Introduction to the

Contemporary
World: Globalization

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LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Define the concept of globalization in the contemporary world.

• Discuss the features of globalization.
• Evaluate one’s own experiences under globalization.

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SELF-ASSESSMENT – Write your answers on a separate piece of paper.

True False Statement

Globalization is the interconnection of communities across
the world.
The fast-changing world is attributed to the new advances in
technology.
Globalization is the flow of products and services only.
Many pressing issues around us should be straightforward
and does not require much thought and analysis.
Globalization is limited to large cities and urban areas.

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Our Everyday Experiences

Have you been binged watching a Korean drama in your newly released iPhone? Or maybe
had played an online game where you go against players from China, Japan, and various
countries around the globe? Have you been waiting for your online order to be shipped
from abroad? Or have been waiting for your new Nike shoes sent to you by your mother
who is working in the Middle East? These things seem normal to you, but decades and
centuries ago these things may still be limited in distribution or even unheard of. The
contemporary world that we are in right now is interconnected more than ever. We enjoy
the things and ideas from around the world regardless of its place of origin.

Who would have thought that a drama from a different country with a foreign language
would be highly acclaimed in the Philippines? It would be unimaginable to see a Korean
drama in our channels in the 90s. It is only in the 2000s when the first K-dramas hit the
airwaves of the country. Filipinos have since developed a better appreciation of the Korean
culture. Evident on people learning the language, dancing on their favorite K-pop artists or

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even falling in love to their cuisines as seen from the rise of Korean restaurants in the
country.

The Korean drama had taken the world by storm.

Our experience of “international” or “global” is not limited to Korean culture. Filipinos are
well exposed to the Western culture as well. This is attributed to the Hollywood films and
being able to understand and command English as a second language. In fact, the
Philippines is one of the most “Westernized” country in Asia as our own culture blended
with American and European ideals and traditions. As Spaniards brought Christianity in
our soil, religion has become deeply ingrained in our society from festivities to our own
code of ethical repertoire. Filipinos are so westernized that one foreigner joked that
Filipinos are “People who loves rice and basketball with English language and Spanish last
names.” All of these may be attributed to the contemporary phenomena known as
Globalization.

The word Global and Globalization are the words that has been used in different occasions
and settings. When you entered Grade 11 and Grade 12, your teachers probably explained
that the purpose of additional two years in secondary education is “to raise the quality
education and to make Filipino graduates globally competitive.” As millions of Filipinos
works abroad, and expectedly more to do so, DepEd realized that many Filipinos needed
the public support to further raise the standard of education in the country gearing
towards national development and labor export. Becoming globally competitive meant

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being on par with other labor exporting countries such as Indonesia, China, India etc. This
means prospective Filipino workers should have the necessary skills and knowledge in
their industries that are comparable and even better than the other countries, ultimately
becoming employable outside the Philippines. On the other hand, you may have
encountered the word Globalization in one of your essay assignments like “Reduce, Reuse,
Recycle in this Globalization Era!” this slogan is an example of acting locally, helping globally
– recognizing that our own little efforts in adopting environmentally friendly practices
may help curve the impact of climate change that is affecting millions of lives every year.
That people regardless of place of origin have the social responsibility to take care of the
environment. That our actions transcend physical borders and is ultimately
interconnected.

The highly interconnected world has become the norm. It is the normal through which our
experiences have been based and is shaping the way we perceive the world around us. Our
experiences in digital space have become deeply embedded that not being part of this is
treated as missing out on life. As such, People easily jumped on trendy things like the
“challenges” in Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. However, what they
don’t realize that their actions albeit for fun may cause harm to themselves, or other
people. Many reports have claimed that the users’ data has been shared to another country
fearing that peoples’ information may be used against them and their own countries. 1 Many
people dismiss the idea and had since taken these things for granted without ever realizing
that their lives may be greatly afflicted. This taken-for-granted attitude is alarming as many
people turned a blind eye on issues that matter. To issues that could be resolve if only
people are more informed, vigilant and outspoken. Thus, this course intends to shed a
light on the contemporary issues in the world and provide a critical analysis and view
on things that normal people would see as being straightforward and unimpactful. The
course would hopefully challenge your existing beliefs and stimulates you to form a well-

