P$YCH IATRY Tom Burns

P$YCHOLOGY GUllanButler
and FredaMcManus
PU RITAN ISM Francisj. Bremer
TH E QUAKERS Pink Dandelion
QUANTUM TH EORy JohnPoIkinghome
RACISM Ali Rattansi
RADIOACTIVJTY Claudio Tuniz
RASTAFARI EnnisB.Edmonds
THE REAGAN REVOLUTION GUTroy
REALITY JanWesterhoff
THE REFORMATION Peter Marshall
RELATIVITY RussellStannard
RELIGION IN AMERICA Timothy Beal
THE RENAISSANCE jerryBrotton
RENAISSANCE ART
Geraldine A. Johnson
REVOLUTIONS JackA.Goldstone
RHETORIC RkhardToye
RISK Baruch Fischhoffand John Kadvany
RIVERS NickMiddleton
ROBOTICS Alan Winfield
ROMAN BRITAIN PeterSalway
THE ROMAN EMPIRE ChristopherKelly
TH E ROMAN REPUBLIC
David M, Gwynn
ROMANTICISM
Michael Ferber
ROUSSEAU RobertWokler
RUSSELLA. C. Grayling
RUSSIAN HISTORY GeoffreyHosking
RUSSIAN LITERATURE Catriona Kelly
THE RUSSiAN REVOLUTION
S.A. Smith
SCHIZOPHRENIA

ChrisFrith and

Evelchnstons
SCHOPENHAUER
Christopher Janaway
SCIENCE AND RELIGION
Thomas Dixon
SCIENCE FICTION DavidSeed
THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
LawrenceM. Principe
SCOTLAND RabHouston
SEXUALITy Wronique Mottier
SHAKESPEARE Germaine Greer
SIKHISM EreanorNesbitt
THE SJLK ROAD jamesA.Miliward
SLEEp StevenW.Lockleyand
RussellG.Foster

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL

ANTHROPOLOGY
John Monaghan and Peter just
SOCIALISM Michael Newman
SOCIOLINGUISTICS JohnEdwards
SOCIOLOGY Steve Bruce
SOCRATES C. C. W. Taylor
THE SOVIET UNION Stephen lovell
THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR
Helen Graham
SPANISH LITERATURE Jolabanyi
SPINOZA RogerScruton
SPIRITUALITY Philip Sheldrake
STARS Andrew King
STATISTICS David j. Hand
STEM CELLS jonathan Slack
STUART BRITAIN john Morrill
SUPERCONDUCTIVllY StephenBlundell
SYMMETRy Ian Stewart
TEETH Peter S.Ungar
TERRORiSM CharlesTownshend
THEOLOGY David F.Ford
THOMAS AQUINAS FergusKerr
THOUGHT Tim Bayne
TIBETAN BUDDHISM
Matthew T. Kapstein
TOCQUEVILLE Harveyc. Mansfield
TRAGEDY Adrian Poole
TH ETROJAN WAR Eric H. CJine
TRUST Katherine Hawley
TH ETUDORS john Guy
TWENTIETH-CENTURY

Manfred B. Steger

GLOBALIZATION
A Very Short Introduction

BRITAIN Kenneth O. Morgan

THE UNITED NATiONS
jussi M. Hanhim.'iki
TH E U.S. CONGRESS Donald A. Ritchie
THE U.S. SUPREME COURT
linda Greenhouse
UTOPIANiSM
LYmanTower Sargent
THE VikiNGS Julian Richards
VI RUSES DorothyH. Crawford
WiTCHCRAFT Malcolm Gaskill
WinGENSTEIN
A.C Grayling
WORK Stephen Fineman
WORLD MUSiC Philip Bohlman
TH E WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATION
AmritaNarlikar
WRITING AND SCRIPT
Andrew Robinson

OXFORD
VNrVEll.SITY

PRESS

Chapter 1
Clobalization: a contested
concept
I
I
Although the earliest appearance

of the term 'globalization' in the

English language can be traced back to the 19405, it was not until

half a century later that this concept took the public consciousness
by storm. The buzzword 'globalization' exploded into the 'Roaring
Nineties' because it captured the increasingly interdependent
nature of social life on our planet. 1\venty years later, one can
track millions of references to globalization in both virtual and
printed space.
Unfortunately, however, early bestsellers on the subject-for
example, Kenichi Ohmae's The End of the Nation State or Thomas
Friedman's The Lexus and the Olive Tree-left

their readers with

the simplistic impression that globalization was an inevitable

techno-economic juggernaut spreading the logic of capitalism and
Western values by eradicating local traditions and national
cultures. This influential notion of globalization as a steamroller
flattening local, national, and regional scales also appeared as the
s~eetre of~erica.nization'
haunting the rest of the world. Such
\Videspread fears or hopes-depending
on how one felt about such
forces of Westernization-deepened

further in the 2000s during

the sO-called 'Global War on Terror' spearheaded by an :American

Ell1pire' of worldwide reach. Even the more recent public debates
about the alleged decline of the United States in the age ofObama

and the correspondjng rise of China and India have done little to
soften this rigid dichotomy positing the West against the 'rest'. As
a result, many people still have trouble recognizing globalization
for what it is: the myriad forms of connectivity and flows linking
the local (and national) to the global-as well as the West to the
East, and the North to the South.
As an illustration of such a more nuanced understanding of
globalization as a thickening 'global-local nexus'-or what some
global studies scholars refer to as 'glocalization'-Iet
us consider
the world's most popula sports event: the Football World Cup,
First organized in 1930 by the International Federation of
Football Associations (FIFA), the event was soon seen as the
ultimate national contest pitting country against country in the
relentless pursuit of patriotic glory. The World Cup has since been

Mrican cities, the games drew hundreds of thousands offootball

tourists from around the world,
The global-local dynamics are rather obvious here: national teams
playing in South African stadiums in front of a mix-ture OflOChaJ
and global spectators as well as virtu
. aJ. go.
I bal audiences wate mg
the games on TVs and other digital devices. Indeed, the 201~
FIFA World Cup was shown In
. every Sing
. Ie cou ntry and terntory
on Earth. The in-home coverage a fth e compe tition reached
.
over
3.2 billion people-47 per cent of the global populatJ~n-who
watched at least a few mmutes
0f th e even.t A whopping 620
.
million people followed at least twenty consecu tive minutes of the

Region/Country

held every foul' years (except for ]942 and ]946) in host countries

.t
_.:._.'locatedt~n
~

alIICo~tti~entsfelxcept Oceania. In fact, this h

t'
ransna rona 1'0...1. Ion 0 lost countries coupled with t e even s
name 'World Cup' (instead of 'Nations CUP')-gives us a first
indication of why the global should not be rigidly separated from
the nationaL But let us delve more deeply into the matter and
consider even mOre telling facts related to the 2010 World Cup to
shed light on the complex 'glocal' dynamics that define the
phenomenon we have COmeto call 'globalization~

Europe

Central & South America

North America
Asia

The global-local nexus and the South

African World Cup
The nineteenth FIFA World Cup for men's national footbaJl was
held from II June to II July 2010 in South Africa (see Figure A).
The 32 best national teams from a total of205 originaJ
contestants competed for the Coveted golden globe trophy. These
included S1)( nations frorn Africa, three from Asia, thirteen from
Europe, three from North Africa, six from South America, and two
from Oceama. Played in ten stadiums located in nine South

Australasia
Middle East
Africa

% increase
from June
2009

124,752
40,903
11,451
47,188
12,009

72
15
847
925

England
France
Mexico
Brazil

5,334

14,100
50,902

USA

44,894
30,9]4

India
Japan

6,561
5,793
18,450

Australia
Israel
Swaziland

World

Number of
tourists
entering
South Africa

Algeria

16,106
5,139
2,747
398,085
45,59]
2,342
721,311

A.. Globaltouetsn to South Africa in June 2010

~--

"IIIlTce;

Stal:istics South Africa, June 2010, -eww w;statssa.gov.?a!pu hi"lea tiDns/P0:J5!/

P03SJJllneUllO,pdf.,

397
100
99
120
50
276
136
155
122
825
12
0.4
1744

43

championship
Netherlands.

match between victorious Spain and the

Born in ]979 into a prominent

Related money matters are equally global-local in nature. The

WO:ld Cup cost South Africa US$3.5 billion, including $1.2 billion
fo: l~frastructure upgrades, $].2 billion for transport, and $387
nulhon for broadcasting. However, $1.6 billion \WlS raised in
sponsorship revenue, with the most significant contracts signing
such powerful transnational COrporations (TNCs) as Adidas Coca
Cola, Visa, McDonalds, and BP. In the end, FIFA happily p~eted
a handsome profit of
billion, which pushed the organization's
2010 revenue to above $4 billion.

si

The official World C

t h ball
.
up rna c , too, represents an impressive
exam~le of the glocal dynamics constituting globalization.
SupplIed by Adidas, a gigantic TNC headqualtered in Germany,
~

~hehfootball was given the name 'Jabulani' which means 'celebrate'

10 t e Zulu language I
ite f h .
';;; 11.
.. n SPI 0 t en' apparent local identity,
~ I owevel, all Jabulanl balls were manufactured in China using a
atex bladder made in I di
d
. 1"
h
n ra
111 atwan T ese pi ti
. an a thermoplastic rubber produced
,
'
as res, U1 turn, were generated from petroleum
Imported from the Middle East and No
'
mostly So th K
but
rway, and earned on
u
orean uilt ships.
;

football-playing

family in

Montevideo, Uruguay, Diego Forlan was sent from an early age to

English-speaking schools. When his older sister Alejandra was left
paralysed after a car accident, tz-year-old Diego resolved to earn
enough money from a professional football career to pay her
hospital bills and afford the best doctors. He kept his promise
when, years later, he set up the Alejandra Forlan Foundation. He
would also use his global celebrity status in public TV campaigns
denouncing dangerous driving.
Launching his career with two Uruguayan football clubs, Forlan
was transferred in 1998 to the top Argentinean club Atletico
lndependiente. Scoring thirty-six goals in only seventy-seven
games, his global profile rose quickly. In 2002, he signed a
contract with the famous English club Manchester United for a
transfer Sum OfUS$IO.65 million. After three years, Forlan left
England and joined, in short succession, the Spanish clubs
Villareal and Atletico Madrid. Following the 2010 World Cup, he
moved to Italy to play for Internazionale Milan, one of Europe's
premier football clubs. In June 2012, Diego's abiding global
popularity Was reflected in the staggering 2,732,586 'likes' gracing
his Facebook page.
But Diego Forlan's greatest moments came in South Africa where

