Unit 10 Ethnographic Notes

     The definition of globalization is not clear. It refers to globally expanded linkage, social life on global scale, and the growing consciousness of globe. In short, globalization refers to over all world society. In addition, according to Leslie Sklair, “globalization encompasses a distinct set of change,” in terms of global society, global capitalism, and global culture.

     Speaking of global society, globalization affects women, especially from the view of work. In other words, it makes gender inequality much worse. In many countries, men are more likely to work whereas women are more likely stay home and do housework. However, globalization will make our society more patriarchal, which will cause some women to suffer from poverty, because they might not be able to get a job in the society where men are preferred. Thus, they need special attention as globalization proceeds, and more and more organization such as Rutgers University Center for Women’s Global Leadership are starting to support women in the globalized society.

     Another problem researchers have discussed is if globalization cause more poverty in poor countries. This is hard to measure how it influences those countries. Obviously, the gaps between richest and poorest counties and richest and poor rest individuals are more remarkable, but researchers cannot say this is because of globalization for many reasons. First, there is not a single measurement of the effect of globalization. For example, there are some countries that have been historically poor. Also, poverty is measured by the consumption capacity and well-being of people of the countries. Thus, there are many other measurements of poverty, so researchers cannot measure how globalization affects poor countries. Second, while globalization proceeds, those poor countries are more and more developed and richer. For example, China has improved their economy because of globalization. Thus, researchers cannot say if globalization is affecting poor countries or not.

     In terms of global culture, some researchers think globalization might undermine cultural diversity. One of the reasons for this is “cultural imperialism.” It means that western ideals are considers as universal traditions. It causes another reason, which is “Coca-Colization.” It is a consumerist culture where global marketing campaigns make people’s lifestyles very similar. Also, globalization makes their lives more efficient, controllable, and predictable, which is called “McDonalization.” However, some researchers have pointed out some good consequences of globalization, one of which is “pluralization.” Globalization has caused people to mix a culture with another culture in some places. Another good consequence is “glocalization,” in which different people understand the global norms or pactices in different ways based on their own local traditions.

      There are some problems which globalization has caused. One of them is that globalization is irreversible and out of our control. Since it results from integration of many countries, organization, companies and so on. Thus, there is no set of acceptable behaviors in the globalized society, and someone has to control and regulate actions, process, and problems from the global view. Some researchers suggest that there have been some organizations to do that, but other believe that we

do not have any organization which controls or regulates globalization. Thus, we still have to find out a set of acceptable behaviors or ethical codes in the globalized society.

Citation

Lechner, Frank.　Globalization Issues.  The Globalization Website.2001. Web. 16 Mar. 2013. http://www.sociology.emory.edu/globalization/