Extended Definition of Globalization

by Alisa Kukarja

2nd Year, Mahidol University, Bangkok

For the past few years, ‘Globalization’ has been a popular issue for debate worldwide. The meaning of globalization, literally, should be the process of connecting people around the world together to form a network. This changes the idea of the world as an ‘undefined space’ to a ‘global village’. It also makes every nation become interdependent. However, this is just an objective view of globalization. This concept means different things to different people. How a person feels about globalization will affect how they define and explain it. Those who support it will usually refer to it as the economy stimulators, while those who oppose it will be concerned about the damage it is doing socially and culturally.

For those who support it, globalization is a process of freeing the economy so that trades between countries can take place more easily. The major supporters of globalization are transnational corporations and international financial institutions. In their view, globalization is the best way to ensure economic growth because it provides more opportunities for businesses. Also it expands the alternative for people because now they have a wider view of the world.

On the other hand, the opponents of globalization would define it as the process of attacking the local people socially and culturally. To them, globalization has widened the gap between the rich and the poor. Its sole purpose is to make profits only for the rich by means of exploiting labor and natural resources from developing countries. It does not only create ‘sense of lack’ for the ‘have-nots’, but it also destroys the only valuable possessions they have, which are their natural resources and environment.

Culturally, globalization has replaced original rituals and practices of the local people by modern lifestyles from the West in which people’s main obligation is to become materialized and disregard the moral and spiritual values.

Ideally, globalization should be about taking advantage of the world’s diversity to make it a better place to live in. However, in practice, I believe the process of ‘Westernization’ is actually taking place, under the title of ‘Globalization’. If globalization plays its roles according to the meaning of its term, no more arguments or debates about its existence would be necessary.