1See Nicas, Isaac, Swanson 2020 - https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/01/technology/tiktok-national-

security-review.html ; Facebook-Cambridge Analytica Scandal -
https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/c81zyn0888lt/facebook-cambridge-analytica-scandal

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informed outlook in the affairs around us, and ultimately make better decisions from then
on.
As we have established that our everyday lives are highly globalized, we need to first
understand what it is that many pressing issues may stemmed on. Globalization as a
phenomenon have created impacts both positive and negative. But before we dig deeper on
the concept, we have to have basic understanding of what globalization is. To start with,
there is no agreed definition of globalization as many scholars are still in debate on many of
its features. But for the purposes of academic inquiry, we have to adopt a definition in
order to get a better grasp of the concept. The International Monetary Fund defines
globalization as the process through an increasingly flow of ideas, people, goods, services and
capital leads to integration of economies and societies.

As we mentioned earlier, Korean culture had grown

Globalization (n.)– is the
popularity in the Philippines and across the world, new process through an
increasingly flow of ideas,
ideas and trends were adopted from the Korean culture people, goods and services
alongside mainstream culture. Another example is the and capital leads to
integration of economies
mobility of people and services as demonstrated by the
and societies
presence of a foreigners migrating and working on
another country. Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are best example of this. On the other
hand, the flow of capital could be seen on the use of mobile devices to transfer money as
well as invest on different stocks in the market regardless of place. Lastly, the shoes,
clothes and any other products has been at the forefront of Globalization. Many foreign
brands albeit owned entirely by one country, has been outsourcing materials and labor
from around the world. Nike, Adidas, Apple, McDonalds and many more are examples of
corporations whose operations extends globally. That is the reason why you normally see
in the products that it is made in China or Bangladesh even though the brand is American,
European or from elsewhere.

The second half of the definition talks about the integration of economies and societies. The
flow of the ideas, goods and services must be coming from and to a specific source. Society
could be thought of as a community of persons with a set of cultures, systems of beliefs and

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forms of governance. Our country is a society. The Philippines have a very diverse culture.
We are a predominantly a Christian society through which are value systems is based on
the teachings specifically of Catholic church and other Christian denominations and sects,
yet we also have our Muslim brothers and sisters all over the country with their set of
belief systems. Further, Filipinos have a strong culture of hospitality. This could be seen by
how our parents would allow us to use the utensils in the cabinets which we have never
used and you thought it as a display, but since you have a ‘very special guest’ you have to
suddenly use it! However, not everything is all good. We also have ‘toxic’ cultures. The
Filipino time, albeit became tolerable in our everyday life could be seen as being
unprepared and inconsiderate for those who are waiting. Many of your elder family
members would dismiss your opinion even it is valid and coming from a reliable source –
“because you are younger, you cannot have perspectives on ‘mature’ things” kind of
mentality. Politically, our country is Democratic. The people have their rights and freedom
granted by the Constitution. One example of this is our ability to vote and elect through
majority decision. However, many Filipinos take this for granted. Choosing to get a money
for ‘vote-buying’ as opposed on voting the most qualified that would potentially help them
in the long run (More discussions about Democracy will be tackled in the future). These are
but few parts on what makes the Philippine society.

The Philippine society has its own economy. Albeit not as rich as other countries, we have a
functioning economy where companies and small businesses produce goods and employ
services. Despite our growing economy (before the pandemic), poverty is prevalent.
Poverty is not limited to unemployed individuals. Poverty is also present on employed
Filipinos who despite doing a tremendous job, still earns money not enough to fully sustain
their households. This forces many Filipinos to seek jobs abroad with salaries twice or
thrice more than in our country. The plight of OFWs is a great example of economic
migration that was made possible due to globalization.

In sum, think globalization as the interconnection of different countries with their own
societies and economies. As we have noted, this is evident on the spread of ideas, goods and
services. Hip-hop from the West spreading to the East. Asian cuisine being sought after by

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Americans and Europeans. Filipinos, Chinese, Indians, Indonesians as the largest
nationalities working outside their home country. Fashion trends spreading rapidly more
than ever are examples of globalization in action.

