THE
GLOBALIZATION
OF RELIGION
Learning Objectives :
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:



explain how globalization affects religious
practices;
identify the various religious responses to
globalization; and
discuss the future of religion in a globalized world.
RELIGION AND GLOBALISM
RELIGION



Concerned with the
sacred.
Follows divine
commandments.
Assumes that there is
“the possibility of
communication between
humans and the
transcendent”.
GLOBALISM



Places value on material
wealth.
Abides by human-made
laws.
Yardstick is how much of
humans action can lead to
the highest material
satisfaction.
RELIGION AND GLOBALISM
RELIGIOUS PEOPLE




Aspire to become a saint.
Detest politics and the
quest for power for they
are evidence of humanity’s
weakness.
Evangelization is in itself a
form of globalization.
Concerned with spreading
holy ideas globally.
GLOBALIST




Trains to be a shrewd
business person.
Values politics and the quest
for power as both means
and ends to open up further
the economies of the world.
Focused on the realm of
market.
Wishes to spread goods
and services.
ISOLATION JUSTIFICATION



The followers of the Dalai Lama established Tibet to
create impenetrable sanctuaries where they can
practice their religion without the meddling and
control of the state authorities.
Buddhist monasteries located away for civilization
so that hermits can devote themselves to prayer and
contemplation.
Rizalistas of Mount Banahaw and the Mormons of
Utah.
These groups believe that living among “non-believers” will
distract them from their mission or tempt them to abandon their faith and
become sinners like everyone else.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGION AND
GLOBALIZATION IS MUCH MORE COMPLICATED

PETER BERGER
 Argues that far from being secularized
the contemporary world is furiously
religious.
 There are veritable explosions of
religious fervor, occurring in one form of
another in all the major religious
traditions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam,
Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism).
Religions is the foundation of modern republics.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGION AND
GLOBALIZATION IS MUCH MORE COMPLICATED


The Malaysian government places religion at the
center of the political system.
Its constitution explicitly states that “Islam is the
religion of the federation”, and the rulers of each
state was also “The head of religion of Islam”.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGION AND
GLOBALIZATION IS MUCH MORE COMPLICATED

AYATOLLAH RUHOLLA KHOMEINI
 Late
Iranian religious leader
 “there is no fundamental distinction
among constitutional despotic,
dictatorial, democratic and communistic
regime”
 All secular ideologies were the same—
they were flawed—and Islamic rule was
the superior form of government
because it was spiritual.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGION AND
GLOBALIZATION IS MUCH MORE COMPLICATED

NAHDLATUL ULAMA
a
traditionalist Sunni(largest denomination) Islam
movement in Indonesia.
 Has Islamic school(pesantren) where students are taught
not only about Islam but also about modern science,
social science, modern banking, civic education, rights
of women, pluralism, and democracy.
Religion was the result of a shift in state policy
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGION AND
GLOBALIZATION IS MUCH MORE COMPLICATED

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
 “not
only do the Americans practice their religion out of
self-interest but they often even place in this world the
interest which they have in practicing it.”

JOSE CASANOVA
 “historically
religion has always been at the very center
of all great political conflicts and movements of social
reform… but also on both sides of the political
barricades.
It remains the case until today with the power of the
Christian Right has on the Republic Party.
RELIGION FOR AND AGAINTS
GLOBALIZATION



CHRISTIANITY and ISLAM or the so-called “old world
religions” see globalization less as an obstacle and
more as an opportunity to expand their reach all over
the world.
Globalization has “freed” communities from the
constraints of the nation-state but in the process also
threatened to destroy the cultural system that bind them
together.
Religion seeks to take the place of these broken ties to
either help communities cope with their new situation or
organize them to oppose this major transformation of
their lives.
RELIGION FOR AND AGAINTS
GLOBALIZATION



Religion is not the “regressive force” that steps or slows
down globalization; it is a “pro-active force” that gives
communities a new and powerful basis of identity.
Religion is an instrument with which religious people can
put their mark in the reshaping of this globalizing
world.
Religious fundamentalism may dislike globalizations
materialism, but it continues to use “the full range of
modern means of communication and organization” that
is associated with economic transformation.
RELIGION FOR AND AGAINTS
GLOBALIZATION


