Globalization is a process through which different parts of the world become more connected. In a globalized world, people, goods and information move more easily across national borders.
As displacements become faster, with the advance of transport, the very distances between more diverse points of the globe seem to get smaller and smaller, resulting in a kind of territory shared.
From an economic point of view, globalization is about the integration of markets in a world where there are few barriers hindering trade and investment.
From a cultural point of view, globalization is a process that promotes circulation of ideas, customs, values, spreading cultural goods across borders between countries. The advancement of information technologies and the popularization of internet access greatly favor this integration process.
Some positive points of globalization, they are:
- Offers companies an advantage in international competition;
- Favors investment;
- It favors entrepreneurs who want to export;
- It reduces the price of some products, due to the great amount of competition;
- Increases the amount of goods available to the consumer;
- Provides access to products that are not produced locally;
- Enables cooperation between countries;
- It favors engagement in social causes;
- It favors cultural exchange between countries.
In contrast, there are some negative points of globalization, like:
- It does not guarantee benefits to developing countries;
- Maintains or deepens international inequality;
- Increased concentration of wealth;
- It generates unemployment in the manufacturing sector in developed countries;
- Exploitation of workers in developing countries increases;
- Globalization allows the free flow of capital but not people;
- Increases pollution;
- Promotes cultural homogenization.
Positives of globalization
Offers advantages to companies in international competition. Globalization makes it possible for companies to look for cheaper raw materials and labor elsewhere, lowering production costs.
Favors investment. For example: a company decides to install a factory outside its country. This will stimulate the economy and generate jobs in the country that will receive this investment.
It favors entrepreneurs who want to export. Companies can profit more. In Brazil, for example, agribusiness is the sector that exports the most. With the devaluation of the real, these transactions tend to be more advantageous.
Reduces product prices. And that favors consumers. As production costs tend to be lower, companies sell their products at lower prices.
Increases the amount of goods available to the consumer. Previously, the number of brands and products was much smaller. Nowadays, there is a much larger and more diversified offer of imported products at more affordable prices.
Gives access to products that are not produced locally. For example: in cold countries, you can find tropical products for sale, such as certain types of fruits and vegetables. This means that producers in exporting countries are also managing to sell more.
Enables cooperation between countries. For example: the Paris Agreement, signed by 195 countries, with the aim of combating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Favors engagement in social causes. By integrating the world, globalization facilitates engagement with groups concerned with global issues such as climate change and immigration. Today it is much easier to join NGOs and sign petitions – just click.
Favors cultural exchange between countries. It is easier to learn about and adopt practices and habits from other cultures. By “shortening” distances, globalization makes countries that are thousands of kilometers apart seem much closer.
Negative points of globalization
Does not guarantee benefits to developing countries. Neither to countries nor to their workers, who are often underpaid and work in precarious conditions. In general, profits are returned to the host countries.
Maintains or deepens international inequality. This is because developing countries are becoming experts in providing cheap raw materials and labor.
Increased concentration of wealth. Experience shows that a liberalized world, with greater capital movements and flows of trade, has aggravated the problem of inequality, causing the gap between rich and poor. Today, the richest 1% holds nearly twice the wealth of nearly 7 billion people.
Causes unemployment in the manufacturing sector in developed countries. This is due to the fact that companies choose to open factories in countries where production conditions are more favorable.
Exploitation of workers in developing countries increases. Some transnational companies decide to open factories in developing countries to benefit from the low labor regulation. Example: fashion brands hire apparel factories in countries like Bangladesh, where the workers earn very little (the minimum wage is 350 reais) and the working conditions are precarious.
Globalization allows the free flow of capital, not people. This is one of the biggest contradictions in the liberalization process. On the one hand, entrepreneurs are free to profit by investing in other countries. On the other hand, families are barred in various parts of the world when they want to cross borders in search of better living conditions. This is the case, for example, of the migration crisis in Europe and the Mexico-US migration crisis.
Increases pollution. Transnational companies decide to send factories to countries where environmental rules are lax or are not met, allowing them to spend less on emission control equipment.
Promotes cultural homogenization. This occurs through the erasure of local customs and the imposition of dominant cultural items - a process known as acculturation. Critics of globalization accuse it of imposing the Western style on the world, more specifically the North American (Americanization).
See too:
- Characteristics of Globalization
- consequences of globalization in the world
- Meaning of Globalization
- Phases of Globalization
- Definition of Global Village
- Types of Globalization
