SOCI A 327F Globalization and Social Life

The concept of globalism The advocacy of Anti-globalization movements

Globalism and globalization The ideological dimension of globalization The nature and functions of ideology Globalism is much advocated in certain powerful globalizing organizations and media The ideological claims of globalism

Globalization: the social processes of the intensification of transplanetary relationship Globalism: an ideology that endows the concept of globalization with neoliberal values and meanings (Steger 2003: 94)

Globalism as an ideology that supporting the unfolding of globalization process Globalism is advocated by the powerful groups that are benefited by the current patterns of globalization processes

Nature
An ideology can be defined as a system of widely shared ideas, patterned beliefs, guiding norms and values, and ideals accepted as truth by a particular group of people. In doing so, they help organize the tremendous complexity of human experience into fairly simple, but frequently distorted, images that serve as guide and compass for social and political action.

Functions
These simplified and distorted ideas are often employed to legitimize certain political interests or to defend dominant power structures. Seeking to imbue society with their preferred norms and values, ideologists present the public with a circumscribed agenda of things to discuss, claims to make, and questions to ask.

Functions
They speak to their audience in stories and narratives that persuade, praise, condemn, distinguish 'truths' from 'falsehoods', and separate the 'good' from the "bad'. ideology connects theory and practice by orienting and organizing human action in accordance with generalized claims and codes of conduct. (Steger 2003: 93)

Economic arena: leaders of MNCs like Bill Gates of Microsoft Political arena : WTO, IMF Mass media: Business Week, The Economist, The Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times

Globalization is about the liberalization and global integration of markets

An authoritative account of globalization The close association between liberalization and globalization Liberalization and integration of global market as a natural phenomenon The active role of government in promoting liberalization policy

Globalization is about the triumph of markets over governments. Both proponents and opponents of globalization agree that the driving force today is markets, which are suborning the role of government. Business Week, 13 December 1999

One role [of government] is to get out of the way - to remove barriers to the free flow of goods, services, and capital. Joan Spiro, former US Under-Secretary of State in the Clinton administration

Globalization is inevitable and irreversible

Treating globalization as a natural phenomenon, happening in the physical world Convincing the public and the politicians to live under and accept the burdens of this natural phenomenon An evolutionary perspective on social development, treating the Anglo-American model of development as the paradigm

Today we must embrace the inexorable logic of globalization - that everything from the strength of our economy to the safety of our cities, to the health of our people, depends on events not only within our borders, but half a world away.. . Globalization is irreversible. Bill Clinton, former US President

Globalization is inevitable and inexorable and it is accelerating . . . Globalization is happening, it's going to happen. It does not matter whether you like it or not, it's happening, its going to happen. Frederick W. Smith, Chairman and CEO of FedEx Corporation

Nobody is in charge of globalization

The operation of the global market follows the economic law. It is not controlled by the intention of any kind of people. Treating globalization as a natural evolution conceals the fact that some groups of people have far greater power in determining the operation of the globalization process and are advancing their interests within this process The transnational capitalist class aims to depoliticize the imbalance of power in globalization

Many on the Left dislike the global marketplace because it epitomizes what they dislike about markets in general: the fact that nobody is in charge. The truth is that the invisible hand rules most domestic markets, too, a reality that most Americans seem to accept as a fact of life. Paul Krugman, US economist

The great beauty of globalization is that no one is in control. The great beauty of globalization is that it is not controlled by any individual, any government, any institution. Robert Hormats, Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs International

Globalization benefits everyone

It is a crucial claim to justify the continuous support to globalization Globalists ignore the economic disparities between the rich and the poor, attributing these disparities as the problem of episodic dislocation. These irregularities will be fixed by the market itself.