Religious fundamentalism has tapped “fast longdistance transport and communication, the availability
of English as a global vernacular of unparalleled
power, the know-how of modern management and
marketing”, which enabled the spread of “almost
promiscuous propagation of religious forms across the
globe in all sorts of directions.”
These fundamentalist organization are the result of the
spread of globalization and both find ways to benefit
or take advantage of each other.
RELIGION FOR AND AGAINTS
GLOBALIZATION

While religions may benefit from the process of
globalization, this does not mean that its tension
with globalist ideology will subside.
 Some
Muslims views “globalization” as a Trojan horse
hiding supporters of Western values like secularism,
liberalism, or even communism ready to spread these
ideas in their areas to eventually displace Islam.
 The World Council of Churches—an association of
different Protestant congregations—has criticized
economic globalization’s negative effect.
RELIGION FOR AND AGAINTS
GLOBALIZATION
 “We
as churches make ourselves accountable to the
victims of the project of economic globalization”, by
becoming the latter’s advocates inside and outside “the
centers of powers.”
 The
Catholic Church and its dynamic leader, Pope
Francis, likewise condemned globalization’s “throwaway culture” that is fatally destined to suffocate hope
and increased risk and threats.”
RELIGION FOR AND AGAINTS
GLOBALIZATION
 What
Catholics call “preferential option for the poor” is
a powerful message of mobilization but looks substance
when it comes to working out a replacement system that
can change the poor condition in concrete ways.
 The traditionalism of fundamentalist political Islam is no
alternative either. The terrorism of ISIS is unlikely to
create a “Caliphate” governed by justice and stability.
 In Iran, the unchallenged superiority of a religious
autocracy has stifled all freedom of expressions,
distorted democratic rituals like elections and tainted
the opposition.
THANK YOU
FOR
LISTENING!
THEORY OF
WORLD’S
STRATIFICATION
INSTRUCTOR: LAVIÑA S. ALCOSIBA, LPT
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
• Stratification refers to the range of social
classes that result from variations in
socioeconomic status.
• While stratification is most commonly associated
with socioeconomic status, society is also stratified
by statuses such as race and gender.
Stratification is generally analyzed from three different perspectives:
MICRO, MESO, and MACRO
✓Micro-level analysis focuses on how prestige and personal
influence create inequality through face-to-face and small group
interactions.
✓Meso-level analysis focuses on how connections to organizations
and institutions produce inequality.
✓Macro-level analysis considers the role of economic systems in
shaping individuals’ resources and opportunities.
Inequality
occurs when a person’s position in the
social hierarchy is tied to different
access to resources, and it largely
depends on differences in wealth.
• Modernization theory studies the social evolution process
and the development of societies.
• This theory argue that poor nations remain poor
because they hold onto traditional attitudes and
beliefs, technologies and institutions, such as
traditional economic systems and forms of
government.
• Modernists believe large economic growth is the key
to reducing poverty in poor countries.
MODERNIZATION THEORY
• According to modernization theory, low-income countries
are affected by their lack of industrialization and can
improve their global economic standing through :
1. an adjustment of cultural values and attitudes to work.
2. industrialization and other forms of economic growth.
Marxist
• The Marxist theory of modernization theorized that as
nations developed, adopting a communist approach to
governing, such as eradicating private property, would end
conflict, exploitation, and inequality. Economic development
and social change would lead developing nations to
develop into a society much like that of the Soviet Union.
Capitalist
• The capitalist version of modernization theorized that as nations
developed, economic development and social change would
lead to democracy.
• Many modernization theorists of the time, such as Walt Whitman
Rostow, argued that when societies transitioned from traditional
societies to modern societies, they would follow a similar path.
He further theorized that each developing country could be
placed into a category or stage of development. Rostow's stages
of development are:
• Traditional - an agricultural-based society
• Pre-conditions for take-off - characterized by an abundance of
entrepreneurial activity
• Take-off - a period of rapid economic growth
• Maturation - economic development slows to a more consistent
rate
• Mass production or mass consumption - a period in which real
income increases
• Although the Marxist and capitalist versions of
modernization held opposing views, both views
held that in order for developing countries to
modernize the countries needed assistance in
economic development and social change.
THE DEPENDENCY THEORY
• This theory blames colonialism and neocolonialism
(continuing economic dependence on former colonial
countries) for global poverty. Countries have
developed an uneven rate because wealthy
countries have exploited poor countries in the past
and today through foreign debt and transnational
corporations (TNCs).
•According to dependency theory, wealthy
countries would not be as rich as they are
today if they did not have these materials,
and the key to reversing inequality is to
relieve former colonies of their debts so that
they can benefit from their own industry and
resources.
THE MODERN WORLD SYSTEM
• World-systems theory(also known as world-systems
analysis or the world-systems perspective) is a
multidisciplinary approach to world history and social
change which emphasizes the world-system as the
primary unit of social analysis.
