Is globalization new and inevitable? Discuss with reference to EITHER culture, economics OR politics.

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Is globalization ‘new and inevitable’? Discuss with reference to EITHER culture, economics OR politics.

Globalization is a phenomenon including changes in culture, politics and economics globally, where some parts of the world are getting closer and others a drifting further apart with no reference to geographical distance. It is a process of transformation of local to regional trends into global trends. Globalization describes global interconnectedness. Some people might benefit from globalization (winners) and some might not (losers). This essay is going to discuss whether globalization is new and if it is inevitable, with reference to culture.

First it will outline four concepts “stretching”, “intensification”, “interpenetration” and “infrastructure” which are helpful in exploring the impact of globalization. Secondly it will introduce three theories by Globalists, Inter-nationalists and Transformationalists, and how they see globalization. Then it will compare the four main theories with reference to culture and decided if globalization is new and inevitable or not.

        The twenty-first century brings many changes to all societies. For example people in the UK can eat sushi, read Cosmopolitan or buy tropical food without any hassle. Individuals all around the world can communicate within the internet or by phone any time they want. Accidents which happen in one country are seen on the television in another country within minutes. These are just some of the global changes, which are occurring in many aspects of people’s lives.

In April 1986 there was an accident in Chernobyl, USSR, a nuclear power station exploded and as a result a cloud was carrying radioactive particles across all Europe (David Held,2004,p.18), this example demonstrates stretched social relations, when events, decision or accidents happen on one side of the world having an impact on the other.

Intensification of flows implies, that the impacts of events on one side of the world are felt more strongly than before on the other side of the world. In Chernobyl the explosion had an effect on the local environment as well as on the environment thousands of miles away. (David Held,2004,p.20)

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Global concerns were increased about the regulation of nuclear industries and this helped confirm the Soviet Union’s weaknesses as a technological superpower. This expression was exported to other countries and might be used as an example of increasing interpenetration, when the extent of one culture’s expression is exported to other countries. (David Held,2004,p.20)

An infrastructure is the transition of information between different operation systems. For the infrastructure to work it must have a set of rules so that it functions correctly. One of the reasons the Chernobyl crisis happened could be due to dysfunctional communication systems. (David Held,2004,p.20)

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