YOUTH AND GLOBALIZATION WAY REPORT

INTRODUCTION

Globalization offers clear economic opportunities and benefits, but comes with
substantial social costs that often appear to affect young people disproportionately, given their
tenuous transitional status within an uncertain and rapidly evolving global context. The
phenomenon of cultural globalization and its connection with the youth culture is then examined,
with particular attention given to the role of ICT and media resources and the local-global
synthesis that has occurred in identity formation. The final section returns to the ambiguities and
contradictions that characterize this phenomenon, providing an assessment of its different
implications for various groups, its contribution to local-global tensions, and its tendency to
simultaneously promote linkages and divisions, inclusion and exclusion, and connectedness and
isolation.

Young people are growing up in a world of globalization and inequality, taking part in a
development process that is simultaneously bringing people closer together and widening the
divisions between them. The assets of the 200 richest people on earth are greater than the
combined incomes of more than 2 billion of the poorest, and the gap between the two groups
continues to grow. The World Bank reports that low-income developing countries, with a total
population of approximately 3 billion, have shifted their export focus from primary commodities
to manufactured goods and services between the mid-1970s and 1998, manufactured items
increased from 25 to 80 per cent of the combined export total for this group. Per capita incomes
in these countries rose by about 5 per cent annually in the 1990s, and the number of poor people
declined by a not insignificant 125 million between 1990 and 1999.

Many commentators argue that globalization is primarily an economic process, but it is

one that clearly has profound social implications. There is evidence suggesting that, at least in
some cases, the higher wages and employment characteristics of globalizing countries such as
China, India, Uganda and Vietnam are closely linked to poverty reduction. Health and education
provision has improved in many developing countries that have been more actively involved in
the globalization process; in Brazil, Egypt and Malaysia, for example, infant mortality was
YOUTH AND GLOBALIZATION WAY REPORT

reduced by an average of more than 30 per cent during the 1990s, compared with an average
decline of 12 per cent for all developing countries. However, in the least-developed countries
(with a combined population of 2 billion), overall economic growth has declined and poverty has
been rising, which are critical considerations in the larger context of global development. Along
with the loss of jobs and low incomes, such countries suffer from poor health and education
provision, both of which are crucial factors in the climb out of poverty. World statistics reflect
the fact that globalization is a double-edged sword it offers substantial economic benefits, but
those benefits, perhaps inevitably, are accompanied by social costs.

Globalization is a hotly debated issue within the social sciences. There is a broad
consensus in the literature that some of the old certainties of the modern world have been
undermined or invalidated, and that young people’s life experiences are increasingly tenuous as a
result. It is important to understand that globalization has a direct and powerful influence on
youth lives insofar as it actively extends the kinds of social division to which young people are
all too often subjected. It is generally agreed, notwithstanding the various differences in
perspective, that globalization is having a tremendous impact on youth the present chapter will
seek to assess the nature of that impact.
YOUTH AND GLOBALIZATION WAY REPORT

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

For the purpose of collecting all important data and information required to be processed
for establishment of this report-content, secondary data collection is chosen to gather all
available information regarding involvement and contribution of youth in promoting as well as
applying a concept of Globalization in both governmental matter and their daily lives. Different
sources ranging from journal papers to published news are used to extract and gather all factual
information regarding youth-involvement in Globalization. A similar method is also used to
gather all responses from various stakeholders towards youth and Globalization. The sources are
carefully chosen in order to ensure quality of the content, relevance, and ease of comprehension.
Reason of choosing secondary data collection is based on a fact that varieties of source are
largely available in electronic network.
YOUTH AND GLOBALIZATION WAY REPORT

LITERATURE AND FACTUAL REVIEW

FACT-SHEET AND ITS EXPLANATION

Fact Sheet

 In 2010, there were 27 million international migrants aged 15 to 24 in the world,

accounting for 12.4 per cent of the 214 million international migrants worldwide.

