GLOBALIZATION

THEORIES
THE COMPLEXITIES OF THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD
 THEORY

A statement or series of statements that

explains a phenomenon

GLOBALIZATION
 METAPHORS

SOLID (and solidity) LIQUID (and liquidity)

increasing ease of
People, things,
information, and movement of people,
places that have things, and
harden over time information, and
and therefore have places in the global
limited mobility age
 GLOBALIZATION
the spread of worldwide practices, relations, consciousness, and
organization of social life.

Institutions of Culture, Economy, and Politics

 1 PHENOMENON:
Globalization

2 TENDENCIES:
Homogeneity VS Heterogeneity

3 AREAS:
Culture, Economy, and Politics
 TWO TENDENCIES:

HOMOGENEITY
Increasing sameness in the world

OR

HETEROGENEITY
Differences caused by lasting differences or combinations/hybrids
 On Culture
Homogeneity  Cultural Imperialism
the influence of a particular culture on a wide range of other cultures
(e.g. the spread of Christianity; “Americanization”; media
imperialism)

Heterogeneity  Glocalization (Robertson, 2001)

the global as interacting with the local to produce that which is
distinctive: the glocal (e.g. McDonald’s in India).
 On the Economy
Homogeneity  spread of neoliberalism, capitalism, and the market
economy (Antonio, 2007a) throughout many different regions of the
world (e.g. global economic crises  The gap between rich and poor
has actually increased.)

Heterogeneity  the commodification of local cultures and the

existence of flexible specialization

creation of unique “glocal” markets

 On Politics
Homogeneity  growth of a more-or-less single model of governance
around the world (Meyer, Boli, and Ramirez, 1997)

McWorld (Barber, 1995): single global political orientation

Heterogeneity  intensification of nationalism

Jihad: localized, ethnic, and reactionary political forces (including
“rogue states”) that involve an and that lead to greater political
heterogeneity throughout the world.
CULTURAL THEORY
Three Major Paradigms in Theorizing the Cultural
Aspects of Globalization (Pieterse, 2004)
Cultural Differentialism

Cultural Convergence

Cultural Hybridization
 CULTURAL DIFFERENTIALISM
there are lasting differences among cultures that are largely unaffected
by globalization

possibility of dangerous and potentially catastrophic collisions among

and between world cultures

*9/11 Attack and Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

S. Huntington’s Clash of Civilization and the
Remaking of World Order (1996)
the reconfiguring of the world based on cultural differences

• Civilization: broadest level of these cultures and cultural identities

(indeed, to Huntington civilization is culture “writ large”)

differing greatly on basic philosophical assumptions, underlying values,

social relations, customs, and overall outlooks on life
 CULTURAL CONVERGENCE

cultures of the world are growing increasingly similar, at least to some

degree and in some ways

• “cultural imperialism,” global capitalism, Westernization,

Americanization, “McDonaldization,” and “world culture”
 G. Ritzer’s McDonaldization Thesis (2006)
McDonaldization is the process by which the principles of the fast-food
restaurant are coming to dominate more and more the rest of the world.

Five Basic Dimensions:

efficiency
calculability
predictability
control through the substitution of technology for people
irrationality of rationality
 CULTURAL HYBRIDIZATION
mixing of cultures
Global + Local = Glocal, a hybrid

Glocalization: the interpenetration of the global and the local resulting

in unique outcomes in different geographic areas.

Hybridization: increasing diversity associated with the unique mixtures

of the global and the local
 Cultural Hybrid
combination of two or more elements from different cultures or parts
of the world

*Ugandan tourists visiting Amsterdam to watch two Moroccan

women engage in Thai boxing

*Chinese tacos

*Filipino spaghetti
Process Questions
• Are societies in the world becoming more similar
(heterogeneous) or more different (heterogeneous)

• What do you think are the advantages and

disadvantages of homogenization? How about
heteroginization?
Activity: What do Writers Think about
Globalization?
• Look for and read three newspaper opinion editorials (op-eds) discussing
globalization.

• You may use local or international op-eds.

• Write a 50-word summary for each.

• Identify whether they subscribe to a particular definition discussed in class.

• Identify whether they are broad and inclusive or narrow and inclusive
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
ECONOMIC THEORY
Sklair’s Neo-Marxian Theory of Economic Globalization (2002)

Two Systems of Globalization: Capitalist and Socialist

Transnational practices cutting across boundaries:

transnational corporations
transnational capitalists
culture-ideology of consumerism
adding an interest in consumption to the traditional
concern with production
POLITICAL THEORY
Complex Interdependence and International
Political Economy
nation-state as threatened by various global processes, especially
global economic flows (Ohmae, 1996; Strange, 1996)

Whereas nation-states once controlled markets,

now markets often control nation-states.
Challenges to the Autonomy of Nation-State
flows of information, illegal immigrants, new social movements, terrorists,
criminals, drugs, money (including laundered money and other financial
instruments), sex-trafficking

growing power of global and transnational organizations (for example, the

EU)

growth of global problems (AIDs, TB)

end of the cold war and dissolution of former USSR

 The nation-state
has become increasingly porous.

No nation-state has ever been able to

control its borders completely
(Bauman, 1992).
A counter-argument…
the role of the state not only enduring but increasing in the world
today (Beland, 2008)

four major sources of collective insecurity:

1. Terrorism
2. Economic globalization leading to problems such as outsourcing
and pressures toward downsizing
3. Threats to national identity due to immigration
4. The spread of global diseases such as AIDs.
 Globalization is happening.

Modern technology and Increased Flow

Positive and negative consequences

To stop or not to stop?

Keep our pace by understanding

The contemporary world.
References
Ritzer, G. (2008). Sociological Theory. 8th Ed.

Ritzer, G. (2011). Globalization: The essentials. John Wiley and Sons Ltd.