family and globalization essay

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Family Change in Global Perspective: How and Why Family Systems Change

Author Note

Changes in family systems that have occurred over the past half century throughout the Western world are now spreading across the globe to nations that are experiencing economic development, technological change, and shifts in cultural beliefs. Traditional family systems are adapting in different ways to a series of conditions that forced shifts in all Western nations. In this paper, I examine the causes and consequences of global family change, introducing a recently funded project using the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and U.S. Census Bureau data to chart the pace and pattern of changes in marriage and family systems in low- and middle-income nations.

Global Family Changes

I still vividly recall from my graduate student days at Columbia University more than a half century ago noted sociologist William J. Goode strutting around the lecture hall complaining that we do not have a good general theory about why and how family systems are changing globally. Of course, he didn’t use the term “globally” explicitly because the word was not yet in fashion. In the mid-1960s, Goode made the theoretical argument that there would be a transformation in family systems around the world, from longstanding traditional forms to the “conjugal household.” With this term he was suggesting that family systems around the world would eventually converge with the Western model of the nuclear family—comprised of a married couple and their children in a single household, rather than multigenerational or complex households. Goode contended that the conjugal family was most compatible with the growth of market capitalism and a job-based economy. Consequently, he speculated that the Western system would eventually spread across the globe. Evidence of rapid economic growth and the development of a modern economy that have come to be called “globalism” had already moved beyond the West in the early post-War era to parts of Asia, just as Goode was completing his book World Revolution and Family Patterns (1963), which contained data from 50 countries and analyzed the impact of family on societies.

In what became a classic analysis of change in family systems, Goode (1963) assembled a large array of extant data describing recent patterns in a number of the world’s regional family systems. He convincingly demonstrated that over time, traditional agricultural-based economies and the family systems to which they had given rise were being undermined by the growth of job-based economies and the spread of Western ideas. At the same time, family patterns that had been in place around the globe were yielding to more Western-style practices such as the growing expectation of strong marital bonds, lower fertility, and fewer intergenerational households.

Goode (1963) argued that the Western family system had changed to fit (adapt to) an economy that increasingly required more education and geographical mobility. These changes in turn would erode the authority of family elders and reduce their formal control over their children, he asserted. Modern family systems in the West, he predicted, would initiate free mate choice based on compatibility and sentiment rather than on family interests or parental control. Finally, he showed that these modern features of Western family systems were being adopted in many regions of the world in the aftermath of the World War II.

Had Goode (1963) been able to imagine the revolution in gender roles that was also just on the horizon, he might have pointed to it as another major change in family systems. However, he was largely unable to foresee the events of the next several decades whereby the gender-based division of labor still observed in the West in the 1960s would give way to a growing demand for gender equality, although he hinted at this possibility (see Cherlin, 2012 ; Furstenberg, 2013 ). More recently, some theorists have examined the weakening of gender stratification as an independent source of family adaptation to economic growth ( Esping-Andersen, 2009 ; Esping-Andersen & Billari, 2015 ; Goldscheider, Bernhardt, & Lappegard, 2015 ; McDonald, 2000 ).

Nonetheless, Goode’s masterwork (1963) influenced the writing of the next generation of sociologists and demographers who studied global and regional patterns of change in family systems. Although his theoretical perspective included the possibility that ideational change (i.e., a shift in cultural values) might precede or follow structural changes in family systems, a number of theorists, in response, emphasized and even prioritized the importance of value change through social diffusion (e.g., see Coale & Watkins, 1986 ; Hendi, 2017 ; Johnson-Hanks et al., 2011 ; Watkins, 1990 ) Just as Max Weber (1905) argued in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism more than a century earlier, these theorists have argued that culture is an independent influence on changing preferences for individual choice, a value set that is often seen as an export from the West. However, researchers— Caldwell, 1976 ; Inglehart, 1990 ; Lesthaeghe and Surkyn, 1988 ; Thornton, 2001 ; Van de Kaa, 1987 ; among others—have challenged the underlying assumption of economic determinism that they saw in Goode’s theory.

In a book on changing family systems titled Between Sex and Power: Family in the World —in some sense a sequel to Goode’s (1963) book from 40 years earlier— Therborn (2004) argued for the separate influence of law and public policy as an independent institutional driver of change both in the developed and developing worlds. Others have pointed to the potentially causal influence of changing demographic pressures owing to declines in mortality and fertility that prompted changes in the timing of life events such as marriage and childbearing ages ( Bianchi, 2014 ; Bongaarts, 2015 ; Bongaarts, Mensch, & Blanc, 2017 ; Hertrich, 2017 ). Along the same line, reproductive technology has brought about new possibilities in the timing and organization of the life course, indicating that technology can also have an independent influence on change in family patterns ( Golombok et al. 1995 ; Inhorn, Birenbaum, & Carneli, 2008 ).

These broad theories of why and how family systems change have stimulated a sizeable body of national and regional studies on patterns of family change throughout the world ( Allendorf & Pandian, 2016 ; Amador, 2016 ; Cuesta, Rios-Salas, & Meyer, 2017 ; Kumagai, 2010 ; Kuo & Raley, 2016 ; Seltzer, 2004 ; Seltzer et al., 2005 ; Thornton et al., 2014 ; etc.). Yet, it is still fair to say that since the publication of Goode’s (1993) book more than a half century ago, there has been no systematic attempt to test in the broadest sense his theory of how change in family systems occurs or the competing explanations that have been advanced in response to his bold predictions using demographic data on a global scale.

Nonetheless, the idea of a growing convergence in fertility patterns has become a major topic of inquiry among demographers and economists ( Casterline & National Research Council, 2001 ; Coleman, 2002 ; Crenshaw, Christenson, & Oakey, 2000 ; Dorius, 2008 ; Hendi, 2017 ; Rindfuss, Choe, & Brauner-Otto, 2016 ; Wilson, 2001 , 2011 ). Even taking account of this distinct line of research, a broader investigation of how and why family systems change over time, much less the systematic testing of Goode’s broad theory and the responses to it, has been stymied by the absence of comparable data on global family systems. The availability of such data would permit the empirical examination of competing explanations of the transformation of family systems in response to economic, cultural, social, demographic, and political change.

This paper examines some of the issues that must be addressed before family scholars can develop and test theoretical explanations for why and how family systems change. I begin by enumerating the major changes that have occurred in families across the globe, before introducing a conceptual framework for investigating why change is coming about more rapidly in some regions of the world than in others. After describing why systems are changing, I turn to a particular feature of the change: growing patterns of inequality that are being generated by diverging family patterns across social class strata. Finally, I conclude by describing an ongoing project through which colleagues and I are assembling extensive and reliable data to study these issues.

Worldwide Changing Family Practices

Broadly speaking, it is easy to argue that some degree of convergence in family patterns worldwide, as presented below, has already occurred, particularly if the terrain is restricted to marriage and fertility, although researchers have noted continuing evidence of heterogeneity as well ( Holland, 2017 ; Pesando & the GFC team, in press ).

