"…North American Culture will ultimately impose itself, standardizing the world and annihilating its rich flora of diverse culture. In this manner, all other peoples, and not just the small and weak ones, will lose their identity, their soul and become no more than 21st century colonies - zombies or caricatures modeled after the cultural norms of a new imperialism that, in addition to ruling over the planet with its capital, military might, and scientific knowledge, will impose on others its language and its ways of thinking, believing, enjoying and dreaming."
-Mario Vargas Llosa, 2001
The social, economic and political consequences of globalization have been monumental in cities all over the world. While westernization through urban development (the very essence of globalization), permeates through the socioeconomic boundaries of most cities around the world, economic gain is the immediate result, while cultural crisis follows the repercussions. The effects seen by globalization in most cities that are affected by it include raised incomes, reduction of poverty, improved infrastructure and new medical and technological advances (Pitsuwan, 2002). These important progressions in humanity and in our global economy however do not come without a price. While globalization is rapidly taking a hold of major cities all around the world, the individual national identities of these cities are being compromised for a culture that caters to an environment designed to reap this economic gain. Two cities in particular whose cultural and national identities have been affected by the spread of urbanization since the fall of their communist regimes in 1989 are Prague and Berlin.
In major cities all around the world, one of the highest rev...
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...ere images of what they were two or three generations ago. Modernization in this sense is an important factor for the development of societies as a whole.
The notion of resistance to globalization as a resistance to individual freedom is another interesting theory brought about by Llosa. According to him, the collective domination of a 'cultural identity' posed on a group of people prevents the expression of individual and unique attributes and traits. Globalization in this sense creates the possibility of all individuals to create their own identity, as opposed to adopting the cultural identity they were born into (Llosa, 2001). In the cases of Prague and Berlin, economic and social advance is unavoidable, and while it damages the cultural well being of these nations, it is essential for the success and prosperity of these cities in this ever globalizing world.
In the twenty-first century, schools all over the country teach that Native Americans were here before what are now considered “Americans.” These new Americans arrived by boats, bringing with them disease and manifest destiny, conquering the land that was once called home by thousands of tribes. Nevertheless, through extortionist deals, mass murder and small pox, the land was evetually vacated, leaving the new Americans to take their place and flourish. While schools teach the same basic story of the first thanksgiving and Squanto, what is not remembered is any semblance of the culture. Feather headdresses, bows and arrows, and war calls while playing a game of “Cowboys and Indians” are the images many Americans associate with of what once had dominance over the entirety of the North American continent for centuries (if not millenia). In his collection of short stories The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury expressed unheard of sympathy towards Native American and Communists alike with a radical position that in which he used an fictitious species as an allegory for the struggles of millions. Even though he contradicts himself in the delivery of parts of his core message, Bradbury’s radical viewpoints and pessimistic views of the future serve as both an apology and a warning for the extermination of civilizations. Written and published in the 1950s, the book radically discredited American expansionist tendencies in post war America when such sympathies and opinions were not tolerated. As a warning for the future, Ray Bradbury possessed foresight as conquest of cultures plagues American foreign policy even today.
"States Consider Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients." FoxNews.com - Breaking News | Latest News | Current News. 26 March 2009. Web. 31 January 2011
, implying that because they are poor, they must be drug addicts. However, individuals that support the law, express that the plan being put in effect is to ensure that tax payer’s money isn’t being thrown away on people who only plan to abuse this assistance. Out of the fifty states, only nine have proceeded with the drug testing of candidates. The drug testing has proven to be quite expensive. Consequently, some of the states only test subjects with whom they find suspicion, or that have admitted to drug use in the past. Though the proposal of drug testing Welfare applicants appears to be a good idea to weed out spongers from getting assistance, it seems that more money may be wasted on the testing itself, which would be imprudent in proving this law worthwhile.
...ultural shift from ancient to modern culture by the effects of the industrial revolution which has lost the value of humanity. Modernization has a huge impact on humans’ life. On the one hand, it changed our life by making things easier. On other hand, it is destroying it by isolating people from the world, giving them less opportunity to interact with each other and the ability to create a new generation. Furthermore, it is separating humans from nature by making them live away from nature, and damaging their health by pollution and artificial things that are produced. As well, it has created diversity among the people by dividing them into classes based on gender and socioeconomic status. So, this cultural shift from ancient to modern has a huge influence on human life, and it remains to see how much the industrial revolution over time will influence society.
There is an ongoing debate over whether or not welfare recipients should be drug tested to receive the benefits. Both sides of the argument have merit. Those who oppose the idea of drug testing say that it is unconstitutional and violates the Fourth Amendment. Furthermore, they claim that this law stereotypes and discriminates against those from low socioeconomic demographics, implying that because they are poor, they must be drug addicts. However, those who support the law note that its intended purpose is to ensure that taxpayer money is not being squandered on people who only plan to abuse this assistance. Only nine states so far have instituted drug testing of candidates for welfare assistance. This drug testing has proven to be prohibitively expensive in many cases. Consequently, some states only test subjects with whom they find suspicion, or who have admitted to past drug use. Though proposed drug testing of welfare applicants initially appears to be a good idea to eliminate potential abusers of the system from receiving assistance, it appears that even more money may be wasted on the testing process, which negates the savings that are the primary objective of the law.
