Globalization and

Pluralism: New
Challenges to Ethics
Globalization: A Search for Definition

►Globalization is not a single concept that can be defined

with certainty.
►Different interpretations of the term reflect different
perspectives rooted in different positions, attitudes and
benefits derived from it.
► Kenichi Ohmae (1992) defined it as “the onset of a borderless world”.
► Roland Robertson (1992) referred to it as “the compression of the world and the
intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole”.
► Arjun Appadurai (1996) posited globalization as “a ‘world of things’ that have
different speeds, axes, points of origin and termination, and varied relationships to
institutional structures in different regions, nations, or societies.”
► Robert Cox (1999) outlined the “characteristics of the globalization
trend to include the internationalizing of production, the new
international division of labor, new migratory movements from
South to North, the new competitive environment that accelerates
these processes, and the internationalizing of the state…making
states into agencies of the globalizing world”.
► Fredric Jameson (1996) defined it as “a cultural process, globalization names the explosion of a
plurality of mutually intersecting, individually syncretic, local differences; the emergence of new,
hitherto suppressed identities; and the expansion of a world-wide media and technology culture with the
promise of popular democratization. As an economic process, there is assimilation or integration of
markets, of labor, of nations”.
► Thomas Friedman (1999) brought up the “inexorable integration of markets, nation-states and
technologies to a degree never witnessed before - in a way that is enabling individuals, corporations and
nation-states to reach around the world farther, faster, deeper and cheaper than ever before, and in a way
that is also producing a powerful backlash from those brutalized or left behind by this new system.
► Globalization means the spread of free-market capitalism to virtually every country in the world”.
► In contrast, Martin Khor (1999) related globalization as “what people in the Third World have for several
centuries called colonization”. World Bank (2001) defined it as “the growing integration of economies and
societies around the world”.
► Robert Keohane (2002) described it as “a trend of increasing transnational flows and increasingly thick
networks of interdependence”.
► International Monetary Fund (2002) interpreted it as “a historical process, the result of human innovation
and technological progress. It refers to the increasing integration of economies around the world,
particularly through trade and financial flows”.
► Pascal Lamy (2006) referred to it as “a historical stage of accelerated expansion of market capitalism, like
the one experienced in the 19th century with the Industrial Revolution.
► It is a fundamental transformation in societies because of the recent technological revolution which
has led to a recombining of the economic and social forces on a new territorial dimension.”
► Nayef R.F. Al-Rodhan and Gérard Stoudmann (2006) defined it as “a process that encompasses the
causes, courses, and consequences of transnational and transcultural integration of human and non-
human activities.”
► Manfred Steger (2014) in a more general and simplified terms put it as “the expansion and
intensification of social relations and consciousness across world-time and across world-space”.
► The abundance of definition is clearly an indicator of varying opinions, discourses and debates and
no single definition can put an actual claim to it.
► This only shows that globalization is indeed multifaceted, multidisciplinary and complex. It is also
an evolutionary and fluid process.
► Certainly, new definitions will be put forward and old definitions will be revised to reflect the
changing nature and context of social realities in the world today
 Globalization and its Dimensions
► Manfred Steger (2005) contended globalization as matured ideology for “it not only
represents a set of political ideas and beliefs coherent enough to warrant the status of a
new ideology, but also constitutes the dominant ideology of our time against which all of
its challengers must define themselves”.
► For more than a decade, there has been an emerging consensus and growing acceptance
among academics and thought leaders that indeed it is a valid and sound ideology to
perceive and explain the world.
► And to discuss it, it is imperative to divide the ideological landscape into three broad
regions or dimensions: Economic, Political, Cultural and Sociological Globalization.
 Economic Globalization
► Economic globalization refers to the mobility of people, capital, technology, goods
and services internationally.
► In its economic sense, Joshi (2009) understood globalization as the free movement of
goods, capital, services, technology and information. It is the increasing economic
integration and interdependence of national, regional, and local economies across the
world through an intensification of cross-border movement of goods, services,
technologies and capital.
► Over the past three decades, under the framework of General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and World Trade Organization (WTO), economic
globalization has been expanding at a much faster pace.
► Since the 1980s, economic globalization has spread rapidly through the
expansion of capitalism and neo-liberalism. Countries have rapidly been cutting
down trade barriers and opening up their current accounts and capital accounts.
 Political Globalization

