Globalization is defined as a social, economic, and political process that makes it easier for people, goods, ideas and capital to travel around the world at an unprecedented pace. Globalization makes the world look and feel much smaller. It can be also described as a process of complex interconnections between various societies, cultures, individuals and institutions that happens worldwide. Though globalization itself is not absolutely new and novel, its rapid development is mostly associated with the introduction of new modern technologies. Very often globalization is considered to be a modern or very contemporary phenomenon, and is associated mostly with an economic activity. However in reality globalization, that includes such activities as digitalization, photonics, biotechnologies or miniaturization, refers to developing integration happening between societies and economies in all countries of the world (McColl 380). As a process globalization means it is neither inherently bad nor good. It has a significant impact on the surrounding environment and every single individual around the world, though the ways of this influence are different. Historically, globalization has the antecedents in the eras of mercantilism or colonization. Colonization, for example, started around 16th century and continued up to the early 20th century, which can be considered as the beginning and starting point of globalization, though the term of globalization was not in use until 1980s. Colonization was a system of the political and economic domination of one country over the other one. In most of the cases it was approached through aggressive or even military actions. Officially colonization took place first in 15th century, when the European countries started crossing the borders with other countries in order to search for trade productions or natural resources. This era was called the Age of Exploration and can be considered as very early globalization. The Europeans became quite successful in the conquering process of other countries mostly due to their military power that have them a hug advantage over the rest of the world. The European countries did not only exploit their colonies, but also were controlling them and use them for imposing civilization and religion. In the 20th century colonialism because broader concept and was not undertaking only in European anymore because other countries became also involved. Among them were Japan, for example, that very fast became a significant and very strong imperial power (Tolland and Mueller 3 ). Thus, it is possible to say that in the beginning globalization was based on invasion and other quiet violent actions of countries directed against each other. However, at the same time these violent actions led to establishment and development of communication between many countries, which also significantly contributed to the process of globalization.
According to the classification of globalization, there are four different types of it. The first one is called top-down or neoliberal globalization. It is defined as globalization that involves groups and actions that promote free trade and globalized capitalism. This type is based on neoliberal economic policies that are associated with the following: a retreat from state spending and regulation, a focus in individual responsibility for one’s own welfare, less protection for labor and the environment, privatizations of state resources and faith in the power of the market. Usually top-down globalization is identified with Nothernization and Americanization of global exchange. In practice this globalization has a significant impact not only on economic realities, but also on cultural patterns. It is usually exploited by power and the wealth seekers of the late modern value age. However, despite the fact that top-down globalization is believed to increase intercultural connectedness, there is a strong counterargument expressed by activists from the global South, such as Walden Bello from the Philippines, Martin Khor from Malaysia or Vandana Shiva from India. They claim that actually the exchange trends are one-way, which means that American and European cuisine, goods, and culture overwhelm local patters and lead to the elimination of significant and very important elements of ethnic and regional society. Such one-way process also leads to the reduction of complexity and dependence for interdependence (Kenney 188). The second type of globalization is called development. The main focus of this globalization is on human development that is believed to an accompanying facet of globalization. This type is especially common and is very developed in such organizations as the United Nations, the World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development, and etc. (Empereur) the third type of globalization is the globalization from below. The role of this globalization is to describe the actions of groups that criticize and do not agree with results of globalization processes. This type advocated for distribution of international human rights, standards of global labor, increased democracy in the global system, social justice and protection of the environment. Instead of being a cohesive movement, globalization from below is rather a broad framework that involves multiple perspectives. The globalization from below has following characteristics: moderate criticism of neoliberalism, radial anticapitalist position, different form of anarchism, armed uprisings of peasants and fair-traid coffee projects. In general, it is possible to say that globalization from below is oriented and focus on injustice and inequalities existing in society, and its main purpose and intention is to establish an overall liberty and democracy. Thus, in simpler words, this type and its supporters seek, how to improve the life of people and to bring positive changes (Dagron and Tufte 685). Finally there is a fourth type of globalization – postcolonial. The majority of people, who promote this type of globalization, are poor themselves, even though there are also privileged people, whose position is in opposition with the dominant paradigm of globalization. There is an evidence of support for the democratization of power because such position is deeply concerned with establishing models of globalization that let grassroots people the opportunity to take part in self-governance (Peters 186).