• The age at first marriage has been rising in most nations of the world ( Jones & Yeung, 2014 ). This pattern was evident in Western Europe and English-speaking countries during the latter third of the last century and has continued into the present ( Stevenson & Wolfers, 2007 ). It is now evident that similar changes have occurred more recently in virtually all countries in Eastern Europe, large areas of East Asia (with some important exceptions. such as much of India, China, Indonesia, and Vietnam), and part of Africa and Latin America ( Bongaarts, Mensch, & Blanc, 2017 ; García & de Oliveira, 2011 ; Harwood-Lejeune, 2001 ; Raymo et al., 2015 ). Although not uniform, the pattern is sufficiently widespread to lead most researchers to conclude that the institution of marriage is undergoing profound changes in most parts of the world in response to economic and social change ( Cherlin, 2012 ).
• The rise in the age at first marriage is just one reason for the general decline in fertility that has occurred worldwide except in rural Africa and parts of the Middle East ( Bongaarts, 1978 ; Casterline, 2017 ; Madsen, Moslehi, & Wang, 2018 ). As I have already noted, marriage at a later age typically implies less family influence on the choice of partner and perhaps a growth in heterogamous unions, at least initially, as individuals have more options to form families of their own choosing, including remaining single. This pattern has increased in most nations, especially where females have entered the labor force in greater numbers ( Esteve, Garcia-Roman, & Permanyer, 2012 ; Harknett & Kuperberg, 2012). In some family systems, particularly in the economically advanced nations of East Asia, a growing fraction of women seem to be exercising their option to delay marriage indefinitely ( Furstenberg, 2013 ; Jones, 2005 ; Raymo et al., 2015 ). As in the West, marriage is apparently becoming more discretionary in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia ( Jones, Hull, & Mohamad, 2011 ; Thornton & Philipov, 2009 ).
• As marriage has become more optional, the practice of cohabitation (before, after, or in lieu of a formal union) has grown throughout the Western world and in Eastern Europe (Heuveline & Timberlake, 2004; Holland, 2017 ; Lundberg, Pollak, & Stearns, 2016 ; Thornton & Philipov, 2009 ). In many nations in Latin America and the Caribbean, where cohabitation has long been a preferred form among certain ethnic and racial minorities, it has become more widely practiced among more economically advantaged individuals who previously confined their unions to formal marriage ( Covre-Sussai et al., 2015 ; Esteve & Lesthaeghe, 2016 ; Esteve, Lesthaeghe, & Lopez-Gay, 2012 ; Lesthaeghe, 2014 ).
• Divorce after marriage has become more common in most nations, especially those with previously low rates of marital dissolution ( Surkyn & Lesthaeghe, 2004 ). While marital stability has increased in some countries among the most educated, it has declined at the same time for the less educated and skilled portion of the population ( Schwartz & Han, 2014 ). As marriage has moved to a more companionate form, divorce is increasingly viewed as an acceptable option for couples in unsatisfactory relationships (Goode, 1963; Thornton & Young-DeMarco, 2004 ).
• A concomitant trend is the growth of childlessness in families in most wealthy nations, which is associated with declining fertility ( Kreyenfeld & Konietzka, 2017 ; Rowland, 2007 ). In a growing number of nations in Europe, the English-speaking nations, and the advanced economies of Asia such as Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, substantial proportions of women are electing not to have children (and often not to marry ( Jones, 2007 ). Living alone has become more common in many countries of the world as growing numbers of females have entered the labor force and opted not to marry ( Jones, 2005 ). Childlessness appears to be on the rise in East Asia and other rapidly developing parts of the globe.
• The rapid growth of women’s participation in the labor force in most developing and almost all developed nations has been accompanied by a change in men and women’s domestic roles ( Goldscheider, Bernhardt, & Lappegard, 2015 ; McDonald, 2000 ). In many nations, the ideology of gender equality may have grown faster than its actual practice. Nonetheless, throughout the developing and developed world, a push for women’s rights has meant that females now have far more access to education and labor market participation in the 21 st Century ( Duflo, 2012 ; Goldin, 2006 ). And, this trend is only likely to increase as women’s rights are enforced by changes in legal statutes and public policies. Moreover, spousal beating and sexual coercion have been identified as serious problems in countries that at one time legitimized these practices ( Yount, 2009 ).
• The weakening of the institution of marriage has been accompanied by a growing tolerance for premarital sexual behavior and out-of-wedlock childbearing ( Thornton & Young-DeMarco, 2004 ). Although much of the non-marital childbearing is occurring within informal unions, the stability of non-marital unions with children is lower than marital unions with children ( Manning, Smock, & Majumdar, 2004 ). This particular trend may be contributing to the growing stratification in family systems between the advantaged and disadvantaged. The privileged are more likely to marry and have children after marriage, whereas those less well-off are having them before or outside of marriage, contributing to a perpetual economic and social disadvantage ( Kalil, 2015 ; Lundberg, Pollak, & Stearns, 2016 ; McLanahan, 2004 ). It is worth noting that in parts of the developing world, the pattern of consensual marriages has long existed, particularly in Latin America and the West Indies ( Esteve & Lesthaeghe, 2016 ).
• The stratification of family systems is both a cause and consequence of rising levels of inequality in most nations with advanced economies, and introduces profound differences in children’s opportunities. Among the educated, children are more often the products of intense investment; less educated parents often lack both the resources and the skills to prepare their children for a more demanding educational system in order to acquire the knowledge and skills needed today (Dronkens, Kalmijn & Wagner, 2006; Schneider, Hastings, & LaBriola, 2018 ). In all likelihood this pattern is appearing in developing nations ( Kalil, 2015 ; Pesando & the GFC team, in press ).
• Although preferences for intergenerational arrangements continue to prevail in some parts of the world, individuals forming families are increasingly less likely to reside in conjoint and complex households ( Ruggles & Heggeness, 2008 ). The decline of intergenerational households in some nations may also reflect the declining influence of the older generation; in at least some of these nations, there is concern that the elderly may lack traditional family support in later life ( Grundy, 2006 ; Taylor et al., 2018 ).

These trends in marriage and family do not generally occur singly as family systems change from agricultural-based to industrial- and post-industrial based economies. They typically evolve as interrelated changes that co-occur over time, although not necessarily in a predictable or orderly sequence of adaptations to exogenous changes in the economy, polity, technological advances, and alterations in the culture of a society. Demographers have referred to these related features as the second demographic transition ( Lesthaeghe, 2010 , 2014 ; McLanahan, 2004 ). By this they mean that family systems have become more governed by members’ individual preferences than by elders (especially males) who once assumed considerable authority to impose their will on the family as a collective system. As Therborn (2004) argued, the decline of patriarchy appears to be at the core of family system change, although it cannot be considered a cause of it in the strictest sense of the word. More accurately, as I assert in the next section, the changes are brought about by a host of factors that work in tandem to undermine the existing order that is often based on patriarchal expectations.

Why Change Occurs in Family Systems

The transformation of family systems in many regions of the world and in particular nations has been amply documented by demographers, sociologists, and economists cited earlier according to some of the trends just described, but this transformation has not been explained in a strict sense. It is clear that the development of a job-based economy is one of the central sources of change, much as Goode (1963) claimed a half century ago. However, economic development does not take place in isolation from broader societal changes, that is, institutional changes in education, health, law, and the spread of technology alter existing institutions and longstanding cultural assumptions ( Meyer et al., 1975 ).

