An Introduction to Globalization

Globalization is a historical phenomenon that has been happening for decades now, and whether it generates growth or not is a matter of whose point of view it is. The western countries, especially America and some European nations, are the ones taking full advantage of the benefits of globalization. On the other hand, some experts say that globalization is not doing much for the developing countries, or that it may be even worsening their scenarios of poverty and social inequality. But, I will get back to that later . The point is that globalization, while it was primarily triggered by the emergence of a global market and facilitated by the democratization of communication technologies, also caused cultural, social and even political changes.

Try to think about the globalized world as a smaller world. What I mean by the world is smaller is not that its territories are physically compressing, but the political and economic boundaries between countries are getting thinner, making people interact more and therefore feel like they are much closer to one another.

What I am trying to show you is that globalization involves a set of movements, and that these movements are all interconnected. The first movement is economic, as you already knew. To understand it, think about your daily life. Whenever you go to a big supermarket in New York, you find basic products, such as rice and orange juice, from all over the world, from Japan to Peru; the jeans you liked in a store in London were made in China; the pair of shoes you can buy in Chicago was made in the south of Brazil; the Plasma TV you have in your living room was produced in Japan; and the car you drive every day was fabricated in Germany. The list of ways you are experiencing...

... middle of paper ...

...g homogenization. This question is yet to be answered, but Berger argues that for a healthy dialogue between cultures to happen there must be an understanding of the four main faces of cultural globalization going on at the same time today: Davos Culture, Faculty Club International, McWorld Culture, and Evangelical Protestantism. Each of these faces is represented by a different group of people and, although I will not go through each of them here, when you read the essay try to identify their common features. One of them, as it is probably not be surprising to you, is the implicit (in some faces explicit) assumption that those forces are led and determined by the dominant West, especially Americans.

Well, I hope this brief introduction on the topic was of help to you. Globalization is an inexhaustible subject and thus we will always have something else to learn!