Globalization as a force of social change

by M.H.K.S.De S. Jayasekara Globalization describes the process by which regional economies, societies, cultures and political processes have become integrated through a global network through communication, transportation, and trade across international borders. Most of theorists observed that

globalization theories draw on a variety of different and sometimes contradictory perspectives. Mainly these definitions depend upon the observers preferences, regarding globalization. Therefore globalization is understood and interpreted differently. However, globalization is usually recognized as being driven by a combination of economic, technological, socio-cultural, political, and biological factors. The historical origins of globalization are the subject of on-going debate. Though several scholars situate the origins of globalization in the modern era, others regard it as a phenomenon with a long history. Thomas L. Friedman divides the history of globalization into three periods: Globalization 1 (1492-1800), Globalization 2 (18002000) and Globalization 3 (2000present). He states that Globalization 1 involved the globalization of countries, Globalization 2 involved the globalization of companies and Globalization 3 involves the globalization of individuals. The 19th century can be considered as the beginning of globalization approaching its modern form. Industrialization allowed cheap production of household items using economies of scale, while rapid population growth created sustained demand for commodities. Globalization in this period was determinedly shaped by nineteenth-century imperialism. Since World War II, barriers to international trade have been considerably lowered through international agreements, particular initiatives carried out as a result of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Globalization has been facilitated by advances in technology which have reduced the costs of trade, and trade negotiation rounds .Globalization was also driven by the global expansion of multinational corporations based in the United States and Europe, and worldwide exchange of new developments in science, technology and products, with most significant inventions of this time having their origins in the Western world. More importantly, globalization implies the information and knowledge to get dispersed and shared.

Globalization has various aspects which affect the world in several different ways. Industrial -emergence of worldwide production markets and broader access to a range of foreign products for consumers and companies, particularly movement of material and goods between and within national boundaries. Economic - realization of a global common market, based on the freedom of exchange of goods and capital, is promoted. With globalization, companies can produce goods and services in the lowest cost location. International politics has traditionally been organized around the physical control of geography by sovereign governments. Globalization poses increasing tensions for the nation state and increasing contradictions for international politics. Globalization also affects Job Market, Informational, Religious, global environmental, Cultural, Technical, Legal or Ethical and Language fields. Economic "globalization" is a historical process, the result of human innovation and technological progress. It refers to the increasing integration of economies around the world, particularly through the movement of goods, services, and capital across borders. Economics of globalization include: first, a growth in global trade; second, a growth both in Foreign Direct Investment and in capital flows; third, a growth in global production and consumption; fourth, the advent of global competition; and last, the proliferation of trade and investment liberalization policies. A core element of globalization is the expansion of world trade through the elimination or reduction of trade barriers, such as import tariffs. Greater imports offer consumers a wider variety of goods at lower prices, while providing strong incentives for domestic industries to remain competitive. Exports, often a source of economic growth for developing nations, stimulate job creation as industries sell beyond their borders. International trade in manufactured goods increased more than 100 times (from $95 billion to $12 trillion) in the 50 years since 1955. The world's financial markets have experienced a spectacular increase in globalization in recent years. Global capital flows fluctuated between 2 and 6 percent of world GDP during the period 1980-95, but since then they have risen to 14.8 percent of GDP, and in 2006 they totaled $7.2 trillion, more than tripling since 1995. There are countless indicators that illustrate how goods, capital, and people, have become more globalized. The value of trade (goods and services) as a percentage of worlds GDP increased from 42.1 percent in 1980 to 62.1 percent in 2007. The number of minutes spent on cross-border telephone calls, on a per-capita basis, increased from 7.3 in 1991 to 28.8 in 2006. The number of foreign workers has increased from 78 million people (2.4 percent of the world population) in 1965 to 191 million people (3.0 percent of the world population) in 2005.
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Global markets also offer greater opportunity for people to tap into more diversified and larger markets around the world. It means that they can have access to more capital, technology, cheaper imports, and larger export markets. The broad reach of globalization easily extends to daily choices of personal, economic, and political life. For example, greater access to modern technologies, in the world of health care, could make the difference between life and death. In the world of communications, it would facilitate commerce and education, and allow access to independent media. Globalization can also create a framework for cooperation among nations on a range of non-economic issues that have cross-border implications, such as immigration, the environment, and legal issues. Most analyses of globalization focus on its economic nature and the implications of this process for markets and nation-states. Other aspects of globalization have been virtually ignored, except for some contentious and significant, yet often marginalized debates about the relationships between globalization, poverty, and inequality. Nevertheless, there are substantial, complex social aspects associated with globalization. Economic conditions and the actions of nation-states have direct impacts on social lives of people. Conversely, the decisions that are arrived at in families or individuals ultimately contribute to the success or failure of economic agendas and nation-state programs and policies. The relationship between globalization and society however, is even more profound and complex than economic or political perspectives reveal. Globalization is the critical driving force that is fundamentally restructuring the social order around the world. In every society, traditional notions about family life, work, identity, and the relationships of individuals and groups to one another are being transformed due to globalizing forces. Every society has its own culture."Culture" is defined as patterns of human activity and the symbols that give these activities significance. The internet breaks down cultural boundaries across the world by enabling easy, near-instantaneous communication between people anywhere in a variety of digital forms and media. The Internet is associated with the process of cultural globalization because it allows interaction and communication between people with very different lifestyles and from very different cultures. Photo sharing websites allow interaction even where language would otherwise be a barrier. According to prevailing notions, globalization has 'joined' different cultures and turned them into something different.

