Theoretical Perspectives On Globalization

Theoretical Perspectives On Globalization The last century has seen a growth in the intensity of globalisation. It is argued to be one of the main forces that have shaped politics, economies and societies. The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate one of the main theoretical perspectives on globalization. It will begin by defining the concept globalisation. Following this, the assignment will outline two key perspectives n globalisation phenomenon; the hyperglobalists perspective and sceptics perspective. Thereafter, the assignment will examine one policy concern and how it links to the sceptics perspective on globalisation. The assignment will then conclude. Definition of Globalisation The concept of globalisation has been argued to have no distinct definition, is challenging to distinguish and has often been used ambiguously. The term has a theoretical construct that is itself contested and open for various meanings and inflections (Kellner, 1997:25). The meaning of globalisation is dependent on the context in which it is used. It has been argued to be a prominent topic among geographers and sociologists as well as economists and political scientists, and is studied within every paradigm, from neo-classical economics to post-modern social theory to realist international relations theory to Marxism (Radice, 2000: 6, cited in Sudgen and Wilson, 2005:15). Globalisation includes distinct phrases such as global culture, free trade, internationalization and interdependence. According to Mursheed (2001:1) the term is employed in the enumerative sense to define a reaction to increased integration, and the policies that follow from there. On the other hand, Held and McGrew (1999) portrays globalization through the use of four main changes, primarily, it encompasses the eradication of borders as a result of economic, social, and political behaviour. The subsequent characteristic contains the growth of links between culture, trade flows and investment. The third characteristic is the intensification of the combination of consumer preference, ideas, goods, information, capital and people. The last characteristic comprises of the prospective global impact that local developments have on other economies, perhaps resulting in global consequences. Held and McGrew further argue that these are the characteristics that illustrate globalization as remarkably fluid. Theoretical perspectives on globalisation The concept of globalisation has provoked much disagreement and discussions about its benefits and conceptualization. There are two schools of thought that argue two extreme accounts of globalization and its impact. These are referred to as the hyper-globalists and the sceptics. Both views provide a distinct perspective on this topic. Hyperglobalists generally recognize the globalization phenomenon as an element with positive economic, social and political outcomes. Globalisation is considered a process which involves interconnectedness and shapes global integration. According to Ohmae (1995), globalisation represents a new phenomenon whereby international law has predetermined the conclusion of the nation-state. Optimists promote the idea that globalisation established a single global market capable of managing itself. In contrast, sceptics argue that a discussion on globalization condemns the characteristics of globalization supported by the hyperglobalists (Hirst and Thomspon, 199 9). Sceptics reject the notion of a new globalization and argue that globalisation is not unique and has been a longstanding phenomenon. However, sceptics do not oppose globalisation altogether but oppose it in its current form (Deadroff, 2003). Stiglitz (2002) and Kellner (1997) argue that globalization creates dissatisfaction, and is viewed as a new form of capitalism or imperialism which inherently negatively affects tradition, culture and less developed countries. The sceptics perspective on globalisation Having highlighted both extreme perspectives on globalisation, the assignment will now focus on one main theoretical perspective chosen for this particular assignment which is the sceptics perspective. The sceptics argue that globalisation is a necessary myth to conceal developed countries and institutions goal of expanding neo liberal policies globally (Held et al, 1999). They assume that globalisation is a tool used by those in power such as America and Europe to dominate what happens in the world. However, Sceptics do not presuppose a desire to eliminate globalisationbutagree that many aspects of it is awful (Deardroff, 2003:643). For example, sceptics argue that although globalisation benefits developed economies it indirectly disadvantages less developed countries. In 1999 the United Nations found that there were less than 20 less developed countries that had positive gains as a result of globalisation (Shangquan, 2000). The research illustrated that the difference of income per capita reported between the richest countries and the poorest countries had increased from 30 times in 1960 and to 70 times in 2000. Consequently, the difference signifies the magnitude to which globalisation benefits developing countries, however, it is evident that developing countries do not benefit as much as their developed counterparts. Therefore, globalisation is argued to unfairly redistribute income, thereby increasing the wage discrepancies between the skilled and unskilled labor force (Jenkins, 2006). This inevitably creates societal and hierarchical disparities which inherently has an impact on local culture. Culture and globalization Sceptics argue that globalization threatens local tradition and culture (Kellner, 1997). Globalisation is argued to have diffused consumer belief systems through imposing a new sense of identity, displacing traditional cultures and ways of life. According to Hannerz (1991) consumer preferences of products, for example food, movies and music, enables consumers to embrace the culture and tradition of the producers country as it is circulated through distribution. To illustrate, Americanization, which refers to American culture has flooded non-western markets with products priced at resoundingly cheap rates which have been argued to have threatened the availability of local produce resulting in the displacement of local farmers. Fundamentally, host countries purchase American goods which essentially encourage local people into embracing the culture consequently resulting in the reshaping of their own culture. There is a fear among developing nations of losing their tradition and identit y as a nation, for example, countries such as China. China has evidently blocked global cultural influences from accessing their markets through the limitation of access to the internet, media and publications. Conversely, globalisation has been argued to have evidently caused an increase in migration rates and import rates in the UK over the years. Whilst the movement of produce has been enjoyed by the UK, the movement of people has not. Migration has brought forth people with different cultural backgrounds to the UK, which however, has been feared to have had an