To illustrate, I have borrowed a conceptual scheme that depicts some of the sources of social change from an ongoing research project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) that is designed to examine this process in family systems across the globe and is being carried out by a team of scholars at the University of Pennsylvania, including Hans-Peter Kohler (Project Head), Luca Maria Pesando, Andres Castro, and collaborators in several European nations (see http://web.sas.upenn.edu/gfc ; Pesando & the GFC team, in press). Using data from the worldwide Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), the Global Family Change (GFC) Project has extracted indicators of family change to identify patterns of change in low- and middle-income countries and test the processes by which family system change occurs (see Figure 1 ).

Determinants of Family Change.

In this research project, my colleagues and I make a fundamental assumption that alterations in family patterns can arise from societal adaptations to a number of different exogenous sources introduced into a society through parallel and often complementary processes. Change in family systems often comes about when transformations in macro-level conditions occur; the most important of these being the transition from a predominately traditional subsistence economy to a production-oriented economy transformed by its capacity to provide exports to agro-business, manufacturing, and industry. This transformation, much as Goode (1963) argued, creates or expands a job-based economy that favors younger and more geographically mobile individuals, including young and typically unmarried women. Economic development is typically centered in urban areas, implying a shift from a rural to an urban population, bringing about a loss of family control, especially when young people in cities often continue to support their kin financially in the countryside.

Such economic developments do not invariably go hand in hand with shifts in cultural expectations and practices, but it is not uncommon to see, especially among the young, a reorientation to more individually-determined lifestyles and a decline in social control by elders, and especially in men’s control of women ( Cherlin, 2012 ). Quite independently, economic development introduces new technologies ( Greenwood, 2019 ). The rapid spread of the use of computers and smart phones has stimulated a growth in the use of social media in developing nations, a powerful influence on younger persons who have quickly adopted these new forms of communication ( Pew Research Center, 2018 ). So, exposure to social influences begins to extend well beyond the family, village institutions, or even national political sources of opinion. Inevitably, peer-mediated contexts begin to hold more weight on public opinion, and the extended family system loses influence accordingly ( Allendorf, 2016 ; Bongaarts & Watkins, 1996 ; Cherlin, 2012 ).

Accompanying and preceding economic development also come alterations in existing political, social, and even religious institutions. The educational system becomes both a channel of mobility and in many nations a new way that families can maintain or achieve advantage if they choose to invest in their children’s long-term futures through schooling. The importance of schooling grows as it extends from primary to secondary institutions, and ultimately to tertiary education for the affluent and the talented. Education itself often presents a powerful counterweight to traditional practices both inside and outside the home, upsetting longstanding cultural understandings. For women, whose presence in secondary and tertiary education has grown to a majority in many countries, the impact of additional schooling can be transformative, eroding traditional gender norms and giving economic advantages to more educated women ( Esteve, Garcia-Roman, & Permanyer, 2012 ; Schwartz & Han, 2014 ).

In the polity and the public sphere, shifts in the opinions of economic and political elites often must take account of the changed economic status of women that comes with education and greater involvement in the labor market. Relatively little is known about the timing of broad institutional changes that bring about women’s greater involvement in the polity. And, lacking systematic data, little is known about how gender involvement in education and work plays out inside the family. Alternatively, changes within family systems may occur in response to cultural ideas about equality that travel through different routes such as mass and social media or come about because of legal or policy changes. Political leaders advocate and adopt new policies that often are imported from rich nations or more economically developed neighbors in the region ( Meyer, 1975 ; Watkins, 2001). New ideas and practices may be imported, but they are typically modified to suit the institutional structures in place and mediated by national traditions and culture that tailor and shape them to conform to existing cultural forms. New policy dilemmas arise in the process of economic development, with the dissemination of new forms of technology, and the spread of cultural ideas and information. Invariably, certain countries must support or ban new reproductive technologies, the content of Western movies and social media, and laws regulating same-sex marriage. Thus, disagreements over public policies related to these practices and issues can happen rapidly, and we suspect independently, of the level and pace of economic development.

It is wrong to assume that the process of economic and social development works invariably from the top down, with those having more education or resources always adopting new family patterns sooner than the rest of the population, but this flow from the well off to the less privileged often occurs ( Pesando & the GFC team, in press ). Changes can simultaneously occur at the macro, mezzo, and micro levels; values can and do change as individuals move from the countryside to the city, or leave their home countries to find work elsewhere ( Hu, 2016 ). Increases in migration to and from other nations are undoubtedly a source of new information, values, and daily practices. Ideas are promulgated through channels of mass and social media that promote educational advancement, individual fulfillment, or gender equality, undermining traditional family patterns sometimes even in nations that are lagging in economic advancement.

At the individual level, change occurs as people confront new and unfamiliar situations as they occur or, at least, are imaginable (such as going to a university, engaging in sex before marriage, or migrating to another country for employment). As Mills (1959) observed decades ago in The Sociological Imagination , cultural contradictions emerge in all societies experiencing change, that compel individuals to adopt new ways of thinking and new forms of behavior. Nowhere is this more evident than in the change that occurs within family systems as older practices no longer seem to have the same cultural grip that they once had. One only has to think about how many people have begun to eschew formal marriage today in the West, adopting social practices such as cohabitation or single parenthood or gay marriage, that were socially unacceptable, even unthinkable, a half century ago ( Biblarz & Savci, 2010 ; Moore & Stambolis-Ruhstorfer, 2013 ).

In sum, social change is an organic and systemic process that permeates a society and its existing institutions. And at the micro-level of individuals and families, it is received or resisted by the powerful and powerless alike. It will not take precisely the same form in all nations because it is mediated by a nation’s historical experience, its cultural priorities, and existing institutional arrangements ( Cook & Furstenberg, 2002 ). Thus, the process of change will vary, producing both similar and dissimilar responses, depending on existing political/historical experience, cultural, and social arrangements. This is why Billari and Liefbroer (2010) asserted that there can be a convergence to divergence when describing patterns of family change.

Where and When Changes in Family Systems Occur

It should be evident from my previous descriptions of the complex and variegated nature of how changes in family systems occur that new patterns and practices are adopted unevenly both across and within various nations. A major reason why the pattern of change is not uniform is that exposure to both economic and cultural changes differs depending on the specific social contexts in which individuals and their families are embedded. Think, for example, of the vast differences in exposure to these changes that living in a capital city of a developing nation versus in a remote area might mean. This is aptly illustrated by the changes in attitude about marriage now occurring in Vietnam where attitudes about marriage timing, cohabitation, and premarital sex differ widely from countryside to urban environments (Minh & Hong, 2015).