Wha~do Diego Farlan and Shakl

have In Common?
Ira
But perhaps the 1110stst iki 'II
'
erupts simultaneou I n ng I ustration of how globalization
s y across all geograph . I
of the mast celebl'at d
lea scales involves two
,
e superstars of the Wi ld Co
stnker Diego Forhin th t
or
p: Uruguayan
' , e ournament's rn t aI
Colombian singer.ent rt .
os v uable player, and
anthem of the 20]0:'1 adIller Shakira, who performed the official
or Cup at the
.
ceremonies of the m
Opeomg and closing
. ega-event.

he led his national team to an impressive fourth place finish. This

made Uruguay the most successful South American country of the
World Cup, Surpassing football giants Brazil and Argentina.
PrOUdlywearing the blue and black colours of his nation, Forlin
dazzled local and global fans with his speed, elegance, and goal
SCoringinstincts. Not only did he finish as the tournament's joint
top SCorer,but he also won the Golden Ball for the best player of
the World Cup.

Diego Forlcin and many of his fellow footballers performing in

:~th

African

stadiums thus embodied the 'glocal' dyoamics of

ahlation as they played for national teams that entertamed
5

---

------

local and global audiences while at the same time a large part of

accessories' such as massive leather fringe bracelets and huge

their football identity remained firmly linked to their contracted

clubs in global cities around the world.

silver disc earrings completed Shakira's fantasy costume (see

illustration 1).

A careful deconstruction

Similar hybrid, global-local creations of material culture are also

reflected in the 2010 World Cup anthem Waka Waka-

of World Cup entertainer

Shakira reveals

e:en more clearly why we should not approach globalization as a

disconnected phenomenon floating above the local and national.
Shakira l~abeJ Mebarak Ripoll was horn on 2 February 1977 in
Barranqudla, Colombia, to a New York City-born father of Arabic

backgroundand a motherof Spanish-Catalandescent.~a~

Spanish speaker, Shakira showed particular talent for languages
and ~~ SOon fluent in English and Portuguese, in addition to
acqulfln~ some Italian, French, Catalan, and Arabic. She began
performl.ug as a singer and dancer at a young age and broke
thro~g~ In 1998 as a rock and roll artist with strong Latin and
ArabIC mfluences, when her album D6nde Estan los Ladrones?
sold over seven million copies WOrldwide I
b th
Sl ki ,
. n many ways. 0
ta ira's personal background and her style of
.
b
'.
..
muslccan
e
charactenzed In terms of'hybridiza~~on' th
..
f diff
t
]
u
e nuxmg 0 rrreren
CU tural elements and styles As we will
loret
d ail.
Chapter 5 f thi b k'
exp ore 10 more et
iD
b
0
1S 00, these cultural hybridization processes have
een greatlY'accelerated by Slobalizati
IOn.

By 2010, Shakira had become

f
the global
terra!
one 0 the top female superstars in
en ertamrnent business h .
Awards ei ht L .
, avmg won two Grammy
M . A' g
attn Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Latin
USIC
wards and one Gold
GI b
that year the gold
en 0 e nomination. On 10 June of
,
en-maned barefo t
at FI.FA'sfirst~e
Ki k'
a superstar took centre stage
vel' c -off Concert in Joh
b'
Stadium accompan db
annes urgs Orlando
'Ie
y the popnlar S h Afri
I
Ground. To the d [i h f
out
can band FTesh y
e 19 t a tens of tho USa ds f l
d
millions of digital .
n 0 oeal revellers an
VleWersaround th
ld
.
was described as ~.
e War -Shakira wore wbat
rcan regalia' by its d .
Czar Roberto Cavalli. The lobaleslgner, Italian fashion
silk-fringed grass-lik ki g I
local ensemble consisted of a
.
'
e s rt ooselywom
b
Jumpsuit drastically d'
over a ze ra-prinr
re ucedms'
b d
.
Ize Y eep sIde cut-outs. :African
6

controversially translated

into English as 'This Time for Africa'.

The words and music in the version performed by Shakira stem

from the traditional Cameroonian war song 'Zangawela' First
recorded in the 19805 by the African group Golden Sounds, the
song was picked up a few years later by the Latin American
songwriter Wilfrido Vargas. His faster version of Waka Waka in
turn inspired numerous versions in France, Holland, Suriname,
Senegal, Jamaica, and other countries. Shakira's World Cup
rendition of Waka Waka quickly turned into a global earworm,
selling more than four million copies worldwide. Her video clip on
YouTube has become the third most watched music video of all
time with Over 250 million views. And yet. Golden Sounds
benefitted little from the global success of the song since the band
did not have the resources to sue SONY, Shakira's powerful
recording label. Ultimately, however, the transnational media
giant settled with the Cameroonian musicians to avoid bad
publicity over growing charges of possible copyright piracy.
So what-in addition to their multilingual upbringing and their
remarkable talent-do the Colombian pop star performing a
remixed version of an already globalized World Cup anthem and a
Urnguayan football striker playing for various European city clubs
have in COmmon? They are both the products and catalysts of
global "
.
d
IZa~lonProcesses that make more sense when considere as a
global~locaI11e.'\llS. In short, globalization cannot be confined to
:macro-dynamics isolated from concrete settings but as complex
connectj
.
ons and flo\\~ linking the global to the local and vice versa.
Our deconstruction of the 2010 World Cup has prepared us to tackle
the rather demanding task of assembling a working definition of a
con~ed
.
COnceptthat has proven notoriously hard to pm down.
7

Towards a definition of globalization

'Globalization' has been variously used in both the popular press
and academic literature to describe a process, a condition, a
system, a force, and an age. Given that these competing labels
have very different meanings, their indiscriminate usage is often
obscure and invites confusion. For example, a sloppy conflation of
process and condition encourages circular definitions that explain
little. The often repeated truism that globalization (the process)
leads to more globalization (the condition) does not allow us to
draw meaningful analytical distinctions between causes and

effects.
Hence, I suggest that we adopt the term globality to signify a
SOcial condition characterized

by tight global economic, political,

cultural, and environmental interconnections and flows that make

most of the currently existing borders and boundaries irrelevant.

Yet, we should not assume either that globality is already upon us

nor that it refers to a determinate endpoint that precludes any

further development. Rather, this concept signifies a future social

Condition that, like all conditions, is destined to give way to new
Constellations. For example, it is conceivable that globality might
;ventually be transformed into something we might call
planetaritv'_a

new social condition brought about by the

~ccessful colonization of our solar system. Moreover, we could

e~ily imagine different social manifestations of globality: one
might be based primarily on values of individualism, competition,
and laissez-faire capitalism, while another might draw on more
co~munal and COoperative norms. These possible alternatives
POintto the fundamentally indeterminate character of globality.
~
globalization applies to a set of social processes that
a . ar to transform Our resent social condition of conventional
nationality
.
~
into one of globality. As we noted in our observations
a .ut the 2010 World Cup, however, this does not mean that the

national
h I
~
Ort e ocal are becomiQg~'tinc!.2.r_~.
9

In fact, t e

~.

national and local are changing their character as a result of our

movement towards globality. At its core, then, lobalization is
about shiftin forms of human contact.lndeed
any affirmation of
globalization implies three assertions: first that we are slowly
l

~
behind the co~tion
of mode;- n~nality
that ~adually
unfolded from the ]8th century onwards; second, that we~
mOving ~~e
~ conditlCmOfpostmodern globality; and,
~d,
that we have not yet reached it. Indeed, like 'modernization'
and other verbal nouns that end in the suffix '-ization', the term
'globalization' suggests a sort of dynamism best captured by the
notion of 'development' or 'unfolding' along discernible patterns.
Such unfolding may OCCurquickly or slowly, but it always
corresponds to the idea of change, and, therefore denotes
transformation.
l

Hen~e, academics exploring the dynamics of globalization are

particularly keen on pursuing research questions related. to the
th~~e o.f social change. How does globalization proceed? What is
dnvlng It? Does it have One cause or is there a combination of
fac~rs? Is globalization a continuation of modernity or is it a
r~dlcal break? Does it create new forms of inequality and
hierarc.hy? Notice that the conCeptualization of globalization as a
dynamic process rather than as a static condition forces the
r~searcher to pay close attention to our shifting perceptions of
time and space mediated by digital technology.
Finally, let us adoptgwb

as a concept referring to
peoples growmg conSCiousness of global COn tivity A .
we have seen in
d
.
nec IVl gam, as
OUr econstructlon of the 2010 World Cup this is
not to say that national and I
1
'
th .
oca communal frameworks have lost
err power to provide people with
.
and identity B .
a meanmgful sense of home
. ut It would be a rni tak t cI
k
.
s
e 0. ose one's eyes to the
wea enmg of the national ima in
'.

a Zmagmary

constituted in the tsth a d 2 gi

global ccnsci
d n Otb
C10usness estabilizes
nation-state\vith
hi h
In wr IC people

ary as.lt has been historically

centunes. The thickening of the
and un ttl th
. 01
.
se es e convention
Imagine their communal

10

existence. As we shall see in Chapter 7 the rising global imaginary

is also powerfully reflected in the current transformation of the
1

principal ideas and values that go into the articulation

political agendas and programs.

of concrete

To argue that globalization constitutes a set of social processes

enveloped by the rising global imaginary that propel us towards
the condition of globality may eliminate the danger of circular
definitions but it gives us only one defining characteristic of the
process: movement towards more intense forms of connectivity
l

and integration. But such a general definition of globalization tells

us little about its remaining qualities. In order to overcome this
deficiency, it behoves us to identify additional qualities that make
globalization different from other sets of social processes. Yet,
Whenever researchers raise the level of specificity in order to bring
the phenomenon in question into sharper focus, they also heighten
the danger of provoking scholarly disagreements

over definitions.

