Friday 20 July 2012

What is Globalisation?


What is Globalisation? In my understanding, Globalisation is the blurring of boundaries; the cultural boundaries, geographical boundaries and language boundaries. Globalisation is commonly expressed by saying that the world is getting smaller. The societies are becoming multicultural, people migrate from one country to another country, and shopping centres have products from hundreds of different countries all in the same shelf. When we make a call, the call may be directed to different parts of the world depending upon the day of time.

Globalisation is defined as the rapid flow of goods, capital, ideas, people, knowledge, beliefs and images across the world (Experiencing Globalisation, p5). There are a number of other definitions of globalisation that have been suggested by various authors.

We hear a lot about the good things that globalisation brings. Globalisation opens up new opportunities for individuals and businesses. Individuals can travel, work and live in different countries. The businesses can sell their products and services in different countries; and can also access the employee workforce and customer base from different countries. Globalisation is both a result and source of these advantages we all enjoy.

What fascinates me most is the fact that globalisation is even seen as in a negative manner. Globalisation is seen by some as a cause for lost national identity, increasing environmental problems and exploitation of workforce (What is Globalisation? 21 July 2012). In my opinion, globalisation is a good thing as long as it is managed carefully. All individuals and businesses that enjoy the great benefits of globalisation must also be aware of and respect their responsibilities in a complex global environment.  

References
Experiencing Globalisation, University of New South Wales, On the move – Globalisation as Human Experience (p5) retrieved online on 21 July 2012 from http://socialsciences.arts.unsw.edu.au/media/File/GLST1100_S1_2012.pdf

Connell, R. C.  2007.  Southern Theory  – The global dynamics of knowledge in social  science.  Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, Australia. Chapter 3: Imagining Globalisation

What is Globalisation? Charles Sturt University, retrieved online on 21 July 2012 from http://www.hsc.csu.edu.au/economics/global_economy/whatis_globalisation/tut1whatisglobalisation.html

7 comments:

  1. You say Globalisation is a good thing so long as it is managed carefully, who do you think should be managing it? Should everyone be self-managing or should there be a larger task force put in place? How would you recommend they manage it?

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  2. so great to hear that you considered of the negative manner of globalisation. In general and in short term, globalisation brought a lot of advantages to 'human'. Globalisation gave a bigger market and more opportunities to individual and organization. Globalisation is continually open up more opportunity and bringing them more advantages. However, the potential or existence negative side of globalization was no or less people concern on.
    Honestly, I have never thought about the possible of the negative effect emerged by ‘globalization’ until now.

    If there is more about the negative side and the existence example of it in your blog post, that will be great.

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  3. As the previous comment states, it is good to point out negative aspects of globalisation. I like the fact that this was nice and clear to read and that it pointed out a few things such as it being a cause for losing self identity and workforce exploitation.

    As for the actual appearance of this blog you should play around with the text and background for a bit of fun. Templates are available to make your blogs look even more awesome! Good information as well as a nice looking blog will tempt more page visitors :) good luck in future blogging!

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  4. This post connects with the concept of globalisation, in particular cultural flows. The post covers the general explanation of globalisation and the author illustrated his point by quoting a study guide produced in University of New South Wales. The author as well attempted to explain both the positive and negative impacts of globalisation. However, examples are not provided and therefore it is not clear enough. Nevertheless, the author raised another question about how globalisation can be more positive by managing it in a careful way.

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  5. I like your explanation on globalisation which is really easy to understand. And it is great to sum up both good and bad sides of globalisation. I hope to see a bit more about the negative consequences and that might make your content more balanced. I have the same question with Magellan Media, I think globalisation is hard to manage as this is such a wide concept and it involves so many aspects across boundaries. I really can’t think of any possible solution at this moment, anyone can suggest some?

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  6. You have good understanding of globalization. Globalization is blurring the border and the world is becoming multicultural. You also generally summarized the advantages and disadvantages of globalization and come up with your opinion - globalization is a good thing. I agree with your opinion at some point but the advantages of globalization are not only just about personal experiences and the development of company. Such as film, idea and even spirit across the border can bring benefits to people. In addition, I do not understand how to manage globalization. Anyway, it is a good post!

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  7. My questions regarding this post are similar to those of magellan above except i am doubtful of whether globalisations problems can be managed at all. For instance, the exploitation of foreign workers by multinationals seems to me an inevitable problem. If there are cheaper sources of labour overseas in poorer nations those nations will want foreign investment and use their cheap labour as an exportable resource. Its all well and good to say companies must be responsible, however they are after profit driven and raising standards would mean lower profit margins. In regard to diasporic communities losing their identity, wouldn’t you agree that this too is inevitable, perhaps even desirable for the social cohesion of their host nation?

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