What is Globalization?

Denso corporation (auto parts) is headquartered in Japan

The History of a Globalized Company:• http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=Pdrr3ZxZUOc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

placeplace: a location with physical & human characteristics

spacespace: how people “make” places

spatial: how we interact with each other & the environment

It’s a double-edged sword.It’s a double-edged sword.HereHere’’s the good!s the good!

• ““free-tradefree-trade”” creates wealth creates wealth

• the spread of ideas & information promotes the spread of ideas & information promotes democracydemocracy & awareness of & awareness of human rightshuman rights

• the human experience is enriched by the sharing the human experience is enriched by the sharing of cultures, foods, & customsof cultures, foods, & customs

On the other hand…On the other hand…• the the ““McDonaldizationMcDonaldization”” of the world of the world

• the conquest of American-style capitalism the conquest of American-style capitalism

• a dictatorship run by unelected bureaucrats in the a dictatorship run by unelected bureaucrats in the World Trade Organization (WTO) & International World Trade Organization (WTO) & International Monetary Fund (IMF)Monetary Fund (IMF)

*Interesting Note: The term “McDonaldization”was originally coined by George Ritzer, Professorof Sociology at the University of Maryland andauthor of the book The McDonaldization of Society-An Investigation into the Changing Character ofContemporary Social Life (1993)

McDonaldizationMcDonaldization:: “the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world.”

• Efficiency: the fastest way to get from A to B• Calculability: quantity IS quality• Predictability: it’s all the same everywhere• Control: people are controlled or are totally replaced

What does “globalization” really mean?

The breaking down of spatial limitations…

“The fundamental social meaning of globality is the growing tendency of social relations to develop in a common worldwide framework of meaning, a common world society.”

-Martin Shaw (1994)

“Today, the inhabitants of Tokyo, Denver, & Amsterdam know that their future and the future of their descendants will be profoundly marked by what Brazilian farmers do to satisfy the most basic needs of their families.”

-Oscar Arias (1993)

globalization: the increasing interconnectedness of different parts of the world through common processes of cultural, economic, environmental, political, & social change

-a common “global space” has been created through the increasingly free movements of goods, people, ideas & the factors of production

Why do we often feel that:

“The world seems to be becoming smaller and smaller…”or

“We live in a shrinking world…”or

“We have a growing knowledge of the rest of the world…”

We are ‘wired’ into a global economy & culture that has created a more uniform, integrated, & interdependent conception of space

• Homogenization?• Or differentiation?

time-space compression: the imaginative feeling that places around the world are closertogether and are increasingly interdependent

Space-Time Compression, 1492–1962

The time required to cross the Atlantic or orbit the Earth… Have transport improvements “shrunk” the world?

According to David Harvey…

Human History & Globalization

• In some sense people have been in a constant process of “globalization”:

• Migrations out of Africa 100,000 years ago• Crossing the Bering Strait about 15,000

years ago• Empires conquering• Traders• Missionaries• Soldiers

Dutch and British East India Companies

Opium Wars- war of globalization, with Chinese losing Hong Kong to British

Steam engine, ships, and planes

Communication technology:

telegraph, telephone, radio, television

Economic Systems Enabling Globalization• Fordist ProductionFordist Production – highly specialized system

for organizing industrial production & labor; assembly-line for mass consumption (after WWI).

• Postindustrial Flexible ProductionPostindustrial Flexible Production (or “post-Fordist”)–producers can move production sites & renegotiate contracts easily (technology, more tertiary industries)

International markets are brought “closer together” through outsourcing.

• OutsourcingOutsourcing: to relocate from higher-cost locations to lower-cost market locations.

Economic Globalization Today:transnational (or multinational) corporations:businesses that conduct research, operate factories,

andsell products in more than one country.

Types of TNC’s:

telecommunication corps.: phones, internet service providersfinancial corps.: banks, credit cards, and investment companiesmanufacturing corps.: clothing, automobiles, computers

Curse or Blessing?

World Systems Theory (core-periphery model): a theory in which rich, industrialized countries (the “1st world” or “global North”) dominate poorer, unindustrialized countries (the “3rd world” or “global South”) economically.

Core: controls high-level functions in the global economy (headquarters, financial centers, stock exchanges)

Semi-periphery: Newly industrializing countriesPeriphery: Least developed countries

“New” International Division of Labor:• Periphery regions are dependent on core for

manufacturing jobs• Core TNC’s are dependent on periphery for cheap

labor, fewer environmental regulations, & expanding markets

• Core-periphery link can exist at many scales:

-within a region (Los Angeles is a core of S. Cal.)-within a country (Johannesburg is a core of S.

Africa)-global (Japan is a core of E. Asia)

• Why is the relationship often referred to as neocolonial in nature?

Countries Historically Responsible for Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Deindustrialization:

• Regions with higher labor & resource costs in the core may deindustrialize as production shifts to the periphery (think the “Rustbelt” in the U.S.).

• Most jobs in in core countries are in the “service sector” NOT manufacturing

“Rust Belt”

Internet Access

• Does a ”digital divide” exist?

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.NET.USER.P2/countries?display=map

Questions to ponder:With “globalization,” what happens to issues such as:

• Gender identity? • The family? • Human rights? • Ethnic identity? • Nationality?• Poverty?

We cannot “afford to ignore the condition of our fellow passengers on this little boat. If they are sick, all of us risk infection. And if they are angry, all of us can easily get hurt.” - Kofi Annan

How are the same 2 million minutes spent around the world?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bFmWlyBcrs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05gbOwFRSeI