THE MODERN WORLD SYSTEM
• "World-system" refers to the inter-regional and
transnational division of labor, which divides the
world into core countries, semi-periphery
countries, and the periphery countries.
World-systems theory was aiming to replace modernization theory,
which sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein criticized for three reasons:
1. its focus on the nation state as the only unit of analysis
2. its assumption that there is only a single path of evolutionary
development for all countries
3. it disregard the transnational structures that constrain local and
national development.
WORLD SYSTEM THEORY
Core Countries
•
Core countries are dominant capitalist countries that exploit
peripheral countries for labor and raw materials.
• They are strong in military power and not dependent on any one
state or country. They serve the interests of the economically
powerful. They are focused on higher skill and capital-intensive
production. Core countries are powerful, and this power allows them
to pay lower prices for raw goods and exploit cheap labor, which
constantly reinforces the unequal status between core and
peripheral countries.
• The first core region was located in northwestern
Europe and made up of England, France, and Holland.
Today, the United States is an example of a core
country. The U.S. has large amounts of capital, and its
labor forces are relatively well paid.
SEMI-PERIPHERY COUNTRIES
• Semi-periphery countries fall in the middle of the economic
spectrum. These countries share characteristics of both
core and periphery countries. These countries are
sometimes exploited by core countries, but they also may
exploit periphery countries themselves. For example, India
is largely dependent on core countries for capital, but India
has a growing technology industry and an emerging
consumer market
Periphery Countries
• Periphery countries fall on the other end of the economic
scale. These countries lack a strong central government and
may be controlled by other states. These countries export raw
materials to the core countries, and they are dependent on
core countries for capital and have underdeveloped industry.
These countries also have low-skill, labor-intensive
production, or, in other words, cheap labor.
QUESTIONS:
1.Why there is a global stratification?
2. What are the bases in stratifying the countries around the
world?
3. How can the poor country adapt the new system to develop
their economic status?
4. What are the difference between Dependency theory and
theory of modernization?
5.Which theory do you believe and why?
GLOBAL MEDIA CULTURES
Could global trade have evolved without a flow of
information on markets, prices, commodities, and
more?
▪ Could empires have stretched across the world
without communication throughout their borders?
▪ Could religion, music, poetry, film, fiction, cuisine,
and fashion develop as they have without the
intermingling of media and cultures?
▪
– Jack Lule
 Globalization entails the spreading of various
cultures and ideas.
➢ people who travel the globe teaching and
preaching their beliefs
➢ relies on media as the main conduit for the
spread of global culture and ideas
 Media - a means of conveying something, such as a
channel of communication (Lule)
- It is the technologies of mass communication that
allow us to reach a large audience with our
messages.
 There are three main types of media: print,
broadcast, and digital.
Print media includes newspapers,
magazines, books, and billboards.
▪ Broadcast media includes radio, television,
and film.
▪ Digital media includes the internet, social
media, and mobile apps.
▪
 Media plays an important role in globalization. It
helps to spread cultures and ideas around the
world.
 For example, American movies and TV shows are
popular in many countries around the world. This
exposes people to American culture and values.
Evolution of Media and Globalization
 Lule (2014) gave five periods to study globalization
and media:
I.
-
ORAL COMMUNICATION
Language developed around 1.75 million years ago
and first consisted of disorganized set of signs.
Communication reached its formal, intentional
format at 30,000 B.C.
Man through language is not only confined within
his territory but created a cross-continental trade
which created cities and later, civilization.
Evolution of Media and Globalization
II. SCRIPT
-
It is any particular system of writing; the written
means of human communication.
The first writing ever recorded was in Summeria
over 4,000 years ago.
It was first done through wood carving, clay,
bronze, copper, bones, stones, and even tortoise
shells.
Evolution of Media and Globalization
III. PRINT (PRINTING PRESS)
-
It was first invented in China during the Tang
dynasty around 4th and 7th century A.D.
Johannes Gutenberg’s movable type printing press
is introduced around 1439.
Its discovery led to two important consequences:
a. It changed the very nature of knowledge. It
preserved and standardized knowledge.
b. It encouraged the challenge of political and
religious authority because of its ability to circulate
different views.
Evolution of Media and Globalization
IV. ELECTRONIC MEDIA
-
-
It was introduced in the beginning of the 19th century.
It requires electromagnetic energy/electricity to use.
Telegraph (Samuel Morse)
Telephone (Alexander Graham Bell)
Radio and film
Television, became the most powerful and universal
mass media upon its invention in 1920
Cell phones, dominated the world upon its creation in
1973
Evolution of Media and Globalization
V. DIGITAL MEDIA
-
It refers to audio, video, and photo content that
has been encoded (digitally compressed).
It covers the internet and mobile mass
communication.
Within the category of internet media, there are
the e-mail, internet sites, social media, and
internet-based video and audio.
FUNCTIONS OF MEDIA AND HOW IT AFFECTS SOCIETY
 Technological Determinism – technology shapes society