Our subject is no exception. One of the reasons why globalization

remains a contested concept is because there exists no scholarly
consensus on what kinds of social processes constitute its essence.
After all, globalization is an uneven process, meaning thl!U?eople
~ivingin various parts of the world are affected ve!L!!ifferentlx b
this e.
--ISgJ.g~1C transfo!~on
of social structures and cultu;:"al
~.
Hence, the social processes that make up globalization have
b~enanalysed and explained by various commentators in
dtfferent, often contradictory ways. Scholars not only hold

diffe

01.

t vi

ren Views with regard to proper definitions of glob izaticu,

the~ also disagree On its scale, causation, chronology, impact,
trajectories, and policy outcomes. The ancient Buddhist parable of
thebr d b
I
.
10 sc olars and their encounter with the elephant he ps to
tllustrat th
d
.
.
dim
.e e academic controversy over the nature an vanous
enslons of globalization.
~ince the blind scholars did not know what the elephant looked

ilke the
,

Y resolved to obtain a mental picture, and thus the

11

----

knowledge they desired, by touching the animal. Feeling its trunk,

one blind man argued that the elephant was like a lively snake.
Another man, rubbing along its enormous leg, likened the animal
to a rough column of massive proportions. The third person took
hol~ of its tail and insisted that the elephant resembled a large,
flexible brush. The fourth man felt its sharp tusks and declared it
t~be Iik~ a great spear. Each of the blind scholars held firmly to
hIS own,ldeaofwhatconstituted
an elephant. Since their scholarly
reputation was ridin
th
.
.
.
.
. g on e veracity of their respective findings,
the blind men eventually ended up arguing over the true nature of
the elephant. (See Illustration 2).
The ongoing academic quarrel over which dimension contains the
essence of globalization represents a postmodern version of the
parable of the blind men and the ele h t E
th
t:
, ,
p an. ven ose lew
remammg scholars who still think of glob I' ...:
. gul
a izanon as a SIll
ar
proce.ss clash with each other over which aspect of social life
constitutes its pl'im'lryd
. M
.
<
ontain.
any global studies experts argue
t Itat economic process]'
b
, '1
es re at t e Core of globalization Others
pnvt ege political, cultural, Or ideolOgical aspects. Still others

-----

--

point to environmental processes as being the essence of

globalization, Like the blind men in the parable, each
globalization researcher is partly right by correctly identifying one
important dimension of the phenomenon in question. However,
their collective mistake lies in their dogmatic attempts to reduce
such a complex phenomenon as globalization to one or two
dOmains that corresponds to their own expertise. Surely, a central
task for the new field of global studies must be to devise better
ways for gauging the relative importance of each dimension
without losing sight of the interdependent whole.
Despite such differences of opinion, it is nonetheless possible to
detect Some thematic overlap in various scholarly attempts to
identify the core qualities of globalization processes. Consider, for
example, the following influential definitions of globalization:

Globalization can thus be defined 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. (Anthony Giddens, Former Director of
the London School of Economics)
Globalization may be thought

of as a process (or set of processes)

which embodies a transformation

in the spatial organization of
SOCialrelations and transactions-assessed
in terms of their
extenSity, intenSity, velocity and impact-generating
~ransContinental or interregional flows and networks of activity,
Interactio n, an d t h e exercise
- of power. (David. Held, Pro fessor 0f
Politics and International Relations, Durham University)

2. 'nle globalization

""""

Globalization as a concept refers both to the compression

scholars and th

I h
eeep ant

of the

world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a

l
Wh.o e.(Roland Robertson, Emeritus Professor of Sociology,
UnIversity of Aberdeen, Scotland)

12

13

These definitions point to four additional qualities or

The intensification of worldwide social relations means that local

characteristics

happenings are shaped by events occurring far away, and vice

versa. To make the point again, the seemingly opposing processes
of globalization and localization actually imply each other. Rather

at the core of globalization.

First, it Involves both

the creation of new social networks and the multiplication

existing connections that cut across traditional political,

of

economic, cultural, and geographical boundaries. As we have seen

in the case of the 2010 World Cup, today's media combine

than sitting at the base and the top of conventional geographical

hierarchies, the local and global intermingle, sometimes messily,

conventionallY coverage with multiple feeds into digital devices

and networks that transcend nationally based services.

with the national and regional, in overlapping horizontal scales.

The second quality of globalization is reflected in the eapansian

and the stretching of social relations, activities, and connections.
Tod~y's financial markets reach around the globe, and electronic
trading occurs around the clock. Gigantic and virtually identical
honni
U
sr oppmg rna s have emerged on all continents, catering to those
consumers who can afford comn,od,tie f
II
.
fth
s rom a regions 0
e
worId-incIudjng
prod ts I
.
.'
."
. lIC W lase vanous components were
manufactured III dl1Terent Countries Thi
f soci I
.
.
IS process a SOCia
stretcl.lln~ applies to FIFA as well as to other non-governmental
org~nIZatlOns, commercial enterprises, social clubs, and countless
regional and global institutions and associations: the UN the EU,
the Association of South East Asian Nations th 0
. ati
of
Afri
U
, e rgamza on
ican nrty, Doctors Without Borders, the World Social Forum,
and Google, to name but a few.
Third, globalization invOlves the s
..
f
ial
1
ie mtensijication and acceleration.
o SOCI exc tanges and activities As th S
_
.
.
Manuel Cast II SI
.
-e pa1llsh sociologist
society fu II edb l,as pointed out, the creation of a global network
e e Y communicati
'.
ical
revolution_one that h
on Power ~equlfed a technologi
development of
"C;S been. powered chiefly by the rapid
new lUlonnatloll and cornm
.
.
tech I .
.
umcatlOn
no ogles. Proceeding at breakneck s
'.
are reshaping th
ial I
peed, these mnovauons
e SOCI andsc
fh
Web relays diet t i r:.
.
a~e 0 timan life. The World Wide
an Inl01 matlOn III I' al ti
Id
consumers with : tant ro
e nne, and satellites provi e
ius nt Pictures of
SOcial networking b
remote events. Sophisticated
y means ofFacebook
.,..,.
routine actiVIty r:
or J.W1.tterhas become a
lor more than b"lr
a I IOn people around the globe.
14

Fourth, as we emphasized in our definition of the global

imaginary, globalization processes do not occur merely on an
objective, mateliallevel but they also involve the subjective plane
of human consciousness. Without erasing local and national
attachments, the compression of the world into a single place has
increasingly made global the frame of reference for human
thought and action. Hence, globalization

involves both the

macro-structures of a 'global community' and the micro-structures

of 'global personhood'. It extends deep into the core of the self and
its dispositions, facilitating the creation of multiple individual and
collective identities nurtured by the intensifying relations between
the pel'sonal and the global.
Having Succinctly identified some ofthe core qualities of
g~obalization, let us compress them into a single sentence that
YJeldsthe following very short definition of globalization:
Globalization refers to the expansion and intensification
relations and consciousness

across world-time

of social

and world-space.

~efore we draw this chapter to a close, we should consider an

I~POrtant objection raised by global studies scholars sensitive to
hIstOrical
.
th
matters: Is globalization really all that different from e
centuries_old process of modernization? Some critics have
:espollded to this question in the negative. contending

that even a

ursarylook at history suggests that there is not much that is new

ab OlltcOnt
.
emporary globalization Hence before we explore m
some det '1 h
"
ai t e main dimensions of globalization in subsequent
15

:>

I
g

chapters of this book, we should give this argument a fair hearing.

Chapter 2

After all, such a critical investigation of globalization's alleged

novelty and its relationship to modernity are closely related to yet
another question hotly debated in global studies: What does a

Globalization and history:

proper chronology and historical periodization of globalization

look like? Let us turn to Chapter 2 to find answers to these
questions.

is globalization a new
phenomenon?