Things to ponder!

• Prior to this reading, have you encountered the

word Globalization? What ideas that come up of
your mind when you hear this word?

Digging further
A global studies expert elaborated in the concept of Globalization. According to Manfred
Steger, Globalization is the expansion and intensification of social relations and consciousness
across world-time and across world-space. This definition is a bit unclear and not easily
comprehensive. So, let’s breakdown the parts of it into three: expansion, intensification,
consciousness across time-space.

Accordingly, Globalization is the expansion of social relations. This is in recognition that

the globalization is mostly felt in the cities or urban areas. However, in recent decades
globalization have already reached many parts of the world that were not previously
integrated in the globe – this may include rural areas, provinces who were previously have
little to no contact or connection in the global integration. See the picture below.

Example of global
production chain
of a global brand
– Nike.

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The Nike brand is global American Company known for its footwear, apparel, accessories.
When you check their product, you would not see that it is made in USA. Instead, you would
see that it is made in China, Vietnam etc. This is because for these large companies hiring
workers in the developing countries are more profitable. Developing countries provided
conducive environment for large manufacturing due to low wages and lesser regulations
from the government. Imagine you are the CEO of Nike. As the head, you are responsible on
the decisions which would make it possible for the establishment to maximize profit. The
question is; would you hire an American worker with $8 per hour compared to a worker in
China or Vietnam who you may pay for $8 per day? In this hypothetical scenario, you can
hire 8 foreign workers compared to 1 American worker. Hence, it is ideal for these
companies to outsource their manufacturing. This brings us to the notion of expansion of
globalization. This companies are building factories on sub-urban and rural areas with
huge working population because of cheap labor. The production expanded from a national
to global due to increased integration of economies in one ‘global manufacturing site.’

The second term used is

intensification. This means
that different countries have
become deeply interconnected
not only economically, socially
but also politically. The best
example of this is the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) – which is a grouping of
30 European and American
states who share a common
goal and visions. Back in the
Cold War – conflict between
USA and USSR (Soviet Union),
the USA come up with the idea
of forming an alliance among democratic and free countries in order to defend themselves

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in case the Soviet Union would attack one of the them. Their security doctrine became
known as ‘an attack to one is attack to all’ if the Soviet Union declared war in one of the
member of NATO, the other members would declaring war against Soviets all at once. This
intensified relations resulted to interdependence – a reciprocal (give & take) effects
among actors stemmed from reliance to one another in economic activity or security
provisions.2 In this globalization age, we see a lot of organization that have emerged due to
their deep connections. One good example of this is the creation of ASEAN (Association of
Southeast Asian Nations) which we will tackle in latter CMs.

Lastly, Steger talks about the consciousness across world time and space. In order to
understand this, we need to recognize first that the globalization as a process is dependent
on technological advancements - the speed through which ideas, people and products
travel in different parts of the world is made possible due to inventions and innovations.
Examples are; In media – telephone, television, and now the internet; In transportation –
cheaper travel options from planes to ships which makes it easier to go around and send
packages around the globe. What Steger meant by the change in consciousness in time and
space is that our sense of distance and time has dramatically changed.

2 Nye and Keohane 1977

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Today, it would only take 9-12 hours to travel from Philippines to Spain through plane, but
without the advancements in air transport technology – it would take weeks to travel back
and forth in Spain and Philippines using ships especially during the Spanish Era. Even
though the distance remains the same between Philippines and Spain since the Spanish era,
it is now shortened, and our perception of time changed due to the technological
breakthroughs.

Another example is how we use our

smart devices. Imagine writing a letter to
your crush a hundred years ago, it would
probably take few hours or days for it to
be delivered and another same time to
get a reply! By the time you received the
reply, the ‘kilig’ is not there anymore! In
your smart devices using social media
platforms, the common practice in
approaching your crush is massaging
them “Hi!” or some indirect message
such as “Na ol, baka naman!,” or the
infamous ‘pa-wave-wave na lang.’
Depending on your crush, some of you would not receive any reply and be ignored
altogether, or others will reply in an instant – seconds at most! This example shows that
even though your crush might be on the other side of the planet or the mountains, you
could easily contact them without having to wait for hours or days. Hence, a change in our
sense of time and place due to technology brough about by globalization.

