MODULE 1:
The Structures of
Globalization
At the end of this Module, the student will be able to analyze the various drivers of
globalization, and describe the emergence of global economic and political systems.
Lesson 1: What is globalization?
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
1. Agree on a working definition of globalization for the course;
2. Differentiate the competing conceptions of globalizations; and,
3. Narrate a personal experience of globalization.
IMPORTANT TERMS TO REMEMBER!
Globalization
Global flow
Expansion
Intensification
Time and space
Globalism
Scapes
Enthoscapes
Mediscape
Technoscape
Financescape
Ideoscape
Study Guide Questions:
1. What do you mean by global experiences?
1) (Read the story: Gio, Latif, and the Laksa.)
2. What are some descriptions of globalization?
3. What is the working definition of globalization for this course?
4. What do you mean by expansion?
5. What do you mean by intensification?
6. What do you mean by global space and time?
7. What is the difference between globalization and globalism?
8. What does “multiple globalizations” imply?
9. What are scapes according to Arjun Appadurai?
10. What are the five (5) kind of scapes according to Appadurai?
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Required Reading(s):
1. Lesson 1: What is globalization?
Pages 2-11.
Abinales & Caludion (2018). The Contemporary World. Quezon City: C & E Publishing,
Inc.
Lesson-related videos:
Advantages and disadvantages of globalization.
Channel: Ingles VIP (July 11, 2016).
Link: https://youtu.be/i-eHj6bVU8w
A Story: Gio, Latif and the Laksa.
Channel: Patricia Dimaano (February 13, 2020).
Link: https://youtu.be/0AS65cl0pJA
What is globalization.
Channel: Rolin Corporation (Mar 7, 2015).
Link: https://youtu.be/xPD477FuqtY
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Why do we need to study the world?
We need to study the world because we experience the world
daily.
You are already a citizen of the world whether you are aware of
it or not. Just by living your life, you automatically think about the
contemporary world.
Your consumption habits are global. You have dined in a
McDonald’s, maybe you owned a pair of Nike shoes, and eaten an
Australian beef.
Needless to say, the media and internet are also your windows
to the contemporary World. You watch American movies and can probably
sing at least one K-pop song. You don’t necessarily need to go to CNN.com
if a major political event occurs; friends are already posting articles on
Facebook.
While others are very privileged to experience global flows positively, a different reality also coexist
– inequality and violence. For example, a number of reports show that a growing number of Filipinas
are being recruited as ‘mail-order-brides’. However, these relationships do not live up to the fantasy. Mail
order brides are often subject to physical and sexual abuse once they arrive in the US which they are
especially vulnerable due to immigrant status.
As globalization affects us, at the end of the day, it is important to ask ‘what is
globalization?’
Globalization: A Working Definition
Is globalization an economic process?
•
•
Economic globalization is just a window (aspect) in understanding globalization.
This notion arises because most journalists and political activists view globalization as primarily an
economic process.
How should we define globalization?
•
Globalization must be ‘viewed’ using interdisciplinary approach. Using the various lenses that
consider multiple theories and perspectives
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1. DEFINING GLOBALIZATION AS A LARGE INTERSECTING PROCESS:
Manfred Steger defined the process as ‘the expansion and
intensification of social relations and consciousness across
world-time and world-space’
These definitions point to three (3) qualities at the core of globalization:
1. Expansion – It refers to both the creation of new
social networks and the multiplication of existing
connections that cut across traditional political,
economic, and geographic boundaries.
As we have seen in the case of Miss Universe,
today’s media combine conventional TV coverage with
multiple feeds into digital devices and networks that
transcend nationally based services.
2. Intensification – It refers to the expansion, stretching, and acceleration of these networks.
Not only are global connections multiplying, but they are also becoming closely-knit and expanding
their reach.
1) The second quality of globalization is reflected in the expansion and the stretching
of social relations, activities, and connections.
Examples:
1. Gigantic and virtually identical shopping malls have emerged on all
continent, catering to those consumers who can afford commodities
from all regions of the world – including products whose various
components were manufactured in different countries.
2. This process of social stretching applies to FIFA as well as to other
non-governmental organizations, commercial enterprises, social clubs,
and countless regional and global institutions and associations: the
UN, the EU, the Association of South East Asian Nations, the
Organization of African Unity, Doctors Without Borders, the World
Social Forum, and Google, to name but a few.
2) The third quality of globalization involves the intensification and acceleration of
social exchanges and activities.
