SOC CHAPTER 9: GLOBALIZATION, INEQUALITY AND DEVELOPMENT

Transcription

1 SOC CHAPTER 9: GLOBALIZATION, INEQUALITY AND DEVELOPMENT Globalization has transformed and improved the way we live there is now a rapid movement of capital, commodities, culture and people across national boundaries. o Despite this, inequality between nations is staggering. Many oppose globalization because it is making the world more unequal and may be hurting local cultures and the environment. Some people say globalization is a form of imperialism (the economic domination of one country by another) because it puts the entire world under the control of powerful commercial interests. Globalization also contributes to the homogenization of the world and cultural domination it is one thing for the world to have closer ties but another for less developed countries to become like the West. Global commodity chain: is a worldwide network of labour and production processes whose end result is a finished commodity. o Ex. Nike s global commodity chain (or web of global social relations) includes high wage management, finance, design and marketing in the developed world and low wage manufacturing in less developed countries (in Vietnam, Nike workers make 20 cents an hour and a $100 pair of shoes costs 37 cents in labour costs). Buyers purchasing these products cause these social relations to persist. The sociological imagination allows us to link our biography with history and social structures, and globalization extends the range of that linkage, connecting to global history and global social structures. Sources of Globalization: o Technology: technological progress has changed global communications and transportation, which made globalization possible. o Politics: politics determines the level of globalization we have the technological means to reach and interact with all countries, but politics is the reason we have strong relations with some countries and no relations with others (ex. South Korea vs. North Korea). o Economics: transnational corporations are the most important agents of globalization in the world today, and they are different from regular corporations because they are: Relying on foreign labour/production as opposed to domestic They emphasize skills and advances in design, technology and management They sell to the world market They depend on massive ad campaigns They are autonomous from national governments

2 These three factors often work together ex. Economics and politics working together to break down trade barriers to allow the sale of American cigarettes worldwide (pg. 2) Consequences of globalization: Is it making the whole world look like the United States? o Should the West intervene to stop non-democratic forces and human rights abuses abroad? Samuel Huntington argues that the West should not be ethnocentric and impose their values on others, but critics say that ideals of democracy and human rights are found in non-western cultures (ex. respect for sacredness of human life) so it isn t an imposition. Globalization homogenizes societies the IMF and World Bank impose on developing countries guidelines that will model them after the advanced industrial countries. And in the UN, Western ideals (democracy, representative government) are seen as good government. McDonaldization: the process by which the principles of the fast food restaurant are coming to dominate across the world it extends Weber s concept of rationalization (the application of the most efficient means to achieve given ends). The values if fast food efficiency, calculability, and predictability have spread to all spheres of life. Symbolic interactionism would argue that the world is not becoming more homogenized because a central principle of symbolic interactionism is that people create their own social circumstances and don t just react to them they negotiate their identities and would not easily accept an identity imposed by others. o They believe what is happening is glocalization: the simultaneous homogenization of some aspects of life and the strengthening of some local differences under the impact of globalization (ex. how McDonalds in Israel serve kosher burgers and McDonalds in India sell vegetarian burgers). Regionalization: the division of the world into different and often competing economic, political and cultural areas for example, world trade is not equal and is broken into 3 main blocs (Asia dominated by Japan and China, Europe dominated by Germany, and the American bloc dominated by the USA). Anti-Globalization and Anti-Americanism: o Political scientist Benjamin Barber argued that globalization (the making of the McWorld ) was generating an anti-globalization reaction jihad (Islamic fundamentalism). An example of this is 9/11, when al-qaeda operatives sought to roll back the forces of globalization by attacking the global reach of the godless American capitalism. o 1999 WTO protest in Seattle, 2001 anti-american integration protests in Quebec City this shows globalization was not universally welcome.

3 Some over-exaggerate globalization national borders/the nation-state are still very important, many developing countries are still poorly integrated, cultural differences remain substantial, many people is less advantaged regions have no access to advanced technology. Is Globalization a new phenomenon? o Anthony Giddens (1990) argues globalization is not recent and was picked up as the result of industrialization & modernization in the late 19 th century (at this time, people could move freely across borders without passports). o WWI and WWI undermined globalization because they incited racism, protectionism and military buildup. Trade plummeted between o Archeological remains show trade began 5000 years ago, and people have been migrating across countries or continents for years. o Textbook view: globalization is roughly a 500 year old phenomenon, as this is when colonialism (the control of developing societies by more developed, powerful societies) and capitalism began. Development and Underdevelopment: The UN calls the level of worldwide inequality grotesque citizens of the 20 richest countries spend more on cosmetics or alcohol or ice cream or pet food than it would take to provide basic education, or water and sanitation, or basic nutrition for everyone in the world. If you define inequality as the difference between the average income of rich and poor countries, inequality has grown since the 1950s. But if you weigh very populous countries as more, inequality has decreased (because China, India, Brazil began to prosper). o Country averages disregard the fact that poor people live in rich countries and vice versa so it makes more sense to examine income inequality among individuals rather than countries. o Most of the desperately poor are women o The absolute number of people on less than $1 a day peaked in 1950 and then started declining (percentage fell from 84% in 1820 to less than 20% today). Modernization theory (a functionalist approach): holds that economic underdevelopment results form poor countries lacking Western attributes, including Western values, business practices, levels of investment capital, and stable government. o Global inequality is a result of the dysfunctional characteristics of the poor countries they lack rationality in business, they lack investment capital, they lack Western-style governments, and they lack a Western mentality (values of high achievement, innovation, education, etc.) o Rich countries need to eliminate the dysfunctions by transferring their culture and capital to poor countries.

