The Contemporary World – by Prince Kennex R.

Aldama

Introduction: Defining Globalization

Much has changed since time immemorial. Human beings have encountered changes over the last
century esp in their social relationships and social structures. Of these changes, one can say that
globalization is a very important change, if not, the most important (Bauman 2003) {in other words, for
Bauman his definition of globalization is something positive}

{the reality and omnipresence of globalization according to Prince Kennex R. Aldama makes us see
ourselves as part of what we refer as global age. The internet, for instance, allows a person from one
place to see the world by browsing Google. The mass media also allowed for further connections of
people, communities, and countries all over the globe.}

What is globalization? Probably a very easy question to answer. However, many scholars gave and
continue to formulate definitions of it. This resulted to different and sometimes contradicting views
about the concept. It can’t be contained within a specific time frame, all people, and all situations.
Aside from this, globalization encompasses a multitude of processes that involve the economy, political
systems, and culture. Social structures, therefore, are directly affected by globalization.

Over the years, it has gained many connotations to progress, development, and integration. One can
view it as a

 positive phenomenon. E.g. Swedish Journalist Thomas Larsson (2001) saw globalization as “the
process of world shrinkage, of distances getting shorter, things moving closer.”
 Negative. Martin Khor, the former president of the Third World Network in Malaysia, once
regarded globalization as colonization.

The task of defining globalization: could be classified either: 1. Broad and inclusive 2. Narrow and
exclusive

Note: {no matter how one classifies a definition of globalization, the concept is complex and
multifaceted as the definitions deal with economic, political, or social dimensions.}

One experience I noticed re globalization is with the use of language in our country, esp English language, where
we Filipinos see this language as something important esp in our workplaces, bc of this we appreciate the language
and expose ourselves to the culture of the people who mainly use this language, tho it is emphasized that English is
not owned by the americans, but by the people who speak the language regardless of the culture, place, or L1 of
the speaker. And bc of this acceptance and understanding, not just by Filipinos but by other people across the globe,
 we create a room for understanding, we use the language for us to express our thoughts with people with different
backgrounds – who are from different places. So personally, my definition of globalization is something positive.

The very questions here are: why are we going to spend time studying this concept? How can we
appreciate these definitions? How can these help us understand globalization?

1. Defining globalization is shaped by the perspective of the person who defines it (e.g. Swedish
journalist Thomas Larsson and matin khor)
- one’s definition and perspective could determine concrete steps in addressing the issues of
globalization. If one sees globalization as positive, the person can say that it is a unifying force.
On the other hand, if it is deemed as creating inequalities among nations, globalization is
negatively treated.
2. To paraphrase the sociologist Cesare Poppi: globalization is the debate and the debate is
globalization. One become part and parcel of the other. As Poppi (1997) wrote: “The literature
stemming from the debate on globalization has grown in the last decade beyond any
individual’s capability of extracting a workable definition of the concept. In a sense, the
meaning of the concept is self-evident, in another, it is vague and obscure as its reaches are
wide and constantly shifting. Perhaps, more than any other concept, globalization is the debate
about it.”
3. Globalization is a reality. It is changing as human society develops. It has happened before and
is still happening today. We should expect it to continue to happen in the future.

Overall, globalization is a concept that is not easy to define because in reality, defining globalization has
a shifting nature. It is complex, multifaceted, and can be influenced by the people who define it.
Moreover, the issues and concerns involving globalization have a wide range from the individual to
society; from small communities to nations and states; and from the benefits we can gain from it to the
costs it could carry. In this article, “The Globalization of Nothing,” George Ritzer (2003) said, “attitudes
toward globalization depend, among other things, on whether one gains or loses from it.” Nevertheless,
the task of defining globalization should stimulate more discussions about it. More importantly, the fact
that we experience globalization should give one the interest of engaging into the study of it.

