CHAPTER 1: DEFINING

GLOBALIZATION
GRACE VILLAROSA
CW INSTRUCTOR
 INTRODUCTION

• GLOBALIZATION ENCOMPASSES A MULTITUDE OF PROCESSES THAT INVOLVES

THE ECONOMY, POLITICAL SYSTEMS, AND CULTURE.
• SWEDISH JOURNALIST THOMAS LARSSON (2001) SAW GLOBALIZATION AS “THE
PROCESS OF WORLD SHRINKAGE, OF DISTANCES GETTING SHORTER, THINGS
MOVING CLOSER.
• ON THE OTHER HAND, SOME SEE IT AS OCCURRING THROUGH AND WITH
REGRESSION, COLONIALISM, AND DESTABILIZATION.
 THE TASK OF DEFINING GLOBALIZATION

• THE LITERATURE ON THE DEFINITIONS OF GLOBALIZATION REVEALED THAT DEFINITIONS

COULD BE CLASSIFIED AS EITHER (1) BROAD AND INCLUSIVE OR (2) NARROW AND EXCLUSIVE.
• ACCORDING TO RITZER (2015), “GLOBALIZATION IS A TRANSPLANETARY PROCESS OR A SET OF
PROCESSES INVOLVING INCREASING LIQUIDITY AND THE GROWING MULTIDIRECTIONAL
FLOWS OF PEOPLE, OBJECTS, PLACES, AND INFORMATION AS WELL AS THE STRUCTURES THEY
ENCOUNTER AND CREATE THE BARRIERS TO, OR EXPEDITE, THOSE FLOW.
• IN HIS ARTICLE, “THE GLOBALIZATION OF NOTHING,” RITZER (2003) SAID, “ATTITUDES
TOWARD GLOBALIZATION DEPEND, AMONG OTHER THINGS, ON WHETHER ONE GAINS OR
LOSES FROM IT.”
 METAPHORS OF GLOBALIZATION

• METAPHORS MAKE USE OF ONE TERM TO HELP US BETTER UNDERSTAND

ANOTHER TERM.
• IN OUR CASES, THE STATES OF MATTER -SOLID AND LIQUID- WILL BE USED.
• IN ADDITION, OTHER RELATED CONCEPTS THAT ARE INCLUDED IN THE
DEFINITION SUCH AS STRUCTURES AND FLOWS WILL BE ELABORATED.
 SOLIDS, LIQUIDS AND FLOWS

• SOLIDITY REFERS TO BARRIERS THAT PREVENT OR MAKE DIFFICULT THE

MOVEMENT OF THINGS. FURTHERMORE, SOLIDS CAN EITHER BE NATURAL OR
MAN-MADE.
• LIQUID, AS A STATE OF MATTER, TAKES THE SHAPE OF A CONTAINER. MOREOVER,
LIQUIDS ARE NOT FIXED. LIQUIDITY, THEREFORE, REFERS TO THE INCREASING
EASE OF MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE, THINGS, INFORMATION, AND PLACES IN THE
CONTEMPORARY WORLD.
• FLOWS ARE THE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE, THINGS, PLACES, AND INFORMATION
BROUGHT BY THE GROWING “POROSITY” OF GLOBAL LIMITATIONS (RITZER,
2015).
 GLOBALIZATION THEORIES

• HOMOGENEITY REFERS TO THE INCREASING SAMENESS IN THE WORLD AS CULTURAL

INPUTS, ECONOMIC FACTORS, AND POLITICAL ORIENTATIONS OF SOCIETIES.
• MEDIA IMPERIALISM UNDERMINES THE EXISTENCE OF ALTERNATIVE GLOBAL MEDIA
ORIGINATING FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.
• MCDONALDIZATION IS THE PROCESS BY WHICH WESTERN SOCIETIES ARE DOMINATED BY
THE PRINCIPLES OF FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS.
• HETEROGENEITY PERTAINS TO THE CREATION OF VARIOUS CULTURAL PRACTICES, NEW
ECONOMIES AND POLITICAL GROUPS BECAUSE OF THE INTERACTION OF ELEMENTS FROM
DIFFERENT SOCIETIES IN THE WORLD.