Week 8: Global Transformations & Globalization & Culture

Both books once again did not directly address our topic but they did have some interesting thoughts that could serve as entry points.

First Global Transformations:
Global transformations continues to have a rather rosy look at the progress of globalization particularly in its effects on developing countries. Perhaps I'm a skeptic but, the teachings I've received over the years and my limited personal experience do not share Held et al.'s view of the direction that the globalization of economics, politics, and culture is a good one. They write:

In the late 1980s developing countries were home to some 3,800 indigenous MNCs; by the mid-1990s... this had more than doubled. This is an indication of the expanding reach of global production and distribution systems. (Held et al, Global Transformations, 1999, 245.)

While I do not directly refute Held's statistics, I do wonder about the way that those statistics are being presented. Developing countries' situations are wide and varied. China, for example, would be in far different position than Zimbabwe or Uruguay. I suspect that these indigenous MNCs are concentrated in a few developing countries creating further stratification of economies even amongst the developing ones.

Global Transformations seems to address this issue later with regards to FDI when they write:

Africa has become more marginalized with the decline of FDI in primary production although there are indications that this is changing. Latin America has declined in relative terms, but remains an important location. The most dramatic rise has been in East Asia. (Ibid. 250.)

But this seems to appear as an appendix or an afterthought to the overall thesis of Global Transformations.

As Tyler and I have noticed, AIDS is not a self-contained issue. AIDS is very closely interlinked with world poverty for a number of reasons which we have begun to specify in our wiki. Establishment of MNCs in developing countries have appeared to help local/national economies (the cost of this establishment is not fully revealed in any of our readings). But with this premise in mind, we would hope that the growth of indigenous MNCs in countries hard struck by AIDS could indirectly combat the AIDS epidemic.

The educational element of the AIDS epidemic is also touched upon in Global Transformations.

Standardization of production and rising skill levels in some developing countries have led to over half the world's television production being located outside the OECD. (Ibid. 265.)

What can we do to improve schooling worldwide? This seems like a ridiculous question to ask considering that many would argue that we, the US, have not done a good job at home on this very issue. But if we are serious about making some of these developing nations players in the world economy, we obviously have to start with the children. What can we, Americans, do to raise the quality of education to children in Uganda, Mongolia, or Venezuela?

To this question, we may look to Pieterse's Globalization & Culture. It seems that he is arguing that nationalization and culture at least in the way that it is popularly conceived today are the true borders and boundaries that prevent people from embracing others. He regards national boundaries as largely irrelevant in this increasingly globalized world, and instead points to our attitudes and perceptions of ourselves as belonging to a particular culture that is wholly different from other cultures. Instead, he advocates for adopting a hybrid lens, one that sees that cultures are not stagnant, unchanging entities, but moldable, everchanging things that is constantly in contact with and melding with other cultures.

Invariably it is through cultural codes that boundaries are experienced, lived, upheld. (Pieterse, Globalization & Culture, 2004. 104.)

I remember a comment someone made after our presentation in class a few weeks ago. "What about missions trips?" Could missions trips, especially short-term ones be used as a way to experience and witness different cultural codes, which could in turn be adopted in part to contribute to the creolization of cultures? That is, could missions trips be a way to break down cultural boundaries... boundaries that may prevent people from receiving medical care, financial assistance, or educational upgrading? And as these cultural boundaries get broken down, could steps be taken toward leveling the playing field worldwide?

Personally I'm not sure. Though I do see the beneficial possibilities that globalization bring, I balk at the notion that globalization offers only solutions. What of the potential problems it may bring? We must count the cost.