It can be seen as positive and negative from different perspectives.
Socialist
Process of transformation of local and regional phenomena into global ones. It sees globalisation as a positive thing for the greater good.
Capitalist
The elimination of state-enforced restrictions on exchanges across borders and the increasingly integrated and complex global system of production and exchange that has emerged as a result.
It keeps needing to make profit, and if you keep a capitalist system to one country it will eventually run out of a market, so it needs to expand to other countries and cultures. Globalisation is something capitalist countries encourage as it spreads the markets globally.
McDonaldisation
A sociologist called George Ritzer talks about McDonaldization.
Refers to the idea that American big companies are now present globally and taking over markets globally. Also refers to process of an idea of an American organising of the world that's been transposed into different cultures. For eg, eating quickly 'fast food', without family meal time and no regard for health.
Marshall McLuhan
With TV and radio being invented in 20th century, people got excited about globalisation as they wanted this unified, global community.
Marshall McLuhan thought that telecommunications will affect how we interact with each other and it will have a huge impact on our lives. Says it heightens our senses, like when listening to radio, we are listening to something very far away.
Global Village Thesis
Says the world has had an implosion, where the world has gotten smaller now as we can reach far out cultures and know more about their news, culture etc. It is a global village, and we are all aware of each others problems.
He wanted a global embrace, but this is not what has happened. Seeing images of war etc has desensitised our feelings towards other cultures.
Cultures are realising that their values are being overlooked and ignored
Problems of Globalisation
Sovereignty - challenges to the idea of the nation-state
Accountability - transnational forces and organisations - who controls them?
Identity - who are we? Nation, group, community
When there is a business in a country, laws can be passed to control them. However, when a business is in several countries, there can't be laws because we can't control them in different countries. This means that big businesses are actually more powerful than the government.
Cultural Imperialism
IF the global village is run with certain set of values then it would not be so much an integrated community as an assimilated one.
Rigging the Free Market
It's a myth that everyone has the same access to the same information
The media, like other multinational capitalist companies, operates as giant clusters of businesses controlled by one central business.
American companies across the World, like Time Warner and HBO own a lot of companies that operate through the primary one. These companies control a vast amount of the World's media, and you can say that no matter where in the World you are, you are getting an Americanised stance on the World.
Most important:
1. North America
2. Western Europe, Japan and Australia
3. Developing economics and regional producers (China, India, Brazil, Eastern Europe)
4. The rest of the world (Africa)
These companies are interested in the most important countries, and therefore put North American concerns firstly, for example if there was a magazine it would have American articles and ads, even if it was distributed in Africa.
It's a new form of imperialism it's not about War, its about indoctrinating people to thinking its the most important way of life.
The biggest selling products in India now is skin whitening cream! As they have been so indoctrinated that the American life is so sought after, and this is what they aim to be now, devaluing their own culture.
The News media is a key part to propaganda.
Chomsky & Herman (1998) Propaganda model
Ownership
A large proportion of newspapers are owned by Rupert Murdoch and he is a political take on the world. His agenda is to make as much money for himself as possible. He once boasted that it was the Sun that determined the outcome of the UK elections. There used to be a consertative supporting newspaper, but Labour made a deal with Murdoch that if he supported them, and relaxed laws about media.
- News of the World
- The Sun
- The Sunday Times
- The Times
- NY Post
- BSkyB
- Fox TV
Sourcing
If I was a journalist and went to the Obama press conference, and started saying 'I think you're responsible for the mass murderer of lots of families in Afghanistan', I would be arrested by the CIA and never allowed to interview him ever again. So the stuff that is reported, is the only things that are allowed to be reported, as the editor also has political allegiances and wouldn't let it go to print.
Flak
This manipulates the news even further, where money is put into lobby groups where they make laws in their interests. They use the media, put stuff into the media that spreads their take on the world. Ford, Texaco and Exxon set up a group called the Global Climate Coalition that perpetuates stories that paint the oil companies in a great light.
An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
- Release less C02
- Plant more vegetation
- Try to be C02 neutral
- Recycle
- Buy a hybrid vehicle
- Encourage everyone you know to watch this film
Solution to be more eco-friendly is to feed capitalist businesses - if you have a car, buy a hybrid car, if you have a lightbulb, buy a energy saving lightbulb. Make more money for capitalists
Jim Inhofe 'Global warming is one of the biggest hoaxes every perpetuated ever in American history'
Sustainability
A concept introduced in the 80s, with a view towards effectively stopping headlong race to the depletion of the worlds resources and destruction of our fossil fuels.
Erin Balser, 'Capital Accumulation, Sustainability and Hamilton, Ontario: How Technology and Capitalism can Misappropriate the idea of Sustainability'
A plant that makes renewable energy.
Only people that can buy it is richer, middle-class people, and not as much profit because it's expensive to make.
Pollutants from the plant polluted nearby rivers and noise pollution.
Greenwashing
Greenwash packaging - makes packaging look more eco friendly by adding recycling symbols, green colour scheme and unbleached paper.
'Most things are not designed for the needs of the people but for the needs of the manufactors to sell to people' Papanek, V.
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