► Political globalization is primarily concerned with growth and expansion of global

political system and its institutions. The creation and continued existence of the United
Nations is a classic example of this.
► Political globalization has also been discussed in the context of emancipatory
possibilities, toward greater global democratization and the creation of a kind of a
global civic society by transnational advocacy networks.
 Cultural Globalization
► James (2006) defined cultural globalization as the “transmission of ideas, meanings, and
values around the world in such a way as to extend and intensify social relations and
expansion of social relations is not merely observed on the material level for it also
involves the formation of shared norms and knowledge with which people associate their
individual and collective cultural identities”.
► Such cultural globalization may lead to monoculturalism or the adoption of the culture of
the dominant group. This process is also understood as cultural imperialism wherein
dominance by a homogenized and westernized, consumerist culture tends to destroy and
alienate cultural identities of minority groups.
► The global influence of American products, businesses and culture in other countries
around the world has been referred to as Americanization. Americanization has
become more prevalent since the collapse of Soviet Union in 1991.
► Greater Americanization became more widespread through high speed internet and
smart phone technology since 2008, with a large fraction of the new apps and
hardware being designed in Silicon Valley.
► American-based TV programs are re-broadcasted the world over and Netflix shows are
transmitted through the internet. Americanization is best represented by iconic companies
such McDonalds and Coca-Cola.
► Terms such as Coca-colonization and McDonaldization have been coined to refer to the
dominance of American products in foreign countries, which some critics of globalization
view as a threat to the cultural identity of these nations.
► Cultural globalization is clearly driven by advances in information technology, wireless
communications, electronic commerce, popular culture, and international travel and
migration.
 Sociological Globalization
► Albrow and King (1990) defined globalization from the sociological perspective as,
all those processes by which the people of the world are incorporated into a single
world society.
► Giddens (1991) writes, globalization can thus be defined as the intensification of
worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local
happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa.
Robertson (1992), describes globalization as the compression of the world and the
intensification of the consciousness of the world as a whole
► Larsson (2001), in his book, The Race to the Top: The Real Story of Globalization,
stated that globalization is the process of world shrinkage, of distances getting
shorter, things moving closer.
► It pertains to the increasing ease with which somebody on one side of the world can
interact, to mutual benefit, with somebody on the other side of the world.
 Globalization and Its Discontents

► Many are critical and skeptical about the claimed benefits of globalization. One among
them is the Nobel Prize winner for Economics Joseph Stiglitz as articulated in his
controversial book “Globalization and Its Discontents (2002).
► He argued that globalization must be reinforced further to reap potential full rewards and
advocated providing “safety nets” for people left out by the process. Some critics are more
aggressive, rejecting it outright and calling for countries to totally abandon the
globalization project.
Some of the big arguments against
globalization and some of the moral
dilemmas facing us in our time:
Globalization and Income Inequality

