globalization it is a sociocultural and economic phenomenon of connection between places and people on a worldwide scale. Although it is often treated as a synonym for globalization, this position is not unanimous among geographers and researchers, varying according to the approach of each author.
The globalization of culture concerns the greater dissemination, on a world scale, of information, cultural elements and the different ways of life that characterize populations. This fact is facilitated by the technical modernization of communications and by the greater presence of companies multinationals in the world, which characterizes economic globalization.
This phenomenon facilitates cultural interchangeability and effectiveness in the exchange of information and knowledge, while at the same time that it deepens socioeconomic inequalities by spreading unevenly across space. worldwide.
Read too: Advantages and disadvantages of globalization
Topics of this article
- 1 - Summary on globalization
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2 - What is globalization?
- Examples of globalization
- 3 - What are the characteristics of globalization?
- 4 - What are the types of globalization?
- 5 - What are the advantages and disadvantages of globalization?
- 6 - Differences between globalization and globalization
- 7 - Differences between globalization and internationalization
- 8 - History of globalization
Summary on globalization
Mundialization is a socioeconomic process of connecting places and people through cultural elements, the way of life and the economy.
Globalization is classified into cultural globalization and economic globalization.
The technological advancement of media and the establishments and economic systems act in the diffusion of cultural globalization, not only the globalization of the economy.
The term globalization is used by some authors as a synonym for globalization. Others prefer to use globalization to refer to culture and/or the new scale of the economy, while globalization would understand politics and capital.
Internationalization, in turn, is the advance beyond the national borders of the country. This advance can be due to investments, goods, cultural elements, etc.
The spread of information more easily and cultural interchangeability are some of the advantages of globalization.
Cultural standardization and consumption habits, the deepening of socioeconomic inequalities and the exclusion of territories from globalization are some of its disadvantages.
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What is globalization?
Globalization can be described as a process historical and socioeconomic integration of the different world spacesthrough cultural and economic signs.
Most of the time, globalization is presented as a synonym for globalization. We will analyze this issue carefully later on, but it is interesting to note that even those authors who argue that there is a conceptual differentiation between both phenomena do not leave aside the fact that they are phenomena correlates.
Examples of globalization
There are some classic examples of globalization that are often used when approaching this topic precisely because they are the exact representation of what the phenomenon of globalization is. diffusion of representative elements of particular spaces that end up spreading on a world scale, being then incorporated and often resignified by other populations.
One of them is the Halloween parties or halloween, a celebration that was born in the Europe, became popular and a symbol of U.S and later spread to other countries. Brazil is an example of these other territories that have incorporated Halloween into their festive calendar, albeit unofficially.
When we talk about the globalization of culture, we cannot leave gastronomy and eating habits aside. In this sense, the main example of the occurrence of this process is the presence of large chains of food franchises and fast foodlike McDonald's, which originate in a country — in this case, the United States — and whose presence has become increasingly common in other territories. Once in other nations, the standard of these cafeterias does not change, but there is an adaptation of their menus with elements of regional cuisine.
What are the characteristics of globalization?
Globalization aims at greater integration of the different areas of the world, a process that takes place through the modernization of information and communication technologies. In this sense, one of the main aspects of globalization is the expansion of the flows of information, people and goods between different territories, which provides the creation of multidimensional geographic networks interconnecting spaces and people and the greater sharing of sociocultural elements between different territories.
The globalization of the economy is an important process within the scope of globalization, being marked by the greater presence worldwide of transnational companiesof different nationalities provided by the technological innovations of the current technical period that facilitated circulation around the world, in addition to the greater dynamism of the international economy resulting from the consolidation of the financial capitalism.
It is not uncommon to find in the literature authors who define globalization as one of the stages of globalization, restricting itself only to questions of the circulation of capital and companies. Globalization would then be an intrinsic characteristic of places and territories and also of populations, mainly contemplating the cultural dimension.
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What are the types of globalization?
Globalization is a phenomenon that can be understood by two facets: cultural and economic. In this way, we classify globalization into two main types, which we briefly describe below.