A second source of variability in family system changes is that receptivity to new ideas or practices will vary depending on such factors as age, gender, education, ethnic and religious affiliations, and a host of other conditions. For example, adoption of new methods of contraception, say by young unmarried women, can be a sensitive indicator of what might be called a predisposition to modernity when the logic of having large numbers of children becomes questionable for some in a society but not for others. As I have already noted, there are powerful differences in the stakes of adopting new practices that threaten to undermine the way things have long been done in any developing nation. Any adequate theory purporting to explain family system change must account not only for the total change but also for the variable levels of change within a nation.

Historians of family change in the West have made this point repeatedly in noting that change is uneven in any given nation. Such was the case with Protestants in England during the 16 th century who were more open to changing childrearing practices to emphasize a child’s relationship to God than were Catholics ( Stone, 1977 ). The upper classes also adopted new and different ideas concerning childrearing, owing to religious ideology and education than did the rest of the population. Several centuries ago in Western Europe and the United States, urban residents and young people in general were more receptive to growing preferences for individualism and the rise of sentiment in family relationships than were their rural and older counterparts ( Shorter, 1977 ). Similarly, in the developing world today, some groups will be more welcoming of certain new practices than others, depending on the degree to which they are embedded in certain institutional contexts that reinforce a commitment to existing family patterns. Any adequate theory of family change must account for both where it takes hold and how its spreads within nations. The analysis of big data generated by patterns of media use, for example, is potentially an attractive source of information for investigating how change runs through established and new social networks in the developing world.

In early stages of economic and social development, increasing variability in family behaviors within a developing nation is to be expected as new family patterns such as premarital sexual behavior and marriage delay are adopted unevenly, let’s say between rural and urban areas, the more and less educated, or, for example, among some ethnic groups and not others. Over time, this variability may decline as practices become more widely accepted and diffused. But note how differences in family patterns may also persist for long periods of time. One only has to think about how enduring differences have been observed in Europe between the Northern and Southern nations ( Perelli-Harris, 2014 ), or the continuing variation between family patterns such as cohabitation, family size, or the prevalence of intergenerational households in Northern and Southern Italy ( Gabrielli & Hoem, 2010 ).

Economic Inequality and Family Systems

Adaptation to macro-level changes in the economy or mezzo-level changes that occur within institutions creates new winners and losers in the developing world, as has happened in the past in nations with advanced economies (see www.welfare.org ). I have argued elsewhere that an interaction is occurring between changing family systems and growing economic inequality, which has been a trend in virtually all post-industrial economies and many rapidly developing nations ( Furstenberg, 2011 , 2013 ). It is not difficult to imagine why and how family change is amplified by economic divergence and vice versa. For example, educational attainment can be assumed to weigh more heavily on outcomes in economies that utilize advanced skills and knowledge; access to education, especially higher education, may in turn affect the process of family change ( Esping-Anderson, 2016 ).

In the United States and many nations in Europe, destinies among the well off and the not so well off began to diverge in the latter decades of the 20 th century as the nuclear family became increasingly important as both an agency of socialization and parental management of children ( McLanahan, 2004 ). Family forms, such as whether parents marry or even reside together at the time of birth, birthing procedures, maternal health, breastfeeding, styles of parenting, and different abilities of families to manage and place their children in contexts that promote (or diminish) opportunity have new and perhaps more lasting effects than they might have had in the past. Parents’ influence on school performance appears to be growing in societies where educational attainment has become a more important criterion for success in later life. In rich nations, poorer families and middle-income families have begun to fall behind their wealthier counterparts in promoting their children’s level of schooling ( Lareau, 2011 ). Children receiving less intense socialization and particularly preparation for schooling may have fewer potential paths in life than their more educated counterparts to make it into the middle class.

Nations substantially differ in their commitments to reducing the disparities created in advanced economies through the redistribution of public resources and development of policies that attempt to reduce and offset the powerful early influences on children’s development that are associated with lower social class position. Limited efforts by some nations, such as the United States, to mitigate the potent effects of family patterns of socialization have created substantial gaps in children’s life chances ( Smeeding, 2006 ), which is an evitable result of the great differences in resources and the capabilities of parents in many contemporary societies to place their children in settings that will provide them with the skills and training to enter and succeed in school.

The evidence that social class disparities in family systems are growing globally has not been established despite the fact that inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, has grown in all but a few nations over the past several decades ( Bowles, Gintis, & Groves, 2008 ). And there are indications of shifts in family practices, such as marriage and non-marital childbearing, that may be diverging at the top and bottom of the socioeconomic ladder in some Western nations, most notably the United States ( Cherlin, 2010 ; Lundberg, Pollak, & Stearns, 2016 ; McLanahan, 2004 ). However, this divergence in family patterns is also evident in some European nations and may be appearing in certain rapidly developing countries in East Asia ( Bernardi & Boertien, 2017 ; Harkonen, 2017 ).

Although certainly occurring elsewhere, evidence for a widening of social class in family behaviors is most apparent in the United States, where over the past 30 years or more, Americans have lost ground in creating conditions that ensure equality of opportunity—an ideal that Americans have long believed is essential to maintaining a just society ( Chetty et al., 2014 ; Corak, 2013 ). Class differences in family patterns have widened on a variety of fronts even as family variations among racial and ethnic groups have shrunk ( Reardon, 2011 ). In fact, I would contend that Americans now have a two-tiered family system—a system where family patterns among rich and poor have begun to diverge even more sharply than they did a half century ago when sociologists first documented considerable variation ( Furstenberg, 2013 ).

At the bottom and increasingly in the middle of U.S. income distribution, marriage is occurring less often before the transition to parenthood ( Lundberg, Pollak, & Stearns, 2016 ). Many births are less likely to be planned and often occur in ephemeral partnerships; a growing number of lower-income couples are having children from more than one union, a pattern that has come to be known as multi-partnered childbearing ( Fomby & Osborne, 2017 ; Guzzo, 2014 ). This emerging trend of couples having children in two or more unions means that parents, fathers in particular, are dividing their investments of time, money, and emotion among their children in multiple households, and many are growing up in households where fathers (and less often mothers) come and go ( Thomson, 2014 ).

Of course, certain benefits could be gained when children can rely on several parent figures, but they are only likely to occur when the parents are deeply invested (spend time, money, and emotion) in the lives of both their biological and non-biological offspring ( Akashi-Ronquest, 2009 ; Henretta, Van Voorhis, & Soldo, 2014 ). Evidence suggests that fathers in these circumstances often lack the resources to meet their parental obligations even if they have the desire to do so ( Berger, Cancian, & Meyer, 2012 ). Presently, little is known about the enduring commitments of parents who do not reside with their biological children and the behaviors of surrogate parents who replace them in the household ( Carlson & Furstenberg, 2006 ; Hans & Coleman, 2009 ). However, most of what is known about the importance of stability, stimulation, and emotional bonds in early life suggests that children’s development may be compromised in conditions where there is a high family flux arising from the absence or replacement of biological parents ( Fomby & Cherlin, 2007 ).

Beyond the form of the family and parenting processes in early life, parents’ ability to channel resources to their children matters both early and later in life. Support by extended family members can sometimes help to mitigate the absence of parental resources. However, research on the flow of intergenerational resources suggests that children from privileged families provide far more assistance to their children and grandchildren than occurs in poor families where resources are in short supply. Indeed, the gap between rich and poor children grows in part because wealthier grandparents are better positioned to help out by providing housing assistance and child support when needed ( Albertini, Kohli & Vojel, 2007 ).

