Globalization, Race, and Prejudice: A Path Toward Equity

Introduction: The Continuum of Globalization

Discourse on globalization has flourished in contemporary scholarship, even though the actual forces and phenomena shaping patterns of world trade and the interchange of ideas and culture have extended deep into human history. Technology has invariably shaped the new wave of globalization, with public policy and international interdependency creating formal, legal pathways of global integration. Even as information sharing and intercultural communication have created the means by which to engage in universal, shared discourse on ethics, human rights, and social justice, destructive forces like racism and prejudice threaten to undermine the benefits globalization presents to the modern and future world. In spite of the resurgence of xenophobia and protectionism in some regions, globalization has overall led to the inevitable and unavoidable dismantling of prejudice and racism worldwide.

Discursive Shifts in Race and Ethnicity

Discourse on race and ethnicity has undergirded public perceptions, points of view, policies, and practices. The modern era and the rise of the secular nation-state as the fundamental building block of the geo-political landscape brought with it a newfound interest in race, ethnicity, and other rather arbitrary boundaries between societies that had throughout history maintained continuity or cohabitation within the same geographic and temporal fields (Bosworth, Bowling & Lee, 2008). This is not to say that barriers between races, socioeconomic classes, language groups, and subcultures did not define the social order; of course such hierarchies existed and created systematic stratification and formalized oppression and subordination. However, the brand of globalization that flourished in the post–World War Two era had a means of showcasing human unity and universal human norms. Perhaps it was the horrors of the First and Second World Wars that first alerted the human public as a whole to the dangers of fragmentation and prejudice. Likewise, technology in fields like transportation and communication created newfound pathways of social and cultural exchange that had never before existed. Resulting discursive practices changed, altering the ways people perceived themselves and their role in the world.

The concept of race and ethnicity in the context of globalization can actually be traced to the sixteenth century and the first real wave of globalization that occurred as the result of exploration and, later, imperialism, colonialism, conquest, and subsequent othering (Thomas & Clarke, 2013). Othering was not just expressed through overtly negative means, but also through equally problematic concepts like Orientalism and the myth of the noble savage. Instead of viewing other cultures as potential partners in achieving mutual goals, globalization often led to the imposition of power upon societies for exploitation and dominion. Colonization was also grounded in religious and political discourse and its presumed superiority—European colonization, but also colonization by other globalizing regimes such as the Ottoman Empire. Therefore, racial discourse and globalization have gone hand in hand for centuries, at least since the first wave of globalization.

Racist discourse flourished in the nineteenth century, especially as it became insidiously fused with the principles of science and empiricism (Thomas & Clarke, 2013). The misappropriation of Darwin's evolutionary theories provided the sinister underpinnings of ardent, radical nationalism and racist political practices—the most obvious example of which is Nazism. As anthropology and other social sciences subsequently revealed the spurious connection between biology and race, globalization became much more about economic policy and labor economics than about race or ethnicity.

Migration, Movement, and Anti-Immigrant Sentiment

Globalization is partly defined by human population migration driven by economic interests. Population migration and immigration have dominated recent discourse on globalization and race. Beginning especially in the nineteenth century, mass migration movements characterized the modern and postmodern worlds. With increased mobility due to advanced transportation networks, people from around the world came to view the borders of the nation-state as far more fluid than they had been a generation or two before. Rather than leading to greater openness and border fluidity, however, world trade and free-market capitalism have actually fueled anti-immigrant and anti-immigration sentiments (Kaya & Karakoç, 2012). Anti-immigration sentiments and their corresponding manifestations in public policy and law have particularly flourished in Europe and North America, in spite of the latter having long been a bastion of immigration policies that emphasized migration as a means of economic development and social empowerment.

The paradoxes of immigration—as both a means by which to eradicate prejudices and barriers and a means by which to stir animosity and resentment—have become more evident than ever before. Anti-immigration sentiments and racism have become threats to national, regional, and global security (Bello, 2014). Racism and prejudice have the potential to influence domestic and foreign policy, as well as to fuel terrorism and sectarian violence. By the same token, interdependency, collaboration, and cross-cultural communication are the pathways by which critical negotiations and economic policies can promote peace.

References

Bello, V. (2014). Why prejudice is a global security threat. United Nations University Institute on Globalization, Culture, and Mobility. https://gcm.unu.edu/publications/articles/why-prejudice-is-a-global-security-threat.html

Black, S. E., & Brainerd, E. (2004). Importing equality? The impact of globalization on gender discrimination. ILR Review, 57(4), 540–559.

Bosworth, M., Bowling, B., & Lee, M. (2008). Globalization, ethnicity, and racism. Theoretical Criminology, 12(3), 263–273.

Kaya, Y., & Karakoç, E. (2012). Civilizing vs. destructive globalization? A multi-level analysis of anti-immigrant prejudice. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 53(1), 23–44.

Thomas, D. A., & Clarke, M. K. (2013). Globalization and race. Annual Review of Anthropology, 42(2013), 305–325.