Globalization Refers to How Local

Globalization refers to how local processes are increasingly becoming part of the greater world, and is usually used to describe economic aspects of these processes. Globalization has largely been a post World-War II phenomenon, enabled by the creation of the United Nations and its role as international policeman as much as by the technological advances that have made global business a real possibility. Because globalization has the potential to expose people to things from around the world, it has the potential to impact many aspects of local life, including financial markets, local economies, industry, politics, language, access to information, education, environment, culture, technology, social aspect, legal systems, and the development of ethics. As such, globalization has the power to be a tremendously positive practice, but it also has the potential to be terribly abused.

One of the most negative aspects of globalization has been the use of exploitation of cheap labor in less developed countries by companies from more developed countries. Nike is one of the most well-recognized brands that has been linked to the use of sweatshop labor. These sweatshops traditionally use women and children, work them long hours, and pay them a wage below a subsistence level. As a result, it would be easy to dismiss these corporations and this practice as exploitative. However, there are actually compelling arguments for the use of sweatshop labor. In societies where there are no alternative forms of income, sweatshops can actually provide a means to make a living. For example, in India there are people employed in sweatshops that would otherwise by forced to rely upon begging to make a living. While these corporations could easily afford to pay a marginally higher wage that would greatly increase the standard of living of their employees, the reality is that they are supplying them with a wage.

Globalization can have a very positive impact on traditional non-Western societies. For example, Greg Mortensen's efforts to provide the children of Afghanistan and Pakistan with an education would never have occurred without globalization. His organization has helped provide young girls with an opportunity for education, and, in some places, has helped change how their local cultures view the position of women in the community. However, at the same time, the globalization of this same area has been a contributing factor to the rise of Islamic extremism in the area, which has helped restrict women's rights in many of the villages in the area. As a result, it is difficult to describe the overall impact of globalization on traditional non-Western communities, because there is no standard response.

In addition, it is difficult to describe the standard impact of globalization on traditional Western societies. On the one hand, Western societies have experienced an artificially inflated standard of living because of the exporting of labor to less developed countries. On the other hand, Western societies have experienced a widening gap between the lower and upper classes and a dwindling middle class as their corporations have moved much of manufacturing outside of the United States. Furthermore, as these less developed nations have developed, Western societies have seen outsourcing of higher levels of labor, such as the infamous moving of many call centers to India. Now Western societies are beginning to have a reasonable fear that more and more jobs will be moved out of the country because the emerging global economy makes that possible.