A host of advantages for children are strongly associated with adequate income and education. Just to mention a few, children in privileged families (those whose parents have a college education) live in more desirable neighborhoods with better schools, libraries, and recreation facilities, and in these preferred contexts, they are more likely to have supervised peer relationships with children of other privileged families in preschool and afterschool programs or during the summer ( Lareau, 2011 ; Minh et al., 2017 ; Schneider, Hastings, & LaBriola, 2018 ). Lower-income parents cannot afford these amenities unless the programs are publically funded or subsidized, which for the most part does not happen in most low-income communities in the United States ( Esping-Andersen, 2016 ).

Thus, it is not surprising to discover that substantial differences exist between the better off and less well off in preparation for schooling, and that these initial differences only widen over time because many children enter school systems that are ill-equipped to compensate for the disadvantages of growing up poor ( Alexander et al., 2014 ). A large body of research has documented how stratification in family practices is creating trajectories of disadvantage in middle and later childhood, during adolescence, and, more recently in early adulthood ( Furstenberg, 2011 ).

The reverse image of this cycle of disadvantage occurs when children are born into well-off families in American society. Even before birth, the situations of advantaged families have sharp, positive differences at birth. Childbearing is highly likely to occur within a marital union, where the relationship has often been time-tested ( Upchurch, Lillard, & Panis, 2002 ). Not infrequently, the partners have been cohabitating and enter marriage because they are ready to have children ( Sassler & Miller, 2011 ). Women in higher income groups receive prenatal care more often ( Osterman & Martin, 2018 ); they are less likely to smoke, drink to excess, and more often adhere to healthy diets (Furstenberg, 2010; Pampel, Denney, & Krueger, 2011 ). Thus, children born into privileged families enter life in better health and with parents who are well prepared to keep them healthy and thriving. Their homes and neighborhoods are safer so that children in affluent and educated families are less at risk of having accidents or suffering stressful experiences. Moreover, they have better chances of receiving therapeutic interventions when negative events do occur ( Duncan et al., 1998 ).

Parental socialization practices differ sharply by socioeconomic status in ways that also favor the better off. A long tradition of research by developmental psychologists and family sociologists has shown that better educated and wealthier parents have the resources to instruct their children in ways that prepare them to succeed in school ( Yamamoto & Sonnenschein, 2016 ); moreover, these parents are more confident and skilled in communicating with teachers and school personnel when their child is not doing well ( Ankrum, 2016 ). And, they possess the social capital to help place their offspring in advantageous educational and cultural settings when they are young and when they reach adolescence and early adulthood (Conley, 2001; Lareau, 2011 ).

Research both in the United States and abroad, following the important work of Lareau (2011) , has identified the “concerted cultivation” provided to children by parents with more resources and education. Increasingly, the family has become a “hothouse for development” where parents have become ever more alert to strategies to assist their children from the cradle to career opportunities. These parents probably deploy more psychological, cultural, and social capital than in earlier eras when there was a more laissez-faire or informal approach to childcare and childrearing ( Bianchi, 2011 ).

The United States is something of an outlier in the West when it comes to public services and support for children and families, especially lower-income families. Consequently, the class gradient in these families’ behaviors, such as non-marital and single parenthood, unintended pregnancies, prenatal care, neonatal services, preschool, and afterschool, may be more pronounced than in other English-speaking nations, Europe, and the wealthy nations of Asia. Forms of the family and family practices and processes have not yet been well studied in a cross-national context, much less a global one. However, countries have different tolerances for income inequality and different levels of commitment for public services to address social issues, particularly their impacts on children. Thus, it remains to be seen how much variation in these behaviors by social class exists in different wealthy nations.

A New Research Frontier

Despite widespread acknowledgement that family systems are changing rapidly in many parts of the world, research to understand the process (how and why change occurs) and the direction (adoption of patterns that have become common features of Western systems) of change is still in its infancy. There is growing availability of harmonized data sets that include many Western and some non-Western nations. Researchers have begun to analyze data from studies such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Family Database, Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), Generations and Gender Surveys (GGS), national birth cohort studies, Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and its counterparts, Harmonised European Time Use Survey (HETUS), and the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), among others. However, there are formidable problems to examining many of the issues that I have mentioned in this paper.

Sample sizes are sometimes too small to permit informative analyses, representativeness remains an issue in many data sets, the number of countries is rarely large enough to support multilevel comparisons, and contextual information on cultural values or public policies is absent. The research community has not yet fixed its sights on understanding how change in family systems occurs, where change takes place, and what features of culture and social structure mediate the direction of change. Most of all, there is a lack information on how public policies mitigate some of the consequences of family system change for individuals and households.

The Penn–Oxford Project on Global Family Change (GFC), which is designed to examine change on a global scale, is well underway. It utilizes data from more than 100 nations by converting national censuses and Demographic and Health Surveys that have been conducted over several decades (see www.dhsprogram.com ). The aim of the GFC team is to convert the sources of information that are cross-sectional into life-course indicators (e.g., whether individuals are in school or not at different ages, whether they have married or have had children by different ages, and so on) that in turn will permit the GFC team to examine the tempo and sequence of family change over time. The GFC team is planning to create macro-level measures that can be appended to the various countries for which data exist to develop life-course indicators of change (Pesando & the GFC team, in press). This will allow examination of the influence, sequence, and order of family changes and the variating macro-level conditions that initiate these changes.

The attention of the GFC team will be on indicators of changing family patterns in the early part of the life course: change in the age of school leaving, home leaving, entrance to full-time employment, cohabitation, marriage, and first birth. But the team may also examine these indicators in combination to understand the sequence of family change such as childbearing outside of marriage, years of sexual activity outside of marriage, and the like. The intention is to identify associations between macro-level change (i.e., changes in the economy, cultural values, and technology) and the emergence of new family forms and changes in the process of family formation to examine how, why, and where change is taking place. The team will also be able to investigate whether evidence of emerging class differences in family patterns is occurring with the growth of inequality. By building a data set that contains macro-level data, evidence on changes in public policies, and measures of family change, we will be able to more systematically and rigorously test the web of associations suggesting potential chains of causal influence in processes that occur in family systems with the rise of new economies, technologies, and shifts in cultural priorities and practices.

In this paper, I have explored some of the challenges of examining how and why family systems are changing around the globe. I have discussed longstanding disagreements over the sources of change and why both convergence and divergence in family systems that are moving from agricultural-based to industrial-based economies should be expected. My account builds on the theory of the world’s family systems that William J. Goode (1963) proposed over a half century ago and that has yet to be subject to vigorous empirical examination. However, plans are underway to construct a global database at the University of Pennsylvania containing information that will permit researchers around the globe to map the pace and process of changes in family systems, focusing especially on the transition to adult status.