Metaphors of Globalization

{in order for us to better understand the concept of globalization, we will utilize metaphors. Metaphors
make use of one term to help us better understand another term. States of matter – solid and liquid –
will be used.
Solidity – refers to barriers that prevent or make difficult the movement of things. It can be either
natural or man-made. E.g. of natural solids are landforms and bodies of water. Man-made barriers
include great wall of china and the berlin wall and the nine-dash line by the people’s republic of china.

Liquid – as a state of matter, take the shape of its container and is not fixed. Liquidity, therefore, refers
to the increasing ease of movement of people, things, information and places in the contemporary
world. Another characteristic of liquid phenomena is that their movement is difficult to stop. For
example, videos online are hard to halt once they become viral.

Liquidity and solidity is in constant interaction. Liquidity is the one proliferating and increasing today.
Therefore, the metaphor that could best describe globalization is liquidity.

{Flows – are the movement of people, things, places, and information brought by the growing “porosity”
of global limitations. E.g. foods from other places that are being patronized by the Filipino people like
sushi, French fries, ramen and hamburger – foods are being globalized.}. The following are other kinds of
flows that can be observed today: poor illegal migrants flooding many parts of the world, the virtual
flow of legal and illegal information such as blogs and child pornography.

The differences of the terms used in the metaphors of globalization: liquid and flow are closely related
and almost the same. However, as emphasized, liquid is something not fixed and something that takes
the shape of its container, that is, the “contemporary world” so anything from those keywords defined is
dependent to the world it is involved. For instance, the movement of information online is due to the
existence of technological advancement in today’s generation. [going back to its definition, Liquidity,
therefore, refers to the increasing ease of movement of people, things, information and places in the
contemporary world.] therefore, liquidity is somehow contingent to the world where it happens.

{questions: what do you think is the importance of defining globalization?; do you agree with the idea
that the contemporary world is characterized by high liquidity?}

Activity: The World Made Closer

We were able to discuss the different definitions of globalization. The sheer magnitude, diversity,
and complexity of the process of globalization today lead to the conceptualization of the current era as
the “global age.” We were also able to analyze the globalization through conceptual metaphors such as
solid and liquid.

In this activity, you will be able to see their connections to the rest of the world based on
different aspects of daily life such as politics, music, sports film, celebrity, and disaster.
1. Answer the following questions:

a. Enumerate at least three of the most recent songs you have listened to. Where did
they start? Identify the nationality of the creator and/or artist for each music.
b. What gadgets/devices do you usually use to listen to music?
c. Where are these gadgets/devices made? Where is the company based?
d. How did you access these music? Do you purchase them online or listen to them
through Youtube, Spotify, and other music channels?
2. Using a visual representation, create your generalizations and discuss: what is globalization? Or
how do I define globalization?
3. What metaphors are you going to use to improve your own definition of globalization?

{globalization in language}

While globalization is generally regarded as the process of international integration involving businesses
or organizations, this interchange of world views, cultures, and ideas has had a dramatic impact on
education and the way people learn languages. It’s important to recognize how globalization has
affected language around the world to develop a better understanding of how schools and educators
can continue to serve an ever-evolving population – even as their learning needs change, too.

1. World languages Through colonization, more powerful, industrialized countries were able to force
their languages on weaker populations. Since these countries were dictating the terms of any potential
economic exchange, it was necessary for traders in other less-powerful regions to learn more widely-
spoken languages like English or French in order to communicate and participate in this exchange. Thus
these languages became the main for the written papers in the Europe. While this inevitably led to the
loss of much smaller, regional dialects, colonization kicked off the start of the globalization process.

2. Local languages Countries that participate less in globalization, like smaller countries in Africa, have
managed to retain their local languages much more effectively. With less to gain economically by
learning a world language instead of their ancestral dialects, many of these populations continue to
speak their local languages to this day. However, some ancestral languages have remained an important
part of local culture even in areas of Asia like Singapore and Hong Kong – even though English is still
widely spoken. It may be less important for future generations to learn these local dialects for the
purpose of communicating on a global scale, but educators in these regions can benefit from having the
opportunity to teach these languages well into the future for the appreciation and maintenance of a
population’s culture and history.

