CONTEMPORARY WORLD • Manfred Steger

INTRODUCTION TO THE CONTEMPORARY  Globalization is the expansion and intensification of social

WORLD & DEFINING WHAT IS GLOBALIZATION relations and consciousness world-time and across world-
space.
WHY WE NEED TO STUDY THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD
INTRODUCTION → Expansion refers to both the creation of new social
networks and the multiplication of existing connections that
Studying the outside world can: cut across traditional political, economic, cultural, and
geographic boundaries.
 Cure parochialism or an outlook that is limited to one’s
→ Intensification refers to the expansion, stretching, and
immediate community.
acceleration of these networks: social media, international
 A person who is concerned only with his/her family, village, or
groups of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that
even country is parochial. The parochial person is, thus,
close-minded. connect a more specific group－social workers and activists.
 The course aims to stretch the limits of your imagination and  The final attribute of the definition of globalization relates to the
outlook, share unfamiliar ideas and cultures that may spark people perceived time and space. Steger notes that
new interests and concerns. “globalization processes do not occur merely at an
 We will explore the places, peoples, ideas, and cultures that objective, material level but they also involve the
you care about and value. This expansion of one’s ethical subjective plane of human consciousness.” In other words,
horizons is the very core of what it means to be a citizen. people begin to feel that the world has become smaller place
and distance as collapsed from thousands of miles to just a
 Teach you more about yourself.
mouse-click away. One can now e-mail call a friend in another
 Knowing about other countries allows you to compare your
country and get a reply instantaneously, and a result, begins to
society with others.
perceive their distance as less consequential. Cable TV and
 The experiences of communities outside the Philippines
the internet has also exposed one to news from across the
may provide solutions to many of the country’s current
globe, so now, he/she has this greater sense of what is
problems.
happening in other places. Much more today, with the
 Dr. Jose Rizal, our national hero said that anyone who has
occurrence of COVID-19 pandemic, DepEd and CHED require
learned about the world will be haunted by the “ghost of
all learning institutions to use virtual/on-line classes as we
comparison.” He says that once you know about other
cannot afford to go face-face classes.
societies, you will not be able to look at your own in the same
way. You will start comparing and asking various questions;  Steger posits that his definition of globalization must be
and compare what will happen even when you least expect it. differentiated with an ideology he calls globalism, a
The urge is like a “ghost” that suddenly appears. widespread belief among powerful people that the global
integration of economic markets is beneficial to everyone,
 Interacting with the world. since it spreads freedom and democracy across the world. It is
 The Filipinos are increasingly becoming aware of our a common belief forwarded in media and policy circles.
interdependence globally:
(1) Filipinos are living and working abroad (OFWs)  Examples:
(2) Many Filipinos work for foreign countries operating in the a. Strong financial market connecting London and New York
country such as in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) such as electronic trading.
(3) Due to internet, cheaper travel costs, and larger trade off b. China committed itself to the global economy in the 1980s.
of goods and services c. Shainghai steadily returned to its old role as a major trading
(4) The deepening global interconnectedness of places, post.
ideas, economies, culture, and people d. Honda plant temporarily ceased production of car parts due
to monsoon rains flooded much Bangkok. This had a strong
GLOBALIZATION GLOBALIZATION negative effect on Honda-USA which relied heavily on the
parts being imported from Thailand, as a result, Japanese
A Working Definition: car company’s global profits also fell.