I
Ifwe asked an ordinary person on the busy streets of global cities
like New York, Shanghai, or Sydney about the essence of
globalization, the answer would probably involve some reference
to growing forms of connectivity fuelled by exploding information
and communication technologies. People might point to their
ultra-thin laptop computers; all sorts of mobile devices such as
Cloud~connected smart wireless phones and tablets like the
popular iPhone Or the Kindle Fire; powerful Internet search
engines like Google that sort in a split-second through gigantic
data sets; individual video-postings on YouTube; ubiquitous social
networking sites like 1\vitter; the rapidly expanding blogosphere,
satellite~ and computer-connected
HDTVs; interactive 3-D
computer and video games; the new generation of super-jetliners
like the Airbus Aaso or Boeing's Dreamliner; and the
international space station.
As important as technology is for the intensification of global
connectivity, it provides only a partial explanation for the latest
Wave of globalization since the 1980s. Yet. it would

be foolish

to deny that these new innovations have played a crucial role in

~hecompression of world-time and world-space. The Internet,
In PartiCUlar,has asSumed a pivotal function in facilitating
globalization through the creation of the 'World Wide "feb that
conneM_ bill
..
and
10ns of individUals, civil society associations,
"\.1)

16

17

governments, Since most of these technologies have been around

for less than three decades, it seems to make sense to agree with
those commentators who claim that globalization
relatively new phenomenon,

is, indeed, a

Still, the definition of globalization we arrived at in the previous

chapter stresses the dynamic nature of tile phenomenon, The
~Iob~l expansion of social relations and the rise of the global
lmagmal)! are gradual processes with deep historical roots, The

~ngineers who developed personal computers and supersonic

Jet planes stand on the shoulders of earlier innovators who created
the steam engine, the cotton gin, the telegraph, the phonograph,
the telephone, the typewriter, the internal-combustion
engine,
and electrical appliances Th
d'
,
,
ese pro ucts III turn owe their
existence to much earlier technological inventions such as the
telesc~p~, the compass, water wheels, windmills, gunpowder,
the pnntll1g press and
'
'
,
d
.
,
'
oceangoing ShiPS, In order to acknowle ge
the full hlstoncal record, we might reach back even further to such
momentous technological and social achievements as the
production of paper tI e d
I,
f
'
1
eve opment of writing, the invention 0
the wheel, the domestication of wild pi ts d
' ~, th
an an arumars,
e
s Iow outward mi rati
'
fin 11 h
g
on of our Common African ancestors, and,
a y: t e emergence oflanguage at the dawn of human
evolution,

and the capitalist world system in the 1500s, And a few remaining
researchers refuse to confine globalization to time periods
measured in mere decades or centuries. Rather, they suggest that
these processes have been unfolding for millennia.
No doubt, each of these contending perspectives contains
important insights. As we will see in subsequent chapters, the
advocates of the first approach have marshalled impressive
evidence for their view that the dramatic expansion and
acceleration of global exchanges since the 1980s represents a
quantum leap in the history of globalization. The proponents of
the second view correctly emphasize the tight connection between
contemporary forms of globalization and the explosion of
technology known as the Industrial Revolution. The
representatives of the third perspective rightly point to the
significance of the time-space compression that occurred in the
16th century when Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas first became
connected by enduring trade routes, Finally, the advocates of
the fourth approach advance a rather sensible argument when
they insist that any truly comprehensive

account of globalization

falls short without the incorporation of ancient developments

enduring dynamics into OUTplanetary history,

and

While the short chronology outlined below is necessarily

Thus,. the answer to the question of Whether globalization
constitutes a new phenomen
d
Willing to ext d h
on epends upon how far we are
. en t ewebofc
'
!
tech no Iogles
. and social a
ausation that resulted in those recen
to associate

lth

rrangements that most people have come

WI
Our bUZZWord S
,.
.
the historicalsco e of I
.. . orne scholars consciously limit
to capture its
p
g obalizatlOn to the post-1989 era in order
I
contemporary uni
extend this tim f
'
rquenesg Others are willing to
e rame to mc1ude the rd'
develOpments of the last i,
g oun -breaking
globalization reall
as vo centuries, Still others argue that
eLl y represents
th
.
.
COmplexprocesses th t b
. e contmuation and extension of
a egan WIth th
'
e emergence of modernity

fragmentary and general, it identifies five historical periods that

are separated from each other by significant accelerations in
the pace of SOcialexchanges as well as a widening of their
geO~raphicalscope, Thus, we could say that globalization is an
ancient proc
th
d di . t
'
ess at, over many centuries, has crosse
istinc
~uahtative thresholds. In this context, it is important to bear
in mind that
I
"
Ii
my c ITOnology does not necessanly Imply a near
unfolding fhi
E
0
story, nor does it advocate a conventional
urocentric pe
'
f
"ted
.
rspective of world history. Full 0 unanncrpa
surpnses . 1
'
.
, vio ent t\v"lS1:s,
sudden punctuations, and dramatic
reversals th hi
,
,
,ed
IStOry of globalization has invoked all major
regIons
an Cultures of our planet.

18
19

The prehistoric

period (1 0,000 BCE-3500 BCE)

Let us begin ]2,000 years ago when small bands of hunters and
gatherers reached the southern tip
. ofSoulh Am enca.
. This event
marked the end of the long process of settling all five continents
that was begun by Our hominid African ancestors more than
one million years ago. Although SOme major island groups in the
Pacific and the Atlantic were not inhabited until relatively
recent times, the truly global dispersion of our species was finally
achieved. The Successful endeavour of the South American

I,

nomads rested On the migratory achievements of their Siberian

ancestors who had crossed the Bering Strait into North America
at least a thousand years earlier.

In this earliest phase of globalization. Contact among thousands

of hunter and gatherer bands spread allover the world was
geographically limited and mostly coincidental. This fleeting
mode of social interaction changed dramatically about 10,000
years ago when humans took the crucial step of producing their
Own food. As a result of several factors, including the natural
OCCurrence of plants and animals suitable for domestication as
well as continental differences in area and total population size,
only certain regions lOcated on Or near the vast Eurasian Iandnta-'
pmved to be ideal for these growing agricultural settlements.
These areas were located in the Fertile Crescent, north-central
China, North Africa, northwestern India, and New Guinea. over
time, food surpluses achieved by these early farmers and herders
led to population increases, the establishment of permanent
villages, and the Construction of fortified to\vns.
ROving bands of nomads lost out to settled tribes, chiefdoms, and,
ultimately, POwerful states based On agricultural food production.
(See Map 1). The decentralized, egalitarian nature of bunter and
gatherer groups was replaced by centralized and highly stratified
patnarchal social structures headed by chiefs and priests who
were exempted from hard lllanUailabour. Moreover, for the first
20
21

time in human history, these farming societies were abl.eto

support two additional SOCial
. classes w h ose mem bers did IInot. e
participate in food production. One group ConSIS. ted of fu dohm
the
craft specialists who directed t helf
creative
en
.
.
ergies towar
invention of new technologies, sucb as powerful iron tools: rion
beautiful ornaments made 0 f precIous me s,
aI

tal complex rmga

canals, sophisticated pottery and basketI)', and monu;ent
hUilding structures. The other group was comprised 0
key
professional bureaucrats and sold;ers who would later playa ds
role in the mon0l'Ohzahon
-:::::~
. . of the mea'l ofv"!..!,"ce
1
in the
han

of a few- rulers, the precise

.. ti"
- accounting of food surp 1 us es necc=u':
for the growth and survival of the centr tze sta ~
ali d
t the a UISI
~~
territory, the establishment ofQcrmanent trade r~,
an
~stema.lic ex loration of distant !]gjons.

~
~
1l

IJ

For the most part, however, globalization in the pre IS 0

f
hi t ric period
Was severely limited. Advanced forms of technology capablel~~
overcoming existing geographical and social obstacles were
.
absent; thus, enduring long~distance interactions never
materialized. It was only tOward the end of this epoch that

centrally administered forms of agriculture, religion, bureaucr aey '

and warfare slowly emerged as the key agents of intensifying
f
modes of social
a growmg n umber 0
. exchange that would lllvolve
'.
societies in many regions of the world.

Perhaps the best Wayof charaeterizing the dynamic of this earli~

phase of globalization would be to call it 'divergence'-peoPle:d
social cnnnechons stemmmg from a single origin but moving
diversifying greatly Over time and space.

The premodern period (3500

BCE -1500 CE)

3. Assyrian clay tablet with cuneiform

g,.C1900-1800

WI'Iitin r

BeE

1
11 0numental

inventions amounted to one of those technological

level Thanks
and social boosts that moved globalizatior
.,
. .
..
r to a new
to the auspicious east-west orientation
0
al
d
.
.
f Eurasia s major
.
c.
that had 'table
rea y for food
Continental axis-a geographlcalleature.
faeilitated the rapid spread of crops an d animals
.
. SUI fthese new
production along the same latitu
. des- the
. diffusion 0 d ithin only
technologies to distant parts of the con tin ent occurre
.
t:
the
WI
a few centuries The importance 0 f t h ese inventions h.
lor s

The invention of writing in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and eentral

strengthening of
. glohalization processes should be

China between 3500 and 2000 BCE (see TIlustration 3) roughly

coincided with the invention of the wheel around 3000 BCE in

Among other things, the wheel spurre dial

cruc
infrastruct roads that
.
,"nOvations
such as animal-drawn carts an d perrnanen
.
f people
allOwedfor the faster and more efficient transportation 0
and Soods. In addition to the spread of Ideas
an d inventions,
.

Southwest Asia, Marking the close of the prehistoric period, these

23

rural
0 VlOU
.

writing greatly faciJitated the coordination

of complex social

activities and thus encouraged large state formations. Of

b
the sizeable territorial units that arose unng t JS p.
pen Iod, only t ,
Andes CIVl
enca manag ed to grow into the
"I" rzations 0 fS out h Ameri

7:':::=h'i:7.::::;;':::;;;;;;-;;;;;';:i;";;;:;;:;;;:"d;;;:;,;;;t:iiti';-

mighty Inca Empire without the benefits of either the wheel or

the written word.

The later premodern period was the age of empires. As some

states Succeeded in establishing permanent rule over other
states, the resulting vast territorial accumulations formed the
basis of the Egyptian IGngdoms, the Persian Empire, the
th
Macedonian Empire, the American Empires of the Aztecs and e
Incas, the Roman Empire, the Indian Empires, the Byzantine
Empire, the Islamic Caliphates, the Holy Roman Empire, the
African Empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay, and the Ottoman
Empire. All of these empires fostered the multiplication and
extension Oflong-distance communication and the exchange of
culture, technology, commodities, and diseases. The most
enduring and technologically advanced of these vast premodern
conglomerates was undoubtedly the Chinese Empire. A closer
look at its history reveals some of the early dynamics of
globalization.