The creation of global networks society fueled by ‘communication power’ required
a technological revolution one that has been powered chiefly by the rapid development
of new information and communication technologies. Proceeding at breakneck speed,
these innovations are reshaping the social landscape of human life.
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Examples:
1. The World Wide Web relays distant information in real time, and satellites provide
consumers with instant pictures of remote events. Sophisticated social networking
by means of Facebook or Twitter has become a routine activity for more than a
billion people around the globe.
The intensification of worldwide social relations means that local
happenings are shaped by events occurring far away, and vice versa. To make
the point again, the seemingly opposing processes of globalization and localization
actually imply each other. Rather than sitting at the base and the top of conventional
geographical hierarchies, the local and global intermingle, sometimes messily, with the
national and regional, in overlapping horizontal scales.
3. Global imaginary
Steger notes that “globalization processes do not occur merely at an objective, material
level but they also involve the subjective plane of human conciousness. In other words, “people
began to feel that the world has become a smaller place and distance has collapsed from thousands
of miles to just a mouse-click away.”
One can now email a
friend
in
another
country and get a reply
instantaneously, and
as a result, begins to
perceive their distance
as less consequential
Cable TV and the
internet
has
also
exposed one to news
from across the globe,
so now, he/she has this
greater sense of what
is happening in other
places.
Spotify and other related
music apps has exposed
one to different music
across the world, so now,
he/she has a variety of
music
choices,
of
different genre, or even
language.
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Airplanes, ships, and
cars have made travel
to different places easy.
Now, one is highly
exposed to different
cultures,
people,
cuisines,
language,
ideas, and many more
Globalization vs. Globalism
Globalization
•
•
Globalism
•
•
Multidisciplinary
It represents the many processes
that allow for the expansion and
intensification of global
connections.
(focus) Economic
It is the widespread belief among powerful
people that global integration of economic
and democracy around the world.
2. DEFINING GLOBALIZATION AS “MULTIPLE GLOBALIZATION”, INSTEAD OF
JUST ONE PROCESS
THE FIVE SCAPES OF GLOBALIZATION
Arjun Appadurai
Globalization refers to the increasing pace and scope of
interconnections crisscrossing the globe. Anthropologist
Arjun Appadurai has discussed this in terms of five
specific “scapes” or flows: ethnoscapes, technoscapes,
ideoscapes, financescapes, and mediascapes.
The table shows the summary of “scapes” with definition and examples:
Scape
Description
Examples
Global flow of people;
movement of people
Migrants, asylum
seekers, exiles,
tourists
Technoscapes
Global flows of technology
Hardware
components, technical
know-how
Financescapes
Global flows of money
National stock
exchanges, commodity
speculations, bitcoins
Global flows of information
Newspapers,
magazines, satellite
television channels.
Websites and the
images and symbols
they create and
provide.
Global flows of ideas
Human rights,
environmentalism, free
trade movements,
anti-terrorism,
LGBTQ++
Ethnoscape
Mediascapes
Ideoscapes
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Appadurai’s argument is simple: there are multiple globalizations. His central thrust is to view
globalization through various lenses.
Readings:
Abinales & Caludion (2018). The Contemporary World. Quezon City: C & E Publishing, Inc.
Awdel, et. al (2020). The rise of the globalization and its effect on the autonomy of the state and
political economy. Journal of Critical Reviews ISSN 2394-5125 Vol 7, Issue 6, 2020
Mike
Collins
(2016)
The
Pros
and
Cons
of
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikecollins/2015/05/06/the-pros-and-cons-ofglobalization/?sh=301cb982ccce
Globalization
Peterson Institute for International Economics (2021). What is globalization? Retrieved from
https://www.piie.com/microsites/globalization/what-isglobalization#:~:text=Globalization%20is%20the%20word%20used,investment%2C%2
0people%2C%20and%20information.
Peter
Vanham
(2019).
A
brief
history
of
globalization.
Retrieved
from
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/how-globalization-4-0-fits-into-the-historyof-globalization/
Social
Science
(2021).
The
Five
"Scapes"
of
Globalizationh.
ttps://socialsci.libretexts.org/Courses/HACC_Central_Pennsylvania's_Community_College
/ANTH_205%3A_Cultures_of_the_World__Perspectives_on_Culture_(Scheib)/13%3A_Globalization/13.02%3A_The_Acceleration_
of_Globalization#:~:text=As%20we%20have%20already%20established,ideoscapes%2
C%20financescapes%2C%20and%20mediascapes.
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