In order to explore the nature of contemporary social change, globalization needs to be examined by highlighting the complex dynamic relationship between individuals, families, economies, nation-states, and transnational institutions. Globalization has been accompanied by extraordinary rapid transformation at every level of social life. People are integrated into the global economy through formal and informal work, through production and consumption, and through their relationship with nation-states. Moreover, constantly evolving communication and information technologies allow families and individuals to have access to others in an unprecedented manner. With this transformation have come challenges, in every culture, to assumptions about family life, the life course, and the role of the individual. There exists greater variability with respect to images of children, youth, adulthood, aging, marriage, gender roles, and power relationships in families, in communities, in societies, and between nation-states. These transformations portend a deep-rooted restructuring of the social fabric of our world, our societies and our families. Globalization is a complex phenomenon: one hand, it has brought about a restructuring of economies that has opened up different venues for work and social relationships. However, on the other, a vital aspect of globalization centres on the proliferation and spread of new images and ideologies to the farthest reaches of the world. Moreover, globalization occurs on multiple levels simultaneously. It is realized on local, national, and transnational levels, and is accompanied by a compression of time. As information spreads ever more quickly, the impact of globalization can be felt immediately. When a crisis occurs in one area, it can have immediate repercussions in other places. This realization has been brought home by recent economic developments. As markets react to an economic downturn in one country, there are immediate aftershocks felt in multiple other areas around the globe. A focus on globalizing processes reveals that the restructuring of economies and the changing role of nation-states, the mass migration of individuals from developing countries to the industrialized world, and the widespread entrance of women into the formal and informal labour force, are interrelated with significant social changes around the globe. Instead, developing countries have been faced with their own unique challenges with respect to social life. In particular, economic concerns such as labour force participation, rising inequalities within and between countries, and fears about Westernization have elicited, in some cases, nationalistic responses.
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Specifically, the relationship between gender and economics, emphasizes that globalization has had unequal effects on men and women, particularly in the developing world. With the major restructuring of economies beginning in the late 1960s, and the growth of multinational corporations, certain parts of the labour market have become feminized as women increasingly take on part time, low paid, and, at times, risky jobs. Moreover, in industrialized and developing countries, women struggle to balance participation in the formal and informal work force with care giving in their families. As our world becomes increasingly interconnected, that means globalized, migration from the developing to the industrialized world is playing an increasingly important role. While the United States, Canada, Australia, and Israel have always been immigration societies, contemporary receiving countries such as Japan, and certain countries in Europe and the Middle East, are struggling with incorporating large numbers of non-citizens into their societies. Even in countries with a long history of immigration, such as the U.S., the rapid increase of immigrants has been met with resistance. This movement and marginalization has led to new forms of transnational societies, as migrants retain ties in their home societies, while also forging new relationships abroad. Globalization is raising questions about basic issues such as the role of territory, and the rights of citizens versus non-citizens. Increased migration coupled with accelerated information and communication technologies are bringing individuals from very varied locales and cultures into contact together. New communities and identities are created that are often divorced from territorial belonging. The globalization of the job market has had negative consequences in developed countries. Mind workers (engineers, attorneys, scientists, professors, executives, journalists, consultants) are able to compete successfully in the world market and command high wages. Conversely, production workers and service workers in industrialized nations are unable to compete with workers in third world countries and either loses their jobs through outsourcing or is forced to accept wage cuts. On the other hand opportunities in rich countries drive talent away from poor countries, leading to brain drains in developing countries. Modern modes of transportation allow more people and products to travel around the world at a faster pace, but they also open the airways to the transcontinental movement of infectious disease vectors. One example of this occurring is AIDS/HIV.

Due to immigration, approximately 500,000 people in the United States are believed to be infected with Chagas disease in 2006, the Tuberculosis (TB) rate among foreign-born persons in the United States was 9.5 times that of U.S.-born persons. Globalization is closely related to all of these social phenomena. It is important to ensure that the gains from globalization are more broadly shared across the population. To this effect, reforms to strengthen education and training would help ensure that workers have the appropriate skills for the evolving global economy. Policies that broaden the access of finance to the poor would also help. As individuals and institutions work to raise living standards throughout the world, it will be critically important to create a climate that enables these countries to realize maximum benefits from globalization. That means focusing on macroeconomic stability, transparency in government, a sound legal system, modern infrastructure, quality education, and a deregulated economy. As material foundations of life, concepts of space and time, and identities are increasingly redefined and transformed globalizing forces are reaching into the very core of contemporary social life. In this new world, individuals are able to adopt multiple identities, form new sorts of families, and claim membership in a variety of communities, many of them not bound by place or region. As identities are increasingly in flux, new affiliations and ethnicities are created and sustained through ties with other places and people across far away spaces. This has given rise to new unimagined types of issues and problems. Global transformations have significant implications not just for the material side of life, but they are intertwined with ideologies about the rights and roles of individuals. These shifting conceptualizations are accompanied with profound implications for social lives of people. As people are increasingly integrated into the global economy, and simultaneously exposed to new and varied representations of lifestyles and choices, they are forced to adjust to changed conditions and representations. This process, however, is not occurring in a uniform manner. Within various societies, and in a number of regions of the world, new images and ways of life have been met with opposition, resistance and various sentiments. Thus, what we find is that globalization is a highly uneven process.