Contemporary World

• Globalization


  The growing interdependence of the world's economies, cultures, and populations brought about by cross-border trade, flow of money and profits, people, and information
• Globalization


  • Involves global interconnectedness - the world is getting smaller
  • Involves global consciousness - the awareness that we as individuals relate to the world as a single place we live in
• Forms of Globalization

  • Economic Globalization
  • Political Globalization
  • Military Globalization
  • Cultural Globalization
  • Environmental Globalization
  • Criminal Globalization
• Economic Globalization


  • Many English teachers from the Philippines work in Chinese schools. They send money to their families here which is taxed by the government. The revenue of the Philippines depends in large part on these remittances. Also, China and the Philippines buy and sell products from and to each other.
• Political Globalization


  • Organizations like the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the European Union, and ASEAN consists of member states that work with non-government organizations, private firms, local communities, and other sectors of society to make decisions and manage issues faced by the world as a whole. The presidential elections in the USA carries a significant impact on the socio-economic and political affairs of other countries in the world.
• Military Globalization


  • Syria and Lebanon help each other in the conflict against Israel. Terrorist groups operate in many countries around the world and member states of the United Nations team up to combat it.
• Cultural Globalization


  • Through mass media and the Internet, K-drama and anime fever is spread globally. People go crazy over pop culture trends and start to dress, eat, and act like their favorite K-drama or anime characters. K-Pop and anime songs are being enjoyed by millions of people who don't even live in Korea or Japan and don't even speak Korean or Japanese!
• Environmental Globalization


  • Problems like global warming aren't isolated to let's say the country with the highest greenhouse gas emissions. Rather, all countries are feeling the effects of it one way or the other. This raises a common threat for which countries decide to cooperate with each other, like the signing of the Paris Agreement which required all countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Non-state efforts along this line also take place in an international scale as in the case of organizations like Greenpeace.
• Criminal Globalization


  • Criminal activities are now organized and committed trans-nationally. Corruption conspiracies and war deals are made among governments affecting communities and peoples across the globe. Organized groups like Al Quaeda and Boko Haram make a business out of exporting and importing terrorism. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have become the problem of other countries who had to accept millions of refugees fleeing for their lives.
• Positive Effects of Globalization


  • Free Trade
  • Free movement of labor
  • Greater competition
  • Increasing investment
• Negative Effects of Globalization

  • Free trade can harm developing economies
  • Labor drain
  • Increasing environmental issues
• Positive Effects of Globalization on Culture


  • Cultural diffusion
  • Multi-cultural awareness
• Negative Effects of Globalization on Culture


  • Loss of Local Culture
  • Less cultural diversity
• Positive Effects of Globalization on Education


  • Local schools upgrade their curriculum to catch up with world standards
  • Technology and knowledge are used and shared for improved learning
• Negative Effects of Globalization on Education


  • Local schools struggle to catch up, if not compete, with global standards and demands
  • Language barriers and technological gaps affect learning progress
• Positive Effects of Globalization on Agriculture


  • Advancements in farming technologies and productivity have increased global food production so if there's a crop failure in one part of the world, there's food to share to keep people from dying of famine
• Negative Effects of Globalization on Agriculture


  • Genetically modified food and crop production methods can have harmful side effects to the human body and the environment
  • Big areas of natural flora and fauna are converted into commercial farm lands resulting to loss of biodiversity and an imbalance in ecology
• Globalization is not bad per se but how we implement it
• World Systems Theory


  Suggests that wealthy countries benefit from other countries and exploit those countries' citizens
• Types of Countries in World Systems Theory


  • Core Countries
  • Semiperipheral Countries
  • Peripheral Countries
• Core Countries

  • Dominant, capitalist countries characterized by high levels of industrialization and urbanization
  • Capital intensive, have high wages and high technology production patterns and lower amounts of labor exploitation and coercion
  • Own most of the world's capital and technology and have great control over world trade and economic agreements
  • Cultural centers which attract artists and intellectuals
• Semiperipheral Countries


  • Less developed than core nations but more developed than peripheral nations
  • Weaker members of "advanced" regions or the leading members of former colonial ones
• Peripheral Countries

  • Dependent on core countries for capital and are less industrialized and urbanized
  • Agrarian, have low literacy rates and lack consistent Internet access
• Peripheral countries provide


  Labor and materials to core countries
• Semiperipheral countries

  Exploit peripheral countries, just as core countries exploit both semiperipheral and peripheral countries
• Core countries


  • Extract raw materials from peripheral countries with little cost
  • Can set the prices for the agricultural products that peripheral countries export regardless of market prices, forcing small farmers to abandon their fields because they can't afford to pay for labor and fertilizer
• Wealthy in peripheral countries


  Benefit from the labor of poor workers and from their own economic relations with core country capitalists
• The true purpose of globalization needs to be questioned as it seems to enable rich countries to get even richer while poor ones seem to get poorer
• Rich countries


  Depend on poorer countries in terms of sourcing raw materials and manpower
• Poor countries


  Depend on monetary support and economic power provided by the rich countries
• Tariffs are introduced globally to facilitate the smooth flow of products from one country to another
• Global Village


  The phenomenon of the world's culture shrinking and expanding at the same time due to pervasive technological advances that allow for instantaneous sharing of culture
• Media as a nervous system


  The media involves in the receiving of information about the environment around us and generating responses to that information
• The medium is the message


  The qualities of a medium have as much effect as the information it transmits
• Ideology


  A set of opinions, beliefs, and ideas of seeing the world that influences a person or nation's culture, politics and governance, among other aspects of social life
• Purpose of an ideology


  • To offer change in society
  • To make society conform to a set of ideals
  • To guide public and political affairs
• Theories of Globalization


  • Liberalism
  • Political Realism
  • Marxism
  • Constructivism
  • Postmodernism
  • Feminism
  • Environmentalism
  • Culturalism
• Ideologies


  • Liberalism
  • Capitalism
  • Socialism
  • Marxism
• Purpose of an ideology


  • To offer change in society
  • To make society conform to a set of ideals
  • To guide public and political affairs
• Theories of globalization


  • Liberalism
  • Political realism
  • Marxism
  • Constructivism
  • Postmodernism
  • Feminism
  • Transformationalism
  • Eclecticism