Why should we care about globalization?
By: Edith
On a rainy morning, a woman enters a Starbucks, drinks a Latte, and eats a chocolate-chip cookie. Her iPhone rings, and she begins to speak in French to one of her business partners. She promises to call their supplier in Malaysia, and then drives her Toyota to the offices of the clothing enterprise she works for. In the meantime, a coffee farmer in Colombia is picking coffee beans, which he will later sell to coffee shops. A factory worker in China assembles an iPhone, while a young woman in Malaysia sews a dress that will be sold in the 5th Avenue in New York. A group of farmers in Côte d’Ivoire work in a cacao field, to obtain the raw material for a delicious product they might never be able to buy.
All of this happens on a daily basis around the world. Economic globalization has become such a common element in our lives that we rarely stop for a moment and think of everything that has happened so that we are able to enjoy a cup of coffee, or type a paper on a MacBook, or even have the choice to buy one product or another at the grocery store. Truth is, globalization emerges from and creates a series of interactions and dynamics in the international stage that have implications in politics, society, culture, development, war and peace, and even sports.
Globalization and, more specifically, economic globalization, is a complex phenomenon that demands for theoretical and practical analysis. Many authors understand it in terms of interdependence, while others –like Noam Chomsky, more critical of the process- mention that it is understood and celebrated depending on the economic interests of an elite. García de la Cruz (2007) defines it as the definite triumph of the market, with the expansion of capitalism on a global scale.
There is debate as to whether globalization is good or bad, and as to whether it should be regulated or not. There are many topics to be explored around it, and we will attempt to do a thorough, yet not exhaustive, analysis of what globalization is, how it works, and how it affects us, as individuals and as communities.
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Sources:
García de la Cruz (2007) “La Globalización Económica”, in Sistema Económico Mundial, José Manuel García de la Cruz (coord..), Thomson Editores Spain: Madrid, pp.53–76.
“Noam Chomsky: ¿qué es la globalización?” Tomado de: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2ERlCx6CxqU
