globalisation Flashcards
Giddens definition
interconnectedness of societies and the compression of space and time
global village
McCluhan - instantaneous movement of information to every point in the world meaning everyone is connected and the world is getting smaller
factors of globalisation
- greater geographical mobility
- movement of ideas, goods, services and trade
- greater awareness of global issues
- spread of global values and lifestyles
impact on economics
- most affected area
- international exports increased by 30 times in the last 60 years
- companies look for cheap production in countries with low wages
impact on politics
- issues like climate change, terrorism etc cant be solved by a single state
- international pressure groups have formed
- decrease in local politics
impact on culture
- western culture is dominant and destroys diversity
- but a backlash has occurred as people start to return to regional customs
positives for the economy
- allows the development of the world market and higher living standards for poorer countries
- investments can cross national boundaries and there’s a growth of free trade
negatives for the economy
- intensification of economic competition
- growing dominance of multinational companies
- new international divisions of labour
- manufacturing moves to low wage economies
positives for politics
- dissolving of political differences
- creation of political units beyond the nation state
- International criminal court to judge crimes against humanity
negatives for politics
- threat to the nation state
- lack of democratic control
- clash of civilisation and growth of terrorism
positives for culture
- less nationalism
- we can see and learn about other cultures
- travel becomes more commonplace
negatives for culture
- proliferation of mass media
- inhibits local cultures
- dull uniformity
- dominance of the English language
monologic transmission
from one source to many receivers
dialogic transmission
many sources to many participants
digital revolution
- move from mechanical and electronic to digital technology
- in the 80’s less than 1% of information was stored in digital format and in 2014, 99% was
advantages of globalisation
- worldwide market for people and companies to access products
- decisions being made benefit people all over the world
- increased tolerance and acceptance of people from other countries
disadvantages of globalisation
- helps the rich get richer and the poor get worse
- extreme social injustices and environmental impacts
- spread of disease (e.g. COVID)
Arjun Appadurai
- we live in imagined communities instead of face to face communities
- we used to live in fixed geographical positions
Chomsky
globalisation has been appropriated b a small sector of powerful people to use as their own to maintain private power
cultural homogenisation
becoming the same
Robertson
glocalisation is a process by which globally produced goods and services have local features incorporated in them
smartphone statistics
- in 2008, 17% of adults had a smartphone
- in 2018, 78% of adults had a smartphone
Foxcon company
18 employees attempted suicide and their response was to put up suicide nets in factories
- started in 2004
- over 2 billion users
- 66% of users use it everyday
concerns of facebook
- privacy issues
- marketing and being used to benefit corporations
- fake news e.g. effecting the US election
Franklin Foer quote
“Facebook is always surveilling users, always auditing them, using them as labrats”
- started in 2009 and now owned by facebook
- has a billion users
- preferred tool for propaganda and negative messaging
Snapchat
- founded in 2011
- 158 million users who use it everyday
- used by advertisers
- founded in 2002
- used for professional networking
- links to social capital (Bordieu)
- started in 2006
- 330million active users worldwide
- more use than people buy newspapers daily
analysis of tweets
4% was news
38% was conversations
40% was pointless
gaming
- video games sector now accounts for more than half of the UK’s entire entertainment market
- the industry’s worth has doubled since 2007
virtual communities
creates interaction between members with share passions through chat rooms and virtual rooms
Howard Rheingold (1993)
virtual communities have potential benefits for personal well-being as well as for society at large
Calhoun (1991)
argues that technology has a negative influence on offline interaction between individuals because virtual life takes over our lives
- launched in 2010 and owned by Facebook
- over 600million users
- paid advertisements and used by brands
- concern about algorithms creating hierarchy of sites
- tool for propaganda and unreliable information
Castells
social networks are self generated in content, self directed in emission and self selected in reception
media convergence
the coming together of computing, telecommunication and media in a digital environment
information society
move away from industrial society as technology is critical for the modern workplace
advantages of social media
- communication builds relationships
- helps change movements and gives people power
- choose our identity away from physical bodies
disadvantages of social media
- isolation from real life and affects offline relationships
- we become addicted to our devices
- grooming, abuse, cyberbullying and crime
- false information
Rosenblatt and Tushnet (2015)
young women who create fan-works of characters to fit their own narratives helped them develop selfhood emotional maturity and professional skills
negative impacts on identity
- limits creation of identity due to the need of validation
- limits face to face contact
- creates fragmented identities
- addiction and online bullying
- our posts could be interpreted wrongly
UK Education Policy Institute
37% of UK 15 year olds classed as ‘extreme’ internet users
Sherry Turkle
‘alone together’
- we want control over how we present ourselves
- people now prefer texting over talking
- constant connection makes us feel less alone
social media effect on young people
- never switched off from it
- children using smartphones are getting younger
- many children are overdependent on likes and comments for validation
Molly Russell
a 14 year old who took her own life, she followed lots of accounts about depression and self harm on Instagram
Zhao (2006)
talking to people has a positive correlation to social ties which strengthen relationships but surfing the internet has negative correlations to social ties
Miller (2011)
facebook is used to create relationships but also breaks up relationships
Clayton
- spoke to 581 Twitter users of all ages
- found that more active individuals were more likely to report conflicts with their partners
- conflicts over time spent on it or what was said online
Shaw and Grant (2002)
- participants engaged in chat sessions with an anonymous partners
- over this time loneliness and depression significantly decreased
- social support and self esteem increased significantly
positive impact on relationships
- strong social ties online
- removal of physical barriers
- new opportunities to meet new people
negative impact on relationships
- lack of privacy
- coming into contact with people you don’t want to
- offline relationships suffer as a result
Robards and Bennet - my tribe
study of a small number of uni students found connections can be made beyond class boundaries which existed previously
Zygmunt Bauman
we are now living in an age of uncertainty and risk, full of wasted time, addiction, narcissism etc.
