Test 3: Globalization Flashcards
Globalization
- social, economic + political process makes it easier for ppl, goods, ideas + capital to travel around the world at unprecedented pace
- makes the world look and feel smaller
Globalization
- neither inherently good/bad
- real impact on environ + ppl
- digital divide: inequality of access to means of communication
top-down globalization
actions of groups promoting globalized capitalism + free trade
•state shouldn’t be involved in protecting environment/labour, control resources, fields should be privatized
Neoliberal economic policies
•state play small of a role as possible
- restrained state spending + regulation
- individual responsibility for own welfare
- Less protection for labor + environment
- Privatization of state resources
- Faith in the power of the market
globalization from below
action of groups that criticize injustices
- Spread of international human rights: requires cooperation
- Global labor standards: Shouldn’t pit labourers against each other for lower deals
globalization from below
- Increased democracy in the global system: Ppl should have say in institutions
- Environmental protection: Should be protected by everyone
- Social justice: Should help deal with conflicts + injustice around world
globalization from below
not cohesive movement + encompasses multiple perspectives
- We need state to play role, role debated upon, some restrictions + regulations
- There are core deep seethed problems
- Ppl want state to disappear
- well covered in media
- Care about labour practices + environment, some interest in consumers to play more for resources gained in fair ways
globalization from below
1.Moderate critiques of neoliberalism
2.Radical anticapitalist positions
3.Various forms of anarchism
4.Armed peasant uprisings
5.Fair-trade coffee projects
varied in purpose, but breaking barriers common
capitalists
financial capital: money used for investment currency trading + not tied to goods and services
impact on regulations + state role
Overcapacity
corps produce more than ppl can afford to purchase
price goes down because compete for consumers
rather scrapped to avoid prices having to drop
Centralization
Corps merged to stay competitive, blending diff industries together
can’t always compete with international companies
chain store: buying power bigger, easier to negotiate, therefore they can sell at lower rate
vertical integration: control whole chain of production to maximize profit
growth of corporate power
play nation-states off one another pressuring gov to lower taxes rates by threatening to move production to a more favorable location
•Outsourcing: wasn’t a phenomenon until mid 90s, losing jobs
growth of corporate power
Critics demand more accountability + social responsibility on corps
large proportion of the world’s ppl poor
•Critics say the state has role, but at the mercy of the corps
Democratic deficit
citizens disenfranchised from the process of governance
consumers should know of conditions + processes that led to its creations + might affect our choice to buy it
corps make some changes to avoid bad rep
Three Sisters
- IMF (International Monetary Fund)
- World Bank
- WTO (World Trade Organization)
Supra-national organizations
pressure to deregulate capital markets, remove price subsidies, decrease social spending, orient the economy toward exports + privatize state-run industries
•Consequences: democratic defecit
Global commodity chain
worldwide network of labor + production processes = finished commodity
Power distributed unevenly
Ppl have some power in making choices on where + what to buy
info not transparent to consumer
Consumerism
way of life identity + purpose oriented primarily to purchase + consumption of material goods
–exported to the world’s middle and working classes
culture as commodity
Biggest U.S. export mass-produced products of pop culture
WTO has prohibited states from using subsidies + quotas to protect domestic cultural products
Cultural imperialism
domination of a culture over another (Al-Jazeera and Bollywood counter examples)
Bottom-up globalization
focuses on developing consumer products environmentally sustainable + produced by well-paid workers
•Target usually ppl who have more than just trying to get by
•Consider might be willing to pay more
•Can be difficult for companies to sell expensive + cheap products
Fair-trade movement
1) should be paid a fair price rather than the free market price
2) Must convince consumers to pay more
sustainable consumption
•Balance betw. 2 extremes
1) Eat moderate amount of food (especially meat)
2) Rely primarily on sustainable modes of transportation
3) Consume minimal amounts of raw materials in their daily life
global workers
capital can move across borders, unions + workers primarily organized within states
Outsourcing
corps moving jobs to a cheaper labor market
Leads to high unemployment + polarizing of rich + poor
Sub-employment or working poor
workers have work but poorly paid, unstable, nonunionized + fails to lift workers above the poverty line
Export Processing Zones (EPZs)
gov special financial incentives for corps:
1. Tax holidays
2. Preferential rates for electricity and telecommunication
3. Special exemptions from national labor laws
competition betw. States + countries
•Restrict union power, we won’t raise minimum wage
Export Processing Zones (EPZs)
Difficult to compete with labor markets where wages can be as low as a few dollars/hour
Wage competition pits workers against one another in a “race to the bottom”
Anti-sweatshop movement
risen in response to this phenomenon
Global Food
Environmental threat due to fossil fuel required to produce, package, and transport food (supermarket vs farmer’s market)
Soil, Water, and Genetic Engineering
Global Hunger
Think Globally, Eat Locally
- Encouraging local food consumption
- Defend local agricultural ecosystems
- Use global networks to fight these battles
•Doesn’t help the undernourished
•Helps sustain local businesses
pros
-Breakdown of all trade and investment barriers
• Pushing rapidly towards global integration
•Influence through elections, through consumers
cons
•should allow only if labor + environment
standards protected
Individuals and groups influence this process through nation-states, but increasingly through social movements
