The Contemporary

TCW 201
Intended Learning
Outcomes
1.) Identify the underlying theories, concepts and
the varying definitions of globalization.

2.) Recognize specific instances when cultures

spread globally.

3.) Determine how globalization affects the lives

at the micro-level.
 What is
Globalization?
 What is Globalization?
The concept of globalization is complex and
multifaceted. It is a phenomenon that occurs at
multiple levels and a process that affects people
differently (Abinales & Claudio, 2018). Because of its
complex and multifaceted nature, it has been defined
in many ways by various scholars and authors.
• Globalization means the onset of the borderless world. – Ohmae, 1992
• Globalization is a trans planetary process or set of processes involving increasing liquidity and the growing
multidirectional flows of people, objects, places, and information as well as the structures they encounter
and create that are barriers to, or expedite, those flows. – Ritzer, 2015
• Globalization is the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way
that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa. – Giddens, 1990
• Globalization refers to the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world
as a whole. – Robertson, 1992
• Globalization is the phenomenon by which markets and production in different countries are becoming
increasingly interdependent due to the dynamics of trade in goods and services and the flows of capital
technology. – OECD, 2002
• Globalization implies the weakening of state sovereignty and state structures. – Beck, 2000
• Globalization is the establishment of the global market free from socio-political control. – Nikitin and
Elliott, 2003
• Globalization is “de-territorialization” or the growth of “supraterritorial” relations between people. –
Scholte, 2000
• Globalization is a process of cross-cultural interaction, exchange, and transformation. – Cooppan, 2001

What is Globalization?
Arjun
Appadurai
For anthropologist Arjun
Appadurai, different kinds of
globalization occur on a multiple
and intersecting dimension of
integration that he calls
“scapes”
1.) ETHNOSCAPE
Ethnoscape refers to the flow of people across boundaries. While people such
as labor migrants or refugees travel out of necessity or in search of better
opportunities for themselves and their families, leisure travelers are also part
of this scape.

The World Tourism Organization, a specialized branch of the United Nations,

argues that tourism is one of the fastest-growing commercial sectors and that
approximately one in eleven jobs is related to tourism in some way.

Tourism typically puts people from developed parts of the world in contact
with people in the developing world, which creates both opportunities and
challenges for all involved.
2. MEDIASCAPE
Mediascape refers to the flow of media across borders. In earlier historic
periods, it could take weeks or even months for entertainment and education
content to travel from one location to another.

From the telegraph to the telephone, and now the Internet (and myriad other
digital communication technologies), media are far more easily and rapidly
shared regardless of geographic borders.

For example, Brazilian telenovelas may provide entertainment on long-

distance African bus trips, Bollywood films are shown in Canadian cinemas, and
people from around the world regularly watch mega-events such as the World
Cup and the Olympics from wherever they may live.
3. TECHNOSCAPE
Technoscape refers to the flows of technology. Apple’s iPhone is just one
example of how the movement of technologies across boundaries can radically
affect day-to-day life for people all along the commodity chain. Sales records
are surpassed with each release of a new iPhone, with lines of customers spilling
out of Apple stores and snaking around the block.

Demand for this new product drives a fast and furious pace of production.
Workers who are struggling to keep up with demand are subjected to labor
conditions. The revenue associated with the production and export of
technological goods is drastically altering the international distribution of
wealth. As the pace of technological innovation increases, so does the flow of
technology.
4. FINANCESCAPE
Financescape. refers to the flow of money across political borders. Like the
other flows discussed by Appadurai, this phenomenon has been occurring for
centuries.

The Spanish, for example, conscripted indigenous laborers to mine the silver
veins of the Potosí mines of Bolivia. The vast riches extracted from this region
were used to pay Spain’s debts in northern Europe.

The pace of the global transfer of money has only accelerated and to day
transactions in the New York Stock Exchange, the Nikkei index, and other such
finance hubs have nearly immediate effects on economies around the world.
5. IDEOSCAPE
Ideoscape refers to the flow of ideas. This can be small-scale, such as
an individual posting her or his personal views on Facebook for public
consumption, or it can be larger and more systematic. Missionaries
provide a key example. Christian missionaries to the Amazon region
made it their explicit goal to spread their religious doctrines.
“scapes”By Arjun Appadurai

1.) Ethnoscape
2.) Mediascape
3.) Technoscape
4.) Financescape
5.) Ideoscape
 Theories on
Globalization:
How does globalization take place?
Theories on Globalization
Theories on globalization see
globalization as a process that
increases homogeneity or
heterogeneity.
 Homogeneity refers to the increasing
sameness in the world as cultural inputs,
economic factors, and political
orientations of societies expand to create
common practices, same economies, and
similar forms of government.