• Most accounts • Arjun Appadurai

 View globalization as primarily an economic process.  Different kinds of globalization occur on multiple and interesting
dimensions of integration that he calls “scapes.”
• Newspaper Reports
a. Ethnoscape refers to the global movement of people
 It is the integration of the national markets and wider global b. Mediascape is about the flow of culture
markets, signified by the increased free trade.
c. Technoscape refers to the circulation of mechanical
• Activists goods and software
 Anti-globalization means resisting the trade deals among d. Finanscape denotes the global circulation of money
countries facilitated and promoted by global organizations like e. Ideoscape is the realm where political ideas move around
the World Trade Organization.  Although they intersect, these five scapes have different logics.
• Academics They are thus, distinct windows into the broader phenomenon
of globalization.
 Call globalization an interdisciplinary approach used by
General Education courses.
• Schottle (1995) • Culture Experts
 States that globalization stands for quite a large public spread  Globalization is referred to as cultural imperialism. It is the
across the world as one of the defining terms of the 20th conviction that there is a “better” culture. Some cultures see
century social consciousness. other cultures as superior to theirs, forming inferior or non-
dominant cultures.
• Rosenau (1996)
 In cultural globalization, therefore, the spread of popular
 States that globalization is not the same as globalism, which
culture (e.g., music, art, literature, fashion, lifestyle, etc.) flows
points our aspirations for an end state of affairs wherein
from dominant to non-dominant cultures (i.e., from developed
values are shared by or pertinent to all the world’s five
to developing countries).
billion people, their environment, their roles as citizens,
consumers and producers with an interest in collective action
designed to solve common problems. It is not universalism－
values that embrace all humanity.
• Mc Grew (1990)
 Globalization is described as something that is comprised of
multiple sameness and interconnectedness that go beyond the
nation-states. It is a process in which individuals and
organizations in one part of the world are affected by the
activities, affairs, and convictions on another part of the
world.
• Cerny (1997)
 Globalization is a cluster of economic and political frameworks
and procedures deriving from the changing marks of the
interests and assets that comprise the foundation of the
international political economy－specifically, the expanding
structural differences of those interests and assets.
• Freeden (2003)
 Posits that globalization denotes a range of processes nesting
under one rather unwieldy epithet. Its conceptual difficulty to
handle or control arises from the fact that global flows occur in
different physical and mental dimensions.
• Economists
 Globalization means increase of free trade, speed of trade,
global economic organization, and regional trade blocks.
 The expansion of the free trade allows governments not to
restrict the importation of products nor impede the export of
local products. Importing and exporting are done just in a
millisecond through technology and the internet.
 There is also the intense establishment of economic
organizations such as the:
International Monetary fund (IMF)
World Bank (WB)
World Trade Organization (WTO)
International Labor Organization (ILO)
European Free Trade Area (EFTA)
Mercusor (a customs union among Brazil, Argentina,
Uruguay, Paraguay, and Venezuela)
ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA)
Trans-Pacific Partnership
• McLuhan (1964), a communication expert
 Globalization refers to the concept of a global village. Through
globalization, the world has become a borderless world.
 Communication technology makes the world shrink. He
believes that media have connected the world in ways that
created a global village.
QUIZ 20) States that globalization is not the same as globalism.
Rosenau
1) A person who is concerned only with his/her family, village or even
country, and thus, close-minded. 21) Described globalization as something that is comprised of multiple
Parochial sameness and interconnectedness that go beyond the nation-states.
Mc Grew
2) What is the phrase used by Dr. Jose Rizal which means that anyone who
has learned about the world will be haunted like a ghost that suddenly 22) Globalization is a cluster of economic and political frameworks.
appears and comparing and asking various questions? Cerny
Ghost of comparison
23) Posits that globalization denotes a range of processes nesting under one
3) It temporarily ceased production of car parts due to monsoon rains rather unwieldy epithet.
flooded much Bangkok. Freeden
Honda
24) Globalization means increase of free trade, speed of trade, global
4) Exposed one to news from across the globe, so now, he/she has this economic organization, and regional trade blocks.
greater sense of what is happening in other places. Economists
Cable TV and internet
25) Globalization refers to the concept of a global village and believes that
5) Many Filipinos work for foreign countries operating in the country. media have connected the world in ways that created a global village.
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) McLuhan

6) People who are forcibly evicted from the slums areas and also became 26) Globalization is referred to as cultural imperialism.
the labor force of foreign countries. Culture Experts
Urban Poor
27) View globalization as primarily an economic process.
7) Globalization is the expansion and intensification of social relations and Most accounts
consciousness world-time and across world-space.
Manfred Steger 28) It is the integration of the national markets a wider global market
signified by the increased free trade.
8) The term which means a widespread belief among powerful people that Newspaper Reports
the global integration of economic markets is beneficial to everyone, since it
spreads freedom and democracy across the world. 29) They resist trade deals among countries facilitated and promoted by
Globalism global organizations like the World.
Activists
9) Refers to the expansion, stretching, and acceleration of these networks.
Intensification 30) Globalization an interdisciplinary approach used by General Education
courses.
10) Spell out the acronym NGO. Academics
Non-governmental Organization
31) A global pandemic which retrieved DepEd and CHED and other learning
11) He is the anthropologist who looked at different kinds of globalization institutions to use virtual or online classes as we cannot afford to go face-to-
occur on multiple and interesting dimensions of integration that he calls face classes.
“scapes.” COVID-19
Arjun Appadurai
32) Widespread belief among powerful people that the global integration of
12) Refers to the global movement of people. economic markets is beneficial to everyone, since it spreads freedom and
Ethnoscape democracy across the world.
Globalism
13) This is about the flow of culture.
Mediascape 33) Filipinos who are living and working abroad.
Overseas Filipino Workers
14) Refers to the circulation of mechanical goods and software.
Technoscape 34) It is a course which uses various disciplines of the social sciences,
examines the economic, social, political, technological and other
15) Denotes the global circulation of money. transformations that have created an increasing awareness of the
Finanscape
interconnectedness of people and places around the world.
The Contemporary World
16) Is the realm where political ideas move around.
Ideoscape
35) It is an outlook that is limited to one’s immediate community.
Cure parochialism
17) Refers to both the creation of new social networks and the multiplication
of existing connections that cut across traditional political, economic, cultural,
and geographic boundaries.
Expansion

18) It is an approach used by the academicians that view globalization

through various lenses that consider multiple theories and perspectives.
Interdisciplinary approach

19) States that globalization stands for quite a large public spread across the
world as one of the defining terms of the 20th century social consciousness.
Schottle