SOCSCIE1

• Globalization is a strong reciprocal emotional bond between an infant and a primary caregiver
• Schaffer and Emerson's 1964 study on attachment:

  • Aim: identify stages of attachment / find a pattern in the development of an attachment between infants and parents
  • Participants: 60 babies from Glasgow
  • Procedure: analysed interactions between infants and carers
  • Findings: babies of parents/carers with 'sensitive responsiveness' were more likely to have formed an attachment
• Freud's superego is the moral component of the psyche, representing internalized societal values and standards
• Economic globalization can be defined as the process of increasing economic integration and interdependence among countries
• Actors that facilitate economic globalization include governments, multinational corporations, international organizations like the World Trade Organization, and financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund
• The modern world system can be defined as the global economic system that began in 1896 and reached its peak in 1914
• Global economic integration involves the increasing interconnectedness of economies worldwide, leading to the movement of goods, services, capital, and information across borders
• Economic history has laid the foundation for the economic structures that influence globalization today
• Structures of transportation, communication, and capital have played a crucial role in economic globalization before and at present
• Problems associated with global economic development include the subjugation of poor nations and their populations, unequal gains from economic growth, and disparities between social classes within nations
• Trade surpluses and deficits are significant in the global economy, with the US and China being key players with substantial trade imbalances
• Gary Gereffi has outlined important economic chains and networks involved in global trade, including supply chains, international production networks, and global commodity chains
• Global value chains involve trade relationships between countries, such as the examples of scrap metal, waste paper, T-shirts, and iPhones between China and the US
• Increasing global competition for commodities has led to a rise in commodity prices and heightened demand for various products worldwide
• Outsourcing is the transfer of activities once performed by an entity to other businesses in exchange for money, occurring at macro, meso, and micro levels in various sectors beyond just the economy
• Globalization involves a worldwide exchange of commodities and exposure to different cultures
• Investigating the origin and spread of products and services sold in a country is a way to understand globalization
• Consumption involves consumer objects, consumers, the consumption process, and consumption sites
• Consumption sites have spread globally, with American and Western-style consumption sites being prevalent in many parts of the world
• Consumption revolves around shopping for objects and services, with an increasing number of globalized objects and services
• Consumers are spending more time defining themselves by what they consume rather than their roles as producers and workers
• The consumption process is increasingly known by people worldwide, with more individuals defining themselves by their consumption habits
• The modern world-system, also known as the modern capitalist world-economy, relies on economic denomination and includes a built-in process of economic stabilization
• The modern world-system is divided into core, periphery, and semi-periphery regions, each playing a specific role in the worldwide division of labor
• The pressure for incorporation into the world-economy comes from the need of the world-economy to expand its boundaries, driven by internal pressures within the system
• The race to the bottom concept refers to a decline in wages and working conditions in less developed nations, driven by competition for work with lower pay and poorer conditions
• Industrial upgrading involves moving from low-value to high-value activities in global production networks, contributing to the race to the bottom phenomenon
• Paul Hirst and Grahame Thompson argue that economic globalization is a myth, suggesting that contemporary economic globalization may not be as new or significant as believed
• The economy is composed of people, not just numbers like unemployment rates or GDP
• Three sectors of economic production:

  • Primary sector: extracts raw materials from the natural environment
  • Secondary sector: gains raw materials and transforms them into manufactured goods
  • Tertiary sector: involves services rather than goods
• Economic globalization after WWII saw movements towards autarky in the 1930s, notably in fascist Italy and Germany
• The Bretton Woods System was established to ensure global financial stability after WWII
• Five key elements of the Bretton Woods System:

  • Currency expressed in terms of gold or gold value to establish a par value
  • Exchange of currency between countries at established rates
  • Establishment of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to oversee exchange rates
  • Elimination of restrictions on member state currencies in international trade
  • U.S. dollar became the global currency
• General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was a system for trade liberalization that operated until 1995 when it was replaced by the World Trade Organization (WTO)
• The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an independent multilateral organization responsible for trade in services, non-tariff-related barriers to trade, and broader areas of trade liberalization
• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) serves as a lender of last resort for countries in financial trouble, providing assistance when economies collapse or currencies are threatened
• The World Bank, officially the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), provides funds and advice to government-sponsored programs in middle-income or creditworthy poorer nations
• Recent changes in Bretton Woods era organizations like the World Bank, IMF, and WTO are influenced by globalization, major trade disputes, and the increasing power of growing economic powers, especially in Asia
• Critiques of Bretton Woods era organizations include concerns about the intertwining of the World Bank and IMF, the imposition of conditions on loans, and the perpetual role of the IMF in developing countries
• Structural adjustment loans required IMF approval and often imposed conditions on receiving nations, leading the IMF to become a perpetual part of life for developing countries