After centuries of warfare between several independent states, the

Qi E
'. III 221 liCE, finally unified large portio. usaf
n 'mperor 's armies,
northeast China. For the next 1,700 years. successive dynasties
known as the Han, Sui, "rang, Yuan, and Ming ruled an empire
supported by vast bureaucracies that would extend its influence to
such distant regions as tropical Southeast Asia, the
Mediterranean,

India, and East Mrica (see IUustration 4).

Dazzling artistry and brilliant philosophical achievements

stimulated new discoveries in other fields of knowledge such as
astronomy, mathematics, and chemistry. The long list of major
technological inno~ations achieved in Chi~a during the
i2.':emodern penod lIlciude redesigned plowshares, hydraulic
~g1l1eerll1~~der,

~pping

of natural gas, the

,
4. The Great Wall of China, begun m
the 7th ce ntury
Was enlarged and rebuilt repeatedly

BCI!.

by warlords,

Com ass, mechanical clocks, paper, pnn. timg, lavishly

__ .
embroidered silk fabrics, and sophisticated met~working
. .
techniques. The construction of vast n-nga
I
-----.....
. . ti on systems. consistmg
----~
. , agncultura
of hundreds
of small canals enhanced the regions
productivity while at the same time provr'eli ng for
01 one of the best
d
riVertransport
systems in the worl d. T he co dification
I
'
oflaw an h
the fiXIng
' of weights measures, and values a f com
'age fostered. t ef
expansion of trade and
markets. The stan dar diiza tiIon of the size 0
Cartaxles and the roads they travelled on allowed Chinese
h
merchants for the first time to make precise
CU
' cal lations as to t e
desired quantities of imported and exported goods.
The nlost extensive of these trade routes was ~th-:-e-:-...,Si;;-Ik::
:::R.o~:::adn'
It
linked the Chinese and the Roman Empires, with Parthian
traders Serving as skilled. intermediaries.

Even 1,300 years after

the Silk Road first reached the ItaJian peninsula,

24

25

in 50

BCE)

a truly multicultural

group of Eurasian and African

globetrotters-including
the famous Moroccan merchant Ibn
Battuta and his Venetian counterparts in the Marco Polo
family-relied on this great Eurasian land route to reach the
splendid imperial court of the Mongol Khans in Beijing,
By the 15th century CE, enormous Chinese fleets COnSlS
. ti ng of
hundreds of 400-foot-long ocean-going ships were crossing the
Indian Ocean and establishing short-lived trade outposts on the
east coast of Africa, However, a few decades later, the ruJers oftbe

I
e

Chinese Empire implemented a series of fateful political decisions

that halted overseas navigation and mandated a retreat from
.
furthe technological
development. .rhus, the rulers cu t s hort their
.
empire's inCipient industrial revolution, a development that
allowed much smaller European states to emerge as theprinHu)'
historical agents behind the intensification of globalization.
the end of the premodern period, then, the
tglobal
de
trade network (see Map 2) consisted of several interlocking ra
circuits that connected the most populous regions of Eurasia and
northeastern Africa. Although both the Australian and the

.2 Toward
'::_.~o

. .
existing

American continents still remained separate from this expanding

web of economic, political, and cultural interdependence, the
empires of the Aztecs and Incas had also succeeded in developing
major trade nenvoI'ks in their own hemisphere.
The existence of these sprawling nehvorks of economic and
cultural exchange triggered massive waves of migration, which, in
turn, led to further population increase and the rapid growth of
urban centres. In the resultin cultural clashes, religions with oJ?1y
~glJ!ficanct
re~igjo~' \~

were -transformed into the major 'world

.~~..Ludaism:Christianity, Islam,

knO\~ to~~

HlIldn!.!..m,~d BUd~m.
But higher POpulation density and
more intense social interaction Over greater distances also
facilitated the Spread of new infectious diseases like the bubonic
plague. The enoonou, plague epidemic oftbe mid-14th century,

"'"

'"o
o
iii.

:~-g:,
3:!!!'

r-

~
(;

;::

for example killed u t

hi
,
,
,
'
p o one-t ird of the respective populations
Chma, the Middle East,
dE
an
urope, However. these unwelcome
bY-~rodUcts of unfolding globalization Processes did not reach
their most horrifi
'r.,
,
, .
c malll,estatlOn until the fateful rtith-century
colhslOn of the 'old' d '
,
0
an new' worlds, Althou h the precise
population size of the A
'
-:,-;~-;;;:~=:.:::~~~!!m~e"f~lc~as before contact remains
a contentious issue it'
ti
'
'k'lled
~ated
Eurapean Invaders
' that the_ deadly genns_ of
~.- an - -!..- an estimated 18-20 million Native
. d,encansinconceivable 90-95 er cent of the total-In 1genous population,
__
__

mechanized printing, sophisticated wind and water mills,

extensive postal systems, revised maritime technologies, and
advanced navigation techniques. Add the enormous impact of
the Reformation and the related liberal political idea oflimited
government, and we have identified the main forces behind the
qualitative leap that greatly intensifieddemographic,
cultural,
ecological, and economic flows between Europe, Africa, and
the Americas.
Of course, the rise of European metropolitan

The early modern period (1500-1750)

The term 'moderni!)l I b
EuropeaE
I' 1
las ecome associated with the 18th-cent}!!Y
_
<n n Igltenmentp
,
,
achievi'
rOJect of develo in ob 'ective science
-::;::-~n,:,g""a"u~llIversal
form f
aI
c:
rational nlod - f h
0 tuOr isYand law, and liberating
:8
eso t oUJ!hta' d
'
::l perceived irrati -I" .~n
SOCialorganization from the
:; '"="--Ona Itles oflllyth
1"
But it is importa
re rgion, and political tyranny,
G of modernity th<11t ftto acknowled ge th e existence of multiple
~
5
torrn
.
a 0 en developed'
.
ld
III resistance to E
10 various parts of the wor
uropean Illod
.
,
then, refers to the
'iod
ern,lty. TIle label 'early modern,
pellO betw
h
d
the Enlightenment D'
een t e European Renaissance an
.
~-'
unngtheset\
.
d ,~
social practices en - d
vo centuries, Europe an I!:?
lerge as the
.
,
after a long period of As'
....PEmary~atalyst for globaIjza~
----Ian
predominan
-__
ceo
..Q

II

early modern period, Embodying the new values of individualism

and unlimited material accumulation, European economic
entrepreneurs laid the foundation of what later scholars would
call the 'capitalist world system', However, these fledgling
capitalists could not have achieved the global expansion of their
commercial enterprises without substantial support from their
respective governments, The monarchs of Spain, Portugal,

t----'

indeed ha",'
.
- , ..'
ng Contnbuted li
ClVlhzational achj
ttle to technology and other
E
evements betwe
b
ura eansnorthoftheAl
s
en a out500CE-1000CE,
of tecbnolOPical . 0
,~v
benefited from the diffusion
I
q.;,:
1ll1l vations ori'
. .
cu tur~P~res
D~:.:.~~-~~~!pa~
lJl fslamic and Chinese
. esPlte th
China and the noticeabl
e weakened political influence of
so
e ecological d I'
t
ec me of the Fertile Crescen
'. me 500 years late r, E uropean
Intenor of Africa and As'
Powers failed to penetrate into the
expansionistic desi
la. Instead, they turned their
res westward
hi
sea route to india. Thei fIi
,searc 'ng for a new, profitable
r e arts were aided b
Ysuch innovations as
28

centres and their

affiliated merchant classes represented another important factor

responsible for strengthening globalization tendencies during the

~heNetherlands, France, and England all put significant resources

into the exploration of new worlds and the construction of new
interregional markets that benefited them much more than their
exotic 'trading partners'.

C-OI-O!Vf 'AT/ON

BIb
I MPe;,rGIAl-lulllt
y e early 1600s, national joint stock companies like the Dutch
andB" h
fltis East India companies were founded for the express
Purpose of setting up profitable overseas trade posts. As these
lUnovative
'
. d h
corporations grew in size and stature, they acq uire t e
POWerto re It.
.'
.
I praces' gu a Ie most lIltercontinental economic transacnons, ' In
tIe
SImp ementing social institutions and cultural practices
thaI enabled I
'
.
ater colonial governments to place these foreign
fdegJons
political rule (see Illustration 5fReiated
evelop Under,direct
/
_
~,
such as the Atlantic slave trade and forced
POpulation lfan Siers
r
,
,,,,'th'In the Arnencas,
result ed' III th e su fIi'enng
an death of 'II'
,
~h'Ite i!UIni
,_un lonsofnon-Euro
swhile
tl'benefitm
w
~grants
and their home countries.

<S!-If Ie.r s

29

l;.hdpW~ ~

,(JO.x:.. rn-

To be sure, religious warfare within Europe also created its share of

dislocation and displacement for Caucasian populations. Moreover,
as a result of these protracted armed conflicts, military alliances
and political arrangements underwent continuous modification.
This highlights the crucial role of warfare as a catalyst of
globalization. Evolving from the Westphalian states system, the
sovereign, territorial nation-state emerged in 18th-century Europe
~odern
container of social life. As the early modern period
drew to a close, interdependencies among nation-states were
multiplying as well as increasing in density.

Themodern period (1750-1980)

Bythe late 18th century, Australia and the Pacific islands were
slowly incorporated into the European-dominated
network of
political, economic, and cultural exchange. Increasingly
confronted with stories of the 'distant' and images of countless
'Others', Europeans and their descendants on other continents
took it upon themselves to assume the role of the world's
gu~rdians of civilization and morality. tn spite of their persistent
clalms to universal leadership, however, they remained strangely
obr
--.
.....-2."2.~sto their racist practices and the appalling conditions
of in
I"
~"
~_.__-.:T:.a tty that existed both within their own societies and

~~E..

the gl~~ North and South. Fed by a steady strea~ of

materials a d . .
.
h
.
f
n resources that originated mostly In ot .er regions a
the world, Western capitalist enterprises gained in stature. Daring
to resist p
ful
.
ower . governmental controls, economIC entre reneurs
andtheira
d .
.
I f
"
ca eInlc counterparts began to s read a h1l0so 1 0
'~dividUalism and rational self-interest that lorified the virtues
a an ideal" d ~
system supposedly based upon the
prOVIdential W ki
f
. . . ibl b d'
Or Ulgs 0 the free market and Its 'IDYlSl e an .

