What is global shift and where is it taking place?
- It is the changing location of manufacturing and the outsourcing of services across the world
- The shift is happening from developed countries in Europe and North America to developing/emerging countries such as China and India
What are some benefits of global shift?
- Developing countries receive more investment in infrastructure in order to set up more manufacturing locations
- Incomes of urban workers will increase as they get more high paying jobs
- Poverty will reduce as more and more people get better paying jobs
- The education and training offered in these countries will improve
What are some costs of global shift?
-Countries will lose large amounts of land due to industrial pollution from increased industrial action
-Increased manufacturing and affluence will mean that there is more and more pollution, which will affect millions
-In order to meet growing population demands and industry demands, developing countries will have to overexploit their natural resources
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In developing countries, why are urban areas expanding so rapidly?
- High rates of rural to urban migration as people search for better opportunities and services
- Those migrating into cities tend to be of working age so when they settle down in urban areas they have children; natural increase
How has globalisation helped urban areas to expand?
- FDI and TNCs into the country often provide jobs in cities. This increases rural to urban migration as people head to cities to search for better paying jobs
- Improved communication also encourages migration as those migrating will be able to communicate and send remittance payments back home
What is culture? And what is cultural diffusion?
Culture is Society’s ‘structure of feeling’
Cultural diffusion is the spread of culture brought to other places by powerful civilisations over thousands of years
What factors determine cultural traits?
- Language
- Food
- Clothing
- Religion
- Traditions
What are some causes of cultural diffusion?
- TNCs have meant that many western products such as food and clothes have been spread around the world. Some brands roll out blanket products globally, which causes natives to adapt to that culture
- Global media spreads both western shows but also western traditions e.g. Christmas, Halloween through them. This means that many embrace and adopt western culture through these shows
What is cultural erosion and hyper globalisation?
Cultural erosion is the loss or dilution of a specific culture due to cultural diffusion resulting in a change of ideas and traditions
Hyperglobalisation is the spread to westernised global culture emerging as a result of cultural erosion
What are some impacts of cultural erosion?
- People are concerned that hyperglobalisation is causing English to become the dominant language across the world, which leads to the disappearance of other languages across the world
- Hyperglobalisation leads to the spread of different cultures food and results in the ‘supermarket effect’ whereby people have multiple culture’s food to pick from and so may abandon their own
- In Amazonia and other developing countries, many people are leaving traditional ways of life in traditional built villages to pursue ‘western style lives’. As a result, many traditional buildings are being neglected or destroyed
Why did Iran oppose globalisation?
- In the early 2000s, Iran was opposed to Mattel’s barbie dolls as they saw their image as being ‘in-islamic’
- Iran soon dropped the ban as Iranian groups were still accessing banned social media so Iran needed to liberate their position
Why was Nigeria opposed to globalisation?
- There were reports of oil spillages by TNC oil companies, causing degradation to the local ecosystem
- Nigerians protested, and one of the most vocal protestors was executed
- Environmental groups pushed for Shell and Exon to pay up, however there has not been any payments yet
Why was China opposed to globalisation?
- The Chinese government introduced the ‘great firewall of China’ to block Western news and entertainment from entering China
- However, many in China are still consuming Western media and celebrate Western culture such as Christmas
Why was France opposed to globalisation?
- France was opposed to globalisation in order to protect French culture by imposing quotas on how much non-French media could be shown in the country
- However, Since 2007 The Government has been more accepting of Western Media because of citizen’s backlash, but also because French companies have become more globalised
What is the World Social Forum’s attitude towards globalisation?
- They oppose globalisation as they oppose a world that is dominated by capitalism and Neo-Liberalism
- They are an organisation of social movements and NGOs
- They are interested in tackling income inequality and stopping the ‘power grab’ by wealthy elites who rigged the global economy is their favour
What is the World Economic Forum’s attitude towards globalisation?
- They support globalisation, as they see it as the way in which global economic growth is driven
- They believe that many countries and companies benefit from the growth of globalisation
- The forum seeks to drive globalisation by engaging the leaders of society to shape the global agenda
