THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

(The New Normal Approach

By:

ELEUTERIO STA.CRUZ SISON, MBA- MPA

Assistant Professor
College of Arts & Sciences
Department of Social Sciences
President, Urdaneta City University Personnel Association
Member Board of Regents, Urdaneta City University
STUDY GUIDE 1: Introduction to Globalization
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Topic Outline

The module introduces you the concepts and definitions of globalization in the following topics:
 Lesson 1: Aspects of Globalization
 Lesson 2: Definitions of Globalization
 Lesson 3: Attributes of Globalization

Source: www.google.com

Lesson Objectives

At the end of this module, you should be able to:

a. Discuss the different aspects of globalization

b. Examine the various conceptions of globalization
 c. Distinguish the different definitions of globalization from experts
d. Adopt a working definition of globalization

Introduction

The world is created for human beings to exist. But human beings have to move, inhabit and
preserve the world where everyone is in NOW.

From the primitive to modern continues the development of man and the nations, states and
countries where they live in. Survival and their struggle resulted for the CHANGE.

As years and centuries, states and countries turned to the present the contemporary world
which is now the so-called “GLOBALIZATION”.
Global concerns require global efforts. This module exposes you to the emergence of
contemporary social, economic, political and cultural systems. It exposes you to various issues
confronting globalization with the aim of providing sufficient knowledge that will become you
responsible global citizens.

Today, nations, countries and states are acting not only as local and national but international
and global. In short, all of the countries are interdependent to each other in terms of the
existence as well as to the development and progress.

In the face of the Pandemic, the corona virus or COVID-19 which now triggers and affects the
whole world is now side by side looking of all the possibilities to come up with the vaccine to
deter the proliferation and cure as well of this pandemic. Globally, all of the leaders are
working as one with the common slogan “WE HEAL AS ONE”.
Discussion

Aspects of Globalization

In order for you to understand the concept of Globalization in its totality, let me start our
discussion on the several aspects of globalization. Globalization has multifaceted phenomenon
and all has its linkage to globalization. Globalization is in touch with the subjects of Social
Sciences. The study of Social Sciences deals with the study of society and the people within it.
Observe and scrutinize the function of people in society, their relationships, and interactions as
member of society as well as the development and operation of societies rather than studying
the physical world. Political Science as one field of Social Sciences is politics and power from
domestic, international, and comparative perspectives. It entails understanding political ideas,
ideologies, institutions, policies, processes, and behavior, as well groups, classes, government,
diplomacy, law, strategy, and war.

Source: www.google.com
Economics is the social science that deals the production, distribution and consumption of
goods and services. Economics focuses on the behavior and interactions of economic agents
and how economies work. Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior.
Psychology is a multifaceted discipline and includes many sub-fields of study such areas as
human development, sports, health, clinical, social behavior and cognitive process. Geography
is the study of places and the relationships between people and their environments.
Geographers explore both the physical properties of Earth’s surface and the human societies
spread across it. Sociology is the study of society, patterns of social relationships, social
interaction and culture of everyday life. It is social science that uses various methods of
empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about social order,
acceptance, and change or social evolution. These are some of the subjects in social sciences
among all others.

Globalization in social sciences pertains to human interaction between nations, regions,

communities and even seemingly isolated places encompassing topics like family, religion, work
and education. It is also the exchanging of services, knowledge, cultural goods and even
language.

Looking at some pictures in situations where social globalization happens…

Source: www.google.com

Global Citizenship is another aspect of globalization. Citizenship is a multidimensional concept

