Disadvantages of Globalization Essay

1. ABSTRACT It is debated that sustainable development has not worked well within the globalist environment and continues to seem unpromising for our future. If there is not some sort of new outside of the box idea followed by drastic action which takes place, this society faces grave environmental dangers as every new year comes. This essay will critically assess the statement mentioned above and will go in depth to try to explain how negative impacts can be stopped and this essay will put forth ideas regarding how capitalism and environmentalism can reconcile. 2. INTRODUCTION 2.1. BackgroundGlobalization is a concern today as it is attributed to massive social problems in developing nations. The deterioration of the environment i.e. the destruction of the rain forests, oceans, rivers, and lakes is directly related to overwriting and non-regulation of local environmental laws by corporations in developing countries. Also within the global society, economic inequality, especially poverty and exploitation of underdeveloped nations, are major social problems due to developed policies between international economic institutions of the International Monetary Fund and the Word Bank, international corporations, and national governments. These policies can be so harmful to economies that they contribute to horrors such as world hunger, disease, and human trafficking to name a few. Government intervention by regulation, taxation, and redistributing wealth then distorts natural laws of supply and demand. Some economies may suffer disadvantaged at first, but society is better off when the free market is allowed to control itself. 2.2. Purpose of the ReportThis report is aimed to give in detaied undertandign of what does globalization it, how it developed and what negative impacts on human life. While there are many positive aspects of globalization, its negative effects are ‘overwhelming’ and ‘far reaching’. In fact the effects of the same behave like slow poison which is why it becomes more important to recognize and stop the negatives. 2.3. Statement of the problemBefore understanding the reasons behind why this phenomenon has brought with it so many problems, we need to have a look at  the instruments by which globalization is being promoted and enhanced. The most important and predominant instruments influencing this process are the multinational corporations and the new revolution of information technology. 3. METHODOLOGY While preparing this report, mostly the book resources of Yeditepe University Knowledge Center applied. there were numbers of books to search about the subject. This report will start with briefly defining globalization. then it will follow by its negative impacts in terms of both its economic, human and nature impacts. 4. FINDINGS 4.1. GlobalizationThere are various definitions for the word globalization, but depending on the perspective it is seen in, this phenomenon ramifies itself in different shade colors between white and black. To put ourselves in the appropriate context, it is important to understand what the word globalization means. â€Å"Globalization in its literal sense is the process of transformation of local or regional things or phenomena into global ones. It can also be used to describe a process by which the people of the world are unified into a single society and function together. This process is a combination of economic, technological, socio-cultural and political forces.† Globalization is also used to refer to another term called economic globalization and this term, refers to the â€Å"Integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, and the spread of technology.†(Robertson, 1992) During the death of each minute consumed and the passing of each day, societies have identified a certain shrinking of the world that has been more real with the strengthening of larger and stronger bonds between parallel worlds called countries. It is interesting to see that this phenomenon is not only visible because of the human being evolution, but also because of the rapid transformations in communication, transportation, and computer technology, that have permitted these parallel worlds to explore and be exposed to other ways of living and cultures (Roberts, 1999). In a broader perspective, this situation could be seen as a beneficial situation due to the fact, that opening up to new cultures, means the breaking of paradigms in the solving of problems. The difficulty nagging in everyone’s minds is, in the dissolution of those paradigms, are the  societies going to lose their identities which indicate in the way they live life and differ themselves from others? It’s a question that has been more and more obvious in the passing of each day and that have started revolutions in pursue of preventing cultural distortion because many countries, in fact, feel threatened by other cultures and consequently, are acting out to preserve themselves the best way possible. 4.2. Globalization and culture Globalization represents a challenge to cultures and local languages. Globalization needs to be pursued with tolerance and respect for the cultures that we come across. Being hastily judgmental could lead to marginalizing many local cultures. Scientific and economic superiority of the US and the flow of information technology assist in imposing certain languages in particular English as a second language in some developing and developed countries, and as a first language in some others and this could have a significant impact on cultures resulting in the dilution if not wiping out traditions, customs, and values of many societies and marginalizes their cultures (Appadurai, 1996). 