Writte .
F . n Ul1847 by the German political radicals Karl Marx and
nedrich E
I
Com . nge s, the passage below taken from their famous
th 17tUT/.1Bt Manifesto captures the qualitative shift in social relations
at pushed I baliza'
.
ga
ticn to a new level in the modern penod.
30
31

/k'

advertising agencies launched the first full-blown trans-border

commercial promotion campaigns.

Marx and Engels on globalization

The discovery of America prepared the way for mighty industry
and its creation of a truly global market. The latter greatly
expanded trade, navigation, and communication

by land. These

developments, in turn, caused the further expansion of industry.

The growth of industry, trade. navigation, and railroads also went
hand in hand with the rise of the bourgeoisie and capital which
pushed to the background the old SOcial classes of the Middle
Ages ... Chasedaround the globe by its burning desire for
ever-expanding markets for its products, the bourgeoisie has no
chOice but settle everYWhere; cultivate everywhere; establish
connections everYWhere ... Rapidly improVing the instruments of
production, the bourgeoisie utilizes the incessantly easing modes
of communication to pull all nations into civilization-even
the
most barbarian ones., .In a nutshell, it creates the world in its
own image. (Translated by the author)

As Marx and Engels noted, however, the rise of the European

bourgeoisie and the related intensification of global
interconnections would not have been possible without the
19th-century explosion of science and technology. To be sure, the
maintenance of these new industrial regimes required new power
sources such as electricity and petroleum. The largely unregulated
Useof these energy sources resulted in the anmihilI a t'Ion of
countless animal and plant species as well as the textif cation
' 0f
entire regions. On the up side, however, railways, mechanized
shipping, and 20th-century intercontinental
air transport
managed to overcome the last remaining geographical obstacles to
the establishment of a genuine global infrastructure, while at the
same time lowering transportation costs.
These innovations in transportation

were complemented

by the

Swiftdevelopment of communication technologies. The telegraph

and its transatlantic reach after 1866 provided tor instant

Indeed, the VOlumeof World trade increased dramatically

between 1850 and ]9]4. GUided by the activities of multinational
banks, capital and goods flowed across the borders relatively freel}'
~ the s~erling-based gold standard made possible the worldwide
circUlatIOn of leading national currencies like the British pound
and the Dutch ITilder E
.
resource bases O'most E agel' to acquire
. their own independent
.
'
uropean natIon-states subjected large
portions of the global South to direct colonial rule. On the eve of
World War I mercha di
f
.'
tse trade
gross natiOnal
output ntotalled
al measured as a percentage 0
industrialized
.
mOst 12 per cent for the
. .
countnes, a level unmatched until the 1970s. Global
pncmg systems facilitated trade in irn
. .. like
grains Cat!
'
on, an d va-:
VariOUSrn t I B portant commodities __
Ilk
.
I. e C oca-Cola drmks
Ca .b.e a s. rand Dame packaged guu=
.
and Rerni
' . mp eli soups, Smger sewing machines,
ngton t'ypewl1ters made th . fi
rder
to raise the global visibili
f
eu- rst ~PP~ce.
~ 0
ty 0 these corporauons, international
~o

information exchanges between the two hemispheres. Moreover,

the telegraph set the stage for the telephone and wireless radio
communication, prompting newly emerging communication
corporations like AT&T to coin advertising

slogans in celebration

of a world 'ine:-..'tricablybound together'. Finally, the 20th-century

arriValof mass Circulation newspapers and magazines, film, and
tele'~sion further enhanced a growing consciousness
shrinking world.

of a rapidly

Th e filodern period also witnessed an unprecedented popu I'ation

ex~l~sion.Having increased only modestly from about 300
n
rnliho at the time of the birth of Christ to 760 million in 1750,
the World'sPopulation reached 3.7 billion in 1970. Enormous
wavesof migration intensified existing cultural exchanges and
transfonned t adi '
ular I
, tio
r uonal social patterns. Pop ar mmugra
n

countnes
States 0 f'America, C ana d a, and Australs
" like the United
,
took advantage of this boost in productivity. By the early 20th
century, these countries entered the world stage as forces to be
reckoned
with. At the same time, however, they made srgru
. ificant
efforts to control these large migratory flow, in the p~
,
. n~
inventin -novel forms of bureaucratic
control and developing
surveillance techniques designed to accumulate more I.nformatce
~bout nationals while keeping 'undesirables' out.

When the accelerating process of industrialization sharpened

existing disparities in wealth and wellbeing beyond bearable

translated the national imaginary into extreme political progr~S

~:E.!llWJ.he imagination of~ions
of peo ~ around the world.
TI~el'eis no uestiol!.~
in~<.:rstaterivalries intensified at the

~ 9~~!
..
~D!2!1,Q.lli.0IllJ!.!Y!!! a result

of mass migration,
urbanization, colonial competition -, and the excess~

-.,~~---.:

~~of
w~~d tE~d,"lhe en~u;-;'gp~riod~xtreme
, s
~~Ollalism cu.!..mill~n
two devastating world wars, genocide,
a long global economic de l'ession and hostile measures to

----- - -- ---

J:'~~w!y

---

~~~.pO~~cal~~,

The end of~

saw the
losion of two owerful
a~o:~lCbombs t~~ killed 202l2QQjapanese, most of them
CIVlhaJ~s.Nothing did l~
to c~~~
peo Ie around the world
of the hnked fate of geogr. hicallYand
I'ticall'
ated

--~-

~~

01

S~M

'~ons',
Indeed, the lobal imaginary found l!jJorriJYing
expression 111 __
the --.....;.
Cold-War acronym. '>K.
--:4_~
;:.J.tUJ. mu -tuall y assured
N

th

limits, many working people in the global North began to organl'

themselves politically in various labour movements and socialist
parties. However, their idealistic calls for international class
solidarity Went largely unheeded, [nstead. ideologies that
~
~

democratic governance, However, su ch cos mopolitan hopesd quickly

!'adedas the Cold War divided the world for four lo~ dwecaled'
,; two antagonistic spheres: a liberal-ca It
, alist
or t
into
-. 'First
. -sociali
-;--:~-;L''';;:-::-;-;::;.
Sta
dan authoritarian-soci
IS
dominated by the United
tes, an ,
,
B
blocs sought to
'Second World' controlled by the Soviet Union. ~h
:--Third------' al d 0 minance In t e ~'I
establish
their ---oliticaJ and id eo Ioglc
World: Indeed, superpower confrontations like the Cuban
I~SIe
Crisisraised
the spectre of agoI bal con Iller capable of destroying
-\~ly
all life on our planet.

Thecontemporary period (from the 19805)

As we noted at the beginning
, , 0 f thiIS Ch ap ter , the dramatic
creation, expansion, and acceleration of worldwide
.
interdependencies and global exchanges th a t have occurred .since
the early 1980s represent yet another quan t urn leap in the history
of globalization, The best way of characterizing
I
"
this
latest
I
go balization wave would be to Callit
It con~
'
ergence'e-different

an
c oming
,
together
more rapidly than ever before, TillS
d
, d naIOle
. re ceived---,another
boost with the 1991 collapse of the communi~ Soviet En-u;?lre~~
~- mar kldeed
'neoliberal'
attem ts to create a single
global
et. n
,
~-.-;...:.
- economies. combin. ed WIith the
the
deregulation of -national
WIdely
spaced people and SOCial
,
" connections

ocn

nlOrmatlOnand
Commumcation
Tee no Iogy
c
"h
Revolution
~lobalization
into
a
new
gear,
The
unprecedented
, ,
d I
eve opmellt of horizontal networks 0 f interac
_
i
0've conunumcation
that Connected the local and global was made possible through the
WorldWidediffusion of the Internet, wireless commurucauon,
digital media, and online social networking tools.

desn uction), A more positive result Was the process of

Buthow exactly has globalization

decolonization in the 1950s and 1960s that slowly revived global

flows and mternational exchanges, A new political order

decades? Why does what has been happening justify the creation
of a bUZZWOrd
that not only captured the public imagination, but
h", also elicited conflicting emotional responses? Is contemporary
globalization a 'gOOd'Or a 'bad' thing? Throughout this book we

of sov'::!lgn ~ interdependent
charterofth
U' dN-'-

nation-Slates anchored in the

_

~~~r~~!::~-:~OfgIObaI
34

accelerated

in these last three

\\'tllCOnsiderPOssible answers to these crucial questions, In domg

3S

lpplication of the term 'glob aliIZatJOn

. 'to
iriod while keeping in mind that the
orocesse, actuaJly can be traced back

Before we embark On this next stage of Our journey,let us pa~

and recall an important point we made in Chapter 1. Glob ali11.3 IJ(J
is not a single process but a Set of processes that operate

Chapter 3
The economic dimension
of globalization

simUltaneously and unevenly On severaJ levels and in various

dimensions. We could compare these interactions and
interdependencies to an intricate tapestry of overlapping shapes
and colours. Yet,just as an auto mechanic apprentice must turn
off and disassemble the car engine in order to understand its
operation, so must the stUdent of globalization apply analytical
distinctions in order to make sense of the web of global
~
~
~
I
I

connectivity. In enSUing chapters we will identity, explore, and

aSSesspatterns of globalization in each of its main domains-I
economic, political, cultural, ecological, and ideological-whi e
keeping in mind its operation as an interacting whole on all
geographical scales. Although we will study the various
dimensions of globalization in isolation we will resist the
temptation to reduce glohalization to a ~ingle 'most important'
aspect. Thus will we avoid the blunder that kept the blind men
from appreciating the full nature of the elephant.