4 Dependency Theory (a conflict theory): views economic underdevelopment as a result of exploitative relations between rich and poor countries focuses on patterns of domination and submission. o When almost all colonies became independent post-wwii, exploitation by direct control was replaced by new means of achieving the same end: Substantial foreign investment: investment from MNCs has positive results for rich countries and negative results for poor countries in poor countries they just exploit raw materials and create low wage jobs, and rich countries make them more valuable and gain the benefits. Support for authoritarian governments: gunboat diplomacy was where Western countries sent in troops and military advisers to hold up the authoritarian governments (ex. USA has used this in in Central America like Guatemala in the 1950s when the CIA backed a right wing coup to prevent land reform by the Guatemalan democratic government). Mounting debt: to build transportation infrastructures, education, sanitation, etc. poor countries had to borrow from rich countries. By 2007, total debt of poor countries was $3.7 trillion. In the past, rich countries claimed they were bringing civilization to the savages and exploited them, and colonialism had a devastating economic and human impact. Have things changed? Today, do foreign investment and liberalized trade policies have positive or negative effects today? o Modernization theorists want more foreign investment and freer trade, while dependency theorists think foreign investment drains wealth from poor countries and they should put up trade barriers. o In the 1980s and 1990s (but NOT in the 1960s and 1970s) openness to international trade and foreign investment stimulated economic growth, but also increased inequality in most cases. FDI and trade barriers have different effects in different places and different time periods. Immanuel Wallerstein argues capitalist development created a world system with three tiers (world systems theory): o Core capitalist countries: rich countries, such as the USA, Japan, and Germany, which are the major sources of capital and technology in the world. o Peripheral capitalist countries: former colonies that are poor and are major sources of raw materials and cheap labour. o Semi-peripheral capitalist countries: such as South Korea, Taiwan and Israel, consist of former colonies that are making considerable headway in their attempts to industrialize. Semi peripheral countries differ from peripheral countries in 4 main ways:

5 o Type of colonialism: Taiwan and Korea were Japanese colonies and in contrast to the Europe colonists, the Japanese built transportation networks, communications systems, steel, chemical and power plants, etc. in their colonies. Japanese colonies were left with the entire infrastructure after decolonization, which were a springboard to development. o Geopolitical position: the more strategic important to the USA, for example, the better off you were. Israel was seen as an important ally in the Middle East, so it received special economic assistance. Taiwan and South Korea were both given aid from USA so they wouldn t fall to communists. o State policy: Taiwan and South Korea invested in education, health care, public goods, gave state subsidies and tariff protection, encouraged saving through policies like limiting the import of foreign goods, restricted union growth etc. A healthy well-educated population lays a foundation for economic growth. o Social Structure: Taiwan and South Korea are social cohesive countries. Both countries have social solidarity due to sweeping land reform, which eliminated a class of landowners and got rid of a major source of potential conflict. They also didn t have internal conflicts like Africa. Postcolonial countries that enjoy solid infrastructure, strategic geopolitical importance, strong development policies and socially cohesive populations are in the best position to join the ranks of rich countries. Canada as a semi-peripheral country: o White settler colonialism much of the wealth they produced was reinvested locally to increase standard of living (in contrast to colonization in Africa where there were few settlers and all the money was sent back to Europe). o Our geopolitical position is strong because we are a major supplier of raw materials and other goods to France, Britain and the USA, who all see Canada as a staunch ally (ex. WWII). o Canada has implemented policies that have acted to protect and stimulate the growth of industry (ex. Ontario labour force with the auto pact), although not as consistently as South Korea s policies. o Social structure: French-English conflict has drawn attention away from development policy, and farmers and workers movements have been weak here. Neoliberal globalization: a policy that promotes private control of industry, minimal government interference in the running of the economy, the removal of taxes, tariffs and restrictive regulations that discourage the buying and selling of goods and services; and the encouragement of foreign investment. o Some social scientists are skeptical Joseph E. Stiglitz argues the World Bank and other international organizations impose outdated policies on developing countries.

6 o Neoliberalism has never been a successful development strategy in the early stages of development. o Today, China and India are growing rapidly and neither pursued privatization nor minimal government intervention in the economy instead the governments intervened to encourage industrialization (protecting infant industries with tariffs, etc.) o Only after industrial development is well underway does can national industries compete on the global market and begin to advocate neoliberal globalization to varying degrees (Britain is the exception because it had no global competition when it industrialized). Even the USA was very protectionist until after WWII. o Globalization can be reformed so that its economic and technological benefits are distributed more uniformly throughout the world. Foreign Aid: o While 71% of Canadians think foreign aid is important, only 51% favoured the government s announced plan to increase the total foreign aid amount. o UN recommends the 22 richest countries to contribute 0.7% of GDP to aid only 5 countries reached this in Canada ranked 16 th at 0.29%, and the USA ranked 21 st at 0.18%. o Aid is often tied to buying goods from the donor country that aren t high priority to the recipient country, and food aid can have detrimental effects on poor countries (like as a disincentive to local farms to produce food for domestic consumption). o Aid can be useful when there are low overhead/administration costs and effected projects, as with Oxfam International. Many argue rich countries should just cancel the debt of the poor countries in recognition of historical injustices, because the debt burden is preventing poor countries from building infrastructure. A third reform proposed in recent years is the elimination or lowering of tariffs by rich countries, which would stimulate growth in developing countries (they could earn more from exports) but would require training farmers in rich countries for new work. Democratic globalization: a reform to help spread democracy through the developing world. Democracy lowers inequality and promotes economic growth. They have increased political stability and no elite domination, and they encourage broad political participation.