Globalization as a new concept also led to the appearance of other new concepts as well. One of them is consumerism that is defined as a way of life, in which the orientation of one’s purpose and identity is related primarily to the consumption and purchase of various material goods. Though consumerism had existed before, it became especially common during the last decades and associated with globalization. The sudden increase in production of goods in explained and influenced by industrial revolution and appearance of various modern innovations. The main problem with consumerism is that it is related even not to the production of goods, but rather to production of customers. Consumption became almost like a religion, whose spirit was to human desire. However, at the same time in more materialistic world of capitalism, consumerism as a culture had become a science. As a result the owners of production and wealth established an alliance with various colleges and universalities that introduced new business programs in their new business schools. Moreover, these production and wealth owners donated much money in order to support these new programs, and even sat on the board of trustees with the purpose of cooperation in developing of their curriculum. Consumerism, as well as globalization, is closely connected with such concept as global commodity chain. Global commodity chain (GCC) is defined as a worldwide network of production and labor processes, the result of which is commodity. The global commodity chain was first mentioned and defined by Wallerstein, who developed and introduced this definition. This definition proves that GCC comprises not only various production processes themselves by using raw materials, but also connects firms, households, social actors, state across temporal and spatial boundaries and provides the analysis of their relationship between each other. There are two types of commodity chains: producer-driven and consumer-driven. It terms of the household that are believed to be essential element of commodity chains, they are more or less integrated into the analysis of commodity chains as the final destination of production, however they do not link back into the chain as a factor that influences production processes (Harris 254).
In terms of consumerism or consumption and its connection to globalization, it is important to note and take into consideration such term as sustainable consumption that lies somewhere between the world’s two extremes of over-consumers and under-consumers. Thus, in general the main characteristic of sustainable consumption is the balance that needs to be achieved because without sustainable consumption production is increased, which leads to increased depletion of natural resources and such serious environmental problems as pollution, waste generation and others. Even if some improvement and control of production is possible, it is not possible to solve above mentioned problems without solving the more serious underlying problems that are caused by frequently increasing consumption. At the same time it is important to understand that sustainable consumption does not mean though less consumption, but rather more efficient, better informed and less resources intensive consumption. The main principle of sustainable consumption is to allow societies and communities to continue their development without any unnecessary sacrifice of life factors or prospects for their sustainable development. However, nowadays sustainable consumption is often misunderstood as a tool, the aim of which is to reduce overconsumption only in developed nations. In reality though, the true purpose of sustainable consumption is to provide consumption opportunities that could allow everyone to meet the needs, but without generation of such negative social, environmental, and financial impacts that are usually seen in the economy of developed countries. There is already an obvious need to promote and provide sustainable consumption in most developed countries. In terms of developing countries, that tend to follow the same path as developed countries, there is still an opportunity for them to escape many of the troubles that are associated with high consumption if they start to act now and apply the principles of sustainable consumption as soon as possible. Generally, it is possible to draw a conclusion that sustainable consumption in the era of globalization is relevant both for developing and developed countries, even though they might approach their problems that refer to consumption from different perspectives. Therefore, the need to strive to the establishment and development of sustainable consumption plays a very significant role for all nations and all people – both poor and rich. It is also important to note sustainable consumption and sustainable production is two interrelated terms, therefore it might be said that in general consumption is like “the other side of the coin” of production. Thus, economic, environmental and social dimensions of production are directly connected to the consumption in the markets it serves (United Nations Environment Programme 8). There are several principles of sustainable consumption that can easily be followed by everybody in order to achieve both sustainable consumption and sustainable production, and, as a result, sustainable development, without which stable economic, environmental and social future is not possible and approachable. These principles or rather recommendations are: to eat moderate amount of food (specifically meat products), to rely only on sustainable means of transportation, and to consume as few as possible raw materials in the daily life. One more very important principle of sustainable consumption is Thinking Globally, Eat Locally. This principle refers to the consumption of imported good and especially food products from abroad. It is mainly about encouragement of local food consumption, defence of local agricultural ecosystems, the usage of global networks with the purpose of fighting these battles. This principle tries to attract the attention of society to the fact that many countries, especially developed ones, import too high amounts of goods from abroad. For example, the United States’ import is constantly increasing. They import products and goods from different parts of the world, including the Middle East, Mexico, Chile, Brazil and etc. It demonstrates the States’ dependency on agricultural production from other countries and distribution systems, which cannot be considered safe. Thus, according to the sustainable principle Think Globally, Eat Locally the only one possible solution and the way of improvement is to rely as much as possible on the domestic food supply (Wilkins).