There can be little doubt that the extraordinary changes in global finance on balance have been beneficial in facilitating significant improvements in economic structures and living standards throughout the world . . . Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board

We are at an optimistic time in our world: the barriers between nations are down, economic liberalism is decidedly afoot and proven to be sound, trade and investment are soaring, income disparities between nations are narrowing, and wealth generation is at record high levels, and I believe likely to remain so. George David, CEO of United Technologies Corporation

Globalization furthers the spread of democracy in the world

Globalists claim that free market is associated with democracy. The breakdown of the Soviet bloc and the introduction of democracy in the countries inside is a solid evidence to support this claim. This understanding equates democracy with voting, neglecting the democratic participation of common people in the decision-making process. The developing countries with dictatorships actually achieved more trade in the global market.

The emergence of new businesses and shopping centers in former communist countries should be seen as the backbone of democracy.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, US Senator from New York

The level of economic development resulting from globalization is conducive to the creation of complex civil societies with a powerful middle class. It is this class and societal structure that facilitates democracy. Francis Fukuyama, Johns Hopkins University

The advocacy of the Anti-globalization movements

Social movements challenging the existing neoliberalist globalization A collection of numerous movements pursuing a wide range of goals with different means

Two approaches to anti-globalization movements

Particularist protectionist Universal protectionist

Against the threats of globalization to a particular nation and culture in economic, political and cultural arena Against the dominant cultural values of western, especially, American origins

denounce free trade, the power of global investors, the neoliberal agenda of multinational corporations, and the Americanization of the world as practices that have contributed to falling living standards and/or moral decline.

Targeting on the globalization loser in ones own country, including include industrial workers, small business owners, and small farmers more concerned with the well-being of their own citizens than with the construction of a more equitable international order based on global solidarity.

E.g. nationalist movements, such as Patrick Buchanan and his Reform Party in USA, JeanMarie Le Pen's French National Front and President Hugo Chavez's Venezuelan

point to the possibility of constructing a new international order based on a global redistribution of wealth and power. Aims to to establishing a more equitable relationship between the global North and South include a growing number of non-governmental organizations and transnational networks concerned with the protection of the environment, fair trade and international labour issues, human rights, and womens issues.

Calling for a 'globalization from below' favouring the marginalized and poor, they seek to protect ordinary people all over the world from a neoliberal 'globalization from above'. E.g. the consumer advocate Ralph Nader in USA, Green party in Germany, Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's poor people's movement.

Mass movements
J18 on June 18, 1999: Labor, human and environmental groups gathered in London challenged the G8 Economic Summit held in Cologne, German

40,000 - 50,000 people from different countries participated in an anti-WTO protests in Seattle Alliance of different social movements groups, ranging from universal protectionist groups like human right proponents, labor activists, environmentalists, animal right activists, feminists, Particularist protectionists also participated in the protest Different strategies like violent acts and peaceful sit-in were adopted Internet and mobile phones were the major means of communications for mobilizing the participants

World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 2005 at Hong Kong 7,000-10,000 protestor from different countries, notably South Korea

9/11 attack by bin Laden

The diversity of the movements and the difficulties in constituting a single movement.
Anti-globalization movements as an umbrella term for a wide range of movements

Anti-globalization as purely oppositional movements and lacks of a positive agenda.

Different movements have different concrete tasks and goals, but these tasks and goals are often contradictory For example, while the INGOs are concerned about the fair trade, the right-ring activists argue for the subsidies of native production sectors

Anti-globalizations are outside mainstream politics and thus have limited effectiveness

Globalism as the dominant discourse on globalization advocated by powerful agents in globalization Anti-globalizations movements as an alternative to the current form of globalization

The major contribution of anti-globalization movements is cultural in nature, alerting people about the problem of neoliberal globalization and functioning only to widen the political spectrum. The quest for real social change lies in the arena of politics, with the goal of alternative policies in different countries.

Martell, Luke.2010. The Sociology of Globalization. Cambridge. Malden: Polity. Scholte, Jan Aart. 2005. Globalization: a Critical Introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Steger, Manfred B. 2003. Globalization: a Very Short Introduction. Oxford : Oxford University Press.