Lesson 13

Global Divides and Globalization

World of Regions

Regions are areas or division especial part of a country or the world having a definable characteristic but
not always fixed boundaries. The term implies division when it comes to economical perspective. The
origin of dividing countries arose during the Cold War era middle of twentieth (20 th) century. During this
time, countries were primarily categorized according to their alignment between the Russian East and the
American West. Regionalism at this period is also characterized by this aggrupation were countries
comprised three (3) different worlds. In the west, the United States and its allies were labelled as First
World countries like Australia, Austria and Belgium. Countries in the East like the then Soviet Union,
China, Russia and Poland which became the Second World countries. USSR existed between 1922 and
1991. The poor countries were eventually labelled as Third World countries like countries around Asia
and Africa.

North-South Divide

The North-South divide is a socio-economic and political categorization of countries. There are many
different measures used to assess the development gaps, each one offering an effective way of dividing up
the world with regards to how developed it is. Common indicators include the Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) which measures how much money a country makes from its products over the course of a year,
usually converted to US dollars. The sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the economy
plus product taxes minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products. Gross National Product
(GNP) consists of the total value of the goods and services produced by the people of a nation during a
specified year including the money earned by the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). GNP per capita is
calculated as GNP divided by the population. It is usually expressed in dollars. US can be the best
example. Workers are paid in working hours one has performed. However, the same worker if wishes to
work in another employer is allowed for as long as he can work effectively. His productivity contributed a
lot not only for his immediate family but for the US economy as well. If we will compare this situation in
the Philippine set up. Most of our graduates are underemployed and still some are unemployed. There are
no enough opportunities to find job. That is why government encourages small business enterprises
(SMEs) to earn and be productive with their effort to become self-employed. Here lies the importance of
the topic about global demography and global economy. Each one is closely linked with the other. If the
population of one’s country is higher there is much slimmer chance that the gross domestic product will
increase. Rich Filipinos most of the time had jobs having very small family size. In contrast, poor families
consisted of very big family size with only few having jobs. Education is the best solution in order to
solve this problem.

First World Countries: North

The North is comprised of countries which have developed economies and account for over ninety (90%)
percent of all manufacturing industries in the world. These countries’ population is only one-fourth of the
total global population. Very small yet they control eighty (80%) percent of the total income earned
around the world. All members of G-8 originated from the North namely, France, Germany, Italy, United
Kingdom, Japan, United States, Canada, and Russia. This eight (G-8) are highly-industrialized nations
which hold annual meeting to foster consensus on global issues like economic growth and crises
management, global security, energy, and terrorism. About ninety-five (95%) percent of the population
have enough basic needs and have access to functioning education systems. All countries in Western
Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea are included.

Developing Countries: South

The South is comprised of countries with developing economies which were initially referred to as Third
World countries during the Cold War. An important characteristic of countries in the South is the
relatively low GDP and the high population. The Third World accounts for only a fifth (5 th) of the
globally earned income but accounts for over three-fourth of the global population. Another common
characteristic of the countries in the South is the lack of basic amenities. As little as five (5%) percent of
the population is able to access basic needs such as food and shelter. The economies of most countries in
the South rely on imports from the North and have low technological penetration. The countries making
up the South are mainly drawn from Africa, South America and Asia.

Human Development Index (HDI)

The yardstick for measuring poverty is the Human Development Index. HDI helps in defining or
determining who is poor and what level is the individual poor. It is measured in a population’s access to
facilities and services which include the following: health, education, balanced nutrition, access to
information and communication technologies, access to justice, participation in decision making, wealth
creation, etc.

Globalization as a process
Globalization is the process through which integration and interaction of countries, companies, and
people across the globe. Simply stated, the process in itself is a result of the investment, outsourced
manufacturing and international trade. Information technology brought economies of various countries
altogether. It is a big challenge for each government to freely move across the globe because of Covid-19
pandemic. Declining economic growth is seen throughout the world. International trade suffers a lot
because borders were closed. Varied questions occupied minds of financial advisers in the world.
Resurgence of economies are their utmost concern, but reality hinders like deaths are increasing around
the world and the number of those being infected likewise is increasing very fast. How can there be
globalization in this case?
Metaphors of Globalization

1. Solidity- refers to the barriers that prevent or make difficult the movement of things. It can be either
natural or man-made. Example: Great wall of China.
2. Liquidity- refers to the increasing ease of movement of people, things, information, and places in
contemporary world. Example: Rohingyan refugee
3. Flows- are the movement of people, things, places, and information brought by the growing “porosity”
of global limitations. (Ritzer, 2015)

Homogeneity and Heterogeneity

1. Homogeneity- refers to the increasing sameness of the world. Homogeneity in culture is often linked to
cultural imperialism. The global flow of media is often characterized as media imperialism.
2. Heterogeneity- refers to the differences. Heterogeneity in culture is associated with cultural
hybridization. Jihadd a means of struggle or holy war or fight against enemies of Islam is an example of
heterogeneity.

Dynamics of local and global culture

1. Culture is defined as the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious or
social groups.
2. Cultural Differentialism- emphasizes the fact that cultures are essentially different and are only
superficially affected by global flows.
3. Cultural Hybridization according to Cvetkovich and Keller in 1992 emphasizes the integration of local
culture and global cultures.
4. Glocalization according to Giulianotti and Robertson in 2007 refers to global and local cultures
resulting in one unique outcomes in different geographic areas.
5. Scapes according to Apparadural in 1996 results where global flows involve people, technology,
finance, political images, and media and the disjunctures between them.

Actors that facilitate Economic Globalization

1. International governmental organizations or intergovernmental organizations (IGO)- refers to an entity

created by treaty, involving two or more nations, to work in good faith, on issues of common interest.
IGOs strive for peace, security and deal with economic and social questions. Examples include: the
United Nations, the World Bank and on a regional level the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
among others.
2. International Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) include charities, non-profit advocacy groups,
business associations, and cultural associations. International charitable activities increased after World
War II and on the whole NGOs provide more economic aid to developing countries than developed
country governments.
3. Multinational Corporations (MNCs)- one of the many changes they have brought to developing
countries is increased automation, which may damage less-automated local firms and require their
workers to develop new skills in order to transition into the changing economy, leaving some behind, the
necessary education infrastructure is often not present, requiring a redirection of the government’s focus
from social services education. Corporations have outsourced in recent years. In business outsourcing
involves the contracting out of business process.
4. International Migration- transfer significant amounts of money through remittances to lower-income
relatives. Communities of migrants in the destination country often provide new arrivals with information
and ideas about how to earn money. In some cases, this has resulted in disproportionately high
representation of some ethnic groups in certain industries, especially if economy success encourages more
people to move from the source country. Movement of people also spreads technology and aspects of
business culture, and moves accumulated financial assets.