The Impact of Globalization on Contemporary Society - Essay Example

Student Name: Tutor: Title: The Impact of Globalization on an aspect of contemporary society Course: Introduction Globalization means that the world is currently more interconnected than before. From the mid-twentieth century globalization has become common in reference to societies and has been defined as a way of integration of worldwide cultures, government policies, social movements, financial markets via exchange of ideas and trade. The globalization process has been accelerated through advanced means of communication as well as transportation, and provides the perception that the world has been unified globally. The impact of globalization has compelled the need for interconnectivity and social action at national, international, and local levels to make to make a sustainable and human society in the 21st Century (Stiglitz, 2006). Globalization has affected the economy, religion, family, social setting, lifestyle, education system, technology and the moral values of a given people. Globalization has had a great impact on society in the present world. People move across national and international borders in search of new opportunities in terms of jobs and education. There is huge of sums of money movement, increased goods’ movement, as well as movement of labor and services have loosed national barriers together with other restrictions that were hitherto imposed by the national state. People move from one country to the other for work and trade. People have grown more inter-dependence in the wake of globalization growth. Many people treasure the nuclear family at the expanse of the extended family as the society becomes more individualistic owing to the impact of globalization and learning the western culture. This essay argues that globalization has led to social disturbances and economic inequalities hence impacting on social values in the society both negatively and positively. Discussion The effects of globalization have been widely discussed. Globalization triggers growing importance and interest within the contemporary world affairs. It has inspired both passionate critics and supporters. Globalization from the economic perspective refers to the increasing flow across borders of capital, labor, goods and services, as well as the establishment of international production networks that have been represented within the multinational enterprises. Globalization is not limited to economic terms but also covers other aspects of society like political science, sociology, cultural studies and anthropology. One psychological consequence of globalization is transforming one’s own identity in the manner of thinking in relation to social movement. The advancement of global identities is not just a part of ethnic minorities and immigrants (Scott & Marshall, 2009). There is rapid transformation at present among societies due to globalization. The change is multidimensional: economic, technological, cultural, social, political, and geopolitical. There has been information revolution due to globalization in the world. Countries such as India booming economic as well as sociopolitical growth has been enhanced through globalization. The issue of power and dominance still rules the access to language and technology. Globalization describes the homogenizing process of prices, products, rates of interests as well as profits across the world (Rotimi, 2010). People of the world are often unified into a single society hence leading to integration of national economies in one international economy via foreign direct investment, trade, migration, capital flows, and spread of technology. Global society nations possess varying amounts of power and want to ensure that all their interests are met. Globalization is associated with significant and rapid human changes. There has been increase in the movement of people from the rural to urban areas as well as the growth of cities in the developing world. Informal settlements have increased within towns of developing countries. Conceptions of job, family, and of national identity are changing at an alarming rate. People have to adjust swiftly to the influence of globalization instead of being left behind (Harris, 2011). Globalization permits transmission of knowledge at a faster pace than before. This does not automatically mean that developing countries benefit immensely from the technological advancements. Nature of technology and the kind of policies put in place in both developing and developed world determine its success. In most circumstances the developing countries are disadvantaged. It is worrying that competition that has been enhanced by globalization has led to more individualistic societies. People care more about themselves and their immediate family than the entire society or nation. The nation-state is waning in influence due to global economic pressures and in some countries there is hesitation or failure to establish social policies. These dramatic changes point to the fact that vulnerable people will be exploited within the society and case of human rights abuse tend to increase. In India police have reported that about six women suicide cases each day are dowry-related. The global financial crisis in 2007 can be traced growing interdependence of people and economies. Many people lost their money due to collapse of banks and other companies while other economies like Spain, Greece, and Portugal had to be bailed out by the European Union (Harris, 2011). Growth of regional trading blocs can be traced to globalization. Bodies such as the European Union encouraged the use of a common currency in the Eurozone. Some families broke up because men lost jobs and they could not support their wives and children. Loss of jobs has affected many countries with small incomes. Disparities between different social classes have hugely grown (Rotimi, 2010). Internationalization has been enhanced by globalization. A global culture has been developed and integrated in the local values. The young people in the current world develop an identity that provides them a sense of belonging to a global culture that involves awareness of practices, events, styles and information relating to global culture. Media like television and the Internet that permits instant communication play a crucial role in the development of a global identity(Sinagatullin, 2006). Along this new global identity people are able to continue retaining and developing their local identity for the purpose of day to day interactions with friends, family and community. There is also identity confusion as individuals from non-western cultures experience as a result of globalization. Whereas other people adapt swiftly to changes and come up with multicultural identities, others find it challenging to adapt in time to the swift changes. While traditional cultural beliefs and practices change, a multicultural