adverse impact on the English culture and welfare system. Movement has been gained through employment in transnational companies by the educated few whilst the poor have been restricted to illegal means. Nevertheless, in terms of culture, UK has seen an increase in diversity and a high level of the importation of different cultures disseminated through the re-distribution of produce sought from foreign countries which are less developed countries. Critical evaluation Hyperglobalists disregard cultural differences and perceive culture as a variant such as consumer preferences as a result it does not have an impact on the global economy. The new globalization era governs economic, social, political and cultural orders through government and institutional policies (Deardroff, 2003). This has been evidenced through institutions such as The International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organisation, the World Bank and transnational companies. Held et al (1999), note that these institutions facilitate and cultivate the globalisation phenomenon. For example, the World Trade Organisation, which is one of the primary hyperglobalists institutions has influenced universal integration and has an international reputation for its endeavours in shaping the universal market and trade. These institutions are often referred to as the key actors of globalization, argued to have superseded government authority (Klein and Naomi, 2000). However, within these institutions s ceptics argue that decisions made are mostly controlled by the rich countries, e.g. America (Deardroff, 2003). Conclusion To conclude, globalisation is a phenomenon that has been heavily debated from different perspectives over the last century. Having examined the concept and perspectives on globalization this assignment has highlighted the sceptics perspectives on globalisation and its impact on culture. The assignment argues that globalisation is influenced by American culture, dominance and regulations. Culture is important and has been vehemently influenced by globalisation, through the diffusion of western produce, technology, and publication in non-western local markets and homes. The impact socially can be argued to have had both negative and positive results. It is evident that globalisation has had positive impacts on economies and politics, through attempts to improve the health of people in poor countries and attempts to reduce pollution, however, culturally the impact has not been a desired one. Word Count-1403

An Idiot’s Guide to an Easier College Experience Essay

When people are in high school the only class in which they have to do any significant amount of writing is their English class. Subsequently, the only type of paper that most people are well versed in writing when they get to college is a paper for an English class. This would be fine except for the fact that when one gets to college they are asked to write for a variety of different classes. These could range from your standard English class to a proof for a Math class to a scientific lab report for a Biology class. All of the writings for these different classes require different formats, styles, and languages. If writers do not know these different styles and languages then they will have a much more difficult time being successful in their college career. Knowing these different styles and languages will help the writer to develop a sense of their own rhetorical awareness. If they have a sense of this awareness then they will be better equipped to write to their intended audienc e or discourse community. It is significant for student writers to be aware of and understand both what rhetorical awareness is and what a discourse community is because it will make their college experience easier and help them to attain better grades on papers for classes other than English. The first thing that student writers needs to be able to do in order for them to write for a discipline that they are not entirely familiar with, is to have at least a cursory knowledge of what a discourse community is, and what discourse community that they are writing for. In the hand out â€Å"Discourse Community Map† by Sylvia Morales, English Professor at Sacramento State University, a Discourse Community is defined as â€Å"a group of people who share a particular way of communicating and/or using language that follows certain rules and patterns† (1). In laymen’s terms if two people are part of the same discourse community then they will most likely think relatively alike. They may share many of the same beliefs. They may have similar values. Also they will most assuredly be interested in many of the same things. In academia a discourse community would most often exist among people that belong to different academic  disciplines. So it stands to reason that student writers needs to be able to communicate or write using the same type of language as the discourse community that they are trying to write for. For this reason it is extremely important for student writers to be able to know what a discourse community is and how it differs from the other discourse communities that it might interact with. Being able to identify a discourse community can sometimes be a daunting task. It is not always completely clear-cut. Very often it can be difficult to identify a discourse community because it may be quite similar to other discourse community. There can be small differences that make a big impact on the discourse community. In the article â€Å"Discourse C ommunities† by Gary D. Schmidt and William J. Vande Kopple it says, â€Å"sometimes people from different discourse communities focus on different aspects of the same object or general phenomenon† (1). The two groups are similar in that they are focused on the same object but it is the slight differences on how they focus on the object that makes them part of a different discourse community. One of the easiest ways that a student a writer might help themselves correctly identify a discourse community would be to first ask how do certain discourse communities communicate with each other. Are they only interested in cold hard facts, or do they appreciate discussions about their opinions. Next the writer should ask himself or herself what is the main purpose of the different groups in question. Also it will be helpful to student writers to figure out what claims are these certain groups of people making. Identifying these claims will go a long way in helping the writer determine what are the core values of the different groups. Once a student write has identified what discourse community they are dealing with, then they can begin to decide exactly what would be the best way for them to go about communicating to members of this discourse community. This would lead the writer to the next significant aspect of writing that they need to be aware of in order to have an easier time in college and achieve better scores on their various college writing assignments. Once the writer has correctly identified the discourse community that they are writing for then they need to know the best way to effectively communicate their ideas to the members of this