Manfred Steger’s view on globalization provided a much more in-depth take on

globalization. We know that the reach of globalization is expanding due to the increasing
interdependence of countries with one another. Further, the world as they say is fast-
changing! It is because ever since the inventions of different media and transport machines
– our sense of time and space has been radically hastened.

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 LINKING YOUR LEARNING!

You may watch the video:

Crash Course on Globalization
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SnR-e0S6Ic

Looking Globalization from different perspective

While the definitions that we adopted are fairly simple, Globalization and its features
needed to be put into perspective to avoid reductionism. As we said earlier, many scholars
are still in debate about globalization. Things are not always simple as they seem. Again,
issues in the world are not always straightforward. There are a lot of factors and nuisances
to consider before settling on a particular belief or idea, and this applies to globalization as
well. To further explain this – let us use the blind men parable.

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The blind men parable has different versions of stories but with the same message. It talks
about five blind men who have not seen an elephant in their entire life nor even have heard
of it. As the task for the day, their leader asks them to describe what an elephant is. Each of
them was placed around the elephant and touched it. The leader asks, “What can you say
about this animal?” One man replied, “well it has a very small tail for its humongous size.”
Another man interrupted, “It has a very long muscular feature in front.” The third man
shouted, “This animal has a very wide ears!” and the remaining two expressed their own
idea of what an elephant is based on the part assigned to them. After they are done, the
leader exclaimed, “So what is an elephant?” Each of them proudly restated what they just
told leader – “A small tail, big ears, a long muscular feature!” exclaimed by the participants
one after the other. The leader then said, “You are all right, and all wrong at the same time.”
You are all right when you say that what constitutes an elephant are the parts of it, but you
all miss the big picture (no pun intended). An elephant is the combination of its parts. The
wholeness is what makes an elephant - not just the individual parts of it. This applies to all
issues that we face today. For many, the problem is simple so is its solution.
Oversimplification has become the “go-to” mindset of many people that while they may
be partly right, they may also be partly wrong. There are dangers on this. People blend
bits of facts with manufactured information to suit their needs, deceiving people in the
process. Hence, we always have to take the information we encounter with a mix of doubt
and curiosity to dig further.

To get the comprehensive view of globalization, we have to look at it from different

perspective and examine the multilayered issues that comprise it. Looking on what the
economists say about the emergence of globalization – To what extent does globalization
affect global production and services? Are all countries benefit from it? All the while
inserting the arguments put forth by political scientists on the power interplay among
states asking - would globalization threaten the established political structures for
centuries? Lastly, mixed with sociologists’ arguments about culture and ideas, mainly
asking whether local identities could withstand global forces or would local blend with
global? These are few of the questions that you will be encountering in the next lectures.

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ACTIVITY
INSTRUCTION: Answer the following questions in one MS word file. Kindly rename the
file as – Lastname_FirstName_Section_Act1. The format would be 1” all sides / 12 font
size / Cambria or Times New Roman / 300 – 500 words. Don’t forget to put the
questions before your answers.

1. How have you experienced globalization? Provide one example of each of (1)
goods, (2) services, (3) ideas that has become widely accessible due to
globalization and explain why your examples are good representative of
globalization (apart from the examples given in the reading!).
2. In your own words, what lesson that we can learn from the blind men parable
specifically in understanding many issues around the world?
3. What issue in the country or the world right now is the most interesting and
relevant for you? (Aside from Global Pandemic).

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REFERENCES:

Author Unknown (2017) Facebook-Cambridge Analytical Scandal. BBC News Online.

Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/c81zyn0888lt/facebook-cambridge-
analytica-scandal

Nicas, J. et. al (2020) TikTok Said to Be Under National Security Review. The New York
Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/01/technology/tiktok-
national-security-review.html.

Nye, J. and Keohane, R. (1977) Power and Interdependence: World Politics in transition.
Boston: Little Brown.

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