-
In what way does media “amputate” human senses?
weaker in physical interaction
limits senses, making users distractible and more prone to
multitasking
may expand the reach of communication but dull the user’s
communicative capacities
• Social Determinism – society shapes technology
Technology <-> Society
THE GLOBAL VILLAGE AND CULTURAL IMPERIALISM
 Global village – the world is considered as a single
community linked by telecommunications
 Global media has the tendency to homogenize
culture.
Media Globalization + American Imperialism
= CULTURAL IMPERIALISM
- promoting and imposing a culture usually of a
politically powerful nation, over a less powerful
society
ITS ROLES TO THE GROWTH OF A COUNTRY
 It provides educational opportunities. Issues of
literacy are addressed, especially media literacy.
 The economic role of global media is reflected in its
dominant orientation to profit. Today, media is one
of the largest industries in the world.
 The political role of media, among other things,
consists of interpreting the communicational linking
of social subsystems of authorities, politicians and
citizens; representing interests and statuses of social
groups; initiating and conducting the public
hearings; influencing the public opinion, and so on.
BENEFICIAL EFFECTS
 Internet & social media provides democratized
access.
 Anyone can use social media.
 Enabled users to be consumers & producers of
various information.
 Democratic potential (voice of nation)
NEGATIVE EFFECTS
 Cyberbalkanization
 Builds an echo chamber
 Exploited by politicians
 Tool of government propaganda
 Manipulates public opinions
 Online mobs/hackers
 Fake news
 Deep web
References:
 Aldama (2018). The Contemporary World (GEC Series). REX Book Store, Inc.
 Global Media Culture. (2018) Retrieved from
https://www.scribd.com/document/393903869/Global-Media-Culture
 Global Media Cultures. (2018) Retrieved from
https://www.scribd.com/presentation/395155327/Global-Media-Cultures
 Economic Aspects of Media Globalization. (2016) Retrieved from
https://www.jois.eu/files/JIS_Vol9_No2_Rutovic.pdf
 Media and Globalization. (2008) Retrieved from
https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Media-and-Globalization
 Cyberbalkanization. Retrieved from
https://www.techopedia.com/definition/28087/cyberbalkanization
 Echo Chamber. Retrieved from
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/echo_chamber
 Global Media Cultures - Nordicom. Retrieved from
https://www.nordicom.gu.se/sites/default/files/kapitel-pdf/37_hjarvard.pdf