Throughout the world, the passage to adulthood is generally becoming more protracted and more discretionary. As a consequence, elders, especially men in traditional families, will lose influence over the direction of their children’s lives and the choices they make. The young and females in particular in much of the developing world are increasingly looking to education and employment as the means to personal advancement. This process will generally undermine family authority, although in its early stages, families are likely to continue to exert influence over mate selection in many nations where parental influence on marriage choice has been strong.

These changes are taking place in the context of growing economic inequality that is creating considerable divergences in family practices at the top and bottom of the socioeconomic distribution. Family systems in many nations with advanced economies are witnessing greater stability among the privileged while instability is growing in these same systems among the under-privileged. If not counteracted by public policies aimed at mitigating the impact of these divergent family practices within societies, a hardening of the stratification system that creates ever stronger barriers to social mobility can be expected in the developing world.

Acknowledgments

I gratefully acknowledge support for this paper through the Global Family Change (GFC) Project ( http://web.sas.upenn.edu/gfc ), which is a collaboration between the University of Pennsylvania, University of Oxford (Nuffield College), Bocconi University and the Centro de Estudios Demograficos (CED) at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. Funding for the GFC Project is provided through NSF Grant 1729185 (PIs Kohler & Furstenberg), ERC Grant 694262 (PI Billari), ERC Grant 681546 (PI Monden), the Population Studies Center and the University Foundation at the University of Pennsylvania, and the John Fell Fund and Nuffield College at the University of Oxford.” I am indebted to Shannon Crane and Luca Maria Pesando for their helpful comments on the paper.

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The term “globalization” is well-known and widely used but understood differently. For some, globalization is an economic process by which the everyday experience is standardized around the world. For others, it is strongly associated with advanced capitalism, progress in technology, and a transformed means of communications. Others argue that globalization destroys old traditions and norms but instead creates a homogenized world culture and increases interdependence. Overall, globalization is perceived as highly complex macro- and microlevel processes that are associated with the shifts in people’s lived experiences. It promotes the integration of social, political, ideological, economic, and cultural systems of different nations into interrelated and interdependent systems leading to nations’ assimilation and loss of identity.

While globalization has caused transformations at every level of social life, it has affected the family and family structure and caused the undergoing modifications in intergenerational relations. This chapter discusses globalization, some aspects of globalization, and the transformation of the institution of the family caused by globalization.

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Elena Chernyak

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Rajendra Baikady

Department of Social Work, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India

Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland

Jaroslaw Przeperski

Department of Social Work, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, South Africa

Varoshini Nadesan

Inst of Social Welfare & Res, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

M. Rezaul Islam

Sch of Philosophy & Social Development, Shandong University, Central Campus, Jinan, China

Jianguo Gao

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Chernyak, E. (2022). Globalization and Modern Family. In: Baikady, R., Sajid, S., Przeperski, J., Nadesan, V., Islam, M.R., Gao, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Problems. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68127-2_108-1

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68127-2_108-1

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ReviseSociology

A level sociology revision – education, families, research methods, crime and deviance and more!

How Does Globalisation Impact Family Life?

Last Updated on September 4, 2023 by Karl Thompson

Globalisation is a key concept within A-level sociology, and students may be asked to consider how it affects family life.

One possible question which may come up on the families and households exam paper is:

Outline and Explain two ways in which globalisation may impact family life in the UK (10)

A good strategy to answer this question is to pick two different aspects of globalisation and discuss how these influence different aspects of family life. For more specific advice on how to answer these see ‘ 10 mark questions ‘.

For example I would choose economic globalisation and migration as my two aspects of globalisation. Then I would discuss how these lead to a variety of changes to family life.

It is generally good advice to avoid overlap between your two points.

This post is written as a summary answer to the above exam question. For a more in-depth look at this topic see: Globalisation and Family Life .

Two ways in which globalisation may impact family life

One aspect of globalization is increased immigration to the UK. This has affected family life in the following ways:

• There are more ethnically diverse families as British born people form relationships and families with people originally from other countries.
• This means there are more families stretched across borders. This could mean more travel abroad to maintain family connections, for those who can afford it.
• There are more people sending money to other countries if their partners have not come to Britain with them.
• Immigrants have higher birth rates so this has positively affected the dependency ratio.
• One downside of the above may mean increased pressure on public services.
• Increased immigration doesn’t necessarily mean increased integration. Migrant families may remain relatively isolated in their own communities.
• For very wealthy families, some have taken advantage of cheap migrant labour to employ cleaners and child carers.
• In extreme cases this is related to an increase in modern slavery, hidden in the domestic sphere.

Another aspect of globalisation is a more globalised economy.

• In general this has resulted in economic growth in the UK. This is correlated with lower birth rates and a smaller family size.
• Recently increased amounts of university students from abroad means fewer places for British children. Some choose not to go to university, which could increase the number of households with young adults.
• There has been a shift in manufacturing abroad . This means a decline in traditional male jobs, more equality between men and women in relationships (link to topic 5)
• There are more financial crises (‘credit crunch’) – more divorce/ family instability (link to topic 2).

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This material is mainly relevant to the families and households module.

For more information on exam advice for the AQA’s A-level sociology please see my page on essays and exams .

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How Globalization Impacts the Institution of the Family

by   Soulaya Lestary

Kenneth Braswell, director of Fathers Incorporated, speaks at the forum “Globalization and the Impact on the Family.” He said that if we don’t talk equally about the contribution of both men and women to the nurturing and upbringing of our children, the concept of family cannot work properly.

“We now live in a borderless world where developments in the external environment can immediately impact the personal lives of families,” said Anjli Doshi Gandhi, deputy director general of Malaysia’s Ministry of Women, Family and Community, at a forum, “How Globalization Impacts the Family,” in Kuala Lumpur on December 6, 2013.  “The big challenge today is how to sustain and maintain a healthy family institution,” Ms. Gandhi said, adding that, although globalization brings advantages towards families, it creates risks and conflicts as well.

Panelists on the family forum were among some 130 presenters on themes of interfaith cooperation, education, service and entrepreneurship and community development at the 2013 Global Peace Convention in Malaysia.

The complexity of modern living has changed people’s perception towards marriage and family, the deputy director general said, as more families are becoming “touch and go” due to workplace demands and lack of time spent together. She described efforts by the Malaysian government to enhance interpersonal and vocational skills and balance economic and social development so that families are able to cope with the stresses of modern life and be resilient.

“We have counseling programs and services that work hand in hand with NGOs to assist women in the workforce and to provide a support system for families,” Ms. Gandhi told the forum. She said Malaysia has explicitly endorsed a National Family Policy in 2011 with a focus on ensuring that program services and policy procedures prioritize the family and are accessible to everybody.

Fundamental social unit

Panelists affirmed that the family provides the basic needs of a person, including shelter, care, education, health, and other types of welfare. The family is the fundamental social unit and when the family is under stress and its members do not receive any support, the impact is felt across the community.  

The complexity of modern living has changed people’s perception towards marriage and family, as more families are becoming “touch and go” due to workplace demands and lack of time spent together.

Ramesh Chandra Rai, the head of Political Science Department at Bhagalpur University in India, argued that moral values should be taught in schools. He emphasized the importance of social justice and the role of the university in transmitting “ancient systems, simple living, high thinking, and traditional values.” By implementing these concepts into the society he said, “a happy family, community, and world can be established.”