4.2.1. Cultural imperialism People are scared of cultural imperialism, which describes the idea that one day the whole world will be one big culture and that the blending of cultures will eliminate the existence of the weaker ones and fusion the habits and customs of the stronger ones. In order for this to happen, there must be an eradication of many different cultures around the world, but in a personal perspective, the idea of cultural imperialism is not possible (Appadurai, 1996). Even if all the weakest cultures adopted important habits, people would still prefer some of the things their culture proportions. 4.2.2. McDonald’s More than half of the Colombians would never prefer a Mc Donald lunch over a real good â€Å"sancocho trifà ¡sico† and the American culture has a higher possibility to choose the other way around, due to the fact that a lot of people can only afford to eat at Mc Donald’s because of its low prices in their country. This is why in a way it is clear that even if cultural imperialism were to happen, the cultures of the world would never be able to come together to form just one. Besides, there is no secret that  globalization is an uneven process, due to the fact that there is an unequal distribution of benefits and losses and this is another argument that demonstrates that many cultures differ(Peterson, 1999). This imbalance, also leads to the separation between the rich countries, and the poor ones causing them to be more against the beliefs of the rich countries, and more protective of their own. Positive cultural understanding of the market is a way to facilitate any marketing program development and resumes in a higher success for the manager that applies this, but some managers confuse themselves believing that marketing influences culture completely (Appadurai, 1996). In a way, this is true but this does not mean it changes it even though product acceptance is affected by culturally based attitudes towards change. There are a few things to take into consideration when thinking that culture is in constant change with marketing. There is a term called corporate culture, which â€Å"describes the whole collection of assumptions, practices and norms that people in an organization adopt over time. This means that employees have to buy into them, eventually getting to the point where they take them for granted and passes them on.† (Bauman, 1998) This term is interesting because all of the companies have their own internal culture that is always bargaining with the culture of its home country and many managers confuse themselves trying to change their national cultures for that of their company without any success, thinking in that idea that market can change culture. Experts in organization behavior say it is difficult to alter any kind of culture independent if it is a national culture or a corporate one, but the corporate culture is more flexible in terms of the way they do things internally and that a manager must understand this in order to obtain success. 4.3. Globalization and developing countries Globalization has serious effects on many developing countries:a. The irresponsible behavior of some multinational corporations toward the environment of developing countries (using these countries as a safe haven) participating in this phenomenon could cause much harm to the latter. Due to lenient policing, expired products are dangerously marketed and natural surroundings are carelessly  abused. So globalization in this context changes the world to become a â€Å"global pillage instead of being a global village†. Besides due to lack of supervisory governmental bodies, such behaviour could also lead to Global Warming -the consequences of which will not be limited only to the marginalized nations (Cosgrove-Sacks, 1999). b. The real test to globalization is through its success in reducing the gap between the rich and the poor at local, national and global levels. However the widening gap between the East and the West at international level, and between haves and have-nots at national level is another serious aspect of globalization (Peterson, 1999). c. Globalization has forced many countries in various parts of this world to regulate to a lower league the most fundamental needs of their peoples. The equitable distribution of food, adequate health care facilities, and the quality of education are no longer priority concerns the political agendas of the governments in these countries (Roberts, 1999). All these indicate that poor societies in the third world not only remain far away from benefiting from globalization, but also they continue to suffer from its calamities, pitfalls and misfortunes. It then contributes to laying the foundation of injustices and social inequalities, and moreover preventing the growth of new markets in these countries because they are unable to compete with the advanced markets. Globalization can also be bad for countries that aren’t very good at producing things and are too impoverished. Their industries may need protection against multinational firms so that their local industries can develop and get big enough to fund research and development and exploit economies of scale. Globalization means the world becoming one big marketplace with as few trade barriers as possible, so obviously weaker companies would be wiped out by stronger ones, which might be based in a few rich countries. So great income inequality can result. However, it is generally agreed that globalization has more pros than it has cons. 4.4. Globalization and morals The immoral character of globalization is becoming even more serious and its negative impacts in this context have different aspects. Globalization has internationalized crimes. Drug trafficking and the trafficking of women and children have become much more difficult to control because of their international character. Not only crimes are globalized, but also diseases such as AIDS. Pornography too accounts for the poisoning of young minds and counter productive usage of technology. This has lead to increase in crimes against women and beginning of unhealthy trends in society(Perlas, 1999). 