Welcome

GEC 3 -The Contemporary World

University of Antique
Sibalom, Antique
September 25, 2021
 Course description
• This course introduces students to the contemporary world
by examining the multifaceted phenomenon of
globalization. Using the various disciplines of the social
sciences, it examines the economic, social, political,
technological, and other transformations that have
created an increasing awareness of the
interconnectedness of the people and places around the
globe. To this end, the course provides an overview of the
various debates in global governance, development, and
sustainability. Beyond exposing the student to the world
outside the Philippines, it seeks to inculcate a sense of
global citizenship and global ethical responsibility.
Let’s get started …
Finland Sweden
China

USA South Korea

Philippines

Taiwan
Globalization

An Introduction
 Chapter 1 – Introduction to Globalization

“Let me begin with globalization. [...] Narrowly defined, it is meant to mean

the instant movement of capital and the rapid distribution of data and
products operating within a politically neutral environment shaped by
multinational corporate demands. Its larger connotations, however, are less
innocent, encompassing as they do not only the demonization of
embargoed states or the trivialization cum negotiation with warlords, but
also the collapse of nation-states under the weight of transnational
economies, capital, and labor; the pre-eminence of Western culture and
economy; the Americanization of the developed and developing world
through the penetration of US culture into others as well as the marketing
of third-world cultures to the West as fashion, film setting, and cuisine…
 Chapter 1 – Introduction to Globalization

Its disregard of borders, national infrastructures, local bureaucracies,

internet censors, tariffs, laws, and languages; its disregard of margins and
the marginal people who live there; its formidable, engulfing properties
accelerating erasure, a flattening out of difference, of specificity for
marketing purposes. An abhorrence of diversity. We imagine in
distinguishability, the elimination of minority languages, minority cultures
in its Wake. We speculate with horror on what could be the irrevocable,
enfeebling alteration of major languages, major cultures in its sweep. Even
if those dreaded consequences are not made completely manifest, they
nevertheless cancel out globalism's assurances of a better life by issuing
dire warnings of premature cultural death. -Toni Morrison
• “One day there will be no borders, no boundaries, no flags and no
countries and the only passport will be the heart.” ― Carlos Santan
• The most important challenges facing the world in the 21st century
are associated with globalization, the growing interconnectedness
of people and places through converging processes of economic,
political, and cultural change. Once distant regions are now
increasingly linked together through commerce, communication,
and travel.
• This unit introduces the various definitions of globalization,
understand its key features, and familiarize you to a variety of
factors which have contributed to the process of globalization, its
benefits and disadvantages, and its history and theories
 Lesson 1: Globalization

In This Lesson
 Develop a nuanced definition of globalization in order to begin to understand the processes of
globalization.
 View a video and develop their own definition of globalization.
 Understand the key features of globalization.
 Identify the pros and cons of globalization.
 The Meaning of Globalization
• Globalization was first used in 1959. The noun appears in the Oxford English
dictionary in 1962. But three decades passed before globalization was
developed in social sciences as a paradigm or example.
• Globalization is a catchphrase familiar to anyone tuned in to social media. Every
day we hear the term globalization on the news, read it in the papers, and
overhear people talking about it. What does this term mean? There is no
definite definition of globalization or globalization and the term is used to denote
a variety of ways in which nation-states, regions and people, due to advances in
transportation an communication systems, are becoming more and more closely
connected and interdependent, not only in the economic sense, but also in the
cultural, political, social, technological, environmental and spatial aspects.
 The Meaning of Globalization
• Shalmali Guttal (2007) defined globalization as ―the process
of interaction and integration among people, companies, and
governments worldwide.
• As a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, globalization is
considered by some as a form of capitalist expansion which
entails the integration of local and national economies into a
global, unregulated market economy.
 Other definitions:
• Globalization is ―the geographic dispersion of industrial and
service activities, for example research and development,
sourcing of inputs, production and distribution, and the cross-
border networking of companies, for example through joint
ventures and the sharing of assets.
Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development
• [Globalization] is ―the word used to describe the growing
interdependence of the world‘s economies, cultures, and
populations, brought about by cross-border trade in goods
and services, technology, and flows of investment, people,
and information. Peterson Institute for International Economics

• [Globalization] is ―the ability to produce any good or service

anywhere in the world, using raw materials, components,
capital and technology from anywhere, sell the resulting
output anywhere and place the profits anywhere. Peter Jay
• [Globalization] is ―the increased interconnectedness and
interdependence of peoples and countries, is generally
understood to include two inter-related elements: the
opening of international borders to increasingly fast flows of
goods, services, finance, people and ideas; and the changes in
institutions and policies at national and international levels
that facilitate or promote such flows. Globalization has the
potential for both positive and negative effects on
development and health. World Health Organization
• [Globalization] is ―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
enabling the world to reach into individuals, corporations,
and nation-states farther, faster, deeper, and cheaper than
ever before. Thomas Friedman
• [Globalization] is ―the process of greater
interdependence among countries and their citizens. It
consists of increased integration of product and
resource markets across nations via trade,
immigration, and foreign investment – that is, via
international flows of goods and services, of people,
and of investment such as culture and the
environment. Simply put, globalization is political,
technological, and cultural, as well as economic.
Robert J. Carbaugh
• [Globalization] is ―… a process in which geographic
distance becomes less a factor in the establishment
and sustenance of border-crossing, long distance
economic, political, and socioeconomic relations.
People become aware of this fact. Networks of
relations and dependencies therefore become
potentially border-crossing and worldwide. This
potential internationalization of relations and
dependencies causes fear, resistance, actions, and
reactions. Rudd Lubber
• [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.” This is a dialectical process because such
local happenings may move in an obverse direction
from the very distanciated relations that shape them.
Local transformation is as much part of globalization
as the lateral extension of social connections across
time and space. Anthony Giddens
 Globalization: A Working Definition
• Globalization is the expansion and intensification of social
relations and consciousness across world-time and across
world-space. Manfred Steger
“Expansion refers to ― both the creation of new social networks
and the multiplication of existing connections that cut across
traditional political, economic, cultural, and geographic
boundaries.”
Example: Social media – Establish new global connections
between people.
 Globalization: A Working Definition
• International groups of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
are networks that connect a more specific group (social workers
and activists) from different corners of the globe.