Kenneth Braswell, director of Fathers Incorporated, added that “if we don’t talk equally about the contribution of both men and women to the nurturing and upbringing of our children, the concept of family cannot work properly.”

Panelists address challenges to the family and strategies for supporting families and modern life.

In the USA, Mr. Braswell said, “some 24.8 million children wake up without their biological father in the home, and 73 percent of African American children (43 percent overall) are born into single-parent households, with adolescence ending for many [in this community] in prison or in the grave.”

Mr. Braswell said that the International Fatherhood Alliance network has helped to “assess the impact of fatherlessness, create a repository of global fatherhood research and resources, provide capacity building for international organizations and governments seeking engage in responsible fatherhood initiatives, promote and educate on the important of strengthening families through healthy and responsible fathers, and create tools for international fatherhood programs.”

Fathers Incorporated has also done Environmental Community Preservation work in Panama to expand its goals around the world. Mr. Braswell affirmed that the environment has a more complex definition than land and water, and includes family, work, and health. A healthy environment must include all constituent parts to be sustainable, he said.

The 2013 Global Peace Convention, “Unity in Diversity: Building Social Cohesion through Universal Aspirations, Principles and Values,” drew more than 1,200 participants from 40 nations. 

Soulaya Lestary is a student in the English Studies Program the University of Indonesia and a Former Delegate of United States Indonesia Partnership Program .

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Impact of Globalisation (Revision Essay Plan)

Last updated 11 Jan 2022

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Here is a suggested answer to a question on the impact of globalisation on developed and developing countries.

Introductory Context

An estimated 9 percent of the global population still lives below the international poverty line of US$1.90 PPP a day.Success in reducing poverty in East Asia is clear with 7 percent of the population in the region living below the US$3.20 PPP line and 25 percent living below the US$5.50 PPP poverty line in 2018. However, almost 70 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population lives on less than US$3.20 per day. Progress in cutting extreme poverty has been halted by the pandemic. The World Bank estimated that the pandemic pushed between 119 and 124 million people into extreme poverty around the globe in 2020. Many developing countries have limited resilience to the impact of economic shocks and threats from climate change.”.

Source: Adapted from the World Bank Poverty Report, 2021

To what extent have the economic benefits of globalisation favoured developed over developing countries? (25 marks)

KAA Point 1

Globalisation involves deeper integration between countries through networks of trade, capital flows, ideas, technologies and movement of people. One argument that globalisation has favoured high-income countries lies in the growing dominance of TNCs from advanced nations. TNCs base their manufacturing, assembly, research and retail operations across several countries, and many have become synonymous with globalisation namely Nike, Apple, Amazon, Google (Alphabet) and Samsung. Some have annual revenues many times higher than the GDP of smaller low-income countries and there has been fierce criticism of numerous TNCs for following tax avoidance strategies such as transfer pricing. This has reduced tax revenues for governments in developing nations which then hampers their ability to use fiscal policy to fund public services such as education and basic health care. The effect is to limit progress in reducing extreme poverty and improving human development outcomes.

Evaluation Point 1

A counter argument is that globalisation is associated with a steady reduction in import tariffs around the world which has then improved access to high-income markets for businesses from emerging countries. Many nations in east Asia have achieved reductions in extreme poverty driven by export-led growth. The extract says that only 7 percent of this region’s population now live below the US$3.20 PPP poverty line and continued high growth – as economies recover from the effects of the pandemic - will lead to improvements in per capita incomes and living standards. Indeed, sixty percent of the value of world GDP now comes from emerging market and developing economies and several countries have their own TNCs operating on a global scale. The recent success of countries such as South Korea, India and Vietnam is testimony to the opportunities that globalisation has offered developing nations who have developed competitive advantage across a range of industries.

KAA Point 2

A second argument supporting the question is that nations succeeding in a globalizing world have diversified economies, a workforce with flexible skills and governments with fiscal resources to overcome external shocks such as the pandemic. In contrast, poorer low-income countries rely heavily on the production and export of primary commodities or incomes from tourism, both of which have been hit by the global recession in 2020-21. Many poorer nations also haveinadequate infrastructure which increases the costs of trade and their direct tax revenues as a share of GDP are low because of sizeable informal economies and persistently low per capita incomes. This means that national governments rely heavily on external debt, and many have low currency reserves. They are therefore more exposed to economic, financial and public health shocks. This is evidenced by the differences in vaccination rates between rich and low-income countries. As of January 2022, only 9% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose and per capita incomes may take years to reach pre-2020 levels.

Evaluation Point 2

In evaluation, the globalisation process has been a catalyst for economic reforms in low and middle-income countries. Consider the example of Vietnam which has transitioned to a socialist oriented market economy and successfully attracted inward FDI from companies such as LG and Samsung. FDIhas flowed in helped by low unit labour costs costs, improving infrastructure and human capital and a deregulated business environment whilst the Vietnamesegovernment has moved to a managed floating exchange rateto help reduce some of the risks from regional and global economic shocks. Vietnam is a good example of a country that has successfully progressed from a low income to a low-middle income nation over the last two decades. The valueof their external trade accounts for roughly 180% of national output, more than any other country at its level of per-person GDP. And their educational scores on standardized tests are on a par with Germany and Austria.

Final Reasoned Comment

Overall, it is hard to reach a firm view on this question because globalisation as a process is uneven and not inevitable. Before and during the pandemic, there was evidence of a switch towards “regionalisation” rather than full-throttled globalisation. For example, most sub-Saharan African countries have joined the African Continental Free Trade Area which seeks to boost intra-regional trade and investment and encourage economies of scale among African businesses so that they can better compete against the dominance of Western TNCs. Developing nations often struggle to compete with developed countries, therefore it is argued free trade benefits high-income economies more. Gains from globalisation will never be equitably distributed.And this sense of deepening inequality and opportunity risks a further shift to tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade and moves towards economic nationalism.

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Essay on Globalization for Students and Children

500+ words essay on globalization.

Globalization refers to integration between people, companies, and governments. Most noteworthy, this integration occurs on a global scale. Furthermore, it is the process of expanding the business all over the world. In Globalization, many businesses expand globally and assume an international image. Consequently, there is a requirement for huge investment to develop international companies.

How Globalization Came into Existence?

First of all, people have been trading goods since civilization began. In the 1st century BC, there was the transportation of goods from China to Europe. The goods transportation took place along the Silk Road. The Silk Road route was very long in distance. This was a remarkable development in the history of Globalization. This is because, for the first time ever, goods were sold across continents.

Globalization kept on growing gradually since 1st BC. Another significant development took place in the 7th century AD. This was the time when the religion of Islam spread. Most noteworthy, Arab merchants led to a rapid expansion of international trade . By the 9th century, there was the domination of Muslim traders on international trade. Furthermore, the focus of trade at this time was spices.

True Global trade began in the Age of Discovery in the 15th century. The Eastern and Western continents were connected by European merchants. There was the discovery of America in this period. Consequently, global trade reached America from Europe.