4.5. Globalization and international politics By increasing interdependence among countries, globalization would give economically strong and advanced countries a strong hold on international politics. However this power could be misused by superpowers which could possibly challenge international legitimacy through marginalizing the role of the United Nations and ignoring the international law (Baylis, 2001). 4.6. Globalization and societal structuresThe free economy and the development of technology have negative impact on labourers. As known, twenty percent of the world population is producing the needs of all population in this world, while most of the rest 80% are unable to find a suitable source of income. This is serious because underprivileged people are expected to revolt against their bad conditions (Perlas, 1999). This is possible with the growing decline of state’s power to the favor of private sectors, on one hand, and to the growing decrease of the governmental expenditures on social and public services such as heath, education etc., on the other. In this, globalization is a source of social instability and class disparity. 4.6.1. Inequalities within society It is difficult to fully understand inequalities within society without fully understanding that in our capitalist societies, nothing happens unless it is profitable and that profit is usually achieved through the struggle of others surrounding it.  The leading corporate empires and some of the richest people in our world’s history have achieved their successes through the blood, sweat and tears of the unnamable workers that have helped in the past, and are helping them today (Bauman, 1998). The following essay will critically assess the usefulness of the ‘blame globalism’ approach as to why there exist so many inequalities in our society, and this essay will also touch upon alternative points of view that steer away from capitalism as the main problem (Peterson, 1999). Inequality in society is quite extensive and it continues to grow. Different ways exist when portraying inequality and where it is rooted from, some views are fact based logic and some are more opinion based. Most of the time our initial views of what inequality is and where it seems to exist most, comes from the infomercials we see where images of poor children in third world countries strike across our televisions. Outside the western hemisphere of the world in the poorer countries there certainly is a visible inequality when compared to life here at home, but this has been the case for so many years (Perlas, 1999). One of the major modern inequalities creating a history of its own for people in the future to look back upon is how our own capitalist society continues to divide the rich and the poor at a fast rate and a greater division as every year passes. 4.7. Globalization materializing human nature Globalization has also popularized a consumer culture among people due to the flow of goods and products. Since the desire to consume more and more can never really be satisfied, the consumer becomes addicted to shopping to a point where the spiritual, moral and intellectual dimensions of his/her personality do not grow or develop. These are actually due to the business corporations, which produce the wide array of consumer goods and the media which advertise them. In fact this trend has also resulted in higher levels of dissatisfaction despite improved lifestyles due to never-ending wants (Bauman, 1998). 4.7.1. Gender issue Gender is essential to modern globalization in manufacturing because it has been discuss at a variety of joint degrees to see if assembly-line workers are to influence global factory regimes and  improve the quality of their jobs. This knowledge is made a power by workers in that they are able to build effective networks of resistance and resistance centers on issues of human rights, labor rights, gender identities, and indigenous identities (Brysk, 2004). Economic oppression caused by the globalization of markets and industries keeps women poor. Around the world, women are paid less than men even when they have similar jobs to male counterparts. Often women are demoted to lower paid positions and then unable to advance. When companies such as factories are privatized, women are the fist to be let go because employers assume that their income is an appendage the income earned by the male head of household. Single, unemployed mothers are one of the largest groups of potential trafficking victims (Brysk, 2004). All of these issues force women into the â€Å"gray,† semi-legal economy, or even worse, the black market in an effort to support themselves and their families. Increased globalization is what causes this oppression for women through trade, travel and the movements of money both legal and illegal become faster and much less able to be regulated and trafficking is made easier due to these factors. 