The Sociology of Globalization
The Sociology of Globalization : Introduction
Globalization may appear a macro phenomenon and distant, unlike micro issues that have
more of an impact on daily life. Yet large-scale global processes of economic restructuring
and international political power have a big impact on our individual lives.
- Economic bases of globalization
Culture has heavily shaped globalization, and globalization has a lot to do with the
transnationalization and intermingling of cultures and local cultural responses to global
cultures.
- Globalization as historical/modern
Globalization is historical. It started long before the recent years of information technology,
and before Cold War and 2nd World War. It has its basis in the development of capitalism and
industrialism, and in the institutions, technologies and incentives these systems brought
along.
- Skeptical perspectives on globalization
What is globalization really? Globalization is structured by power, inequality and conflict.
Some people play a greater role in globalization than others, and some are more integrated
and others excluded.
- Power, inequality and conflict
Many people see globalization as a problematic process, but others see globalization as
more positive, equalizing, democratic and benign process that brings an intermingling of
cultures in a new cosmopolitanism, with the generalization of positive values such as
universal human rights.
Political and pluralist perspectives on globalization
Globalization happening? Globalization good or bad?
Neoliberals Yes Good
Globalist Marxists Yes Bad (for socialist reasons)
Conservative nationalists Yes Bad (for nationalist reasons)
Social democratic sceptics No Bad because : unequal (not
global) and not a route to
solving poverty
(protectionism better)
Social democratic globalists Yes Good, if subjected to global
regulation
Seeing globalization in these plural ways is helpful and an antidote to monocausal over-
Westernized, homogenizing views, some of which focus on the economy at the expense of
culture, or have a simplified view of its effects.
,Pluralist views of globalization
Multicausal Globalization not just caused by one chief
factor (e.g. economy)
Multilevel Economic, political, cultural, military,
environmental
Hybrid Mixture of inputs from
East/West/North/South.
Localized From globalization takes varies where it is
received.
Concepts of globalization
Scholte : he rejects 4 meanings op globalization : internationalization, liberalization,
universalization or Westernization. They do not add anything new to what is globalization.
- Internationalization is nothing new
- Liberalization happened and facilitated globalization, but is not new. They’re 2
different things
- Universalization is nothing new already existed (religions, trade)
- Globalization is more than Westernization, it can also go in non-Western directions.
According to Scholte, globalization can either lead to deterritorialization or supraterritorialism.
Globalization is intertwined with territory rather than something above, beyond or separate
from it.
Robertson : globalization as a concept refers both to the compression of the world and the
intensification of the consciousness of the world as a whole, both concrete global
interdependence and consciousness of the global whole.
Compression of space : Things that are at the distance as great as ever before are, because
of technological developments, nearer in terms of the speed of communications and travel.
Giddens : globalization can be defined as the intensification of the world-wide social relations
which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events
occurring many miles away.
Waters : see globalization as a social process in which the constraints of geography on
economic, political, social and cultural arrangements recede and people become increasingly
aware of this and act accordingly. Sees globalization as a process rather than an end.
Holton : says globalization is a process (interconnection, interdependence of activities across
borders, consciousness of the world as a single place, emphasizes agency and process in
globalization).
Held et al. : transformationalist view : new but not unprecedented, open-ended, as it may go
in many different directions, and varying in the form it takes by place, by class and over time.
Globalization transforms human affairs by linking together and expanding human activity
across regions and continents. Globalization is complex, numerous processes and involves
both agency and structure.
,Globalization can involve both:
- Deterritorialization : where the stretching of activities goes beyond being coterminous
with territories
- Reterritorialization : where globalization becomes established in regions and
subnational areas, and even encourages nationalism.
They distinguish between flows, which are movements of things, people, symbols, tokens
and information across space, and networks, which are regularized or patterned interactions.
Globalization should not be confused with interdependence, integration, universalism or
convergence.
Osterhammel and Petersson : regularization and stability in global relations are prerequisite
to globalization. Globalization is different from imperialism.
Globalization grows where the contacts and interactions become networks and interaction
spheres. Not all interactions become networks. Globalization is process rather than being
fixed or static at one moment.
The concept summarized
Globalization involves the compression of space such that distance is less of a factor than it
used to be in terms of knowledge, communication and movement. Geography and territory
are undermined and things start to develop at a level that is more than, and above, inter-
national relations.
What more has to happen for something to become globalization?
- Globalization needs to be global in distance (regional are not global because they do
not extend globally
- Globalization needs to be globally inclusive in inputs as well as reach
- There needs to be interdependency rather than just interconnection
- There needs to be stability and regularity
- It needs to involve more than elites and include the mass
- There needs to be global consciousness
Defining globalization is important, so we see the power, inequality and conflict in
globalization.
, Chapter 1
Perspectives on Globalization : Divergence or Convergence?
Perspectives on globalization have been separated into 4 waves. Three waves initially
identified in discussions of globalization were globalist, skeptical, and post-
skeptical/transformationalist.
Globalization is said to lead to homogenized or hybridized global cultures, where national
differences become less marked as people consume culture from around the world rather
than exclusively from their own nation.
The sceptics’ view
Sceptics argue that globalist perspectives can be quite abstract and thin on empirical
substantiation, making sweeping claims about processes as if they affect all areas of the
world evenly and with the same responses.
Sceptics tend to see the global economy as not globally inclusive, for instance areas of sub-
Saharan Africa are much less integrated than East Asia, Europe and North America.
Politically, the effects of globalization are uneven – states have gained as well as lost power
in processes of globalization. Many states are more globally powerful than others, and some
are able to continue with more social democratic policies despite hyperglobalist perspectives
that see globalization requiring compliance with neoliberalism.
Culturally. It is said that nations respond to globalization differently. Depending on location,
the consumers of individual outlets are either mainly working class or middle class. While
eating customs vary from fast to leisurely in different contexts.
There has been another set of reactions alongside and in response to the sceptics. There
are those who share the concerns of the sceptics about evidence and differentiation but
despite this cant help but see globalization before their eyes, moving ahead at
unprecedented levels in recent times.
Examples of why sceptics don’t acknowledge globalization :
- There has been internationalization of financial markets, but not globalization.
- Greater international trade and investment are happening but within existing
structures rather than as part of a new global economic structure.
- If globalization would exist, it is not going along an evolutionary or predetermined
path, but can stop or go into reverse.
- The world economy is not global. Trade, investment and financial flows are
concentrated in the triad of Europe, East Asia and North America.
Hirst and Thompson argue that the world economy is internationalized, but not globalized.
Held et al. – Transformationalists, a modified globalism.
They defend globalization theory by putting forward a modified version of it. But in
qualifications and complexities they add confirm claims of the sceptics.