Althe beginning of the previous

.
c h ap ter we noted thatf the
new
forms of technology centred on th e Internet are one 0
hallmarks of contemporary goa
. h last
I b I'iza tion . Indeed,
technological progress of the magm it U de seen In t e f
three decades is a good indicator
"
f or the occurrence k0 t
profound social transformations
cen t r ed on the mar e ..
.
Changes in the way in which
di ,
. peal' 1e un dertake economic
production and organize the exc h ange of comma mes,
of
represent One obvious aspect of . t he grea t transformation
,
if tion
OUr age. Economic globalizatiOn
rerers
b
.
r
to the intensi I ca
and stretching of economic Connections
.
across the gI 0 e.have
GIgantic
flows of capital mediate
'
'
,
db y di19l'tal techno hogy
stimulated
trade in goods and services.
ce
.
.
Extending tell'b
reach around the world, markets have mlgl
a
.
. . ted to cy erspa
and created new linkages among natrona
.
I and regional
econolUies, Huge transnational

corpora tiron 5 powerful

J

al

International
economic institutions,
an d gligantic regiOn
.
,
t'
ra dilng systems like Asian Pacific EconoIDI . c CooperatIOn
(

Pli

Or

the European

Union (EU ) h ave emerged

as tbe .

majorbUilding
blocks of the 21st century s g10 bal econonnc
.

~r.

Chapter 5
The cultural dimension
of globalization

As OUI' opening di
.
show
ISCUSSlon of the 2010 Football World Cup has
n, even a very sh t'
uld be
woeful! .
Or Introduction
to globalization wo
Y Inadequate with
_1
dimensio
C I
out an examination of its cultunu
n. 1I tural gl b [i .
. and
expansi
0 a lzatlOn refers to the intensificatIOn
on of cultural fI
I '~
a very b. ad
ows across the globe. Obviously, 'cuture
]0,1 concept"t
f
hIeD!
huma
.'
,1 IS requently used to describe the \\' 0 '
n expenence In d
f
avergenera]"
'. or er to avoid the ensuing problem 0
Izatlon It' .
. cti o~
between as
,IS Important to make analytical distin 0
pects of SOciall"fi ~
h
adjective 'e
.
1 e. rOI' example we associate t e
conollllC' with th
'
consUmption
f
e production, exchange, and
o. commodif res. If we are discussing the 'po J'ItJ
we Olean PI'
actlces related t h
. f
Power in soc' ti
ate generation and distributIOn0
re res Ifw
c~neer~ed with th'e s~ ": talking ab~ut the 'cultu:a1; we are
dissenllllation f
belie <cnstruction articulation- and
irn
a meaning G'
'
.
d
ages eonstit t th
. iven that language mUSIC, an
as
ute emajafi
'.
hY
Slll11e special"
r arms of symbolic expression, t e
Slgnl'ficance i h
n t e sphere of culture.
The explod'
interd
lng network of C 1
.
t
ependencies in th
u tura! mterconnections and
o Suggest that CUlt
e last decades has led some commentatorS
Conte
ural pra t'
st'
mporary globaliza. c lees lie at the very heart of
art With th
bon Yet u1
t
Or ~
e WOrldwid d"
,c hiral globalization did nO
Ootbal!..Asnoted' e 1ssemination of rock 'n' roll, cocwCDI8,
111 Chapte 2
r ,expansive civilizational
.~J

74

II

exchangesare much older than modernity. Still, the volume and

extentof cultural transmissions in the contemporary period
have far exceeded those of earlier eras. Facilitated by the Internet
andour proliferating mobile digital devices, the dominant
symbolicsystems of meaning of our age-such as individualism,
consumerism, and various religious discourses-circulate
more
freelyand widely than ever before. As images and ideas can be
moreeasily and rapidly transmitted from one place to another,
t~eyprofoundly impact the way people experience their everyday
lives. Today, cultural practices have escaped fixed localities such
~ town and nation, eventually acquiring new meanings in
lnteraction WIt
. h dommant
.
global themes.
The thematic landscape traversed by scholars of cultural
globalization is vast and the questions they raise are too numerous
to be fleshed out in this short introduction. Rathel' than offering a
~onglaundry list of relevant topics, this chapter will focus on three
~mportantthemes: the tension between sameness and difference
In the en
. g Iobal culture' the crucial role of. transnattona
.
I
ierging
media.corporations in dissemi~ating
globahzation of languages.

popular culture; and the

Global culture: sameness or difference?

Doesglobalization make people around the world more alike or
~ol'e different? This is the question most frequently raised in
dlscussions On t h e subject
.
. .
Agroup 0 f
of cultural globahzatlOn,
~ommentators we mi~ht call 'pessimistic' hypel'globaJizers argue
!nfavourorf the former. They suggest that we are not rnovmg
.
tOwardsa cultural rainbow that reflects the diversity of the world's
eXistingc
.
. th e nse
. 0 f'al1
,
Ultu res. Rather, we are Wltnessmg
!nere .
";"--b
__ 8Smglyhomogenized popular culture underwntten~
Wet
'
- -d
~ ern culture indust!"i baseJl.in New YOl'k,1:!9l!X~
~
and Milan, As evidence for their interpretation, these
comllle ta-."
. Nike trainiog
n tors pomt to Amazoman Indians weanng
shoes' d .
I . Yankees
, entzens of the Southern Sahara pure laslllg
.
75

baseball caps; and Palestinian youths proudly displaying their

Chicago Bulls sweatshirts in downtown Ramallah. Referringto
the diffusion of Anglo-American values and consumer goodsas
the 'Americanization of the world: the proponents of this cultural
homogenization thesis argue that Western norms and lifestyles
are overwhelming more vulnerable cultures. Although there haw
been serious attempts by some countries to resist these forcesof
'cultural imperialism'_for example, a ban on satellite dishes in
Iran, and the French imposition oftaritfs and quotas on imported
film and television-the
Spread of American popular culture
seems to be unstoppable.
But these manifestations of sameness are also evident inside the
dominant countries of the global North. American sociologist
George Ritzer coined the term 'McDonaldization' to describe the
wide-ranging sociocultural processes by which the principles of
the fast-food restaurant are corning to dominate more and more
sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world. On
the surface, these principles appear,
b
ional i hei
o e ration
ill t err
attempts to offer efficient and predl'c, hI
f servi
ople~
.
a e ways 0 serving pe
needs. However, lookmg behind the'
d f
"TV
.
.
la~a e 0 repetrtrve
commercIals that claim to 'love to see
'I '
id tifya
.
.
you srru e, we can I en
number of serIOUSproblems. For one th
1
' e general y low
nutritional value offast-food meals-and'
h ' h'gh
'.
Perticulariy t err 1
fat content-has
been Implicated in the'
f'
aI h
rtse 0 sertous he t
problems such as heart disease diabetes
"I
'
,cancer and juveni e
obesity. Moreover, the impersonal routin
' ,
"ai'
'.
'e
fast-service establishments actually unde' "Peranons of. ration
f
.
.
rmine expressions 0
forms of cultural dIverSIty. In the long run th "
"
.
of the world amounts to the Imposition
ofu' i eo .tcDonaldlzatIon
.
,
,
that echpse human creativity and dehuman' l11Jormstandards
.
,
,
lze SOCialrelatIOnS
(see Figure
G),
J...

One particular thoughtful analyst in this group of

...
hyperg I0 hal'
'Am' encan po I'It I'cal theOrist B peSSInllStiC
Izers IS
.
.
Barber.
In his popular book Consumed (2007), he warns_enlam.Jn
h'

againstan 'ethos of infantilization' that sustains global cap~~ism,

turningadults into children through dumbed down advertisigg
.
child
and consumer goods while also targetmg
1 r en as consumers.
Thisethos is premised on the recognition that there is not an
endlessmarket for consumerist goods as was once tb au ght . Global
ineqUalitycontributes to stifling the growth of markets and of
capitalism.In order to expand markets and make a profit, glo~al
capitalistsare developing homogenous global products targe.tmg
theyoung and wealthy throughout the world, as well as turmng
childreninto consumers. Thus, global consumerism becomes
increasinglysoulless and unethical in its pursuit of profit.
OPtimistic
. , . hyperglobalizers agree WIt
, h t hei
err p essimistic colleagues
that cultural globalization generates more sameness, but the~
Considerthis outcome to be a good thing. For example, Amencan
Socialtheorist Francis Fukuyama explicitly welcomes the global
Spreadof Anglo-American values and lifestyles, equating the
Am,encamzation
,
ith th
of the world WIth
t e expans ion of democracy
and free markets (see Illustration 9). But optimistic
.
hyPerglobalizers do not just come 10
' t h e Crorm of Amencan
chauvinists who apply the old theme 0 f rnam 'fiest destiny
. to the
I b arena, Some representatives
'
goal
0 f thiIS Camp consider
cel e b I'ate the Internet as
th emselves staunch cosmopolitans w ho0 ce
'
'h
t he harbinger of a homogenized
tee no-cu ItUl'e'' Others are
free-market enthusiasts who embrace the values of global
consumer capitalism.
It IS' one thing to acknowledge t h e eXISe
. t nee of powerful
,
.
.,
Id
homogenizing tendencies m the wor , b U t it is quite another
. d
'to d
'
isti
n
our
planet
IS
estme
assert that the cultural diversity exis mg n
,
. 1 con 1.mentators offer a f
to vanish. In fact, severalmfluentta
'
I b 1"'
0 I
Contrary assessment that hnks
goa
lza tion to new forms
,
.
RId
Robertson
for
examp
e,
cultural expression. SociolOgIst 0 an
, I
I cultural
oca
Contends that global cultur aI fl ows 0ften reinvigorate
.
the
'h
H ence, r ather than
nlC es
. - being
. totally obhterated
diffj by
and
Weste~n consumerist forces of sameness, local
erence

76
77

ec

o
o

"'"

~'

78

79

I '[
particularity 8tiJI play an important role in creating unique
cultural constellations. Arguing that cultural glob aliizanon
. a1\\1l)~
takes place in loca! contexts, Robertson rejects the cultural
homogenization thesis and speaks instead of glocaIization-a
complex interaction of the global and local characterized by
cultural borrowing. The resUlting expressions of cultural
~hybridity' cannm be reduced to clear-cut manifestations of .
'sameness' or 'difference: As we noted in our discussion ofShakil1

~I

and Waka Waka in Chapter 1. such processes ofhybn idiiza tion

have become most visible in fashion. music, dance. film, food,
and language.

