Understanding Globalization

• A concept map activity prompts you to consider what words come to mind when you hear the word "globalization."
• You're asked to compare your answers with classmates to identify similarities, differences, and common responses.

The concept of globalization

• Globalization is defined as the geographic dispersion of industrial and service activities, including research and development, sourcing of inputs, production, distribution, and cross-border networking.
• According to The Peterson Institute for International Economics, globalization describes the growing interdependence of the world's economies, cultures, and populations through cross-border trade in goods, services, technology, and flows of investment, people, and information.
• The World Health Organization defines globalization as the increased interconnectedness and interdependence of peoples and countries.
• It discusses the opening of international borders to flows of goods, services, finance, people, and ideas, and changes in national and international policies.
• Globalization can have both positive and negative effects on development and health.
• Anthony Giddens defines globalization as the intensification of worldwide social relations that link distant localities.
• Local events are shaped by happenings far away and vice versa, illustrating a dialectical process.
• Local transformation and the extension of social connections are both parts of globalization.

Common concepts to define globalization

• Global dominance of Anglo-American ideas
• Fragmented
• Uneven
• Incomplete
• Contradictory set of ideas
• Time-Space Compression
• Increased global interconnectedness
• Unimpeded flow of capital, people, and ideas beyond borders

Globalization as Globaloney

• Some scholars find the term "globalization" imprecise and divide into three camps.

Arguments to globalization

• Rejectionists dismiss the term "globalization" as vague, comparing it to nationalism or calling it a vacuous term.
• Craig Calhoun argues the concept is vague and as complex as nationalism.
• Susan Strange describes it as a vacuous term, encompassing everything from the internet to a hamburger.
• Linda Meiss refers to globalization as a big idea resting on slim foundations.
• Some propose abandoning metatheory for middle-range theory or combining social-scientific and interpretive approaches.
• Skeptics emphasize the limited nature of globalization, noting its concentration in Europe, Eastern Asia, and North America.
• Horster Thompson argues that the world economy is not global because it is only concentrated in Europe, Eastern Asia, and North America.
• Economic activities are seen as largely national in origin.
• Modifiers argue that globalization is historically imprecise and that globalizing tendencies align with modernization.
• Wallerstein argues that globalization is driven by economic forces and it is nothing new.
• Neomarxist and New World System scholars criticize the focus on quantitative analyses (economic) and neglect qualitative shifts in social and political relations.
• An application prompts consideration of globalization's significance to a specific major/field or future profession.

Activity

• An activity asks to write your own definition of globalization
• Why did you come up with this definition?
• What do you think is the most important aspect to consider when trying to understand the concept of globalization?