POLS 374
Foundations of
Global Politics
Lecture 4: Defining
Globalization
October 5, 2006
Professor Timothy Lim
California State University, Los Angeles
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
The six non sequiturs of globalization:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Globalism
Reification
Global/Local Binaries
Cultural Homogenization
Universality
Political Neutrality
(Note: a non sequitur is “a conclusion or statement that does not logically follow
from the previous argument or statement”)
2
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Globalism
• Discussion Question: What is the author’s main
point here?
• Answer: The growth of transplanetary
connections and the spread of supraterritoriality,
while extremely important, do not mean that
physical or territorial space has ceased to matter:
the world still has borders and those borders still
have very real meaning
3
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Globalism
• The author explains it this way: “Although
contemporary history has witnessed the end
of territorialism (where social space is
effectively reducible to territorial grids), we
have certainly not seen the end of
territoriality”
4
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Globalism: On the importance of territory
•
QUOTE FROM “A FEW GOOD MEN”” Son, we live in a world that has walls,
and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Whose gonna do it?
You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly
fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the marines. You have that
luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago's death,
while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and
incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep
down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you
need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these
words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a
punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man
who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and
then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said
thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon,
and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled
5
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Globalism
• Physical geography is still a significant
feature of our lives. Consider …
– International trade
– Immigration
6
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Globalism
• Territoriality continues to have influence
even with regard to financial transactions
– e.g., national currencies are still important,
localized banking institutions still play a major
role in the most technologically advanced
countries, and so on
7
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Globalism
• In sum, the “end of territorialism has not marked
the start of globalism”
• Indeed, contemporary globalization can often have
the contradictory effect of creating of
reterritorialization, such as the rise of micronationalist politics, urbanization and the growth of
globally connected cities
8
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Globalism
• Perhaps the most striking form of
reterritorialization is regionalization, which is
evident in a range of both formal and informal
arrangements
– Basque area across France and Spain
– the Kurdish movement across Iraq, Iran, Syria and
Turkey
– intergovernmental projects: EAC, APEC, NAFTA,
FTAA
9
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Globalism
• The key point, to repeat: social space in today’s
world is both territorial and supraterritorial. The
two aspects of social space, moreover, are
unavoidably interconnected
• It is critical to understand what the dynamics and
implications of this interconnection are
10
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Reification
• Definition: make (something abstract) more
concrete or real.
• Example: the “free market” is an abstract
concept, but it is often understood as
something that has a concrete existence
11
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Reification
• Discussion Questions:
• What is the significance of reification?
• What does matter if globalization is reified?
12
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Reification
• Main point: there is no such thing as a
global social space per se—we cannot see
or touch a “global social space”; nor is it the
case that a global social space exists as a
discrete or separate realm
13
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Reification
• Instead, the “global is a dimension of social
geography”; it exists simultaneously with the
regional, the national, the provincial, the local, and
the built environment.
• Things, events and developments are not global or
national or local or some other scale, but are an
intersection of global and other spatial qualities
• Example: The U.S. government
14
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Reification
• But does reification really
matter? Isn’t it just an
overly abstruse, academic
issue, with no relation to the
“real world”?
Not necessarily .
15
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Reification
• Consider how racial differences have been reified …
• During the colonial period, the very concept of race—a
biologically fuzzy concept—was reified in order to justify
the domination by one group (i.e., the “white race”) over
other groups (i.e., the “colored races”)
• Differences in pigmentation—which are obvious and
real—were said to represent fundamental and largely
unchangeable differences in intellectual capacity, in
cognitive abilities, in the capacity for self-governance and
so on
16
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Global/Local Binaries
• Discussion Question: What is the problem in
seeing the local and global as distinct and
opposing concepts?
17
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Global/Local Binaries
• The problem is two-fold.
• On the one hand, when treated as a dichotomous or
oppositional dimension of social space, the local tends to
be reified, too. The local is “here,” immediate and
intimate; the local is authentic and meaningful
• This means that the “global” is everything the local is not:
it is over there, “distant” and isolating
18
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Global/Local Binaries
• Thus, whereas the local is the arena for autonomy
and empowerment, the global is the realm of
dependence and domination.
