that is why he use the term
globalism.
• Steger turned to the morphological analysis of
Globalism to analyze its ideological status
Six core claims of Globalism
• Globalization is about the liberalization and global
integration of markets
• Globalization is inevitable and irreversible
• Nobody is in charge of globalization
• Globalization benefits everyone (in the long run)
• Globalization furthers the spread of democracy in
the world
• Globalization requires a global war on terror
Globalization as an ideology
• Steger proposed that further studies and
collaborations must be done in order to
identify the ideological status of Globalization
References
“Approaches to the study of Globalization” by
Manfred B. Steger
Steger, Manfred B. “Ideologies of Globalization.”
2005. Journal of Political Ideologies 10 (1): 11-30
Prepare for a 15 item quiz next
meeting. Questions will be coming
from the readings