THEglobalizationis a term that was developed in the 1980s to describe the process of intensification of international economic and political integration, marked by the advance in the systems of transport and communication. As it is characterized as a worldwide phenomenon, many authors prefer to use the termglobalization.
It must be remembered, however, that, despite being a recently developed concept, its occurrence is ancient. Most social scientists marks its beginning at the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century, when Europeans started the process of colonial maritime expansion. With this, it is possible to see that globalization is not a sudden and consolidated fact, but a gradual integration process that is constantly expanding.
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Global village
Many authors use the term “global village” to refer to globalization, as it is not limited to political and economic plans, but also occurs within the scope of culture. There is a great exchange of customs, habits and cultural goods
. You animes Japanese and the movies of Hollywood, for example, are watched all over the world.
Thus, much is said about cultural standardization. However, there are those who dispute this thesis, saying that regionalisms are also expanding, promoting an increase in cultural heterogeneity. Others even claim that what actually occurs is a hegemonization cultural, in which the dominant customs impose themselves on others.
To get an idea of technological advances and the increase in the speed of information exchange, we can compare the news of the deaths of two world-renowned personalities. In 1865, when Abraham Lincoln died, the news reached Europe thirteen days later. In 2009, Michael Jackson's death was being broadcast in real time to the entire world.
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O geographer and economist David Harvey, in his work “The postmodern condition”, uses a specific concept to refer to the increase in speed in commercial and information exchanges: a space-time compression. This is because, with advances in the means of transport, large distances are no longer – or are no longer – an obstacle. At the same time, advances in the media have also “shortened” time, as in the example cited above. What used to take several days or weeks to be reported, today is known around the world in very few seconds.
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Criticism of globalization
The process of globalization, in its current form, has been harshly criticized by some intellectuals and organized social groups. The main assertion is that this process occurs in a way that benefits only the economic elites and the dominant countries, to the detriment of poor populations and regions around the world.
The central point of criticism is that technological and communications advances always reach first those who have a superior purchasing power. Another factor is that, with the expansion of countless multinationals around the world, the income concentration, so that the number of people benefiting from the benefits of globalization is constantly decreasing. An example to be cited is the fact that the three richest people in the world add more wealth than the 48 poorest countries in the world combined.
Furthermore, according to critics of globalization, the global integration process was built on the basis of european model of culture and civilization. Thus, every form of knowledge and behavior would have been established based on the Eurocentric standards of morality, suppressing traditional peoples and cultures from other countries, considered "inferior" by ideology dominant.
O geographer Milton Santos, in his renowned work For another globalization, divides this phenomenon into three approaches: a) globalization as a fable, that is, the way it is told to us; B) globalization as perversity, as it really is; c) the globalization as a possibility, when he proposes the idea of another, fairer and more egalitarian globalization.
Currently, the main movements organized to fight globalization or its consequences are the World Social Forum it's the busy wall street.
By Me. Rodolfo Alves Pena