Globalization of culture: it is the main pillar of this phenomenon of integration of places on a world scale, according to those authors who defend that globalization is a process apart from globalization. The globalization of culture is the dissemination of the way of life and cultural elements of different places on a large scale, which generates acceleration in today's world thanks to the mass media and the internet.
It is always important to remember that the way in which cultural diffusion takes place is uneven among countries, which causes the standardization of cultural aspects and the way of life in territories different. Thus, people with different customs living in countries Distant people can enjoy the same audiovisual productions, consume the same cultural products, wear similar clothing styles and even adopt similar ways of life.
This massification of culture is still maintained through large companies from different branches of industry, from telecommunications to food, as we saw in the examples cited above.
Globalization of the economy: it is directly associated with the globalization of the capitalist system. The globalization of the economy is characterized by the multiplication of transnational companies and the formation of global productive chains, thus marking the advent of a new International Division of Labor (DIT). The productive systems were modernized, and the capitalism reached its most recent phase, that of financial or monopoly capitalism.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of globalization?
Globalization is a process that transforms the functioning and organization of socioeconomic and spatial dynamics. In this way, it is possible to identify in this phenomenon its positive and negative points.
To the advantages of globalization are presented as follows:
ease and speed in the exchange of information and knowledge;
greater circulation of people around the world, which allows cultural interchangeability;
creation of ties between different places through networks;
modernization and dissemination of the means of communication;
efficiency in the circulation of goods, services and capital;
greater production of wealth in the different national economies.
In contrast, the disadvantages of globalization are the following:
does not cover all countries and territories in a homogeneous way, not integrating, in fact, the world space as it is believed;
deepening of socioeconomic inequalities;
standardization of culture and homogenization of the consumption pattern of different peoples;
prevalence of developed nations in the economic scope and in the diffusion of the way of life, overcoming less developed nations;
aggravation of environmental problems due to the greater exploitation of natural resources, which is derived from the current production model.
Read too:Mass culture — production aimed at simple entertainment and commercialization
Differences between globalization and globalization
There are divergences in the academic environment regarding the concepts of globalization and globalization, and their use varies according to the approach chosen by the author. Both terms are often used interchangeably., with difference only in the origin of the word. Globalization would be the term derived from English, globalization, while globalization is the term used by French academics, mondialisation, to refer to globalization.
Other perspectives approach globalization and globalization from different perspectives, as, in fact, two distinct but complementary concepts.
In this context, globalization would be the appropriate term to refer to the process of diffusion culture and different ways of life and consumption, which directly impacts the society. Globalization, in turn, would be the political-economic sphere of this phenomenon, comprising the transformations in the system of capitalist accumulation and the role of transnational companies in the space global.
Differences between globalization and internationalization
Globalization and internationalization are terms that designate different processes.Globalization, as we have seen, deals with cultural diffusion, ways of life and consumption, as well as companies on a world scale, thus creating a broad integrated network. In the case of internationalization, the concept concerns the advancement of a phenomenon or element beyond its national borders: goods, people, cultural elements, investments, communication networks and others.
A internationalization can involve two or more territories, and will not necessarily cover the entire world space. The internationalization of the Brazilian economy, for example, took place from the second half of the XX and was characterized by the greater entry of international companies and foreign capital flows into the territory Brazilian, at the same time that exports moved upwards.
history of globalization
The history of globalization starts with the Great Navigationsbetween the 15th and 16th centuries, a process characterized by the expansion of the scale of international trade and the beginning of the transformation in the current accumulation system, consolidating itself during the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century. During this interval, communications gained a new scale, and interchangeability between territories was already a reality.
globalization accelerated from the second half of the twentieth century, the post-Second World War, when numerous international policy-making bodies emerged on a global scale to act for the socioeconomic development of nations. The science and techniques of information and communication underwent a rapid modernization process, at the same time time that multinational companies multiplied and gained more and more space in the economic system International.
The greater insertion of underdeveloped countries It is emerging this process took place from the end of the 1990s, which thus inaugurated the current period of globalization, further consolidating the globalization of production and the economy.
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By Paloma Guitarrara
Geography Teacher
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