The impact of globalization
In the passage below, the eminent sociologist Zygmunt Bauman describes the distribution of
wealth around the planet, and suggests how 'globalization' has contributed to this situation ...
As Jacques Attali pointed out in La Voie Humaine, half of world trade
and more than half of global investment benefit just twenty-two countries
accommodating a mere 14 per cent of the world's population, whereas
the forty-nine poorest countries inhabited by 11 per cent of the world's
population receive between them only a 0.5 per cent share of the global
product - just about the same as the combined income of the three
wealthiest men of the planet. Ninety per cent of the total wealth of the
planet remains in the hands of just 1 per cent of the planet's inhabitants.
And there are no breakwaters in sight capable of stemming the global
tide of income polarisation - still ominously rising.
The pressures aimed at the piercing and dismantling of boundaries,
commonly called 'globalization', have done their job; with few, and
fast disappearing exceptions, all societies lie now fully and truly wide
open, materially and intellectually. Add together both kinds of openness intellectual and material - and you'll see why any injury, relative
deprivation or contrived indolence anywhere comes topped up with
the insult of injustice: of the feeling of wrong having been done, a
wrong crying out to be repaired, but first of all obliging the victims
to avenge their ills . . .
from Liquid times Zygmunt Bauman (2007)
?
Which statements in this text would you want to question, and explore in more detail?
© David Ripley, Inthinking
www.englishb-inthinking.co.uk
5
10
15
Precise understanding
In the multiple choice questions below, choose the option which most precisely fits the meaning of the
word or phrase, in the context of the passage. Be prepared to explain your choice.
1. "accomodating" (l.3)
A containing
B showing
C enclosing
D demonstrating
2. "global product" (ll.5-6)
A world trade
B global income
C world industry
D global finance
3. "income polarisation" (l.10)
A earnings differences
B salaries changes
C money extremes
D investment directions
4. "wide open" (ll.13-14)
A exposed
B available
C anarchic
D accessible
5. "topped up with" (l.16)
A improved by
B increased by
C made worse by
D marked by
6. "crying out" (l.18)
A appealing
B praying
C suggesting
D demanding
© David Ripley, Inthinking
www.englishb-inthinking.co.uk
The global 'open society'
In the passage below, the eminent sociologist Zygmunt Bauman discusses whether 'globalization'
has resulted in societies that are more, or less, 'open' ...
The 'openness' of the open society has acquired a new gloss, undreamt
of by Karl Popper who coined the term. As before, it means a society frankly
admitting its own incompleteness and therefore anxious to attend to its
own as yet un-intuited, let alone explored, possibilities; but in addition it
means a society impotent, as never before, to decide its own course with
any degree of certainty, and to protect the chosen itinerary once it has
been selected. Once a precious yet frail product of brave though stressful
self-assertion, the attribute of 'openness' is mostly associated these days
with an irresistible fate; with the unplanned and unanticipated side-effects
of 'negative globalization' - that is, a selective globalization of trade and
capital, surveillance and information, violence and weapons, crime and
terrorism, all unanimous in their disdain of the principle of territorial
sovereignty and their lack of respect for any state boundary. A society
that is 'open' is a society exposed to the blows of 'fate'.
If the idea of an 'open society' originally stood for the self-determination
of a free society cherishing its openness, it now brings to most minds the
terrifying eminence of a heteronomous, hapless and vulnerable population
confronted with, and possibly overwhelmed by forces it neither controls
nor fully understands; a population horrified by its own undefendability
and obsessed with the tightness of its banners and the security of the
individuals living inside them - while it is precisely that impermeability of
its borders and security of life inside those borders that elude its grasp
and seem bound to reman elusive as long as the planet is subjected to
solely negative globalisation. On a negatively globalised planet, security
cannot be obtained, let alone assured, within just one country or in a
selected group of countries: not by their own means alone, and not
independently of what happens in the rest of the world.
from Liquid times Zygmunt Bauman (2007)
?
Which statements in this text would you want to question, and explore in more detail?
© David Ripley, Inthinking
www.englishb-inthinking.co.uk
5
10
15
20
25
Precise interpretation
For each of the statements below, decide whether the statement is true or false according to
what is stated in the passage. Justify your decision by quoting a short extract from the passage.
1. An 'open' society has more problems now than it used to have.
True? False?
Justification : .............................................................................................
2. It was always clear that there would be problems with globalisation.
True? False?
Justification : .............................................................................................
3. Globalisation pays little attention to the power of the nation-state.
True? False?
Justification : .............................................................................................
4. There has been a change in how people see an 'open society'.
True? False?
Justification : .............................................................................................
5. Globalization inevitably means that security is not possible.
True? False?
Justification : .............................................................................................
6. The problem of security means that all countries have to cooperate.
True? False?
Justification : .............................................................................................
?
What do you understand by the term 'negative globalisation' ?
? In consequence, what do you imagine would be involved in 'positive globalisation' ?
© David Ripley, Inthinking
www.englishb-inthinking.co.uk