As any other controversial concept in the modern world, globalization has both advantages and disadvantages. However, it is important to understand that pros and cons of globalization depend on the area, which globalization relates to. In terms of economic globalization, according to which the world is turning into a single global market with individual consumers, advantages will be following: lower prices of services and products, better availability of services and products, better access to commodities and capitals, increased international competition, an opportunity for retailers and producers to diversify their markets in order to make a significant contribution to an overall economic growth. Regarding disadvantages, they are: inability of some countries to compete, extractive behavioural patterns of some investors and companies, great bargaining power of multinational enterprises vis-a-avis local governments, a high possibility of contagion effects especially in difficult time of crises. One more significant disadvantage of this type of globalization refers to global workers’ issue and is called outsourcing. It can be defined as the process, during which corporations move jobs from one labor market to a cheaper one, which can lead to increasing unemployment rate and polarizing of poor and rich population. Though outsourcing is not an absolutely new concept, it is believed to be a very complex issue in the contemporary global market (Ching 11). Regarding another globalization, which is cultural and which refers to transmission of ideas, artistic and cultural expression and cultural values, it also has its advantages and disadvantages. Among the advantages are following: better access and availability of different cultural products including education or entertainment for example; better understanding and perception of foreign attitudes and values, which leads to less misconceptions or stereotypes between individuals or societies; ability communicate and protect own ideals, values and ideas on the global level; fast access to information from any part of the world (like using internet), adaptation or customisation of various global modern trends to local environment. In terms of disadvantages, there are also some of them that need to be known and taken into consideration: threats of cultural homogenization; cultural imperialism, colonialism or so-called westernization; possibility that various violent or event dangerous ideal can spread very fast, a high possibility of spreading the commodity-based consumer behaviour and culture. The next globalization that also has both pros and cons is political globalization that is believed to be quiet new type globalization that is influenced and associated with the establishment and activity of such political and international institutions as European Union, the United Nations, Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Trade Organization and etc. There are many benefits of political globalization: access to international support and help; contribution to the establishment of the world peace, which means that there is less risk of invasions of one country to another for example; possibility for smaller countries to cooperate and work together in order to gain more power and influence on the international arena; spread various values by international organization such as freedom or equality; an opportunity for governments of different countries to learn from each other and share their experience. In regards to disadvantages, political globalization also has some: reduction of state sovereignty, non-democratic functioning of many international and supranational organization, especially in terms of accountability or representation; too significant and strong power of big countries, which gives them a possibility to shape decisions taken by supranational organizations; ability of some influential countries to veto or slow down important decision making processes; high costs and complexity of coordination (Pros and Cons).
Summarizing all the written above about globalization, it is possible to say that it is very important contemporary concept in the modern society, since it allows many ideas to spread around the world very fast, and it also lets people to travel more in order to exchange their knowledge, experience and skills. With the help of globalization, it became much easier to establish international relationships, and the communication process, as well as exchange of information and knowledge, became faster and more sufficient. It also contributes to improvement of business and international trade. However, at the same time it is important to remember that globalization can be a source and a reason of many economic, social and political problems in the society. Among the most common problems are overconsumption, too high levels of import of international good from abroad, outsourcing in global labor market and etc. However, in general, my point of view is that globalization is needed anyway because without it father economic, social and political development is impossible. The only and the most important thing should be remembered is that globalization should not be considered just a modern concept, but rather sustainable and useful process both for any country, both developed and developing, and societies.
Works Cited
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