GEC 103: METAPHORS OF GLOBALIZATION
WHAT IS METAPHOR?
Use one term to help us understand another term.
STATE OF MATTER: SOLID AND LIQUID
SOLID
Can either be natural or man-made
 SOLIDITY: refers to the barriers that prevent
or make difficult the movement of things
 Solidity of places (walls, borders, gates)
 Man-made barriers (9 dash lines) – creates
limited access
LIQUID
LIQUIDITY:
Liquidity therefore, refers to the increasing ease/freedom
of movement of people, things, information and places in
the contemporary world.
What are the characteristic of liquid?
(Zygmunt Bauman)
1. First, today’s liquid phenomena change quickly
and their aspects, spatial and temporal are in
continuous fluctuation. This means that space
and time are crucial elements of globalization.
2. their movement is difficult to stop.
3. Finally, the forces (the liquid one) made political
boundaries more permeable to the flow of
people and things (Cartier, 2001)
4. the most important characteristic of liquid: it
“tends to melt whatever stands in its path
(especially solids)”. Ritzer (2015
 Liquidity and solidity are in constant interaction.
However, liquidity is the best one increasing and
proliferating today.
FLOW:
Flows are the movement of people, things, places and
information brought about by the growing “porosity” of
global limitations (Ritzer, 2015).
Landler (2008)
 example of flows is global crises. As Landler
(2008) put it:”In a global financial system,
national borders are porous.”
Other kinds of flows that can be observed today:
1. Poor illegal migrants flooding many parts of the
world (Moses, 2006)
2. Virtual flow of legal and illegal information such
as blogs and child pornography.
3. Immigrants recreating ethic enclaves in host
countries.
FLOW: movement of people.
GLOBALIZATION THEORIES
theories see globalization as a process that increases
either HOMOGENEITY or HETEROGENEITY.
HOMOGENITY
- refers to the increasing sameness in the world
as cultural inputs, economic factors, and political
orientations of societies expand.
- Homogeneity in culture is often linked to
cultural imperialism.
In terms of economy, there is a recognition of the spread
of neoliberalism, capitalism and the market
economy in the world (Antonio, 2007)
 Global economic crises
 Stiglitz (2002) - blamed the IMF for its “one-
size-fits all” approach which treats every
country in the world as the same.
Barber (1995) said that “McWorld” is existing. It means
only one political orientation in today’s societies.
The global flow of media is often
characterized as media imperialism
The internet can be seen as an arena for
alternative media.
Ritzer (2008) claimed that, in general, the contemporary
world is undergoing the process of McDonaldization.
McMonaldization involves the global spread of
rational systems, such as efficiency, calculability,
predictability and control.
Globalization VS Glocalization
Glocalization
- is the process wherein nations, corporations,
etc. impose themselves on geographic areas in
order to gain profits, power, and so on.
- Ritzer (2007) also espoused the idea that
globalization can also be seen as a flow of
“nothing” as opposed to “something”,
involving the spread of non-places, non-things,
non-people, and non-services.