4.7.2. Human rights violation The effect of globalization on state-based human rights violations depends on the type of state and its history. Countries that are newly democratizing with weak institutions and elite-controlled economies, such as Russia, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, the growth of global markets and economic flows tends to weaken coercive forces but increase crime, police abuse, and corruption (Brysk, 2004). Global mobility and information flows generally lead to ethnic mobilization, which may promote self-rule in more open states but mostly it produces abuses in defense of dominant-group control. Alternatively, the same forces have produced slow institutional openings by single-party states, like China and Mexico (Brysk, 2004). In much of Africa, globalization has increased the power void, by both empowering and providing intervention, which displace old governments without combining new ones. Some of the most horrifying abuses of human rights happened in the international civil wars of Sierra Leone, Angola, and the Congo (Brysk, 2004). 4.8. Globalization and prosperity Globalization poses serious questions about  peace and prosperity: Could the implementation of free market principle globally enhance international peace and security or prevents wars, as globalists argue? Prosperity, welfare and economic progress which market economy is expected to achieve could enhance or create some opportunities for political stability; but it does not necessarily ensure peace or social stability (Brueggemann, 2006). It is true that market economy has contributed to social and political stability in liberal states and to peace among them, but it does the opposite in many developing countries. Asian economic crisis of 1997 is a case in point. The free market forces allowed manipulators to control stock markets and to transfer large amount of money just to maximize their profits, while they were destroying the economies of many Asian countries (Baylis and Smith, 2001). Indeed these activities have destroyed the social structures of those societies, and furthermore, created what might be called potential social unrests in the region. That is why globalization in its current formula does not necessarily ensure social and political stability. 4.9. Globalization and Environment Capitalism is mainly about the overall accumulation of wealth based upon the consumption of our planet’s natural resources and these resources are becoming more and more strictly limited. We as one face the universal environmental problem existing that we are consuming roughly twenty-five percent more than the Earth can give us each year. Our planet needs these natural resources such as trees for example that continue to give our planet’s ecosystem clean air and water that we all need to survive daily. 4.9.1. Pollution We are exceeding the amount of pollution that our environment can handle. Waste products that give off carbon dioxide emissions into the air are now much more than our planet is able to absorb and deal with without having serious affects for both our planet’s health and our own. These carbon dioxide emissions are also the leading cause of our climate change referred to as global warming. Even though international agreements exist to prevent global warming by affectively fighting it, there truly needs to be than just marketing principles to achieve overall compliance from everyone (Cosgrove-Sacks, 1999). There has to be set in stone  principles that turn standard to every leading employer that threats the environmental crisis, and they need to feel as if they cannot just continue doing what they are doing by paying a fine here and there. There are many developing nations still needing to grow economically themselves but in order for them to achieve their goals, the richer countries such as ours here in the western hemisphere, we will need to reduce the usages of natural resources in order to balance things out efficiently (Cosgrove-Sacks, 1999). This is highly unlikely to happen as we continue to use more and more resources each and every year that passes now. If everyone in the world lived like we do over here, we would need around five planets to simply provide the necessary natural resources needed to survive. 4.9.2. Environmental technologies Technology that is more efficient and cleaner will not necessarily solve the environmental issues at hand either. Even though these new innovations seem to be the ideology that if we do things cleaner than everything will be okay, this is not the answer to the question of sustainability. Many areas of the world that were or still are leading polluters have began to go about their work more efficiently by adapting cleaner technology but it still does not change the fact countries such as the United States consume far more material goods and end up using more of the planet’s limited natural resources (Roberts, 1999). There is always another issue behind another and it becomes very difficult to address everything at once successfully. However, without a solution to these problems our planet’s climate will continue to die (Peterson, 1999). The only way for globalism to move forward successfully would be for it to make a change from exploiting out natural resources such as air and water and to protect them as common wealth trusts of humanities. They could belong to everybody and we would have the power to limit the use of scarce resources, charge rent, and pay dividends to everyone. Continuous economical growth can occur as long it becomes environmentally friendly with efficient technologies being adopted and if the economies steer away from producing material goods and begin to move towards services, sustainable prosperity is  what this is known as. Sustainable prosperity as the global use of resources and methods of dealing with wastes would not exceed the planet’s capacity to regenerate and absorb. True prosperity can only come if the income disparity between the rich and poor shortens (Brueggemann, 2006). 