But the respective arguments of hyperglobalizers and scepticsare

not necessarily incompatible. The contemporary experience of
living and acting across cultural borders means both the loss
of traditional meanings and the creation of new symbolic
,
expressions.
II e3S1 .
'
Reconstructed feelings of belonging coexrs't'lun
tension with a Sense of placelessness. Indeed, some commentators
have argued that modernity is slowly giving way to a new
'postmodern' framework characterized by a less stable sense of
identity and knOWledge.

Given the complexity of global CUltUIa1flows, one would actually

expect to see uneven and contradictory effects. In certain contexts,
these flows might change traditional manifestations of national
identity in the direction of a popular culture characterized by
sameness; in others they might foster new expressions of cultural
particularism; in still others they might encourage forms of
cultural 'hybridity' Those commentators Who summarily

denounce the homogenizing effects of Americanization must not

forget that hardly any society in the World today possesses an
'authentic', self-contained culture. Those Who despair at the
flourishing of cultural hybridity ought to listen to exciting

Bollywood pop songs, admire the inmcacy of several variations of

Hawaiian pidgin, or enjoy the Culinary delights of CUban-Chinese
cuisine. Finally, those who applaud the spread of consumerist
80

81

capitalism need to pay attention to its negative consequences,

such as the dramatic decline oftraditionaJ communal sentiments
as well

as the

commodification

of society and nature.

The role of the media

To a large extent, the global cultural (lows of our time are
generated and directed by global media empires that rely on
powerful communication technologies to spread their message.
Saturating global cultural reality with formulaic TV shows
and mindless advertisements, these COrporations increasingly
shape people's identities and the structure of desires around the
world. The rise of the global imaginary is inextricably connected
to the rise of the glohal media. During the lasttwo decades, a ba1
small group of very large TNCs have Come to dominate the glo
market for enteliainment, news, television, and film. In 2006,
only eight media conglomerates_Yahoo,
Google, AOLjTime
Warner, Microsoft, Viacom, General Electric, Disney, and News
Corporation-accounted
for mOre than two-thirds ofthe
US$250-275 billion in annual world"vide revenues generated by
the Communications industry. In the first half of that year, the
volume of merger deals in global media, Internet, and
telecommunications totalled US$300 billion, three times the
figure for the first six months Of1999.
As recently as fifteen years ago, not one of the giant corporations
that dominate what Benjamin Barber has appropriately called the
'infotainment teJesector' existed in its present fonn as a media

company. In 2001, nearly all of these corpOrations ranked among

the largest 300 non-financial firms in the world. TOday, most
media analysts concede that the emergence of a global
commercial-media market amounts to the creation of a global
oligopoly similar to that of the oil and automotive industries in the
early part of the 20th century. The crucial cultural innovators of
earlier decades-small,
independent record labels, radio stations,
movie theatres, newspapers, and book publishers_have become
82

.
ble of competing
virtuallyextinct as they found themselves mcapa
withthe media giants.

"
. ed b transnational media
Thecommercial values disseminat
y
ltu al hegemony of
h
r
enterprisessecure not only t e un disputed
1
J' cu
..
tion
of social
d
th
depo
ittciza
.
popularculture, but also lea to e
f the most glanng
.
f
civi
bonds
Oneo
realityand the weakening 0 CIVIC
.
th transformation.
d
has
been
einto shallow
d
developments of the last two eca es
. aI programmes
,
ofnewsbroadcasts and education
.
icall touted as 'reality
.
f
them
rroru
'
y
entertamment shows-many 0
fit ble as
. less th an. half as pro apted to pursue
shows.Given that news IS
.
easmgIy htern nted separation
entertainment, media firms are mer
.
r
vauPartnerships and
higherprofits by ignoring journa Ism 's muc
..
- ess decIslOns. panics are fast
ofnewsroom practices an d b usm
t
d
alliancesbetween news an en er tainment comf r publishing
b
ki .t ore common ith0 their newspapers
ecoming the norm, rna mg I m
t 0 cooperate WI
executivesto press jouma IIStS
he professional
. d attack on t t of cultural
business operations. A sustame
.
.. IS, th e refore, also par
autonomy of journalism
globalization.

The globalization of languages

. I

aI banges

. and evaluating cultur c

One direct method of measuring
d the shifting global
bali
fi
on
Y oflanguages can be
brought about by glo
rza 1 is to stu
."
n
Tl
e
globalIzatlO
. "IY
patterns oflanguage use. 1
s are inereaslllg
hi I some language
h .
viewed as a process by W IC 1
.
I ile others lose t err
. al com munication 1 Wk 11of speakers. Rese archers.,"
used in intematicn
. 0 f Hawaii
prominence and even diIS appear for act the UniverSIty
at the Globalization Research Center ~ f1 ence the globalization
have identified five key var iables that 10 u
oflanguages:

"

declining number 0fl an guages in

1. Number a/languages: The
.
t the strengthening of
different parts of the world points 0
homogenizing cultural forces.
83

2.

Movements of people: People carry 1h elf. Iangu ages with them

when they migrate and travel. Migration
spread of languages.

3.

4.

patterns

affect the

Foreign language teaming and tourism: Foreign language d

learning and tourism facilitate the spread of languages heyon
national or cultural boundaries.

Use On the I nterner

IS
. a key factor In
. th e a nalysis of e

Inte1'nationalsCientijic publications; International

publications

Contain the languages

thus critically impacting

intellectual

communities

'"

~c
~ '0'

'" .ac: '6

0"(

diSCO:'

involved m d

production, reproduction, and circulation of knowledge aroun

the world.

- -'"'"'"'" -'"'"..- '"..~

~

'"
'"
'"

\r)

'" <
l''"
0
~ 0
'"
'"

C'l

::1-

0
0

'"

- - '"
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Conclusions.

research in this area

The figme

above

represents only one Possible conCeptualization of the meaning aV

effects ofIangnage globalization. Unable to reach a general
agreement, experts in the field have developed several different
hypotheses. One model posits a clear correlation between the
growing global significance of a few languages-particularly
English, Chinese, and Spanish-and
the declining number of
other languages around the world. Another model suggests that
the globalization oflan
a e does not necessaril mean that our
descendants are destined to utilize only a few tongues. StilI
another thesis emphasizes the pOWer of t~
culture industry to make English or what Some commentators
call 'Globish' the global lingua franca of the 21st century.

84

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To be sure, the ,ising significance of the English language has a

long history, reaching back to the birth of British colonialism in
the late 16th century. At that time, only apprOXimately seven

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Given these highly complex interactions,

yields Contradictory

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dominance and variety of languages in international

communication.
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Internet languages: The Internet has become agoI hal medium for
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th
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million pea Ie used English

this number P had
as t hei
err mother tongue. By the J9,9(ls,
swollen
to
ave
.. native speakers,\\jW-'.L
400 million 1,'
r 350 nu'J lion
rore uSing En r h
more than 80 pe
g IS as a second language. Today,
r cent ofth

English. Almost half f

e content posted on the Internet isa
students is enroll dO' th~world's growing population offoreign
e at mstltuf Ions In
. Anglo-American countries
.

At the sam .
e tr me, however th
world has dro
d fr
e number of spoken languages inthf
.
ppe
om abo t
In 2012 (see Figur
H)
. U ]4,500 in 1500 to less than 6,5(){)
r'mgulsts predict thIe t . Oiven th e current fate of decline, some
I
a 50-90
anguages will hay di
per cent of the currently existing
But t h e world's la e Isappeared by th e end of the 21st century.
.,...'.
c nguages are not tl
"
e,~~mctlon. The 5
.
ie only entities threatened \\1UI
,'fi
pre<ld of cons
.
I estyles has end.
urnenst values and materialist
ngered th
as well.
e ecological health of our planet

Chapter 6

Theecological dimension
of globalization

Althoughwe have examined the economic, political, and cultural

aspectsof globalization separately, it is important to emphasize
that each ofth ese diuuensions
,
'
Impacts
on and has consequences
fortheoth er doma!
"I this more c ear Iy d arnonstrate d
omams. Nowhere 1S
than in the ecological dimensions of globalization. In recent years,
globalenvironmental issues such as global climate change and
transbou n d ary po I'"
' fr om
lutiou have received enormous attention
research institutes, the media, politicians, and economists.
Indeed, the ecological effects of globalization are increasingly
recognized as the most significant and potentially life threatening
for the world as we have inherited it from our ancestors. The
worldwide impact of natural and man-made disasters such as the
horrifYing nuclear plant accidents at Chernobyl, Ukraine (1986),
and Fukushima, Japan (20n), clearly shOWSthat the formidable
ecological problems of our time can only be tackled by a global
alliance of states and civil society actors.
In addition to economic and political factors, cultural values
greatly influence how people view their natural environment. For
example, cultures steeped in Taoist, Buddhist, and various
animist religions tend to emphasize the interdependence of aU
living beings-a perspective that calls for a delicate balance
between human wants and ecological needs. Judea-Christian
humanism, on the other hand, contains deeply dualistic values

86

87