Science, Technology, and the Impact of Globalization from 1900 to the Present
Analytical Frameworks for Science and Technology Change
- Historical Inquiry and Questioning: * Central Question: "To what extent did science and technology bring change in the period from 1900 to the present?" * This inquiry can be categorized through two historical lenses: * Continuity and Change: Analyzing how scientific advancements altered existing structures or allowed certain patterns to persist. * Causation: Investigating the word "bring" as an indicator that science and technology were the primary drivers or causes of specific global shifts.
The Drivers of Globalization
Technological Advancements in Communication: * In the post-World War II era, globalization has become the central development, fueled by technological breakthroughs that facilitate business and interconnectedness. * The Radio: An early 20th-century tool that initiated a more connected global information stream. * The Cell Phone and Internet: These tools have made it significantly easier to bring people closer across distances and have directly facilitated international business operations.
Advancements in Transportation: * Shipping Containers: The development of massive shipping containers transported by specialized ships has revolutionized the movement of goods. * Air Cargo: Facilitates the rapid movement of goods over long distances at decreasing costs. * Fossil Fuel Dependency: These transportation methods rely heavily on fossil fuels, though the late 20th and early 21st centuries have seen shifts toward nuclear and renewable energy sources.
Energy Production and Environment: * Energy advancements have boosted the production of goods globally but have resulted in substantial environmental impacts. * Fossil Fuel Consumption Trends: Data from 1965 to the present shows a significant and sharp increase in global fossil fuel consumption over the last years.
The Green Revolution and Medical Advancements
The Green Revolution: * Developed primarily in the 1940s and 1950s to address the gap between projected food production and population growth. * Problem: Without intervention, the discrepancy between agricultural yields and the increasing population would have resulted in massive, global famine. * Solution: The Green Revolution utilized new agricultural techniques and technologies to produce enough food to sustain the increasing global population. * Consequence: This fueled even further population growth, which has subsequently created its own set of modern sustainability problems.
Medical Advancements and Demographics: * Increased Lifespan: Developments such as antibiotics and vaccines have dramatically increased the average human lifespan. * Birth Control: Increased access to birth control has had a profound impact on global demographic trends and family structures.
Global Health and the Split in Disease Profiles
The Economic Split in Disease: * There is a clear divide between diseases associated with poverty and diseases associated with longevity/wealth. * Diseases of Poverty: Preventable diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, cholera, and polio remain prevalent in developing countries due to lack of healthcare access, despite the existence of vaccines and treatments. * Diseases of Longevity: In wealthier countries with better healthcare, the population lives long enough to develop chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Statistics on Life Expectancy and Income: * Graphs plotting "Years lost due to disease" (y-axis) against "Income" (x-axis) reveal a stark contrast: lower-income countries lose significantly more years of life to preventable diseases compared to wealthier nations.
Emerging Epidemics and Interconnectedness: * The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: An early example of a global health crisis. * Modern Epidemics: COVID-19, HIV/AIDS, and Ebola illustrate how regional diseases can become global threats due to international travel and interconnectedness. * These crises have, in turn, spurred rapid medical advancements to counter the spread.
Environmental Impact and Climate Change
Environmental Degradation: * Driven by expanding populations and globalization, the clearing of forests and native plants for agricultural production has led to declining forest cover and expanding deserts. * Air Quality: Has declined globally as more pollutants are released through industrial processes. * Fresh Water: Consumption of fresh water has increased, leading to a rapid decline in fresh water per capita since 1900.
Greenhouse Gases and Global Warming: * The use of fossil fuels began with the Industrial Revolution but saw an explosive increase around 1950 (the start of the post-WWII globalization era). * As industrialization spreads to more world regions, CO2 emissions have surged.
Urbanization and Economic Growth: * Definition: People moving to cities to work in industrialized economies, meaning they no longer produce their own food. * Demand: This creates an increasing demand for intensive agricultural production and resources, leading to the depletion of natural resources. * Response: The growth of the environmental movement and renewable energy production (wind, solar) aims to address these issues.
Global Economic Theory and Policy
Economic Liberalism: * A theory advocating for less government regulation in the economy, similar to the concept of laissez-faire capitalism. * Tariffs: Taxes on imports; liberalization seeks to remove these barriers to encourage free trade.
Key Proponents of Free Market Policies: * The United States: Under President Ronald Reagan. * The United Kingdom: Under Margaret Thatcher. * Chile: Under Augusto Pinochet. * China: Under Deng Xiaoping.
Free Trade Organizations: * NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement (US, Canada, Mexico) designed to encourage trade with minimal barriers. * Growth of preferential trade agreements has spiked significantly since 1990.
Multinational Corporations (MNCs): * Examples include Nestlé, Apple, and Nike. * MNCs often shift manufacturing to countries with lower labor costs, resulting in manufacturing declines in original locations (like the US) and massive growth in others (like the garment industry in Bangladesh).
The Knowledge Economy: * Economies based on the creation of knowledge (e.g., software development) rather than manufacturing goods. Notable examples include Finland and Japan.
Human Rights and Social Movements
Global Human Rights: * UN Declaration of Human Rights: Adopted shortly after the UN's formation post-WWII, this seminal document established the expectation of freedom and rights for everyone on the planet, not just citizens of specific nations.
Social and Cultural Movements: * Global Feminist Movement: Has led to significant improvements in literacy rates; the ratio of female to male years of schooling has trended toward equality since 1900. * Negritude Movement: A West African cultural movement related to Pan-Africanism. * Liberation Theology: A movement within the Catholic Church. * Racial Equality: Major milestones include the US Civil Rights Movement and the end of Apartheid in South Africa. * Economic Fairness: The World Fair Trade Organization monitors labor practices to ensure fairness.
Continued Repression: * Despite progress, rights repression persists, such as China’s suppression of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement in the 1980s.
Cultural Globalization and Uncertainty
Intellectual and Scientific Shifts: * Advancements in the nuclear age increased understanding of the natural world but created cultural uncertainty. * Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle: Scientific theory stating that on the quantum level, absolute certainty is impossible. * Sigmund Freud: Psychological theory suggesting behavior is driven by unconscious forces humans cannot understand. * Existentialism: Philosophers like Jean-Paul Sartre and scientists like Albert Einstein challenged traditional norms.
Artistic Responses to Uncertainty: * Picasso and Cubism: Challenged traditional visual perspectives. * Atonal Music: Rejected traditional Western musical conventions.
Dominance of Western Culture: * American and Western culture heavily influence global trends. * Language: While English is the primary language in relatively few countries, it is spoken in countries, the highest number for any language (Arabic follows at countries).
Consumer and Popular Culture: * Film: Hollywood (USA) and Bollywood (India). * Music/Media: Japanese Anime, Reggae, and K-pop have become global exports. * Sports: The Olympics and the World Cup are primary examples of globalized culture. The World Cup has significantly higher viewership than American-centric events like the Super Bowl.
Resistance to Globalization
Reasons for Resistance: * Income Inequality: Wealth distribution is highly skewed. The top of wealthy individuals control of global wealth. Together with the next two tiers, the top group controls about , while the bottom of the population controls only . * Working Conditions: Concerns over poor labor standards in manufacturing hubs. * Environmental Damage: Protests against fossil fuel emissions and resource depletion. * Political/Cultural Sovereignty: Movement like Brexit (UK), and the rejection of Western influence in countries like China and Saudi Arabia.
Forms of Protest: * 1999 Seattle Protests: Mass demonstrations against the World Trade Organization (WTO). * Social Media Coordination: Activists use social media to organize, leading some governments to ban these platforms to stifle resistance.