4.10. Globalization and poverty Wealth is created through labor. This labor comes from the people who are not getting rich from the company of which they are working for. Workers dedicate hours of labor work and most of their lives working with a company’s means of production such as machinery and building things. The company owners themselves are not out there building a house, driving a bus, or selling vacuums, yet they are getting practically all of the profit and do not do the hard work themselves. They simple own the means of production. This unfair sort of money pyramid is the bases of pretty much all major money leading companies and it is the system that creates rich and poor and continues to do so much more all the time (Bauman, 1998). 4.10.1. InequalitiesOnce this basic realization is understood, it is easier to see how inequalities within the oppressed classes relate to this as well. For poor people in places like Africa and similar circumstances countries, their struggle is mainly a result of the capitalists not caring about them, because there is no profit to be made out of their labour. What worsens the views and opinions people have on capitalists even more is not that they are exploiting the poor, but it is that they are not exploited them at all. These poor people are irrelevant to capitalist production and therefore capitalists truly do not care if they live or die, eat or starve, the capitalists simple are not concerned. In fact in some cases, capitalists would most likely love if the poor would just die out, so then they could stop pretending to care (Perlas, 1999). Bosses have used all sorts of divisions in the past to attempt to increase the inequalities and drive down working conditions. However, through the years there has been an increasing amount of workers coming together to fight these inequalities. There once existed a time when racism, sexism, and youth wages played more than just a small factor in working wages, but in  fact made up most of the inequalities within our society. With so much success as time progresses, workers continue to unite to challenge globalists (Peterson, 1999). With progressions of equality such as these in our capitalist society, there are certainly other views that do not blame globalism for all the poor in the world, in fact some may even say hat globalism helps people instead of causing societal negativities. 4.10.2. Decrease in living standards of people These types of little scenarios make up the theory of equal opportunity. Poorer families not having the education, health care, or typical social skills which are created by being raised in a decent home, are at a lesser advantage than others whom were raised in a middle class family (Robertson, 1992). This makes it clear to see how people and families remain poor over decades and through generation and as the prices of things climb, these people get even more left behind. It is not necessarily the fault of capitalism, just the result of many, many growing up situations being the same. However, when people then begin to bite onto this theory and give globalism the benefit of the doubt in situations, people then turn around and say it was globalism in the first place long back many years ago that caused that family to be poor. Then as decades passed, these poor families never got out of the downward slope of things and globalism started it all (Brysk, 2004). It is not a simple task to pin point exactly where inequality was derived from in the beginning, it is easier to see where it still exists now. For every positive thing brought to light regarding globalizm, there seems to be an opposing view whether fact of opinion that then blames it again. Globalizm and inequalities in society continue to move around as one, even if possibly they were never one in the beginning and globalism’s original intention was never to create a gap as large as the one is today between the rich and poor (Brysk, 2004). 5. CONCLUSION The affects of globalization can be endless. States in the US can see impacts both good and harmful due to manufacturing of export goods. Economically, globalization can be positive when it benefits commerce and can contribute to an increase in the standard of living. Also, when developing nations being to grow wealthier is can lead to social prosperity. On the other hand globalization can be seen as a negative. When it acts as  corporate imperialism, the global issues of environment, gender, and human rights are abused. This is due to the growth of markets, internationally, where economic movements tend to aid the deterioration of protective forces which increase crime levels, and abuse of policies. Depending on how globalization is approached it can negatively or positively affect socializations, but one thing s for sure: it brings change. 6. REFERENCES Appadurai, Arjun, Modernity at large : cultural dimensions of globalization, Minneapolis, Minn. : University of Minnesota Press, 1996Bauman, Zygmunt, Globalization : the human consequences, New York : Columbia University Press, 1998Baylis, John and Smith, Steve, The globalization of world politics : an introduction to international relations, Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2001Brueggemann, William G. The Practice of Macro Social Work. Thompson Brooks/Cole, Canada. 2006. Brysk., Alison. Globalization and Human Rights. University of California Press, Ltd. 2002. â€Å"Globalization and Gender Inequalities: Advancing the Status of Women Worldwide†. The Zontian. 2004. Volume 83, number 4. 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