Definitions of globalisation:
- Socialist- The process of transformation of local or regional phenomena, into global ones. It can be described as a process by which the people of the world are unified into a single society and function together. This process is a combination of economic, technological, sociocultural and political forces.
- Capitalist- The elimination of state-enforced restrictions on exchanges across borders and the increasingly integrated and complex global system of production and exchange that has emerged as a result.
- ‘Covering a wide range of distinct political, economic, and cultural trends, the term “globalization” has quickly become one of the most fashionable buzzwords of contemporary political and academic debate. In popular discourse, globalization often functions as little more than a synonym for one or more of the following phenomena: the pursuit of classical liberal (or “free market”) policies in the world economy (“economic liberalization”), the growing dominance of western (or even American) forms of political, economic, and cultural life (“westernization” or “Americanization”), the proliferation of new information technologies (the “Internet Revolution”), as well as the notion that humanity stands at the threshold of realizing one single unified community in which major sources of social conflict have vanished (“global integration”)’ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- George Ritzer coined the term 'Mcdonalization' to describe the wide ranging sociocultural processes by which the principles of the fast food restaurants are dominating a wide sector of the world.
- Marshall McLuhan Rapidity of Communication echoes the senses. We can experience instantly the effects of our actions on a global scale.
- The Internet we live in an electrical age, our world evolves around the internet, the internet would render individualism obsolete and corporate interdependence.
- The new cold war: Religious nationalism confronts the secular state.
- Ideologies of religious nationalism and globalisation:
Self society: RN - Communal G - Unit in global market.
Knowledge: RN - Faith G - Media.
Religion: RN - Church/ State joined. G - Religion irrelevant.
Politics: RN - Authoritarian/ Personal G - Superpower (US) transnat'l agencies
Economy: RN - Local capitalism or socialism G - Transnational corporate
- Three problems with gloabisation:
- Sovereignty - Challenges to the idea of the nation-state.
- Accountability - Transnational forces and organisations, who controls them?
- Identity - Who are we? Nation, group, community.
- Cultural Imperialism- If the 'global village' is run with a certain set of values then it would not be so much an integrated community as an assimilated one.
- Key thinkers: Schiller and Chomsky.
- News corporations divide the world into 'territories' of descending market importance. There is -North America, -Western Europe, Japan and Australia, -Developing economies and regional producers India, China, Brazil, Eastern Europe, -The rest of the world.
- US media power can be thought of as a new form of imperialism. Local cultures destroyed in this process and new forms of cultural dependency shaped, mirroring old school colonialism.
- Schiller- dominance of US driven commercial media forces US model of broadcasting onto the rest of world but also inculcates US style consumerism in societies that can ill afford it!
- Chomsky & Herman (1998) ‘Manufacturing Consent’
- Chomsky & Herman (1998) Propaganda model- 5 basic filters.
- 1. Ownership. Rupert Murdoch selected media interests. News of the World, The Sun, Sunday Times, Times, NY post, Sky, Fox TV.
- 2. Funding.
- 3. Sourcing.
- 4. Flak. US-based Global Climate Coalition (GCC) Comprising fossil fuel and automobile companies such as Exxon, Texaco and Ford. The GCC was started up by Burson-Marsteller, one of the world's largest public relations companies, to rubbish the credibility of climate scientists and 'scare stories' about global warming. Flak is characterized by concerted and intentional efforts to manage public information.
- 5. Anti communist ideology. Hate Britain (Western) ideology.
- 'An Inconvenient Truth' 2006 Al Gore film about the effect of Global Warming. Gore encourages us to stop the raising temperature by releasing less C02, plant more vegetation, try to be more C02 neutral, recycle, buy a hybrid vehicle.
- Sustainability. sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ Brundtland Commission, (1987) ‘Our Common Future’ Needs (particularly of the worlds poor) Limitations of technology. Sustainable development, sustainable growth, and sustainable use have been used interchangeably, as if their meanings were the same. They are not. Sustainable growth is a contradiction in terms: nothing physical can grow indefinitely. Sustainable use, is only applicable to renewable resources. Sustainable development is used in this context to mean: improving the quality of human life whilst living within the carrying capacity of the ecosystems.
- Erin Balser 'Capital Accumulation, Sustainability and Hamilton, Ontario: How Technology and Capitalism can Misappropriate the Idea of Sustainability' BIOX biofuel plant, alternative 'clean' fuel, renewable, more expensive to produce. BIOX largest production plant 2004, situated in the poorest area of ontatio, hamiton, negative social and environmental consequences.
- Greenwashing- this is the idea that now many companies are passing their products off as being 'good' for the environment. The way that they manage this is by using earthy tones on their packaging and attaching an emotional message onto the product. This makes it more likely for consumers to buy as it will make them feel like they are doing their bit for the environment. For example Mcdonalds within Europe has now taken on a new 'green' look to it.
- Victor Papanek ‘Most things are designed not for the needs of the people but for the needs of manufacturers to sell to people’ (Papanek, 1983:46) 'Design for the real world' 1971.
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