Sociology of the
Global System
Leslie Sklair, Ch. 7, pp. 6269 (Edited from Sklair, Ch. 5,
in Globalization: Capitalism
and its Alternatives, Oxford,
2002)
How/where can we
observe globalization?

Transnational Practices (TNP)



TNP are the effects of what people do when
they’re acting across borders (i.e., within
institutional contexts that cross state
borders)
TNP create globalizing processes
TNP, as a concept, focus attention on
observable phenomena instead of abstract
& vague relations among conceptual
entitites
2
The global system can be
divided into 3 spheres
the economic
 the political
 the culture-ideology

3
With capitalist globalization, the
primary agents and institutions of
economic TNPs are transnational
corporations (TNCs)

But also The World Bank, IMF, WTO,
commodity exchanges, the G-8, the US
Treasury, etc.

They are controlled by those who share the
interests of the major TNCs
4
Current capitalist globalization
follows the Washington Consensus

[One may roughly] summarize this
consensus as…the belief that Victorian
virtue and economic policy – free
markets and sound money – is the key
to economic development” (63)
5
Who adheres to
Washington Consensus?

“Not only the US gvt, but all those institutions
and networks of opinion leaders centered in
the world’s de facto capital – the IMF, World
Bank, think-tanks, politically sophisticated
investment bankers, and worldly finance
ministers, all those who meet each other in
Washington and collectively define the
conventional wisdom of the moment…” (63)
6
Who determines priorities for
economic, political, and culturalideological TNPs?



economic: those who own and control the TNCs
organize the production of commodities and the
services to manufacture and sell them
political: the “state fraction” of the transnational
capitalist class (TCC) produces the political
environment where products and services can be
marketed all over the world
cultural-ideological: those responsible for the
dissemination of the culture-ideology of
consumerism produce the values and attitudes
that create and sustain the need for the products
7
Capitalism is changing from an
international to a globalizing
system


The emergence of global capitalism can be
traced to a series of technological revolutions
(mainly in transportation, communications,
electronics, biotechnology)
This shift is most obvious in TNCs, where
“production processes within large firms are
being decoupled from specific territories and
being formed into new global systems”
(p. 63, Howells & Wood)
 an example of deterritorialization
8
Economic Transnational
Practices (TNPs)



Economic TNPs are economic practices that
transcend state boundaries
Over half of all US export value derives from
TNPs and much of their business is comprised
of intra-firm transactions
The volume of economic TNPs has been
increasing since the 1950s, as seen in the
tremendous growth of cross-border trade –
rising global exports


FDI and other types of capital flows have increased
even more rapidly
 even some quite poor people in some poor
countries now have access to many non-local goods
9
Transnational capitalist class
(TCC)


"This class sees its mission as
organizing the conditions under which
its interests and the interests of the
global system can be furthered within
the transnational, inter-state, national
and local contexts."
"…there is one central TCC that makes
system-wide decisions," and connects
with the TCC in each community,
region, and country." (65)
10
Members of the TCC are
transnational in that they:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
share global as well as local economic interests
seek to exert economic control in the
workplace, political control in domestic and
international politics, and culture-ideology
control in everyday life
have global rather than local perspectives on a
variety of issues
are people from many countries, more of whom
begin to consider themselves citizens of the
world as well as of their places of birth
share similar lifestyles, esp. patterns of luxury
consumption of goods and services
11
TCC has 4 fractions
(segments):


corporate: TNC execs & local affiliates
state: globalizing state and inter-state
bureaucrats and politicians

technical: globalizing professionals

consumerist: merchants and media
12
Labor & the TCC

The relative strength of the TCC can be
understood in terms of the weakness of
transnational labor


Although there are a few genuinely transnational
unions, they face "substantial difficulties in their
struggles against organized capital, locally and
transnationally, and they have little influence"
Host governments, esp. those promoting exportprocessing industries, often suspend national labor
laws to attract TNCs and foreign capital (66)
13
Cultural-ideological TNPs

National boundaries are growing
increasingly meaningless as media
conglomerates strive for total control in
the production, delivery, and marketing
of “the culture-ideology goods of the
capitalist global system”

“Their goal is to create a buying mood for
the benefit of the global troika of media,
advertising, and consumer goods
manufacturers” (67)
14
the culture-ideology of
consumerism

Globalizing capitalism has reformulated
consumerism, transforming all the
mass media and their contents into
opportunities to sell ideas, values,
products, in short, a consumerist
worldview (think: McWorld)

Facilitated by systematic blurring b/w
information, entertainment, and promotion
15
consumerism

consumerism is a social and economic
order that is based on the systematic
creation of desire to purchase goods or
services in ever greater amounts


The term is often associated with criticisms
of consumption
In economics, it is the theory that an
increasing consumption of goods and
services is economically beneficial
16
the shopping mall

Shopping malls are the key symbol and
spatial reference point for consumer
capitalism

“where now large numbers of people and
their families flock to buy, usually with
credit cards, thus locking themselves into
the financial system of capitalist
globalization” (68)
17
Theory of the Global System:
A Summary

Under capitalist globalization:




TNCs strive to control global capital and
material resources
TCC strives to control global power
Transnational agents/institutions of the
culture-ideology of consumerism strive to
control the realm of ideas
Effective corporate control of global
capital & resources is almost complete
(p. 68)
18
The key counter-hegemonic idea to
the global capitalist project is the
rejection of the culture-ideology of
consumerism itself
 “Without
consumerism, the
rationale for continuous
capitalist accumulation
dissolves.”
19
toward the commodification
of everything…

“It is the capacity to commercialize and
commodify all ideas and the products in which
they adhere, tv programs, advertisements,
newsprint, books, tapes, CDs, videos, films,
the Internet and so on, that global capitalism
strives to appropriate.” (p. 69)
20
plutocracy & oligarchy

plutocracy is rule by the wealthy, or
power provided by wealth.


The combination of both plutocracy and
oligarchy is called plutarchy.
oligarchy: A society or social system
ruled by a few people.
21