MA in Sociology Paper-VIII Sociology of Globalization Author Prof. Navaneeta Rath Department of Sociology Utkal University Sociology of Globalization Unit-I: Globalization: The Historical and Social Context, Distinctive Characteristics and Dimensions: Economic, Technological, Social and cultural. Unit-II:Modernization and Globalization, Neo-Liberalism and Global Capitalism and Globalization and Nation State Unit-III: Global Institutions and Actors: World Bank, MNCs, WTO, IMF, NGOs Unit-IV:Globalization and Culture: The Ethos of Globalization (Individualism, Freedom, Consumerism) Cultural Homogenization, Hegemony and Dominance Impact of Globalization on poor and women UNIT-1 1.0. Objectives 1.1. Introduction 1.1.1 Origin of the Concept of Globalisation 1.1.2 Sociological Interpretation of the Term Globalisation 1.1.3 Theories of Globalisation 1.2 The Historical and Social Context of Globalisation 1.2.1 The First Wave of Globalisation 1.2.2 The Second Wave of Globalisation 1.2.3 The Third Wave of Globalisation 1.2.4 The Fourth Wave of Globalisation 1.2.5 The Fifth Wave of Globalisation 1.3 . Distinctive Characteristics of Globalisation 1.3.1. Borderless world 1.3.2. Liberalization 1.3.3. Free Trade 1.3.4. Extended Economic Activities 1.3.5. Globalization is universal, but not a uniform process. 1.3.6. Globalisation is a historical process. 1.3.7 Globalisation is both developmental and detrimental for the society. 1.3.8 Globalisation is a long term process. 1.3.9 Globalisation is an irreversible process. 1.3.10 Globalisation leads to hybridisation, homogenisation and harmonisation. 1.3.11 Globalisation leads to dispersion and diffusion. 1.3.12 Globalisation is a multidimensional process. 1.3.13. Globalisation is a top down process. 1.3.14 lobalisation results in deterritorialisation 1.4. Dimensions of Globalisation 1.4.1 The Economic Dimensions of Globalisation 1.4.2 The Cultural Dimensions of Globalisation 1.4.3The Social Dimensions of Globalisation 1.4.4The Technological dimensions of Globalisation 1.4.4 The Environmental Dimensions of Globalisation 1.5. Arguments in favour of globalisation 1.6. Arguments against Globalisation 1.7. Key Words 1.8. References Unit: 1 This unit gives an over view of the process of globalization. It treats globalisation as a social process. It puts the spotlight on the origin of the term globalisation and how it was brought into intellectual discourses and the domain of sociological inquiry. The unit provides a brief view of the sociological interpretation of globalisation. It navigates into the history and sketches the historical mooring and shaping of the process. This unit tries to impress upon the readers that globalisation as a process is the by product of an evolutionary process, but is not a revolutionary outcome. It sheds light on the social context that has conditioned the evolution of globalisation. The unit tries to detail out the distinctive features of globalisation that differentiates it from other social processes like sanskritization, westernisation, modernisation etc. It also puts light on the dimensions of globalisation and briefs the readers about the arguments in favour and against globalisation. The sole intention of the unit is to provide a clear cut idea about globalisation as a social process of the current times to the students. 1.0 Objectives: After studying this unit, you can Conceptualize what is globalisation and justify it as a social process. Understand the evolutionary character of globalisation. Locate the social conditions that have given birth to the process. Note the characteristics of globalisation which will enable to understand its uniqueness. Develop ideas about its various dimensions. Trace out the arguments favouring and disfavouring the process. 1.1 Introduction Globalisation is a distinguishing trend and feature of the modern society. As a term it had its origin in French and American writings in the 1960s. But, it came into popular usage in the 1980s. Since then it has become a debatable topic among the academia, policy planners and practitioners. It is a social process that has resulted in greater interconnectedness and integration of people and nations across the borders. The process has stirred greater movement of individuals, ideas, knowledge, capital and goods across the national borders. Simply it can be described as a social process that has resulted in the dissemination of information, dispersion of ideas, diffusion of knowledge and technological knowhow, distribution of resources leading to the transformation of societies. It is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. Globalization is the worldwide process of homogenizing prices, products, wages, rates of interest and profits. It is a process by which the people of the world are unified into a single society and it leads to the integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, and spread of technology. Thus, globalization is a single word describing multiplicity of phenomena. It is omnipresent, ubiquitous and multidimensional. Today globalization is a common usage, but invites controversial interpretations. As a term it is poorly defined. There are some commonalities in the interpretation of the term in different disciplines. The commonalities include terms like uniformity, standardisation through a technological, commercial and cultural synchronisation coming from the west. Today, every discipline has developed its own way of defining globalisation. Thus, economists define globalisation as economic internationalisation and spread of capitalist market relations through trade liberalization and technology transfer, economic growth, increase in employment and income distribution. The political scientists visualise globalisation as increasing density of interstate relations and development world power institutions determining global politics. To the sociologists globalisation is the development of uniform global institutions expediting the process of social change and leading to the emergence of a “world society”. In culture studies, the emphasis is on the development of cultural communication influencing the culture and identity of the groups across the nations. Globalization can be conceived as a process (or a set of processes) which embodies a transformation in the spatial organization of social relations and transactions, generating transcontinental or interregional flows and networks of activity, interaction and power. It is characterized by four types of change: - First, it involves a stretching of social, political and economic activities across political frontiers, regions and continents. - Second, it suggests the intensification, or the growing magnitude, of interconnectedness and flows of trade, investment, finance, migration, culture, etc. - Third, the growing extensity and intensity of global interconnectedness can be linked to a speeding up of global interactions and processes. Due to globalisation, the evolution of world-wide systems of transport and communication increases speeding up the velocity of the diffusion of ideas, goods, information, capital, and people. - Fourth, the growing extensity, intensity and velocity of global interactions can be associated with their deepening impact. This implies that the effects of distant events can be highly significant on a local community far away and even the most local developments may come to have enormous global consequences. In this sense, the boundaries between domestic matters and global affairs can become increasingly blurred. 1.1.1 Origin of the Concept of Globalisation Tracing back the etymology of the word “globalisation”, it can be pointed out that the term was coined as early as 1959, although it gained momentum only after 1980.In 1961, the Webster dictionary for the first time introduced the definitions of the words “Globalism” and “Globalisation” as observed by Malcom Waters. As the very name globalisation suggests, it has emerged from the adjective “global” meaning worldwide. Peter Kools states the adjective “global” dates back to the 16th century England and came into world attention during the period of expansion. The word global attained a greater attention in the writings of Mc Luhan who referred the world to a “Global Village”in1961.To Luhan the metaphor global village refers to the more united world community. 1.1.2 Sociological Interpretation of the Term Globalisation Coming to the domain of Sociology, it can be noted that the term “Globalization” has got extensive treatment in the hands of many sociologists. The sociologists perceive that though economic in origin, the term has enormous social implications. To cite some examples, to George Ritzer globalization refers to the rapidly increasing worldwide integration and interdependence of societies and cultures. Scholte defines globalization as deterritorialization or the growth of ‘supraterritorial’ relations between people. Globalization refers to a far- reaching change in the nature of “social space”. To quote Albrow globalisation includes “all those processes by which the peoples of the world are incorporated into a single society, global society”. In the languages of Ronald Robertson “Globalization as a concept refers both to the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a