globalisation Flashcards
Giddens
Giddens argues that there is two key features of the “lived experience” of globalisation. There is Time-Space Distanciation (where events in remote places have a greater impact on our lives in Britain and vice versa e.g. 911) and Time Space Compression (where the world appears to be shrunk because technology allows us to get information around the world more quickly).
Argues that a positive side of globalisation is that detraditionalization takes place in which tradition is challenged and a cosmopolitanism culture emerges. This causes culture to become more democratic as people have more of a say in how culture will inform their lives.
Bakan
Argues that TNCs exercise power without responsibility where they are programmed to exploit and dehumanise for profit.
Frank- dependency theory
Frank argues that African countries that have gained independence are still exploited by more
developed countries, a situation which Frank describes as Neo-Colonialism. These new forms of exploitation are more subtle than slavery and colonialism, but the effect is still to keep the developing world in a state of dependency on the West. Frank highlights the increasing dominance of Transnational Corporations in exploiting labour and resources in poor countries – because these companies are globally mobile, they are able to make poor countries compete in a ‘race to the bottom’ in which they offer lower and lower wages to attract the company, which does not promote development.
Finally, Frank argues that Western aid money is another means whereby rich countries continue to exploit poor countries and keep them dependent on them – aid is, in fact, often in the term of loans, which come with conditions attached, such as requiring that poor countries open up their markets to Western corporations.
Rostow- Modernisation theory
Rostow believed that an initial injection of aid from the west in the form of training, education, economic investment etc. would be enough to jolt a society into economic growth overcoming these cultural barriers.
Rostow suggested that development should be seen as an evolutionary process in which countries progress up 5 stages of a development ladder Rostow’s five stage model of development:
Stage 1 – Traditional societies whose economies are dominated by subsistence farming. Such societies have little wealth to invest and have limited access to modern industry and technology. Rostow argued that at this stage there are cultural barriers to development (see sheet 6)
Stage 2 – The preconditions for take off – the stage in which western aid packages brings western values, practises and expertise into the society. This can take the form of: * Science and technology – to improve agriculture * Infrastructure – improving roads and cities communications * Industry – western companies establishing factories These provide the conditions for investment, attracting more companies into the country.
Stage 3 – Take off stage -The society experiences economic growth as new modern practices become the norm. Profits are reinvested in infrastructure etc. and a new entrepreneurial class emerges and urbanised that is willing to invest further and take risks. The country now moves beyond subsistence economy and starts exporting goods to other countries This generates more wealth which then trickles down to the population as a whole who are then able to become consumers of new products produced by new industries there and from abroad.
Stage 4- the drive to maturity. More economic growth and investment in education, media and birth control. The population start to realise new opportunities opening up and strive to make the most of their lives.
Stage 5- The age of high mass consumption. This is where economic growth and production are at Western levels.
Wallerstein- world systems theory
World systems theory, developed by Wallerstein (1979) builds on dependency theory and is a
response to the criticisms of dependency theory. There are four main elements to this.
1. One must look at the world system as whole rather than individual countries. This is
because the social system transcends national boundaries.
2. Wallerstein believes that the MWS is characterised by an international division of labour
consisting of a structured set of relations between three types of capitalist zone: The
core, or developed countries control world rage and monopolise the production of
manufactured goods. The semi-peripheral a zone includes countries like South Africa or
Brazil which resemble the core in terms of their urban centres but also have areas of
rural poverty. The core contracts work out to these countries. Finally, there are the
peripheral countries at the bottom, mainly in Africa, which provide the raw materials such
as cash crops to the core and semi periphery. These are also the emerging markets in
which the core market their manufactured goods.
3. Wallerstein argues that countries can be upwardly or downwardly mobile in this world
system. This means the theory is more flexible than franks
4. The process whereby wealth is extracted from the periphery is the same as outlined in
dependency theory. (neo colonialism today)
Sachs (2005)
Sachs argued that development was never about development, but a way of keeping the
poor dependent and exploited
Also argues that aid can work when it is practical, targeted and science based and
measurable.
Elrich
Erlich argued that higher birth rates in the developing world had lead to a ‘population explosion’ that had put too much of a strain on their resources and energy. This had lead to six problems: Famine, malnutrition, poverty, war, destertification and deforestation. This means that any spare money and resources will be spent on dealing with the crises of overpopulation rather than on brining about economic growth.
Malthus- population growth
A high birth rate is the main reason why populations increased at a faster rate than the ability of those populations to feed themselves. He believed that this would lead to a natural process of famine, malnutrition and conflict over scarce resources that would increase death rates and so bring the population back into line with available resources.
Adamson- population growth
Adamson (1986) argues that poverty causes overpopulation rather than overpopulation causing poverty. He argues that there are several
reasons why it is rational for poor people to have lots of children:
-In developing countries children are seen as economic assets because of the increased income they can generate.
-Children provide old age care to parents in developing countries where there is no social welfare/ pensions
-In areas of high infant mortality, it makes sense to have more children as this increases the likelihood of at least one of them surviving to adulthood.
-Conversely, in developed countries with higher standards of living it costs much more money to bring up children which discourages large families. Thus increasing wealth = lower birth
rates.
Adamson argues that the major cause of poverty is the unequal distribution of the worlds resources. The average American consumes 300 times as much energy as the average
Bangladeshi and the United States, although it has about 6% of the world’s population consumes more than one third of the world’s resources.
Eberstadt
Argues that population growth is not due to people having more babies but instead it is because the death rates and infant mortality rates in developing countries have decreased. In particular, Western aid has led to better maternal health care, more babies being born in hospitals, eradication of diseases such as smallpox and malaria. Overpopulation should not be regarded as a bad thing, instead it is a sign of things getting better.
Chang
Argues that organisations like the IMF and World Bank present themselves as altruistic organisations, wanting to help poorer nations develop, when in reality, the exploit these countries by providing loans which inhibit their progress. Additionally, the way hat votes are distributed means that smaller countries have little influence in decision making.
In 2015 how much money did the UK contribute to the UN budget?
$140 billion
how many people were living in slums in 2005
An estimated one billion people were living in slums in 2005, which is expected to double by 2030.
How many people did not have access to clean drinking water in 2012?
800 million
