Globalization

           I did not know much about the globalization issue before taking this class; it was not something that I had to ever do research for. I know that in my European Issues class last year, the professor talked about it on the last class day before finals week, but it was only for a little bit. Actually it was more like, “There’s a thing called globalization and you don’t need to know it for the final”. When looking over the information provided by The Globalization Website, it kind of opened my eyes that this is a kind of issue that should be made more aware of, especially since the world is more connected than ever before.

On the website there were six main debates listed: Meaning, Interpretation, Evaluation, Explanation, Political, and Cultural. Through these main debates, the reader is able to see both opposing sides. The main debate that caught my eye was Cultural: Sameness vs. Difference. I do not know why this debate caught my eye. I just know that after I finished reading the description for that debate it got me thinking. Since the world is so interconnected, it seems likely that different cultures are going to clash with each other and intermix. This does not seem like a huge deal. Maybe cultural intermixing is what the world needs. If we are more alike than different, then there will be more tolerance. Or it could cause more conflicts. The conflicts that I can see in globalization intermixing cultures is that the more dominate culture is going to absorb or annihilate the recessive ones. This could be a great thing, unite the world under one culture. I do not see it as such though. A country’s culture is what makes it unique.

On the website it gives reasons why globalization will diminish or foster cultural diversity. I was a little concern about a point for the foster cultural diversity side which says, “… diversity has itself become a global value, promoted through international organizations and movements”. Whenever I think about something having a value in the world, I cannot help but imagine that there are corporate business men putting price tags on it.   

Two quotes that I want to also want to discuss are from Jared Diamond and Larry Elder.

"Globalization makes it impossible for modern societies to collapse in isolation, as did Easter Island and the Greenland Norse in the past. Any society in turmoil today, no matter how remote ... can cause trouble for prosperous societies on other continents and is also subject to their influence (whether helpful or destabilizing). For the first time in history, we face the risk of a global decline. But we also are the first to enjoy the opportunity of learning quickly from developments in societies anywhere else in the world today, and from what has unfolded in societies at any time in the past."

Jared Diamond (Scientist, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse:How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed)

      I agree with Mr. Diamond when he says that a country can no longer succeed or fail without effecting other countries, in today's world that is impossible. A country cannot isolate itself from the world anymore like they were able to in years past. I do not know if this relates much to what Mr. Diamond is saying, but revolutions in Northern Africa can be an example of what he is saying in the second sentence. When these revolutions started popping up, they became a priority to countries around the world because it was affecting them economically.

"Outsourcing and globalization of manufacturing allows companies to reduce costs, benefits consumers with lower cost goods and services, causes economic expansion that reduces unemployment, and increases productivity and job creation."

 
Larry Elder (Talk radio host)

       I chose Larry Elder's quote because I outright disagree with it. I do not think that globalization is reducing unemployment, especially not in America. It is more like globalization is creating a bigger pool of competition for us to compete in.  Also, when he says "Outsourcing and globalization of manufacturing" brings me back to A Story of Stuff. The author talked about how companies would take resources from other countries in order to produce cheaper materials, it does not really do much of anything else.