 In 2010, the proportion of migrants aged 15 to 24 among all international migrants was
higher in developing countries than in developed countries. At the global level, the
percentage of females among migrants aged 15 to 24 is lower (48.3 per cent) than among
the whole migrant population (49.0 per cent).
 When migrants in the 25-34 age groups are included, young migrants comprise almost
one third of all international migrants.
 The most prominent reasons for young people to migrate are in search of alternative
livelihoods and opportunities in education, employment, marriage and family
reunification, as well as protection from conflict and persecution.
 27 million young people leave their countries of birth to seek employment abroad as
international migrants.
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RESPONSES FROM VARIOUS STAKEHOLDERS

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSES

For youth, work may be an economic necessity and can also increase their independence,
self-esteem, and be the source of their family’s future well-being. Girls and young women’s
ability to generate income may influence their ability to make choices about marriage and
fertility. In some countries, unmarried females have emerged as the primary labor pool for the
export-driven and high-tech industries. Also, today’s global economy with its growing
technology and trade sectors requires workers with increasingly greater skill levels. While age-
inappropriate and dead-end employment is problematic, work in the informal sector, such as
street vending, is insecure and potentially harmful, because it is unregulated and unprotected by
labor laws. Without adequate support services and appropriate economic growth policies, the
informal sector offers few prospects for a healthy and prosperous future for today’s youth.
Unemployment is another important concern for youth. More than half of 15- to 24-year-olds in
poor countries are both out of school and out of work, with myriad potentially negative
consequences. Many factors contribute to unemployment including lack of skilled workers,
government policies, and issues relating to globalization. Below are the responses of
international organizations for the youth regarding the globalization.
 Promote programs and enforce policies that protect young people from exploitation and
human rights abuses, including labor laws, laws concerning minimum age of marriage,
inheritance laws, and laws that prevent trafficking of humans.
 Establish national youth policies and promulgate laws that promote youth development,
with particular focus on youth employment.
 Establish credit and savings programs and financial opportunities for youth business
ventures.
 Increase training programs to teach youth marketable vocational skills to enhance youth
job prospects, including programs targeted to young women.
 Promote programs and policies that address the causes of youth unemployment.
 Eliminate sex discrimination and ensure equal opportunity for young women and young
men.
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GOVERNMENTS RESPONSES

Governments are increasingly being pressured to conform to new international standards

of governance, transparency and accountability and to ensure the fair and consistent application
of the rule of law. In addition, a Western-leaning international culture has emerged, sparking
concerns about the erosion of national identity and traditional values in Asian countries. This
complex transformation process has produced dramatic economic, social and cultural changes in
Asia during the past two to three decades. Young people in the region have benefited from the
positive aspects of these developments, but many have been left vulnerable to the negative
repercussions of modernization. Below are the actions of government regarding the globalization
that occurred to youth.

 Governments could make teaching more attractive by raising salaries but also by
introducing or strengthening opportunities for further training and career advancement.
Better facilities and working conditions and improved access to teaching aids and
materials would also enhance teacher performance.
 Governments must work to improve the content, quality and accessibility of education in
rural areas in order to prevent the education gap from widening in the coming years.
Making sure schools in remote locations have the facilities and resources to teach
science, mathematics and technical subjects can expand career options for rural youth.

 Governments have to ensure that the educational establishment does not contribute to the
further marginalization of these groups. Multilingual and multicultural education should
be encouraged to increase inter-ethnic and intercultural understanding and
communication. Ideally, education should be used not only to enhance prospects for
gainful employment and a sustainable livelihood, but also to combat crime and violence
and to promote pluralistic, democratic values and peace.
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PRIVATE SECTOR RESPONSES

Globalization has opened new opportunities for sustained economic growth and the
development of the world economy. Globalization has also permitted countries to share
experiences and to learn from one another’s achievements and difficulties and has promoted a
cross-fertilization of ideas, cultural values and aspirations. Globalization has thus helped to
connect youth not only to the rest of the world, but also with each other. Many young people,
especially in developing countries, remain marginalized from the global economy and lack the
capabilities to access the opportunities that globalization offers. Many are restricted by
inadequate education, limited skills, unemployment and poverty or are outside the reach of basic
information and communication and the goods and services that have become available with
globalization.

