Modernity and Globalization Overview

Modernity, Postmodernity and Globalizations

• Globalization promotes the spread of modern values, practices, and institutions globally through isomorphic processes.
• Supranational networks and universal modern norms contribute to the formation of a 'world society.'
• Albrow argues that globalization marks the end of modernity and the beginning of the 'global age.'
• The transition from modern to postmodern society is a defining feature of globalization.

Theories of Transnationality and Transnationalism

• Transnationality: Emergence of new communities and social identities beyond nation-state boundaries.
• Transnationalism: Involves various transformative processes occurring simultaneously at local and global levels, particularly through immigrant activities maintaining connections with home and host societies.
• Transnational processes: Interactions that encompass economic, political, social, and cultural ties bridging nation-state borders.

Theories of Global Culture

• Global consciousness: Recognition of the world as a singular entity.
• Homogenization theories: Highlight cultural convergence through global trends in cuisine, tourism, consumption, and cosmopolitan lifestyles.
• Heterogeneity approaches: Emphasize cultural diversity, resistance, and distinct local responses amid globalization.
• Hybridization: Focus on evolving cultural forms resulting from transnational interactions and the blending of cultural processes.
• McDonaldization: Sociocultural proliferation of fast-food principles influencing diverse societal sectors globally.
• Globalization of nothing: Replacement of meaningful local practices with standardized, corporate-driven forms lacking substance.

World System Theory

• Proposed by Immanuel Wallerstein, viewing globalization as intrinsically linked to the development of world capitalism since around 1500.
• The capitalist world-economy absorbed various mini-systems and empires, leading to a unified global structure.
• Division of the world into three hierarchical regions:
  • Core: Developed regions (initially Western Europe, later North America, and Japan).
  • Periphery: Subordinated areas facing colonialism (Latin America, Africa, Asia, etc.).
  • Semi-periphery: Regions transitioning between core and periphery statuses.

Theories of Global Capitalism

• Globalization is viewed as a new phase within an evolving global capitalist system.
• Emergence of transnational practices (TNPs) driven by non-state actors.
• TNPs operate at three levels: economic (transnational capital), political (transnational capitalist class), and cultural-ideological (cultural elites).
• Transnational capitalist class (TCC): Comprised of executives, bureaucrats, and consumer elites collaborating in an expanding global capitalist framework.
• Robinson’s theory includes transnational production, capitalists, and a transnational state, indicating a shift from world economy to global economy.

The Network Society

• Proposed by Manuel Castells; emphasizes technological change as the driving force of globalization.
• Identification of two key processes: development of new information technology and retooling capitalistic structures to leverage this technology.
• The new economy is characterized as informational, knowledge-based, global, and networked.

Theories of Space, Place, and Globalization

• Global economy: Functions as a unified entity on a global scale, integrating finance, trade, and technological advancements.
• Time-space distanciation: Intensification of social relations linking distant places, shaping local events.
• Time-space compression: Reorganization of time reducing spatial constraints, enhancing global interactions.
• Glocalization: Localization of global ideas, emphasizing the significance of local cultures as part of the globalization process.

Summary of Modernity, Postmodernity and Globalizations

• Globalization signifies the universalization of modernity, culminating from modernization processes.
• Encompasses the spread of the nation-state as a political form, the capitalist commodity production system, state surveillance, and militarized control.

Explore the key concepts of modernity, postmodernity, and globalization as discussed in Giddens' work. This quiz delves into the implications of universal modern values and the rise of supranational institutions that shape world society. Test your understanding of these fundamental ideas that influence contemporary social structures.