► Though globalization, particularly economic globalization, has its

rewards, countries derive unequal benefits from it, and as a result
tends to widen the divide between the poor countries of the “South”
and the richer countries of the “North”.
► Countries deeply engaged in globalization have reported widening
income gaps as measured by their Gini coefficient ratios.
► According to Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, globalization has been
one of the main causes of the increase in inequality in many countries in the
Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
► These countries, including the United States, Canada, and Argentina, have
faced an increase in inequality by between one-half to one-third between the
1970s and the late 1990s. Globalization has been described as an "uneven
process" in Africa.
► Some groups are integrated into international economy while most are
marginalized and therefore excluded from the rewards.
 Globalization, Labor Conditions and the
Environment
► By being first and foremost concerned with free trade and dismantling of barriers to
trade, proponents of globalization according to critics, tend to overlook the process
of how goods and products are made.
► World Trade Organization (WTO) as the premier body for trade dispute arbitration,
rules with the idea that a country cannot embargo a good because they object to the
process by which it is made. Only the quality or content is relevant.
► This has become known as the “product” versus “process” principle.
 Globalization and Democracy
► Globalization poses a threat to the democratic state instead of aiding its expansion as it undermines
the essential requirements of state autonomy, patriotism and national identity. For this reason, one
could say that political globalization could be a contradiction in terms.
► Globalization is causing the decline of the nation state, as governments no longer have control over
their economy, their trade and their borders. Nation states may have in the past been in complete
control of their markets, exchange rates and capital.
► Now, transnational companies are becoming increasingly imperative to the economy, and the state is
becoming obsolete. This supports the argument that globalization is reducing the power of democracy
and the state, resulting in “hollow” democracy.
► Sceptics like Quan & Reuveny (2003) believe that while globalization promotes
opportunity for growth and increase in wealth, it has also increased the socio-economic
disparity between people, making nations less democratic and progressively more ruled
by the wealthy multinationals.
► This means that governments now try and compete for foreign capital and design their
policies to please global investors and firms, who may not act in the best interest of, nor
be held accountable to, the voters. It follows that the level of democracy declines.
Role of Ethics in
Globalization
► As the effects of globalization increases, ethics must itself become globalized.
Ethical principles have crossed many boundaries and have indeed became
globalized.
► Cultural differences and the advancement of technology have changed ethical
beliefs and traditions.
► There should be globalization of ethical principles despite diverse ethical beliefs
and cultural differences.
► Ethics cannot be separated from globalization. The great changes which globalization
has brought about to different cultural systems necessitates changes in the philosophical
field of Ethics.
► Ethics’ traditional manner of explaining good and evil and how to lead a good and
happy life in order to guide us in the right direction, needs to be reconstructed.
► Without this adaptation, Ethics will be regarded as obsolete and futile and unable to
adjust to new conditions introduced by globalization.
► To effect its transformation into a new ethics, a global ethics, traditional ethics
must respond to the challenges and issues that globalization brings.
► It must rethink its principles vis-à-vis the sophistication of the new world. It must
consider, in its revisit, the future world and future generations or those who are
not yet existing.
► It must also consider not only men but all living organisms together with their
environment.
► It was regarded that man as having a special place among all beings.
► Due to man’s immense technological ability, he must have the full
responsibility for all beings. Since man holds great power he is
bound to assume great responsibility.
► We are all part of a global community. Since our decisions and actions can impact anybody
anywhere in the world, we need to consider them accordingly.
► A new ethics is necessary to the global community’s future. At this point, ethics does not possess a
universal language.
► While there may be some ethical principles that are similar, every culture’s beliefs and practices vary
which makes the exercise of ethics unique.
► Consequently, it behooves us to seek a global ethics, a new one that is approved and received
willingly by every culture so that the global civil society can continue to be. A new ethics founded on
globally shared values and manifested in interlocking rights and responsibilities.
Pluralism in relation to
Globalization and
Ethics
► The more the merrier! Pluralism is an idea used in many different ways. In its
general sense, it refers to the theory that there is more than one basic principle.
► Pluralism, also known as the “doctrine of multiplicity” suggests differences in
concepts, world views, discourses, viewpoints etc. and that they differ widely from
subject area to subject area.
► Pluralism is an interpretation of social diversity. It can be rendered as a political,
cultural, social, or philosophical stance. Any kind of pluralism makes at the very
least an empirical thesis about irreducible diversity.
► Yet each of these kinds of pluralism pivots around different types of conflict –
including ethical values, social or cultural practices, epistemological worldviews,
ideologies, and/or political interests – and each accounts for these clashes from a
different angle and with different implications.
Socio-political Pluralism
► Political pluralism exists where multiple distinct groups share power to promote
compromise and coalitions preventing any form of political absolutism.
► Social pluralism could be said to exist in a situation where distinctions are made
between private values for life and public values for social order.
► Religious pluralism as religious diversity or heterogeneity. In this context, pluralism
is the recognition of multiple religious groups to co-exist harmoniously.
► Ethical pluralism is the idea that there can be conflicting moral views and stance that
are each worthy of respect, therefore, the claim that there are not just one single good
for human beings, but many
 Moral Value Pluralism
► Moral pluralism assumes that there are many independent and different sources of moral
values.
► It is also known as ethical pluralism or value pluralism which believes that there are
many moral values which may be equally correct but disagree with each other.
► It postulates that there is no single truth, even in moral matters. In moral pluralism
conflicting moral views lack a basis for comparison in respect to importance.
► Moral pluralism is the idea that there can be conflicting moral views that are each
worthy of respect. Moral pluralists tend to be open-minded when faced with competing
viewpoints.
► Moral pluralism declares that it is sometimes difficult to choose between competing
values.
► So, moral pluralism occupies a sensible middle ground between “there is only one
right answer” as moral absolutism says, and “there is no wrong answer” as moral
relativism claims.
Criticisms on Pluralism
1. Pluralism as Relativism
► Pluralism seems to suggest relativism. According to this line of
reasoning, in order to be a pluralist it’s necessary to believe that all
ethical laws are relative to culture and circumstance, so there can be
no one moral law that applies to everyone.
► So by extension, some people believe that pluralism cannot exist
alongside universal morality.
► Indeed, the main objection to pluralism is its capacity to solve real moral problems.
► Whether the issue on hand is organ harvesting and sale, cloning, divorce,
euthanasia or same sex marriage, in solving moral conflicts, pluralists have to rely
merely on judgment as there is no principle by which they can draw the conclusion
that it is on the whole right or on the whole wrong.
► But then, they can never be sure that they are right. They just have “more or less
probable opinions” with regard to the right solution of conflicts.
2. Pluralism as Tolerance to Liberalism

► From the philosophical perspective, pluralism entails an irreducible, open-

ended exercise in practical reason. In any of its versions, pluralism yields
necessarily tentative and inconclusive ethical decisions.
► From this perspective, pluralism opens the possibility of a permanent
rewriting of normative dispositions.
► In short, pluralism holds that social diversity and the disagreement that grows
from it are unending.
►