3. Language loss Linguistics experts have debated the benefits of working to retain ancestral dialects,
even as world languages like English and French become more and more dominant. Local languages are
a valuable part of a population’s culture, but linguistic evolution follows cultural change. As regions were
colonized and forced to adapt to a new language, speaking an ancestral dialect became less beneficial.
Even today, people are discovering new ways to communicate around the globe – like emojis, which are
easy to understand no matter what language you speak.

4. Language education One main benefit to teaching world languages like English and French is that
because these languages are spoken around the globe, it makes communication between different
populations more simple and effective than any other time in our history. However, since there are
many options available for people to learn languages on their own, the future of language education
might be happening outside of the school – through distance education, online courses, and mobile
apps. Even with this potential change, it’s important for schools to be flexible and look for ways teachers
can help enhance this education.

5. Staying relevant Education and language are important aspects of ensuring people can effectively live
together in an increasingly globalized world, and we need to be sure students are being taught in a way
that not only benefits them, but also recognizes cultural uniqueness. Schools will need to focus on how
to use language to communicate other important values like ethics, global responsibility, and
understanding other cultures. With less emphasis on learning the mechanics of a particular language,
schools and teachers can instruct students on issues that will build a stronger and more respectful global
society. With fewer languages for people to master in order to communicate effectively with
populations around the world, there are plenty of benefits to the globalization of language. The future
of teaching languages, thanks to the effects of this globalization, may present a different kind of learning
environment than teachers are used to, but that doesn’t mean instructors won’t have an important role
to play. By providing a complement to the language instruction that will be happening outside of the
classroom, schools can offer a depth of learning that students won’t be able to access through online
courses and digital media – giving tomorrow’s learners the chance to use global language in a
responsible and ethical way, for the betterment of cultures around the world.

Globalization Theories

We have established the many definitions of and issues in defining globalization and the metaphors that
we can use to easily understand the concept. We also looked into its origins and history. This section
gives us a glimpse of the important theories on globalization. We will analyze globalization culturally,
economically, and politically in this book as reflected in the succeeding chapters. In the meantime, it
would be helpful to say that the theories see globalization as a process that increases either
homogeneity or heterogeneity.

Homogeneity – refers to the increasing sameness in the world as cultural inputs, economic factors, and
political orientations of societies expand to create common practices, same economies, and similar
forms of government. Homogeneity in culture is often linked to cultural imperialism. “This means, a
given culture influences other cultures.” For example, the dominant religion in our country is Christianity
which was brought to us by Spaniards. Another example is americanization which was defined by
Richard Kuisel (1993) as “the import by non-Americans of products, images, technologies, practices, and
behaviour that are closely associated with America/Americans.”

[in terms of economy, there is recognition of the spread of neoliberalism, capitalism, and the market
economy in the world (Antonio 2007) {L.i.}
Global economic crises are also products of homogeneity in economic globalization. Joseph Stiglitz
(2002), for instance, blamed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for its “one-size-fits all” approach
which treats every countries in the world as the same. In the end, rich countries become advantageous
in the world economy at the expense of poor countries; leading to increased inequalities among nations.
{L.i.}

Heterogeneity – pertains to the creation of various cultural practices, new economies, and political
groups because of the interaction of elements from different societies in the world. This refers to the
differences because of either lasting differences or of the hybrids or combinations of cultures which can
be produced through the different transplanetary process. Contrary to cultural imperialism,
heterogeneity in culture is associated with cultural hybridization. A more specific concept is
“glocalization” coined by Roland Robertson (1992). To him, as global forces interact with local factors or
a specific geographic area, the “glocal” is being produced. [economic issues are not exempted from
heterogeneity. The commodification of cultures and glocal markets are examples of differentiation
happening in many economies around the world.]