that means membership in a specific nation- state and the formal rights and obligation that this
membership entails. Citizenship can be also a status and an identity. There are two principles
of citizenship: Jus Sanguinis (by blood) and Jus Solis (place of birth). The citizenship of the child
is usually determined by the nationality of parents. However, in the concept of global
citizenship there is no legal category for that there is no global government. All of the
nationalities in the world are citizens of the world or global citizens. All people are accountable
to the humanity (pagkatao, not the concept of “individual person”), so people have both the
ethical and moral categories.
(Note: Detailed discussion on Global Citizenship, Module 7)
Ethical responsibility is the ability to recognize, interpret and act upon multiple principles and
values according to the standards within a given field and/or context. In general sense, ethics is
a set of moral principles prescribing code, explains what is good and right or bad and wrong.
According to Morton Winston, Professor of Philosophy in Ewing, New Jersey, USA, said “is a
conception of a global ethics that attempts to describe an ethical framework for a global moral
community that includes all living human beings, near and distant future generations, and all of
those non-human living beings possessing moral status whose well-being and survival are
deserving of moral consideration by human moral agents”. Global Ethics, or a universal code of
values is the most controversial among the personal and professional ethics. One aspect of
global ethics concerns ethical questions and dilemmas, whether for individuals or societies, that
arise in view of economic, technological, legal, political, social and cultural globalization. Global
ethics expand upon personal and professional ethics to include a more extensive set of
principles that may apply to groups of people or cultures. They can include such areas and
debates as social justice, human rights, caring for the environment across national borders,
social responsibility and accountability, and interdependence gained through encompassing a
worldview.

One of the aspects of globalization taking into account is the Population Education. There is so
much mushrooming of people all over the world. The increase in the population of the
countries is the primordial concern because it affects the economic and social life of the
populace.

Source: www.google.com

Population Education is the study of human population in relation to his environment with a
view to improve his quality of life without adversely affecting the environment. The UNESCO
Regional Workshop on Population, Family Planning and Life Education held at Bangkok in 1979,
explained “Population Education is an educational programme which provides for the study of
population situation of the family, community, nation, and world with the purpose of
developing in the students’ rational and responsible attitude and behavior toward the
situation”.
Source: www.goggle.com

Today, the United Nations Organization (UNO) is giving much emphasis in this study because of
the so many problems and disasters countries are facing and encountering political, economic,
social, natural & physical, educational as well as the health conditions of the people. The best
example that triggers the whole world is the COVID- 19 Pandemic. There must be focus
attention in this pandemic because the lives of the people in the whole world is becoming
closer to death if they will not take serious study and find solutions.

In order to minimize the problems like food problem, economic problem, younger generation
problem, environmental problem and educational problem, there is an urgent need of
population education at all levels.

Sustainability is also an aspect of globalization. It means meeting our needs without

compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In addition to natural
resources, we also need social and economic resources. Sustainability is not just
environmentalism. Embedded in most definitions of sustainability we also find concerns for
social equity and economic development.

The definition of sustainability is broad, and the world is a big diverse places. Sustainability is
the process of living within the limits of available physical, natural and social resources in ways
that allow the living systems in which human are embedded to thrive in perpetuity.

Source: www.google.com

Economic stability refers to the absence of excessive fluctuations in the macro economy. An
economy with fairly constant output growth and low and stable inflation would be considered
economically stable. Economic and financial stability is both national and multicultural concern.
The importance is promoting economic stability is partly a matter of avoiding economic and
financial crises, large swings in economic activity, high inflation & excessive volatility in foreign
exchange & financial markets. Another is the instability can increase uncertainty, discourage
investment, impede economic growth & hurt living standards. Stable economies demonstrate
in modest growth in GDP, consumer prices, national unemployment rate, and currency
exchange rate & world stock prices.

Environmental Sustainability is defined as responsible interaction with the environment to

avoid depletion or degradation of natural resources and allow for long environmental quality.
Renewable resources, pollution and non- renewable resources are some of the concerns.

Social Sustainability is the ability of a social system, such as a country, family, or organization, to
function at a defined level of social well- being and harmony indefinitely. Problems like war,
endemic poverty, widespread injustice, and low education rates are symptoms a system is
socially unsustainable.
(Note: Detailed discussion on Towards a Sustainable World, Module 6)

We assess globalization through what we call Development. Development is a process that

creates growth, progress, positive change or the addition of physical, economic, environmental,
social and demographic components. It usually involved economic, social and cultural changes.
Globalization is the process in which people, ideas, and goods spread throughout the world,
spurring more interaction and integration between the world’s cultures, governments and
economies. Economic development usually refers to the adoption of new technologies,
transition from agriculture- based to industry- based economy, and general improvement in
living standards. Cultural globalization refers to the transmission of ideas, meanings, and values
around the world in such a way as to extend and intensify social relations. Lastly, is Social
Development is about improving the well-being of every individual in society so they can reach
their full potential. The success of society is linked to the well-being of each and every citizen.