identity likely develops to include components of local, native and global culture (Rotimi, 2010). This has happened to immigrants who settle in other countries. The growth of self-selected-culture can be attributed to globalization. People are at liberty to come up with groups with like-minded persons that wish to identity with them. The global culture values that are founded on individualism, democracy and free market economics, individual rights, tolerance of differences, and openness to change are part of the western values. The global culture has appealed to many people particularly in the developing nations. Globalization has increasing inequalities within the society. Whereas there has been worldwide growth in economic growth and many people lifted out of poverty in a long time, economic growth is unbalanced as well as uneven globally. Economic growth has centered in just few wealthy countries. Other parts of the world are worse off than they were a decade ago. The gap between the rich and the poor has widened (Scott & Marshall, 2009). It is projected that the rich countries will continue to be richer while the poor countries continue to be poor. The inequality has affected disproportionately the women and children in poor countries. Uneven distribution of resources and unbalanced systems make disadvantaged communities to continue being discriminated against while the rich continue to be richer. Less developed and developed countries of the world go through serious inequalities in wealth that have very immediate impact on their citizens. Countries with low income are poor owing to their practices and policies while high income countries amass greater share of the global wealth due to superior polices (Stiglitz, 2006). Low income countries are continuously dependent on high-income countries due to their skewed policies. Powerful national always continue to retain their favoured positions while making the other nations remain their place. Globalization is responsible for new patterns of inequalities. There are people who benefit from globalization while others are hurt by it. It is said that globalization entails interconnectedness as opposed to interdependence. There is a sense of equality that defines interdependence which is not a clear case with globalization. Contemporary globalization there is absence of equality. Many global relations are asymmetrical (Steger, 2003). Some parties are dominant (developed world) while others remain subordinates (developing world). Various groups of people as well as organizations try as much as possible to influence corporations and governments and other institutions to shape globalization as par their conception and values. Consequently global values have come up to offer intellectual underpinnings to various social movements. Whereas people favour interconnection and openness among societies, they are less positive when they have to explain about the impact of globalization on incomes and jobs (Khondker, 2004). Globalization causes goods to be obtained for a cheaper price from the developed world but this exchange leads to factories in less developed countries to close shop making people to lose their livelihoods. This trend increases inequalities among countries. Globalization value leads to challenges that put societies between the choices of cultural privacies on one hand, and political, economic, and strategic interests on the other hand, so that there is some sort of conflict within these societies that are represented by the concepts. Globalization targets mainly to change the value systems in societies and transform them hence alienating them to settle on a dominating system based on planning and implementing of policies that meet the interests of some countries like the United States. Some values in the developing world have been imported from developing countries and integrated into the society without serious consideration of the consequences (Steger, 2003). Some moral issues have come up owing to the aping of western cultures by the developing world. As per the change in the culture of the international entities that goes along with the presence of a system of values that rule over other value systems in countries that are still established on a cultural cycle and have not yet attained civilized cycle that they can come up with some sort of value control within the human surrounding. The power of values as per the culture establishes an argumentative relation whereby the power of values was changed into values of power (Sinagatullin, 2006). This result is negatively challenged by the attempts to consolidate the values systems within the other societies. The globalization value system in many countries includes great negativity. Conclusion Every individual in the world is affected by globalization in one way or another. Globalization has had a great impact on the social fabric of the society from all angles and some value systems have been adjusted to accommodate the pressures brought about by globalization. Changes occasioned by globalization have affected identities of people as well as their cultural values that have been changed significantly. Globalization has come with both positive and negative effects. Advance in technology and breaking social barriers has enhanced communication and given impetus to international trade. However the social settings of the societies have been interfered with as people strive to borrow a leaf from other cultures across the world. The concept of nation state has been discredited. Globalization has weakened the State. Inequalities among members of the society and different classes of people have increased due to adoption of such concepts like capitalism. Rural to urban migration has escalated in the face of globalization as people look for more job opportunities in urban centers. In some circumstances the role of mentoring children have been left to women and the elderly while able-bodied men troop to town in search of greener pastures. The social fabric of the society has been affected by globalization hence making the cultural value system to be distorted. Globalization has changed the world. References Harris, J. 2011, Globalization and Contemporary Art, John Wiley & Sons, New York. Khondker, H.H. 2004, Glocalization as Globalization: Evolution of a Sociological Concept-(e-Journal) Rotimi, T. 2010, Handbook of Research on Discourse Behavior and Digital Communication: Language Structures and Social Interaction: Language Structures and Social Interaction, IGI Global, London. Scott, J. & Marshall, G. (3rd ed.). 2009, Oxford Dictionary of Sociology, Oxford University Press, New York. Sinagatullin, I.M. 2006, The Impact of Globalization on Education, Nova Science Publishers, Inc., New Delhi. Steger, M.B., 2003, Globalization: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press. Stiglitz, J.E. 2006, Making Globalization Work. WW Norton, London. Read More