HOMOGENEITY
1. Cultural Imperialism
• Cultural imperialism is a concept that means that a given culture influences
other cultures.
• It is cultural in the sense that the customs, traditions, religion, language,
social and moral norms, and other aspects of the imposing community are
distinct from, though often closely related to, the economic and political
systems that shape the other community.
• It is a form of imperialism in that the imposing community forcefully extends
the authority of its way of life over the other population.
• Cultural imperialism became one of the primary instruments of colonization.
While colonization was almost always initiated by some kind of military
intervention, its full effects were achieved through practices of cultural
imperialism.

• CULTURAL IMPERIALISM
 2. Media Imperialism.
This refers to the global flow of media imposed on
developing countries by the West. It is a theory based upon
an over-concentration of mass media from larger nations
as a significant variable in negatively affecting smaller
nations, in which the national identity of smaller nations is
lessened or lost due to media homogeneity inherent in mass
media from the larger countries.

2. MEDIA IMPERIALISM.
3. Neoliberalism.
• This sees competition as the defining characteristic of
human relations. It redefines citizens as consumers, whose
democratic choices are best exercised by buying and selling,
a process that rewards merit and punishes inefficiency.
• It’s when the government steps back and lets businesses do
more things on their own, like making their own rules, selling
public stuff to companies, and focusing on making money.
It's like saying, "Let businesses and markets run things with
fewer rules and less help from the government."
3. NEOLIBERALISM
4. McDonaldization
McDonaldization is the process by which Western societies are
dominated by the principles of fast-food restaurants. This concept
was developed by American sociologist George Ritzer which refers
to the particular kind of rationalization of production, work, and
consumption that rose to prominence in the late twentieth century.
The basic idea is that these elements have been adapted based on
the characteristics of a fast-food restaurant—efficiency,
calculability, predictability, standardization, and control—and that
this adaptation has ripple effects throughout all aspects of society.

4. MCDONALDIZATION
1.CULTURAL IMPERIALISM
2. MEDIA IMPERIALISM
3. NEOLIBERISM
4. MCDONALDIZATION

HOMOGENEITY
Heterogeneity pertains to the creation of various cultural practices, new
economies, and political groups because of the interaction of elements from
different societies around the world.

Refers to the idea that interactions between different societies from around the
world lead to the creation of various cultural practices, new economic systems,
and political groups. When people and ideas from diverse cultures come into
contact, they influence one another, leading to a mixing and blending of cultural
elements, economic systems, and political ideologies. This interaction and mixing
give rise to a wide range of cultural, economic, and political expressions, making
the global landscape more diverse and multifaceted.

Associated with this is the concept of glocalization.

HETEROGENEITY
 The term is a combination of the words "globalization" and "localization." The
term was coined in the Harvard Business Review, in 1980, by sociologist Roland
Robertson, who wrote that glocalization meant "the simultaneity—the co-
presence—of both universalizing and particularizing tendencies." In regards to a
particular product or service, this means the adaptation of globally marketed
products and services into local markets. A global product or service, something
everyone needs and can get used out of, maybe tailored to conform with local
laws, customs, or consumer preferences. Products that are "glocalized" are, by
definition, going to be of much greater interest to the end-user, the person who
ends up using the product. This is because while it's something that everyone can
use and has used for, as a global product, its localization makes it more specific to
an individual, their context, and their needs. (Hayes, 2020)

GLOCALIZATION
Dynamics of Local and
Global Culture:
Perspectives on Global Cultural Flows
1.) CULTURAL DIFFERENTIALISM
This emphasizes the fact that cultures are
essentially different and are only superficially
affected by global flows. The interaction of
cultures is deemed to contain the potential for
catastrophic collision. (Note: This usually
results in state wars and racial discrimination as
well as culture clash)
2.) CULTURAL HYBRIDIZATION
This emphasizes the integration of local and
global cultures. Globalization is considered a
creative process that gives rise to hybrid
entities that are not reducible to either global
or the local. (Note: This is similar to the concept
of “glocalization”. A new culture is made out of
the local and foreign cultures.
3.) CULTURAL CONVERGENCE.
This stresses the homogeneity introduced by
globalization. Cultures are deemed to be
radically altered by strong flows, while cultural
imperialism happens when one culture imposes
itself on and tends to destroy at least parts of
another culture. (Note: This perceives that the
world is having a universal global culture that
will eventually dissolve the local culture.)