It is undeniable that the world is rapidly changing, morphing all into one, not only in terms of political and economic terms, but also in terms of cultural construction as well. Nevertheless, past and current trends in these global changes are believed to be well observed and named such that new terminologies become “buzz words” to government, academia and media. And one such term is globalization. And to where I stand, globalization should be opposed. Furthermore, I believe that if globalization is inevitable, there is a need for it to be properly regulated.
Globalization is considered a vague term, not only by definition but also because the phenomena is bound to be affecting wide and diverse scopes. Still, it expresses a prevailing process that all levels of society are gradually being influenced by forces which have transcended borders. Needless to say, all levels of society are affected by this process. And although considered as signifying the height of economic rationality, it is important to note that globalization exhibits negative impacts to every level of the society.
First of all, there has been series of comments and studies as to where globalization directs humanity. It is believed that globalization promotes the domination and superiority of Western culture and corporations. More specifically, globalization is believed to be helping in replacing traditional cultures with an American-centered culture. One such example can be seen in France. Many Frenchmen are being threatened by the idea that McDonald’s has been replacing French cuisine. Their fear heightened to the point where one French farmer, Jose Bove, destroyed a branch of McDonald’s that is under construction. Moreover, Frenchmen feel the hegemony of the Americans by forcing American culture on them via books, movies, and superstores.
Another issue about the rapid changing force of globalization is its effects on employment and wages. Since multinational firms become more concentrated on lessening the cost of the production, they tend to employ workers willing to work for low salaries. The disparities in the wage rates of various nations and regions are being blamed for this effect. Because of the existence of nations with workers earning low salaries relatively, multinational firms hire employees from these countries. This process lowers the bar of wage and salary rate of workers and laborers, which further creates a domino effect, not only on local companies, but also to global scale companies. Furthermore, degradation of working conditions is one of its terrible effects.
Then, there is also an issue regarding how globalization affects the environment. First, it is important to remember that environmental processes were global far long before humans arrived. Nevertheless, the environment has been disrupted and impacted by human civilizations. It should be noted that globalization promotes multinational firms being encouraged by cost issues to locate and create facilities in countries with minimal and lax environmental laws. This event enables multinational firms to exploit countries with lax environmental laws for low costs. Thus, this creates imbalance because of the concentration of multinational firms to few countries with lax environmental laws. In addition, because of the fact that the region has lax environmental laws, multinational firms and companies are allowed to manufacture and produce goods and products with less ease about environmental issues. It also allows multinational firms and companies to facilitate huge factories imposing environmental threats from disposal of wastes and negligence of control over wastes. This will then lead to pollution harming not only the environment, but also health and safety as well.
Lastly, there is a huge issue concerning the destruction of economies because of globalization. This is because globalization promotes capitalism, and capitalism has an inevitable impact called “creative destruction”. It should be noted that globalization encourages competition. This competition of firms is being stimulated by innovation, not only in their products, but in the production as well. However, this competition only allows the most innovative to remain a dominant player in the market, “destroying” industries, and even regions. For example, in the world of transportation, it was being dominated by the horse and cart before the engines arrived. However, because of the potential of the invention of automobiles, the industry of horse and cart were “destroyed”.
In conclusion, globalization is a vague term. It covers a very diverse and wide scope, and it influences many sectors. Although the idea of globalization was first created to unify global market, and signify the height of economic quality, its effects can be seen not only on economic fields, but to political and social as well. However, globalization has been widely accepted to have serious negative effects. These effects include the promotion of a single culture (American-centered culture), disruption of the labor industry, worsening of wage or salary rate of laborers, degradation of working condition, devastation of the environment, and destruction of minor and local industries. Needless to say, globalization should be opposed, and that there is a need to regulate globalization.
Bibliography
Lerche, Charles, III. “The Conflicts of Globalization,” In The International Journal of Peace Studies, Vol. 3 no. 1 (January 1998). 47-66.
Wells, Gary. “The Issue of Globalization-An Over view,” CRS Report for Congress, (May 2001). Washigton, DC.
Wood, Adrian. “Globalisation and the Rise in the Labour Market Inequalities,” In The Economic Journal, Vol. 108 no. 450 (September 1998): 1463-1482. Royal Economic Society 1998 and Blackwell Publishers.