community. This would be where rhetorical awareness comes into play. In their article â€Å"Rhetoric† Gary Schmidt and William J. Vande Kopple define rhetoric as â€Å"the  art of using language to have desired effects on people† (1). For the purpose of their article they were focusing on the written word. They simplify it by saying that it is â€Å"es sentially a matter of choice at all stages of the writing process—from the time when writers decide how to organize an essay to the time when they select individual words† (Schmidt et al. 1). So rhetorical awareness is knowing how to use certain words to get a desired effect, and knowing exactly what effect that the writer is going to solicit from the reader. This is a skill that needs to be developed. It is not something that can be learned overnight. However, it is a skill that if mastered can help student writers have a much easier time in college and earn much better grades on the papers that they write. Different kinds of rhetorical awareness strategies need to be learned and implemented for all of the various types of writing that student writers have to be competent in. For instance, if a student writer were dealing with a scientific discourse community then they would most likely want to choose language and a tone that was more scientific. This would include a fair amount of technical terms and scientific jargon. They would want to discuss only the things that can be proved through research and experimentation. They might choose to insert charts or graphs to illus trate their points. Also they would most likely want to keep their writing succinct. For example, in the article Effects of Unsaturated Free Fatty Acids on Adhesion and on Gene Expression of Extra cellular Matrix Macromolecules in Human Osteoblast-like Cell Cultures by Estella Musacchio, Giovanna Priante, Alessandro Budakovic, and Bruno Baggio, the writers use most if not all of the rhetorical choices that a reader should expect to find in a piece of writing that is extremely scientific in nature. The tone of this writing is extremely scientific, and there is a large amount of jargon. They write things such as â€Å"semi quantitative comparative kinetic RT-PCR with COLI, FN, and TGF-B specific primers was performed using G3PDH as a housekeeping gene† (Musacchio et. al 35). Now most people would not have any clue what this means, but a member of a scientific discourse community would, and they would appreciate this as a well-written sentence. This article also has multiple graphs and charts that help to illustrate the points that the writing is making. A good d eal of this writing has to do with the experiments that the writer did. This is important for people pf the scientific discourse community because it lets  them know that the research was sound and it could be repeated. Also the writing in this article is succinct and to the point. Lastly, it is organized in such a way that it is easy for the reader to know what each section is pertaining to. If a student writer were producing a piece of work for a member of a scientific discourse community and they choose to implement these types of rhetorical strategies, as long as their research was sound, it should go along way in helping to insure that they received a good score on the paper. In contrast, if a student writer were producing a piece of persuasive writing then they would want to take a much different approach. They would want to use more colorful language. They would want to use words that grab the reader’s attention. They might choose to use anecdotes or first hand accounts from people that would help to illustrate the point that the writer i s trying to make. For example, in the article Invalid Corps by COL R. Gregory Lande, MC USA Retired uses many of the rhetorical choices that you often find in a well-written piece of persuasive writing. In the article the writer grabs his readers attention right from the very beginning by quoting a famous Roman statesman and philosopher. The quote that he uses is â€Å"no man can be brave ho thinks pain is the greatest evil† (Lande 525). He also uses a first hand account form a solider that shows how useful members of the Invalid Corp could be. The solider wrote in his journal about how several regiments of the Invalid Corp help to repel a desperate attack on Washington D. C. by the Confederate Army (Lande 527). If a student writer were to use the same types of rhetorical strategies then it should help them to receive a better grade on any pieces of persuasive writing that they might have to produce for any of the their college courses. Student writers should not expect that just because they become adept at being able to identify and communicate with different discourse communities that college will be a breeze. Also they should not expect that just because they might be able to perfect the art of rhetorical awareness that they will pass every class. They should not expect this because doing well in college is about more than this. In fact, in the book Academic Writing: Genres, Samples, and Resources by Mary Kay Mulvaney and David A. Jolliffe the authors talk about how some of the biggest challenges that in coming  college students have to face are learning how to budget their time and how do find an effective way to deal with stress ( ). College is one of the most fun and exciting times in a young persons life. However college can also be one of the most challenging and stressful times in a young person life. The top things that most college students stress about are the papers that they have to write and the grades that they receive. What incoming college students writers need to realize is that there are steps that they can take form the very beginning of their college careers that will go a long way in helping them to get through college with a significantly lower amount of stress and anxiety. If incoming student writers learn to identify what discourse communities they are writing for, and if they are able to learn how to make wise rhetorical choice then they will receive better grades on their writing assignments. If they receive higher grades on their writing assignments then it stands to reason that they will receive high grades in their classes overall. If they receive higher grades in their class then their college career will go by a lot more easily. Works Cited Jolliffe, David A., and Mary K. Mulvaney. Academic Writing : Genres, Samples, and Resources. New York: Longman Group, 2004. Lande, Gregory. â€Å"Invalid Corps.† Military Medicine 173 (2008): 525-28. Morales, Sylvia E. Discourse Community Map. Musacchio, Estella, Giovanna Priante, Alessandro Budakovic, and Bruno Baggio. â€Å"Effects of Unsaturated Free Fatty Acids on Adhesion and on Gene Expression of Extracellular Matrix Macromolecules in Human Osteoblast-like Cell Cultures.† Informa Health 2007: 34-38. Schmidt, Gary D., and William J. Vande Kopple. Communities of Discourse: The Rhetoric of Disciplines. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1993. 1. Schmidt, Gary D., and William J. Vande Kopple. Communities of Discourse: The Rhetoric of Disciplines. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1993. 1.