• Intensification refers to the expansion, stretching, and

acceleration of these networks.
Example: London and New York have strong financial market
connection and with the advent of electronic trading, the volume
of that trade increases rapidly since traders can now trade more
at higher speeds. Thus, the connection is accelerating.
BUT

It is not only in financial matters that you can find these

connections. In 2012, when the monsoon rains flooded much of
Bangkok, the Honda plant making some of the critical car parts
temporarily ceased production. This had a strong negative effect
on Honda-USA which relied heavily on the parts being imported
from Thailand. Not only was it unable to reach the sales targets
but the ability of the service centers nationwide to assist Honda
owners also suffered. As a result, the Japanese car company‘s
global profits also fell.
 World-time/Across world-space
• Relates to how people perceive time and space. People begin
to feel that the world has become a smaller place and
distance has collapsed from thousands of miles to just a
mouse-click away.
Example: E-mail, cable-TV, internet
 Globalization vs. Globalism
• If GLOBALIZATION represents the many processes that
allow for the 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.
 Converging Currents of Globalization
• Most scholars agree that the most significant component of globalization is the economic reorganization
of the world. The characteristics of this new world arrangement are:
1. Global communication systems that link all regions of the planet instantaneously and global
transportation systems capable of moving goods quickly by air, sea, and land;
2. Transnational conglomerate corporate strategies that have created global corporations more
economically powerful than many nation-states;
3. International financial institutions that make possible 24-hour trading with new and more flexible
forms of monetary flow;
4. Global agreements that promote free trade;
5. Market economies that have replaced state-controlled economies, and privatized firms and services,
like water delivery, formerly operated by governments;
6. An abundance of planetary goods and services that have arisen to fulfill consumer demand (real or
imaginary); and, of course,
7. An army of international workers, managers, executives, who give this powerful economic force a
human dimension.
(Rowntree, Lewis, Price & Wyckoff, 2008)
 Factors That Have Contributed to Globalization
• There are a variety of factors which have contributed to the process of globalization.
Some of the most important globalization drivers are numbered below.
1. The price of transporting goods has fallen significantly, enabling good to be imported
and exported more cheaply due to containerization and bulk shipping;
2. The development of the internet to organize trade on a global scale;
3. TNCs have taken advantage of the reduction or lowering of trade barriers;
4. The desire of TNCs to profit from lower unit labor costs and other favorable
production factors abroad has encouraged countries to regulate their tax systems to
draw in foreign direct investment (FDI);
5. Transnational and multinational companies have invested significantly in expanding
internationally;
6. The collapse of communism in the Soviet Union; and
7. The opening of China to world trade.
 Advocates and Critics of Globalization
• Globalization is one of the most controversial issues of our times.
Supporters generally believe that it brings in greater economic
efficiency that will eventually result in bring prosperity for the
entire world. Critics think that it will largely benefit those who
are already rich, leaving most of the world poorer than before.
Economic globalization is generally applauded by corporate
leaders and economists. But opposition to economic
globalization is widespread in the labor and environmental
movements for it has promoted exploitation of workers, children,
farmers, and the environment.
 Globalization
Advantages Disadvantages
• Productivity increases faster • Millions of workers have lost
when countries produce goods their jobs because of imports or
and services in which they have shifts in production abroad.
a comparative advantage. Living Most find new jobs that pay less.
standards can increase more
rapidly.
• Global competition and cheap • Millions of workers fear getting
imports keep a constraint on laid off, especially at those firms
prices, so inflation is less likely in import-competing industries
to disrupt economic growth.
 Globalization (cont…)
Advantages Disadvantages
• An open economy promotes • Workers face demands of wage
technological development and concessions from their
innovation, with fresh ideas employers, which often threaten
from abroad. to export jobs abroad if wage
• Jobs in export industries tend to concessions are not accepted.
pay about 15 percent more than • Besides blue-collar jobs, service
jobs in import - competing and white - collar jobs are
industries. increasingly vulnerable to
operations being sent overseas.
 Globalization (cont..)
Advantages Disadvantages
• Unfettered capital movements • Workers can lose their
provide workers access to competitiveness when
foreign investment and maintain companies build state-of-the-art
low interest rates factories in low wage countries,
making them as productive as
those in the developed
countries.

(Business Week ―Backlash Behind the Anxiety over Globalization, 2000)

• A number of experts argue that both the anti-globalization and the pro-
globalization stances are exaggerated. Those in the middle ground tend
to argue that economic globalization is indeed unavoidable. They point
out that even the anti-globalization movement is made possible by the
Internet and is, therefore, itself an expression of globalization. They
further contend that globalization can be managed, at both the
national and international levels, to reduce economic inequalities and
protect the natural environment. Such scholars stress the need for
strong yet efficient governments and international institutions (such as
the UN, World Bank, and IMF), along with networks of watchdog
environmental, labor, and human rights groups.

(Rowntree, Lewis, Price & Wyckoff, 2008

 Enrichment videos
• Crash Course World History #41: Globalization I - The Upside
hosted by John Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=5SnR-e0S6Ic

• Crash Course World History #42: Globalization II – Good or

Bad? hosted by John Green https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=s_iwrt7D5OA