Vaterlaus (2012)
parents and adolescent connectedness in families can be affected and they become less engaged
muted voice
those who are not heard with the new technology
Martha Lane
older people and lower socio-economic groups are the most affected by the digital divide
barriers to getting online:
- access
- motivation
- skills and confidence
Danny Dorling
technology is meant to break boundaries but people are becoming more polarised
e.g. the rich are staying together
inequality in education
class difference in lockdown has effected children’s education as children are expected to use the internet for learning
digital natives
younger people who have grown up with technology
digital immigrants
older people who are not used to the technology
OfCom report 2014 - age
- 42% of 65+ are online
- 96% of 16-34 are online
Boyle (2007)
each generation shows a greater reliance on digital communication, creating a digital generation divide, as young people are more open to learning the new skills needed
Berry (2011)
most people have non-material, psychological reasons, such as lack of skills or interests, for why they’re not online
Li and Kirkup (2007)
- sample of Chinese and British students
- men in both were more likely to use email/chat rooms and play computer games
- men said using computers was a male skill
OfCom 2016 - disability
25% of disabled adults in the UK have never used the internet
reasons for a global digital divide
- Religion
- censorship
- language
- physical access
- economy
- political
- education
Herbet Marcuse (1964) - marxist
state and consumerist forces control the media and modern technology represent new forms of social control
a ‘big brother’ society
big companies use surveillance as a threat to civil liberty and to control society
Marxist view on technology
it’s another way the ruling class exploit and control the working class as it’s a new ideological state apparatus and encourages passive acceptance
Cornford and Robbins (1999) - marxist
it’s presented as open communication to create greater equality but it’s really controlled by the ruling class
The Snowden report (2013)
the US and British government had been accessing private communications, claiming it was in the interests of ‘national security’
effects of technology under capitalism:
- profits for those who own and control
- intensification of labour
- prolonged working day
- time wasted online
Zuboff - marxist
everything we do in our daily lives is recorded and used by companies for their benefit and this form of capitalism controls our interior lives
positives for feminists
- online movements for female empowerment
- collective and inclusive as easy access
- create new identities away from societies limits
- online activism has become much more important
Kira Cochrane
59% of mumsnet users consider themselves feminists
MeToo movement
this was started online for women to speak out about sexual harassment they have faced, and lead to victims speaking out about Harvey Weinstein
Julia Schuster
online activism is often the presence of the young
negatives for feminists
- negative effect on body image
- pornography and exploitation of women
- cyberbullying and abuse
- under representation of women in media
Haraway (1985) - feminist
‘a cyborg manifesto’
technology allows women to create new forms of identity not bound by traditional, patriarchal standard
Nakamura (2011)
women from a range of ethnic minorities are gaining on increasing online presence
Twitter research into misogyny
- 3 week period of tweets were measured
- 6,500 individuals were targeted by 10,000 aggressive, misogynistic tweets
Opinium research into online abuse
- survey of more than 1,000 young people
- almost half of girls report abuse
- 2/5 boys report abuse
generational divide - feminism
- 40 interviews with women of all ages
- older women weren’t aware of younger women’s activism online
- they were worried that people would not carry on the feminism work
postmodernists
- positive about new technology
- social media brings diversity
- there’s incessant choice of platforms
Baudrillard
we live in a social media saturated society where people respond to media images rather than to real people
downside to media - postmodernists
- exposure to multiple realities makes life seem meaningless
- what we see on the media is distorted
- we no longer know what is real or not
positives for postmodernists
- we can represent ourselves online however we like
- its a new form of capitalism as we are prosumers
- transcends physical and global boundaries
- we can pick and choose from lifestyles from the media
negatives for postmodernists
- more surveillance in the UK than anywhere else
- our movements and digital footprint is tracked
- ‘sharenting’ people become obsessed with posting their lives online
Foucalt
- surveillance is psychological authority instead of physical
- used as a deterrence
- removes our freewill
Anthony Elliot
- there’s a constant pressure to redesign our lives
- 4 stages; reinvention, change, speed, short termism
- new risks from this reinvention society
cybercrime
- more than 5.8 million incidents of cybercrime in 2015
- 1 in 10 adults have been victims of it
