In recent years, the world has turned into regional scenes through a various transformation on the way in which nations, organizations and people function. The advancement in information technology and communication have developed platforms for people to interact with each other throughout the world (Allan, 2006). Specifically, these advancements have a significant role in reducing the world into a global village. Recent technological advancements in mass communication have eliminated the boundaries of time and space, thus assisting people to travel all around the world. Social change has made it possible to understand nations without considering border issues. Through world system theory, the processes of globalization have brought advances in development to all regions across the globe.
Globalization
Globalization is a means through with entities such as people, governments, nations and companies from different areas freely and efficiently interact. The process of globalization is enhanced by parameters like social media, infrastructure, business activities, and the need to reconnoiter different assets in disparate regions worldwide (Nayak, 2003; Ray, 2007). These parameters are the main factors that make individuals from differed areas take an interest in different exercises that propel a typical method of living. The concept of globalization has become a significant focus of public debate in the past decades. Before the advancement in telecommunication, the phenomenon of globalization revolved around religion, politics, and economics. However, the concept of globalization can be traced back to nineteenth-century scholars such as Mackinder, who noticed how modernization was transmuting the world. Nevertheless, it was until the 1970s, when the term “globalization” was used. During this period, a lot of emphases was on the inadequacies of traditional strategies of political, economic, and cultural thoughts which outline the distinction between outward and inward affairs, international and household arenas, and the global and remote (Robertson, 2002). This difference resulted in the mushrooming of the world systems theory which outlined the process through which the state's action and peoples’ action were joined into one. Interest in globalization intensified following the global consolidation of capitalism and the collapse of national socialism. The notion of the world becoming a shared economic and social space dominated the world and spread throughout the world through the amelioration of technology (Robertson, 2002). Although there is a varying definition of globalization, its characteristics remain consistent. Globalization can be likened to action at a distance, warping of time-space, high dependency, a declining universe and other ideas such as worldwide integration, international connection, and influence of the global environment (Robertson, 2002). What distinguishes the definition of globalization is the emphasis on spatiotemporal, material, and cognitive dimensions of globalization.
World System Theory
Immanuel Wallerstein developed the world system theory to transform the European national economy into a capitalist kind of a nation due to the financial crisis of the 1970s (Dunaway, 2003). The concept of the world system comprises of the labor division, which orders the world into semi-fringe, fringe, and core nations. Critical countries are mainly associated with a high level of technology and high production while the rest of the globe remains focused on low-level skills and labor intensive production (Dunaway, 2003). The world system theory focuses on experiences of social transition in the present world where there is a broad coordination of individuals, and parts of telecommunication (Beck, Sznaider and Winter, 2003). Consequently, there is a combination of independent components of the social system whereby the primary part consists of the various cultural system and division of labor. Resultantly, nations are categorized according to their production abilities, the availability of skills, the presence of natural resources, and the intensity of capital. These critical countries export merchandise which is delivered through the investment of intensive capital and advanced innovation. For example, developed countries such Japan, which produces commodities in plenty. The fringe classifies nations into a situation where they depend on labor production (Dunaway, 2003). For example, countries try to provide labor and raw material so as to complete the production cycle. These countries cannot connect to other regions of the world without the manufacture of labor and other raw materials. Developed nations seek labor and raw material from other nations at a cheap price which leads to the integration of several nations. Wallerstein perceived Semi-fringe countries at a level of economic integration in the context of enhanced trade, culture, and technology (Beck, Sznaider and Winter, 2003). Although these nations are less developed, they avail the business sector, work, and crude materials to different states. These countries have fewer resources to exploit and therefore, rely on other countries to provide material for the production of goods. Through this approach, investors and various stakeholders from different countries trace their way into the semi-fringe nations. Thus, there is an interaction and assimilation of people while trying to tap unexplored resources.
The concept of the world system function in a way that the impact of every nation has described the globalization process. The world system framework is founded on the division of labor in the global market whereby there are various countries with different cultures (Beck, Sznaider and Winter, 2003). This classification insinuates that there is a geographical division of labor in the context of occupation. Critical (core) nations have high skills, capital intensive industries, strong military base, and surplus production to sustain other countries. The peripheral nations have many unskilled laborers, few natural resources, and most significantly a weak military base. Semi-peripheral nations rely on peripheral nations more than the core nations. Consequently, the focal countries with solid military maintain the reliance on fringe countries and assimilates the expenses (Beck, Sznaider and Winter, 2003). The core nation protects the semi-peripheral nations from transitioning towards a unified opposition. Federated States promote a common objective of international relation (Staeheli and Greenberg, 2004). For example, third world countries copy a specific aspect of life from well-developed nations. This is demonstrated in structural, cultural, and large scale level techniques that make people have a typical lifestyle. Resultantly, world system theory defines globalization through the way in which people and entities interact with each other in different geographical regions.
A global social system, such as societies, individuality, humankind, and nations are connected to through globalization. Through international relations, people from different parts can relate to others over an expansive range (Staeheli and Greenberg, 2004). Currently, it has become easy for people from different geographical regions to interact with each other without having to move. The transit of people from one region to another has a significant effect on both host nation and nations of origin. Specifically, this results to flow of both financial and social resources (Allan, 2006). The flow and assimilation of individuals from the various area result of the circumstance in which the society is defined by various dimensions like social networks, money, technology, the media, and ideologies. Therefore, the world system theory plays a significant role in understanding the concept of globalization.
Reference List
Allan, K. (2006). Contemporary social and sociological theory. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Pine Forge Press.
Beck, U., Sznaider, N. and Winter, R. (2003). Global America? Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.
Dunaway, W. (2003). Emerging issues in the 21st century world-system. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.
Nayak, A. (2003). Race, Place and Globalization: Youth Cultures in a Changing World. Oxford, Berg.
Ray. J. (2007). Globalization and everyday life new sociology series. New York, Routledge.
Robertson, R. (2002). Globalization: social theory and global culture Theory, culture & society. New Delhi, SAGE.
Staeheli, L. and Greenberg, E. (2004). Globalization and its outcomes. New York, Guilford Press.
