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The Local and The Global. PAGO Lecture 2024a

The document discusses various concepts related to the local and global, including imagined communities, cosmopolitanism, definitions of globalization, waves of globalization theory, glocalization, institutional isomorphism, and McDonaldization. It examines these concepts through references from several academic authors and considers their implications.

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11 views

The Local and The Global. PAGO Lecture 2024a

The document discusses various concepts related to the local and global, including imagined communities, cosmopolitanism, definitions of globalization, waves of globalization theory, glocalization, institutional isomorphism, and McDonaldization. It examines these concepts through references from several academic authors and considers their implications.

Uploaded by

atikur.khusboo
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Local and the Global

People and Global Organisations

Christoforos Bouzanis
[email protected]
How can we understand “the local” in relation
to the national, the global or even to other
localities?

How can we set the boundaries between the


different localities/communities, and the
boundaries between the local and the
national?
Contemporary Localities
‘… all communities larger than primordial
villages of face-to-face contact (and perhaps
even these) are imagined. Communities are to
be distinguished, not by their
falsity/genuineness, but by the style in which
they are imagined …’

(Anderson, 1983 p6)


Anderson, B. (1983[2006]). Imagined Communities: Reflections on the origin
and spread of nationalism. London: Verso Books.
Cosmopolitans and the locals – identities in
the workplace: Gouldner (1957: 290)
“Cosmopolitans: those low on loyalty to the
employing organization, high on commitment to
specialized role skills, and likely to use an outer
reference group orientation”
“Locals: those high on loyalty to the employing
organization, low on commitment to specialized
role skills, and likely to use an inner reference
group orientation”
Cosmopolitanism as world culture –
Hannerz (1990)
“… If even the transnational cultures have to have physical
centres somewhere, places in which, or from where, their
particular meanings are produced and disseminated with
particular intensity, or places to which people travel in order to
interact in their terms, this is where such centres tend to be
located. But even away from these centres, the institutions of
the transnational cultures tend to be organised so as to make
people from western Europe and North America feel as much at
home as possible … in both ways, the organisation of world
culture through centre-periphery relations is evident. (Hannerz,
1990: 244)
What is globalisation?
Defining globalization
‘…the widening, deepening
and speeding up of worldwide
interconnectedness in all
aspects of contemporary
life…’’
(Held, 1999, p107)

Held, D. (1999). The transformation of political community: rethinking democracy in the context of
globalization. In: Shapiro, I., Hacker-Cordón, C., Hardin, R. (Eds.). Democracy’s Edges.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 84-111.
Defining globalization
‘...the progressive eroding of the relevance of territorial
bases for social, economic, and political activities,
processes, and relations...’
(Scholte, 2005; cited in Crane & Matten, 2010)

‘ ...the process of intensification of cross area and cross


border social relations between actors from very distant
locations and growing transnational interdependence of
economic and social activities...’
(Scherer & Palazzo, 2008; p. 414)
Defining globalization – Ch I
“Globalisation is a transplanetary process or set
of processes involving increasing liquidity an 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 &
Dean, 2015, p. 2)

Ritzer, G., & Dean, P. (2015). Globalization: A basic text. John Wiley & Sons. Chapters 1 & 2
Defining globalization – Ch I
“…it is clear that if one wanted to use a single term to think to
think about globalisation today, liquidity would be at or near
the top of the list. That is not to say that there are no solid
structures in the world… “(Ritzer & Dean, 2015, p. 5)

We must study both flows and liquidity and the heavy


structures that impede or block those flows, as well as the
structures that serve those flows.

Ritzer, G., & Dean, P. (2015). Globalization: A basic text. John Wiley & Sons. Chapters 1 & 2
Three Waves of Globalisation Theory
(Hyper-) Globalists Skeptics Transformationalists

Ontological Yes No Yes


(Is globalization real?) (But: other processes are,
e.g. internationalisation)

Normative Depends N/A Uncertain


(Is globalization a good (But: internationalisation
thing?) Neoliberals (yes) has not reduced global
inequalities)
Neo-Marxists
(no)

When did it begin New – late 20th C It’s old – Long historic process,
internationalisation but recent acceleration
and intensification
was at its height in

the late 19th century

(integrated world

economy of
colonialism)
Defining glocalization
 abstract concept in how to link the global with the local
It is frequently discussed as when international companies
adapt to the local environments (like McDonalds)
Or it is related to the idea that globalisation has reconstructed
ideas of “locality”, “home”, “community” (1995, p. 30)
The local in the global and the global in the local:
homogeneity Vs heterogeneity

See Robertson, R., (1995). Glocalization: time-space and homogeneity-heterogeneity. Global Modernities, 25-
44.
Implications: Institutional isomorphism –
DiMaggio & Powell (1983)
“In the initial stages of their life cycle, organisational fields
display considerable diversity in approach and form. Once a
field is established, however, there is an inexorable push towards
homogenisation.” (1983: 148)
Coercive isomorphism: pressures that are exerted to
organisations by other organisations – political influence or
problems of legitimacy
Mimetic isomorphism – as a response to uncertainty
Normative isomorphism – the result of professionalization: “…
the collective struggle of members of members of an occupation
to decline the conditions and methods of their work, to control
‘the production of the producers’ … and to establish a cognitive
base and legitimation for their occupational autonomy” (1983:
152)
Best airports in the world…

Seoul Incheon

Singapore Changi
Hong Kong
Retail parks…

.
Implications II: Institutional
isomorphism revisited – Beckert (2010)
Beckert (2010) aims at contributing an integrative perspective
that explains both isomorphism and divergence, rather than
overemphasizing divergence.
Coercive isomorphism: power is an ambivalent mechanism of
change that can lead to both homogenization and divergence
Normative isomorphism: institutional divergence follows
cultural divergence…
Mimetic isomorphism: it can lead to isomorphism as long as
the forms of others are considered successful… if not,
divergence can be a better path
Glocalisation: the McDonaldization of
Society – George Ritzer (1993)
Four dimensions of McDonaldization:
Efficiency: the optimum method for getting from one point
to another
Calculability: emphasis on quantification of production an
service
Predictability: the assurance that the products and services
will be the same over time and in all locales
Control: substitution of nonhuman for human technology –
increase of corporation’s control over workers who need to
follow strict rules.
Let’s think about it…

Can we use these concepts and apply


them to the case study?
What about isomorphism?
What about McDonaldization?
READ THE HANDBOOK!!
(… and take notes and
send us your feedback by
Thursday evening…)

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