Globalization

Globalization - some definitions

Jan Aart Scholte (2000: 15-17) has argued that at least five broad definitions of 'globalization'

Globalization as internationalization. Here globalization is viewed 'as simply another adjective to describe cross-border relations between countries'. It describes the growth in international exchange and interdependence. With growing flows of trade and capital investment there is the possibility of moving beyond an inter-national economy, (where 'the principle entities are national economies') to a 'stronger' version - the globalized economy in which, 'distinct national economies are subsumed and rearticulated into the system by international processes and transactions' (Hirst and Peters 1996: 8 and 10).

Globalization as liberalization. In this broad set of definitions, 'globalization' refers to 'a process of removing government-imposed restrictions on movements between countries in order to create an "open", "borderless" world economy' (Scholte 2000: 16). Those who have argued with some success for the abolition of regulatory trade barriers and capital controls have sometimes clothed this in the mantle of 'globalization'.

Globalization as universalization. In this use, 'global' is used in the sense of being 'worldwide' and 'globalization' is 'the process of spreading various objects and experiences to people at all corners of the earth'. A classic example of this would be the spread of computing, television etc.

Globalization as westernization or modernization (especially in an 'Americanized' form). Here 'globalization' is understood as a dynamic, 'whereby the social structures of modernity (capitalism, rationalism, industrialism, bureaucratism, etc.) are spread the world over, normally destroying pre-existent cultures and local self-determination in the process.

Globalization as deterritorialization (or as the spread of supraterritoriality). Here 'globalization' entails a 'reconfiguration of geography, so that social space is no longer wholly mapped in terms of territorial places, territorial distances and territorial borders. Anthony Giddens' has thus defined globalization as ' the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa. (Giddens 1990: 64). David Held et al (1999: 16) define globalization as a ' process (or set of processes) which embodies a transformation in the spatial organization of social relations and transactions - assessed in terms of their extensity, intensity, velocity and impact - generating transcontinental or inter-regional flows and networks of activity'.

Globalization is defined as the process of transformation of local 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. As well as increasing the connectivity and interdependence of the world's markets and businesses.

To me, globalization can be both profitable and destructive to society. Globalization, yes, increases job opportunities to persons in smaller countries, but at the same, person here in the base, are getting laid off due cheaper labor somewhere else. Companies do this to increase profits and increase consumers.

I feel there should be more defined and details regulations of this. Globalizations rapidly increasing and now in the time of recession, we should think about getting country back on its feet before venturing off.

----------Modupe'