 Private sector should ensure that access of youth to technical, secondary and higher
education is improved and that curricula are adapted to meet the needs of a rapidly
changing labor market associated with globalization. The transition from learning to work
should also be facilitated.
 Private sector should foster the conditions that provide opportunities, jobs and social
services for youth in their home countries. Efforts should be made to guarantee that
young migrants enjoy full respect for their human rights, including fair and equal
treatment with others and the protection of law against, inter alia, violence, exploitation
and discrimination such as racism, ethnocentrism, xenophobia and cultural intolerance,
and access to economic opportunities and social services, as appropriate.
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NGO RESPONSES

Young people around the world are expressing their concerns about the negative
consequences of globalization, including environmental degradation and the unequal distribution
of income and wealth. The anti-globalization movement has expanded worldwide and comprises
a heterogeneous collection of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), student groups, political
organizations and civil rights activists. Many young people are not against globalization per se,
but are simply appealing for a more equitable distribution of the opportunities and benefits
deriving from globalization. The movement has embraced a broad and eclectic range of issues,
including global justice, fair trade, debt relief, and sustainable development. Below are the
responses of non-governments regarding the globalization.

 Non-government should assess the extent to which the benefits of globalization are
accessible to youth and should design and implement programs to enable youth to better
harness the benefits of globalization.
 Non-government should provide education and skills training to young people, with the
knowledge and confidence to become successful participants in the labor markets of their
own countries.
 Non-government should develop their critical awareness of the functioning of the actors
of global processes including international institutions and civil society, the role of such
in developing the capacities of youth and their associations to function effectively in a
globalized world

MEDIA RESPONSES

The global media make it easier, in one sense, for young people to be the authors of their
own biographies, as they can construct their identities, define their roles and model their attitudes
and behavior according to the menus provided for them by global capitalism. Global capitalism,
in turn, targets young people as fledgling consumers with the production of the ephemeral.
Young people want to be seduced, and global capitalism makes it easy for them. As consumers
YOUTH AND GLOBALIZATION WAY REPORT

of the global culture young people are, by default, consumers of cultures. Their lifestyles provide
an arena within which those cultures can be actively negotiated in a process of mutual and global
affirmation. What policy makers must concern them with, though, is that however comfortable
young people may be with this situation, the dominant values to which young people ultimately
acquiesce are the very values that promote global division and ensure that the majority of youth
will remain on the poor side of the divide.

 Promote global education to strengthen public awareness of sustainable development,

bearing in mind that global education is essential for all citizens to acquire the knowledge
and skills to understand, participate in and interact critically with our global society, as
empowered global citizens.
 Promote their understanding of the place of intercultural dialogue in the context of
globalization and of the ways in which youth, and other media such as radio, television
and newspaper that can work to promote it.

YOUTH RESPONSES

Globalization can intensify social divisions, and as young people are struggling to
establish themselves in a new social context the sometimes intimidating adult world they may be
perceived as being particularly vulnerable to the threat of segregation or exclusion. However, in
any analysis of young people’s relationship with globalization, two key points must be borne in
mind. First, there is a tendency to assume that the effects of globalization are unstoppable, and
that globalization is a process young people react to rather than actively negotiate. Below are the
responses of youth regarding the globalization.

 Despite the fact that globalization has manifold effects on young people’s daily lives,
actors in the youth sector lack information and understanding about the specific effects of
globalization and their implications to be able to initiate sufficiently informed youth
work.
 Young people and relevant actors in the youth field at local, national and international
level have few opportunities to meet, network and exchange experiences on
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globalization. This limits the extent to which they have the capacity to promote responses
to the consequences of globalization, intercultural dialogue and solidarity.
 Actors in the youth sector have few opportunities to reflect on how the instruments
traditionally used for the promotion and implementation of youth policies can be adapted
to the new and changing context of globalization.
 Actors in the youth field are already working to promote universal values such as
equality, justice, peace and respect for human dignity, as pursued by the Council of
Europe among others, and to some extent the sector suffers from problems of duplication
in this field.
YOUTH AND GLOBALIZATION WAY REPORT

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

CONCLUSION

Globalization and major improvements in access to education have allowed many Asian
youth to both benefit from and contribute to the development of their countries. Asian culture,
values and ways of life have changed considerably as a result of increased economic openness
and exposure to foreign goods, services and information. The new perspectives and modes of
behavior adopted by the region’s young people sometimes place them at risk but have also
allowed them to become a strong, positive force in the development of their societies. Younger
workers constitute a ready pool of human capital and are industrious, competitive, adaptable and
technologically savvy, but they are often underutilized or exploited in the labor market.

