WEEK 13 — Globalization

The Kayapo

• We live in an increasingly global world, and no people illustrates this better than indigenous peoples

• Kayapo of Brazil have been fighting encroachment on their lands for logging, ranching, mining, and hydroelectric dams since the 1970s

• A dam on the Xingu River was waiting for funding, Kayapo went to Washington to speak against, World Bank deferred the loan

• By now, The balance of global economic power had shifted and China was now funding the dam

Phase I: Cold War

• US vs. USSR, fears of nuclear war, decolonization

• Modernization vs. Dependency theories

Phase II: Post Cold War

• Breakdown of 1st world, 2nd world, 3rd world system

• Change and instability, triumph of neoliberalism

Modernization Theory

• A cold war theory that assumed problems in the former colonies were growing pains

• Economic turmoil was seen as necessary for social development

• The key to economic success seen as imitation of practices of 1st World nations

• Lynchpin of Western donor policy from 1960s onwards

Dependancy Theory

• Latin American noted that over a century of independence had not led to success

• Theorized that no amount of imitation will help former colonies, because they have no colonies of their own

World-System Theory

• Developed by Immanuel Wallerstein

• The world-system is an economic rather than a political system

• The system was divided into core, periphery, and later semi-periphery

• The core exploits the periphery, and the semi-periphery has accumulated enough capital that it becomes an intermediary

• The only way out of the system is to move to another category or overthrow it

Arjun Appadurai

• Doesn’t think there is much “system” in the world-system

• Identified the five scapes or flows of globalization

Jonathan Friedman

• The lack of “system” is a sign of the breakdown of Western global hegemony

Wallerstein

• Thought the system was on it’s way out

Five Scapes of Globalization

• Ethnoscapes

• Technoscapes

• Ideoscapes

• Financescapes

• Mediascapes

Globalization

“The intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa”

Ethnoscape

• Flow of people across boundaries

• Refers to migrants and refugees, but also tourists

Tourism

• Ethnoscape

• One of the fastest growing commercial sectors globally

• Puts people from different parts of the world, who would normally never encounter one another, into close contact

• These relationships can be economically beneficial (or not) but can also be characterized by unequal power relationships and ignorance

Technoscape

• Flows of technology

• Apple iPhone

• People lines up for the latest iPhone

• High demand makes for an intense production process

• Labour conditions are poor

• Revenue affects international distribution of wealth

Ideoscape

• Flow of ideas

• Social Media

• Missionaries in the Amazon

• Just because people are exposed to ideas, doesn’t mean they will them on

• Even when people adopt these ideas, what they do with them can be unexpected

Financescape

• Flow of money

• This has been going on for centuries but in recent years it has accelerated dramatically

Mediascape

• Flow of media across borders

• In the past it could take weeks or months for news or entertainment to travel from one to another

  • In 1755 it took three weeks for news of the Great Lisbon Earthquake to reach London England, which was considered very fast

• The invention of the telegraph, the telephone, and the internet has changed our lives

Cultural Imperialism

• People assumed that Western cultures would dominate other cultures, leading to global cultural homogenization

• The problem with this theory is that it assumes non-Westerners have no agency

Glocalization

• The adaptation of global ideas into locally palatable forms

• McDonalds caters to local tastes but locals may interpret this differently than McDonalds intends

• Traditional Ecuadorian weavers

  • Capitalized on their success on the global market by organizing small firms and buying TVs to entertains weavers

  • Women were encouraged to weavers and purchased cookers to reduce time in the kitchen

  • Increased exposure to advertising and news

Advantages

• Mediascape — allowed people in the Global North to be aware of social injustices

• Protests movements and social media campaigns have spread around the world

• Spread of new technologies

• New Ethnoscapes people volunteer their labour in disaster zones

Disadvantages

• Globalization causes as many problems as it solves

  • Climate Change

  • Epidemic disease (COVID-19, AIDS)

• Neoliberalism has been a double-edged sword at best

  • Increased inequality has made people vulnerable to radicalization

  • Xenophobia, racism, sexism, and homophobia are on the rise as people search for scapegoats for economic woes