CHAPTER ONE: CONTEMPORARY WORLD AND GLOBALIZATION
DEFINITION, CHARACTERISTICS, ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
CONTEMPORARY WORLD
 refers to the circumstances and ideas of the present age
 also referred to as the modern time, modern world or present
time
GLOBALIZATION
 ongoing process that involves interconnected changes in the
economic, cultural, social and political spheres of society
 it involves the ever-increasing integration of these aspects
between nations, regions, communities and even seemingly
isolated places.
 also refers to a multidimensional set of social processes that
create, multiply , stretch and intensify worldwide social
interdependencies and exchanges while at the same time
fostering in people a growing awareness of deepening
connections between the local and the distant.
QUALITIES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF GLOBALIZATION
(HELD AND MC GREW, 2002)
1. Creation and Multiplication
2. Expansion and Stretching
3. Intensification and Acceleration
4. Consciousness and Awareness
GLOBAL INTERDEPENDENCE
 situation in which human interactions and relationships
transcend national borders and in which social problems within
any one country such as unemployment, drug addiction, water
shortages, natural disaster or the search for the national
security- are shaped by social forces and forces and events take
place outside the country, indeed in various part of the globe.
ADVANTAGES OF GLOBALIZATION
1. Greater understanding and knowledge of many countries culture
2. Investment into developing country’s economies
3. Greater range and access to different products
4. Increase production of companies due to greater demands
5. Larger market range
6. Job Creation
7. Greater innovation and development in products and technology
8. Cheaper products
DISADVANTAGES OF GLOBALIZATION
1. Outsourcing of services to other countries
2. Possible increase of unemployment-machines and technology
3. Closure of small business
4. Degradation of environment- scarcity of resources
5. Conflict between and among countries
GLOBALIZATION OR WESTERNIZATION?
 For westerners, conception on the term globalization ,
scholars attributed it as part of the growing imperialist
mechanism of American and Western powers, which they
considered as the building blocks of technological and
economic innovations. Such phases of developments were
interpreted as “westernization” in which they strongly
linked the global events to the American imperialism.
 The idea of Westernization is deeply rooted in the Western
World which is often associated with the Western culture
 and values (Sairin, 2011). This concept is famously used in 3. Predictability
referring the western value system and it influences -employees and customers are expected to respond in a predictable
countries outside its territory and sovereignty. behavior
 The political, economic and technological prowess of the 4. Control (by means of technology)
United States and European countries are best described in - great technology system can replace employees
the idea of Westernization. 5. Irrationality of Rationality
 A contesting view argued that the world does not fit to be - both employees and customers suffer (for example, efficiency in
called as westernization nor globalization. Kearney (1995) speed may result to long lines or queues)
stresses his personal analysis that the string of events
worldwide is part of the global tone “transnationalism”. He
assert that the term nation in nationalism limitedly refers
only to the territorial, social and cultural aspects of the
nation. He further elaborated that nationalization occurs
when people , groups or organizations transcend from one
nation to the next which usually involve only two or more
nations.
 They have noticed how American and European creativity
influenced the world even in most depressed areas of Africa
and Asia. The World Wide Web (www) for example, is the
hallmark for integration of western and eastern culture. This
event resulted to the intensification of economic ties and
the formation of exclusive and elusive economic
organizations controlled by the western powers.

MCDONALDIZATION THEORY
- GEORGE RITZER, MCDONALDIZATION OF SOCIETY
 A process in which the principles of “fast-food restaurant” are
coming to dominate more and more sectors in the US and the
world.

Characteristics of Mcdonaldization

1. Efficiency
-best possible means to achieve whatever end is desired.
2. Calculability
- quantity over quality