• The former is safe and secure, the latter is full of
danger and violence.
19
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Global/Local Binaries
• The local/global binary does not bear up to
close scrutiny
– The “global” can be just as intimate, just as meaningful
and authentic as the local, while the local can be just as
distant and isolating as the global
20
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Global/Local Binaries
• The basic point: both the local and the global have
enabling and disabling potentials. Moreover, these
qualities are inseparable in social practice, so
terming one circumstance “local” and another
“global” is arbitrary and confusing
21
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Cultural Homogenization
• What does the author mean by cultural
homegenization? And what is his basic
point?
22
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Cultural Homogenization
• Basic Point: Since a situation is generally both
local and global at the same time, it would be a
mistake to assume that “globalization” (as the
author defines it) necessarily leads to
homogenization (or westernization)
23
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Cultural Homogenization
• A caveat: the potential for homogenization
exists, but so too does the potential for
greater diversity (cultural and otherwise)
24
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Cultural Homogenization
• For example: the destructive or so-called “delocalizing” tendencies of the contemporary world
are in great evidence:
– Languages have been disappearing, indigenous peoples’
heritages have been undercut or erased, science has
triumphed worldwide as the authoritative form of
knowledge, and a high tide of consumerism has
seemingly imposed a cultural leveling across the world
25
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Cultural Homogenization
• On the other hand, perceptions of cultural
homogenization have been greatly
exaggerated.
• To see this, it is important to look below the
surface at how, say, “global” products are
actually received and understood
26
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Cultural Homogenization
• Consider …
– Hollywood movies
– McDonald’s
– Wal-mart
• These examples tell us that losses of cultural
diversity are not intrinsic to globalization as such;
instead, we see the rise of new forms of diversity
27
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Cultural Homogenization
• The rise of new forms of diversity is difficult for some to
recognize … why?
• One problem in is that people tend to reify culture as well:
to consider culture a concrete and largely static “thing” that
either exists in its original form or ceases to exist at all.
• Some argue, in fact, that cultures which adapt to
contemporary changes are not authentic; that is, they are
not “real,” but …
28
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Cultural Homogenization
• … it is a fundamental mistake to assume that new
forms of cultural diversity are less authentic or
real than older forms
• Once we see beyond this mistake, moreover, we
can see how globalization offers opportunities for
many societies to reassert cultural distinctiveness
29
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Cultural Homogenization
• Example: by breaking down territorial distances
that previously effected considerable segregation
of culture, globality fosters innovative blends of
traditions—or “new cultures”
• These new cultures, to repeat, are not less
authentic than “old cultures”; they are equally
“real” and equally significant (at least potentially)
30
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Cultural Homogenization
• Concrete examples:
– Ethnic youth in Germany
– Muslims (or Buddhists) in the
United States
– Skinheads and neo-Nazis
– Japanese “punks”
– Korean breakdancers
31
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Universality
• Globalization links people anywhere on the
planet, but it does not connect people
everywhere on the plant; nor does it link
everyone on the planet
32
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Universality
• It is the unevenness of
globalization that is
important: unevenness not
just regard to territory, but
also with regard to class
33
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Universality
• Basic point: Understanding the implications
of globalization means understanding the
unevenness of globalization, which creates
unequal opportunities and unequal power
relations
34
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Political Neutrality
• Space always involves politics: processes of
acquiring, distributing, and exercising
social power
35
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Political Neutrality
• Practically speaking, we must always be on
the lookout for the political aspects of any
aspect of globalization, even those which
seems to completely apolitical or benign
36
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Political Neutrality
• It means that we must be aware that globalization
is about contests between different interests and
competing values
• It means that globalization is about social justice
or the lack of it
37
Definining Globalization:
Qualifications
Political Neutrality
• It means that globalization is about choices and agency.
Globalization is not an automatic process that must unfold
in a certain way. As the author puts it, “there is nothing
inevitable about the scope, speed, direction and
consequence of the trend”
• This means, in turn, that multiple globalizations are
possible and that different paths will have different
implications: some paths might be more desirable than
others
38