Factors such as the changing nature of work, diminishing demand for unskilled labor, and
the emergence of new and less secure forms of employment effectively prevent young people
from participating fully in the global economy. Although large numbers of Asian youth are better
prepared now than ever before to enter the workforce, many are unable to secure decent
employment. The relatively high rate of joblessness among educated youth is believed to derive
at least partly from the misalignment or lack of correspondence between their training and the
skill requirements for the types of jobs created by globalization. Young people unable to find
work may become frustrated and discouraged and eventually give up and drop out of the labor
force altogether. Others stay in the education system much longer than they intended.

Females may face additional obstacles. Although more women have found jobs in the
era of globalization, the gender gap in employment remains significant; young women in many
countries are often less qualified than their male counterparts and are not given an equal
opportunity to acquire skills and participate in the labor market. The population of Asia has
become highly mobile in recent decades; temporary and permanent migration within and from
YOUTH AND GLOBALIZATION WAY REPORT

the region have increased dramatically as millions of young Asians have left their homes to
pursue educational and employment opportunities abroad.

Many are taking advantage of the vast range of learning options now available in other
countries. International demand for youth with professional and technical skills is growing, and
highly qualified young people in poorer countries are drawn to well-paid jobs in wealthier parts
of the world. Some Asian countries are experiencing substantial outflows of their brightest and
most competent young people. Spending time abroad, away from the family, can provide youth
with an important opportunity to gain independence. However, young migrants often experience
poverty, deprivation and marginalization as they struggle to become part of their new
communities.

RECOMMENDATIONS

RESPONSES OF WORLD ASSEMBLY OF YOUTH

The World Assembly of Youth brings together youth from different parts of the world
through events to convene about issues that affect them and table motions of the way forward. It
also co-organizes events with other NGOs, governments and youth bodies. In 2002, World
Assembly of Youth (WAY) organized a Melaka International Youth Dialogue under the theme
Youth and Globalization. The event was graced with the presence of youth and youth leaders
from different countries and they came up with different ideas on how to solve problems arising
from the issues through a Declaration. The organization has also published a book called youth
and Globalism: A Perspective. The responses or actions that discussed in the book included the
globalism should be undertaken to gather views and opinions from diverse segments of the
Global Community. From these views, an assessment may be done of the general acceptance of
the Globalist values, theories and philosophies. These may then be unified towards
harmonization and adoption of an internationally accepted Globalist Manifesto. The onus is
largely on the young people, the youth, to garner support for this ideal, and to continue to support
and implement it as they rise in the echelons of national and international leadership.
YOUTH AND GLOBALIZATION WAY REPORT

REFERENCES

 Ohaya Y. (2005). “How big is your World?”- The Europe, Youth and Globalization
Event. Retrieved from coe.int:
https://www.coe.int/t/dg4/youth/Source/Resources/Publications/2005_How_Big_is_your
_world.pdf
 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) (2011). Youth
and Migration. Retrieved from un.org:
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/youth/fact-sheets/youth-migration.pdf
 ICRM (December, 2011). The Critical Role of Youth in Global Development. Retrieved
from icrw.org: http://www.icrw.org/sites/default/files/publications/The-Critical-Role-of-
Youth-in-Global-Development-Issue-Brief.pdf
 World Youth Report (2011). Asian Youth in the context of Rapid Globalization. Retrieved
from un.org: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/documents/wyr07_chapter_1.pdf
 United Nations (2007). World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY). Retrieved from
un.org: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/documents/wpay_text_final.pdf