The Harlem Renaissance A Literary, Artistic, Cultural...

Tatiana Moore Mrs. Donald English III 26 March 2014 The Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was a literary, artistic, cultural and intellectual movement. The word renaissance means rebirth or revival. African Americans during this time were being pressured by Jim Crow Laws in the South. These laws separated the races tremendously (Roses). African Americans appeared ignorant, poor, and servile. Hate groups and hate crimes alarmed families, and they collectively decided it was time to make a change. Blacks, also known as rural, uneducated peasants, became urban and sophisticated. The purpose of this paper is to explain the events during The Harlem Renaissance (Jillian). During this time, the main focuses of many African Americans were to achieve equality. The South had become known as a place of racial tension and unequal rights for all African Americans. The first major movements began around 1923 and flourished until the depression. The promise of a better life caused the Great Migration from the rural South to the suburban area s in the North. Harlem, New York became the center of attention. Well known educated figures began to take a stand. W.E.B. Dubois and the Talented Tenth worked together to fight Jim Crow Laws and demanded equal rights for African Americans. W.E.B. DuBois was an American Civil Rights activists. In 1905, he founded the Niagara Movement, a protest group of scholars and professional. He was also among the founders of the NAACP and became an editorShow MoreRelatedExploring African American History : The Harlem Renaissance1521 Words   |  7 PagesTi’Anna Smith Period 1 AP World History 12-14-15 Exploring African American History: The Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance originally known as the New Negro Movement was an important part of African American culture and history, which helped African Americans express themselves and celebrate their heritage. 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Geoffrey Chaucer s Bath And The Miller s Tale Essay

Geoffrey Chaucer, the author of The Canterbury Tales, writes these stories to express a variety of themes and lessons. One of these themes is the fidelity or loyalty in marriages during the late thirteen hundreds. Chaucer uses a collection of pilgrims and their tales to portray the main types of marriage during this time. These views are narrowed down to three main types and they are the feminine view, the courtly view, and the common or fabliaux view. These main types are seen in The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale, The Franklin’s Tale, and The Miller’s Tale. During this time period, a few women had a very feminist view on the idea of marriage. This is the idea that women should have freedom in the marriage and be able to do the same things in the community as her husband. This also means that in the context of the marriage, the wife should be the most powerful and have control over her husband. This was especially expressed from the Wife of Bath as she speaks of her views in her prologue and her tale. In the Wife of Bath’s prologue, she tells that she has had four husbands before the one she has now and that she is not ashamed of her lack of virginity even as some of the community members look down on her. She doesn’t think it’s fair that â€Å"if a woman has more than one husband in her lifetime, she is frowned upon, but it is acceptable for men to remarry several times† (Marcotte). The Wife of Bath wants to have equality as a female in the social aspects of her marriage.Show MoreRelatedGeoffrey Chaucer s Impact On Literature1231 Words   |  5 PagesGeoffrey Chaucer’s Impact on Literature: English poet Geoffrey Chaucer is acclaimed to be one of the best and most influential poets in history. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote several famous literary works in what is called middle English. Geoffrey Chaucer was born in 1340 in London, England. 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Fate vs. Fortuna, knowledge vs. experience and love vs. hate all embody Chaucers famous work. These contrasting themes are an integral part of the complexity and sophistication of the book, as they provide for an ironic dichotomy to the creative plot development and undermine the superficial assumptions that might be made. The combination of completely