Drug use now in days has grown more over these past years, with the abuse of drugs many people still have the privilege to apply freely to the welfare programs such as WIC, Food Stamps, and TANF. My interest to this topic is why it would be unconstitutional to be able to do a drug testing on welfare applicants.
Owning a pet can have many physical and mental health benefits. Medical studies show having a pet result's in lower blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and triglyceride levels. Pets have a role in cardiovascular health from lowering blood pressure, and they encourage psychosocial stability in owners, which further reduces the risk of heart disease. In the hectic and fast-paced world we live in today, pets are actually saving our lives. Pets provide an excuse to be active, dogs live an active lifestyle, wanting to play and run around outside. By making us more active and improving our health, dogs often provide a good workout! Instead of sitting on the couch being lazy, dogs are eager to transfer their energy and enthusiasm to the owner benefiting both dog and owner in many ways. Studies show that dogs demonstrate trust and provide comfort to the sick or elderly thus helping people to live longer and to be more positive as they age. Animal owners over 75 years of age have f...
Globalization is the process where societies emerge and grow increasingly interdependent, surpassing geographic, political, cultural and economic barriers. It refers to the concept where our lives are shaped by events that occur and decisions that are made at a great distance from us. Therefore, it highlights the intensification as well as the broadening of political processes in the sense that local, national and international events constantly correlate with each other.1 Today, globalization continues to affect and evolve the human landscape. From the streets of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to the heart of Canada, Toronto, globalization left its mark and carved the present world. Factors such as technological
According to cultural anthropologist Joana Breidenbach (1999), globalization takes precedence over the importance of locality, which causes “a number of traditional practices, whole ways of life and worldviews disappear.” To illustrate this, she explains “special fishing techniques of the Inuit are forgotten and it is estimated that just 10% of over 6,500 languages spoken today will survive.” This indication presents a direct correlation between globalization and cultural homogeneity, due to the fact that without segregation of cultural norms and mores, diversity—while it seems to be increasing with globalization—is at risk of becoming nonexistent. Political scientist Philip Legrain provides an unbiased research analysis illuminating this position, explaining the pros and cons of globalization. In his scholarly article, “Cultural Globalization is not Global Americanization” (2003), he contrasts the proponent belief: globalization is “globalizing American culture and American cultural icons” with the anti-globalizer argument that the “buzzword in global marketing isn’t selling America to the world, but bringing a kind of market masala to everyone in the world. …globalization doesn’t want diversity; quite the opposite”—though, both arguments illuminate essentially the same idea of cultural homogeneity. Whether globalization is selling American culture to the world or allowing interconnection between different cultures, the line that distinguishes one culture from the next is becoming increasingly
Many historians and sociologists have identified a transformation in the economic processes of the world and society in recent times. There has been an extensive increase in developments in technology and the economy as a whole in the twentieth century. Globalization has been recognized as a new age in which the world has developed into what Giddens identifies to be a “single social system” (Anthony Giddens: 1993 ‘Sociology’ pg 528), due to the rise of interdependence of various countries on one another, therefore affecting practically everyone within society.
Multinational Society,” written in 1988, he states that the time has come to review the old-fashioned concept of American culture as “Western Civilization” and to give it a new
...ent prevails over the degradation. In my opinion, the benefits of globalization discussed in this paper are far more important than it's costs or the costs and benefits of localization. Although, localization and globalization will continue co-existing, globalization will continue to increasingly dominate over time because most countries are generally leading to and becoming more accepting of the idea of globalization. In conclusion, the benefits gained by globalization are the most important to people's lives because it aides in the learning process of people expanding their horizons and understanding the benefits to countries, organizations, and groups working together. Although losing some part of one's national identity can be a disadvantage at times, the advantages of being able to work together and help each other in a globally integrated world are much more.
Globalization involves a variety of links expanding and tightening a web of political, economic and cultural inter-connections. Most attention has been devoted to merchandise trade as it has had the most immediate (or most visible) consequences, but capital, in and of itself, has come to play an arguably even larger role than the trade in material goods. Human movements also link previously separate communities. Finally, there is the cultural connection. All the individual data would indicate that we are undergoing a process of compression of international time and space and an intensification of international relations. The separation of production and consumption that is the heart of modern capitalism appears to have reached its zenith. Globalization is not just another "buzz-word" (globaloney), but very much a real and significant phenomenon.
In the recent years globalization has begun to appear as one of the most predominant issues in the world. The term ‘is generally used when discussing the technology and advances in an assortment of areas including, but not limited to, everything from technology to capital. The main aspects that comprise globalization are debatable. Throughout this essay, globalization will be explored as a recent social change in our society as it relates to incorporating economic relations and incorporations political relations around the world, despite the fact that this change is often portrayed as a problematic and unequal one of the restrictions of mobile subjects and connectivity. To begin my segment, I’ll begin to discuss on some of the most important definitions of globalization. Lastly, I’ll begin to investigate the imbalanced and difficult practices that make up globalization.
Global cities are cities with substantial economic power, controlling the concentration and accumulation of capital and global investments. Despite this, global cities are the sites of increasing disparities in occupation and income. This is as a result of large in-migration and growing income inequality together with capacity and resource constraints, and inadequate Government policies.