{although homogeneity and heterogeneity gave us an idea about the effects of globalization, the picture
is not yet complete. The theories will be clarified as we look closer at each of them in the succeeding
chapters.}

Origins and History of Globalization

The previous discussions answered the question, “what is globalization?.” The next question, “where did
it start?” is not easy to answer as well bc there are different views about it. This book generally adheres
to the perspective that the major points of the beginnings of globalization started after the World War
2. Nevertheless, it would mean no harm to look at the five different perspectives regarding the origins
of globalization. { 1. Hardwired 2. Cycles 3. Epoch } 5. Broader, More Recent Changes

4. Events - specific events are also considered as part of the fourth view in explaining the origin of
globalization. If this is the case, then several points can be treated as the start of the
globalization. [the recent years could also be regarded as the beginnings of globalization wih
reference to specific technological advances in transportation and communication. Some
examples include the first transatlantic telephone cable (1956), the first transatlantic television
broadcasts (1962), the founding of the modern internet in 1988, and the terrorist attacks on the
Twin Towers in New York 2001. Certainly, in this view, more and more specific events will
characterize not just origins of globalization but more of its history.

{process questions: 1. Are societies in the world becoming more similar (homogenous) or more different
(heterogenous)? 2. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of homogenization of
culture? How about heterogenization?

THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

There are various changes and improvements that characterize economic globalization before and at
present. Structures of transportation, communication, and capital are comparable then and now.

In terms of transportation, railroads and steamships are the significant inventions that hastened
development in the past. Today, airplanes have been transporting humans and objects all over the world
in a relatively shorter period of time. In communication, the internet today made the world open to
everyone. The access to different social media and websites allows one to have access to overwhelming
information of other people, organizations, and countries. In the past it was the telegraph.

Not only are there structural similarities between global economic development in the two periods, but
the problems are also similar in both of them. First, poor nations and the peoples who inhabit them
were and are subjugated by the operations of the global economy. Second, not all parts of the world
gained equally from the growth of the global economy. Fourth, within nations, the poor tends or tended
to suffer most when those nations, are forced to repay their debts to other, more developed, nations. In
sum, the global economy of a century “was not equally good for everyone and was bad for many “
(Freiden, 2006).

The prehistoric period (10,000 BCE-3,500 BCE)

Early human migrations are the earliest migrations and expansions of archaic and modern humans across
continents and are believed to have begun approximately 2 million years ago with the out of Africa migration
of Homo erectus. This initial migration was followed by other archaic humans including H. heidelbergensis,
which lived around 500,000 years ago and was the likely ancestor of both Denisovans and Neanderthals.
Early hominids were said to have "crossed land bridges that were eventually covered in water" (History Alive,
pub. 2004, TCI).

The premodern period (3,500 BCE-1,500 CE)

 Writing was invented by the Sumerians around 3100 BC

 Ancient Egyptian writing is known as hieroglyphics ('sacred carvings') and developed at some point prior
to the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150 -2613 BCE).

 The oracle bone scripts, originally discovered from relics of the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC – 1046 BC) in
Anyang City, Henan Province

The early modern period (1500-1750) (must give reason why you choose this picture)

The Enlightenment was a late 17th- and 18th-century intellectual movement emphasizing
reason, individualism, skepticism, and science

The modern period (1750-1970)

The first picture emphasizes the economic exchange of the modern period. In many social networks – as a
broader category including political, economic and cultural networks – physical goods and information
circulate parallel to one another. The exchange of goods and services is often accompanied by the transfer of
cultural content and knowledge. The second picture on the other hand, represents as a best example of flow
of people of eastern European immigrants arriving in the new york in the late 1800s

The contemporary period (from 1970)

The results of the economic crisis clearly slowed down the process of world-wide globalization. This is visible
in the basically unchanged overall index value of the KOF Index of Globalization compared to the previous
year. No changes occurred among the top five countries. Belgium is the most globalized country in the world
followed by Ireland and the Netherlands. Switzerland climbed up one position and is now listed among the
top ten. Lesotho and the Dominican Republic made the biggest steps both moving up by 22 places in the
ranking (now ranked 127th and 69th, respectively).