The other key aspect of globalization is changes in technology, particularly in transport and communications, which it is claimed are creating a global village. There is much disagreement about the advent of globalisation. The term "globalisation" was first coined in the 1980s, but the concept stretches back decades, even centuries, if you count the trading empires built by Spain, Portugal, Britain, and Holland. One main aspect prevalent in most societies today is the diversity in cultures this can be seen in the u.k simply through the spread of foods such as influences from Europe and Asia. This has lead to an increase in multi national corporations such as McDonalds and Microsoft which globally dominate there respective markets. These changes have undoubtedly been lead by changes in technology and transport since the Second World War. One issue that has not been studied in depth in recent years is the impact of the Internet on globalisation. The Internet has played a major part in the organisation of New Social Movements, without the Internet, organisation would be almost impossible. NSM through the use of emails and websites via the Internet can contact each other and organise demonstrations and express their opinions on possible changes to ideas. The Internet is used by a large majority of the world so the likelihood of contact and better organisation is greatly increased. I think this explanation is a valid and useful one in terms of the emergence of global social movements. The Internet allows groups such as the gay rights campaigners to contact supporters all over the world and increase membership and therefore creating a global social movement. (P Dunleavy, 2003)
Globalisation has also resulted in many businesses setting up or buying operations in other countries. When a foreign company invests in a country, perhaps by building a factory or a shop, this is called inward investment. Companies that operate in several countries are called multinational corporations (MNCs) or transnational corporations (TNCs). McDonald's, the US fast food chain is a large MNC. It has nearly 30,000 restaurants in 119 countries. The majority of MNCs come from more economically developed countries such as the US and UK. Multinational corporations invest in other MEDCs the US car company Ford, for example, makes large numbers of cars in the UK. But MNCs also invest in less economically developed countries - for example the British DIY store B&Q now has stores in China.
Some individuals argue that globalisation has created a great divide between the rich and the poor. The rich nations have all the technologies and infrastructure in order to achieve global success and maintain a competitive advantage over other nations who lack such information systems. One of globalisations main criticisms is its impact on the poor in the current sociology journal an article by Ray Kiely, This article critically reviews the evidence for and against recent claims that global poverty has declined over the last 20 years. Several recent surveys review the evidence on the relationship between globalization and poverty (winters et al (2004), Goldberg and Pavcnik (2004), and Ravallion (2004)). However, the authors of these surveys acknowledge that they can only review the indirect evidence regarding the linkages between globalization and poverty. There have been almost no studies which test for the direct linkages between the two. In this journal he claims that the few studies which do examine the links between globalization and poverty typically use computable general models to find the linkages between trade reform and poverty. It is argued that globalization has weakened the position of poor countries and exposed poor people to harmful competition. This concern is understandable, especially since the gap between rich and poor has become more obvious in recent decades. (N Yates 2002)
There is evidence that the gap between the richest and poorest countries, and between the richest and poorest groups of individuals in the world, has increased. But this has not necessarily increased poverty rates; this may be because globalization increases opportunities for the wealthy more rapidly than for the poor. Since increasing wealth may be due to many causes. Having stated that technology and communications has created and accelerated the globalisation process, it is clear that it’s a different story for those living in the Third World. Almost fifty percent of the world’s population belong to the Third World. Such communications and technologies in these regions have severe constraints to the development or globalisation of these nations. Technology is yet to be introduced and utilised in these nations. In effect globalisation is making the rich richer and the poor poorer, countries in the third world cannot with those in the developed world.
The Third World has very poor infrastructures and resources. If these countries are part of the globalisation process, then it has an adverse affect on them, to the ignorance of the rich nations who have succeeded in becoming globalised. However what is essential is that technology alone will not hold the key to all aspects; hence a great deal of investment in human and physical resources is essential to accompany technological advances.