Global Governance is the sum of the many ways individuals and institutions, public and private,
manage their common affairs. It is a movement towards political cooperation among
transnational actors, aimed at negotiating responses to problems that affect more than one
state or region. The best example is the International Organizations. There are two types of
international organizations: a. Governmental Organization, e.g. United Nation Organization
(UNO); and b. Non-governmental Organization, e.g. International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC).
(Note: Detailed discussion on Contemporary Global Governance, Module 2)

There are many varying definitions and concepts of the term globalization. These are as
follows:
1. Globalization is the increasing interaction of people, states, or countries through the
growth of the international flow of money, ideas, and culture. Thus, globalization is
primarily focused on economic process of integration that has social and cultural
aspects.
 2. It is the interconnectedness of people and business across the world eventually lead
to global, cultural, political, and economic integration.
3. It is the ability to move and communicate easily with others all over the world in
order to conduct business internationally.
4. It is the free movement of goods, services, and people across the world in a seamless
and integrated manner.
5. It is the liberalization of countries of their impact protocols and welcome foreign
investment into sectors that are the mainstays of its economy.
6. It refers to countries acting like magnets attracting global capital by opening up their
economies to multinational corporations

Globalization as defined by other authors:

1. It is a social process that create, multiple, intensify worldwide interdependence
2. It denotes a processes nestling under one rather unwieldy epithet (Freeden, 2003)
3. It signifies social condition characterized by thick economic, political and cultural
interconnections and global flows that make existing political borders and economic
barriers irrelevant (Steger, 2014)
4. Globalization is an ideology. It is explained …
a. It is about the liberalization and global integration of markets.
b. It is inevitable
c. Nobody is in charge of it
d. It benefits everyone (in the long run)
e. It furthers the spread of democracy
5. The expansion & intensification of social relations and consciousness across world
time and world space (Steger, 2014)

The following are the attributes of globalization:

1. Various forms of connectivity
- They are diverse (economic, political, cultural, etc.)
- They are enabled by various factors, pressures, media, etc.
- They are uneven (different degrees of interconnections)
2. Expansion and stretching of social relations
- Regional and international NGOs
- Sister-cities mechanism
- Government associations
- MNCs and TNCs
3. Intensification and acceleration of social exchanges and activities
- Door to door mail delivery to FB messages (IG< SnapChat, Twitter)
- Live TV telecast
- Travel capacities brought about by low airfares
4. Occurs Objectively
- Think about the world
- Associate ourselves with global trends
- Sense of responsibility
Learning Activity

Exercise 1: How Globalized is your Home?

Instruction: Go to your room and do an inventory of everything you have in your possession.
You will find the most essential among the “things” in your room like clothes,
footwear, gadgets, appliances, etc. Do the same thing in your kitchen and living
room.
Organize your inventory into two types:
a. “Things” that are made in the Philippines
b. “Things” that are of foreign brand

Exercise 2: Aspects of Globalization

Instruction: Out of the aspects of globalization, which do you think plays an important
contribution in globalization? Write an essay consisting of 150-300 words.

Exercise 3: Meaning of Globalization

Instruction: Find and read an opinion editorial article- discussing globalization. Extract the
underlying concept of globalization explained in the article. Write the title and
author of the chosen article.

1. Based on the article, is globalization a process, a condition, or an ideology? Explain your

choice.
2. On whose perspective is the definition of globalization anchored (political scientist,
economists, or culture and communication experts? Give at least 2 reasons to support
your choice.

Summary
Globalization is the increasing interaction of people, states, or countries through the growth of
the international flow of money, ideas, and culture. Thus globalization is primarily focused on
economic process and integration that has social and cultural aspects.

Globalization is a multi-faceted phenomenon in the aspects of social sciences, citizenship,

ethical responsibility, population education, sustainability, development and governance.

Different definitions given by authors on globalization:

a. It is a social process that create, multiple, intensify worldwide interdependence…
(Waters 2001)
b. It signifies social condition characterized by thick economic, political and cultural
interconnections and global flows that make existing political borders and
economic barriers irrelevant. (Steger, 2014)
c. Globalization is an ideology.
d. “The expansion & intensification of social relations and consciousness across
world time and world space”. (Steger 2014)

There are several attributes of globalization that are taking place contributing in the
development, 1) various forms of connectivity, 2) expansion and stretching of social relations,
3) intensification and acceleration of social exchanges and activities, and 4) occurs objectively..