From the 19th century, there was a domination of Great Britain all over the world. There was a rapid spread of international trade. The British developed powerful ships and trains. Consequently, the speed of transportation greatly increased. The rate of production of goods also significantly increased. Communication also got faster which was better for Global trade .

Finally, in 20th and 21st -Century Globalization took its ultimate form. Above all, the development of technology and the internet took place. This was a massive aid for Globalization. Hence, E-commerce plays a huge role in Globalization.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Impact of Globalization

First of all, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) increases at a great rate. This certainly is a huge contribution of Globalization. Due to FDI, there is industrial development. Furthermore, there is the growth of global companies. Also, many third world countries would also benefit from FDI.

Technological Innovation is another notable contribution of Globalization. Most noteworthy, there is a huge emphasis on technology development in Globalization. Furthermore, there is also technology transfer due to Globalization. The technology would certainly benefit the common people.

The quality of products improves due to Globalization. This is because manufacturers try to make products of high-quality. This is due to the pressure of intense competition. If the product is inferior, people can easily switch to another high-quality product.

To sum it up, Globalization is a very visible phenomenon currently. Most noteworthy, it is continuously increasing. Above all, it is a great blessing to trade. This is because it brings a lot of economic and social benefits to it.

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Globalization Essay

When discussing the drawbacks and benefits of globalization, essays tend to be on the longer side. The example below is a brief exploration of this complex subject. Learn more in this concise globalization pros and cons essay.

Introduction

• Benefits and Disadvantages of Globalization

Reducing Negative Effects

In today’s world, globalization is a process that affects all aspects of people’s lives. It also has a crucial impact on businesses and governments as it provides opportunities for development while causing significant challenges. This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of globalization using evidence from academic sources. The report also suggests how governments and companies may implement to reduce the negative impact of the process.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Globalization

Globalization is a complex concept that can be defined by the process of interaction between organizations, businesses, and people on an international scale, which is driven by international trade. Some people may associate it with uniformity, while others can perceive it as the cause of diversification. The reason for such a difference in public opinion is that globalization has both advantages and disadvantages that should be analyzed.

The most significant positive aspects of globalization include global economic growth, the elimination of barriers between nations, and the establishment of competition between countries, which can potentially lead to a decrease in prices. Globalization supports free trade, creates jobs, and helps societies to become more tolerant towards each other. In addition, this process may increase the speed of financial and commercial operations, as well as reduce the isolation of poor populations (Burlacu, Gutu, & Matei, 2018; Amavilah, Asongu, & Andrés, 2017).

The disadvantages of globalization are that it causes the transfer of jobs from developed to lower-cost countries, a decrease in the national intellectual potential, the exploitation of labor, and a security deficit. Moreover, globalization leads to ecological deficiency (Ramsfield, Bentz, Faccoli, Jactel, & Brockerhoff, 2016). In addition, this process may result in multinational corporations influencing political decisions and offering unfair working conditions to their employees.

Firms and governments can work on eliminating the negative effects of globalization in the following ways. For example, countries should work on microeconomic policies, such as enhancing opportunities for education and career training and establishing less rigid labor markets. In addition, governments can build the necessary institutional infrastructure to initiate economic growth. To solve the problem of poor working conditions, it is vital to establish strict policies regarding minimum wages and the working environment for employees. A decrease in the national intellectual potential may be addressed by offering a broad range of career opportunities with competitive salaries, as well as educating future professionals on how their skills can solve problems on the local level.

Companies, in their turn, may invest in technologies that may lead to more flexible energy infrastructure, lower production costs, and decrease carbon emissions. They can also establish strong corporate cultures to support their workers and provide them with an opportunity to share their ideas and concerns. Such an approach may eliminate employees’ migration to foreign organizations and increase their loyalty to local organizations. It is vital for companies to develop policies aimed at reducing a negative impact on the environment as well by using less destructive manufacturing alternatives and educating their employees on ecology-related issues.

Globalization has a significant impact on companies, governments, and the population. It can be considered beneficial because it helps to eliminate barriers between nations, causes competition between countries, and initiates economic growth. At the same time, globalization may result in a decrease in the national intellectual potential, the exploitation of labor, and ecology deficiency. To address these problems, organizations and governments can develop policies to enhance the population’s education, improve working conditions, and reduce carbon emissions.

Amavilah, V., Asongu, S. A., & Andrés, A. R. (2017). Effects of globalization on peace and stability: Implications for governance and the knowledge economy of African countries. Technological Forecasting and Social Change , 122 (C), 91-103.

Burlacu, S., Gutu, C., & Matei, F. O. (2018). Globalization – Pros and cons. Calitatea , 19 (S1), 122-125.

Ramsfield, T. D., Bentz, B. J., Faccoli, M., Jactel, H., & Brockerhoff, E. G. (2016). Forest health in a changing world: Effects of globalization and climate change on forest insect and pathogen impacts. Forestry , 89 (3), 245-252.

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Essay on Globalisation

List of essays on globalisation, essay on globalisation – definition, existence and impact (essay 1 – 250 words), essay on globalisation (essay 2 – 250 words), essay on globalisation – in india (essay 3 – 400 words), essay on globalisation – objectives, advantages, disadvantages and conclusion (essay 4 – 500 words), essay on globalisation – for school students (class 6,7,8,9 and 10) (essay 5 – 600 words), essay on globalisation (essay 6 – 750 words), essay on globalisation – for college and university students (essay 7 – 1000 words), essay on globalisation – for ias, civil services, ips, upsc and other competitive exams (essay 8 – 1500 words).

The worldwide integration of people, services and interests is what globalisation is all about. Since the last decade, there has been a tremendous focus on globalisation with everyone trying to have a reach at even the remotest locations of the world. This has probably been possible due to the advancement in technology and communication.

Audience: The below given essays are especially written for school, college and university students. Furthermore, those students preparing for IAS, IPS, UPSC, Civil Services and other competitive exams can also increase their knowledge by studying these essays.

The word ‘Globalization’ is often heard in the business world, in corporate meetings, in trade markets, at international conferences, in schools, colleges and many other places. So what does globalization symbolize? Is it a new concept or did it exist earlier? Let’s see.

Definition:

Globalization refers to the integration of the world nations by means of its people, goods, and services. The statement – ‘ globalization has made the world a small village ’ is very true.

Countries inviting foreign investment, free trade and relaxation in the visa rules to allow seamless movement of people from one country to another are all part of globalization.

In a nutshell, globalization has reduced the distance between nations and its people.

Many among us refer to the current period that we live in as ‘The Era of Globalization’ and think that the process of globalization has started only recently. But the real fact is that globalization is not a new phenomenon . The world was moving towards globalization from a very long time. The term globalization was in existence since mid-1980s. But it was only from the early 21 st century that globalization picked up momentum due to the advancements in technology and communication.

Impact of Globalization:

Globalization has more positive outcomes than the negative ones. The impact of globalization on the developing countries such as India, China and some African countries are overwhelming. Foreign investments have created a lot of employment opportunities in the developing countries and have boosted their economy. Globalization has also enabled people to interchange their knowledge and culture.

Conclusion:

Although the world is not completely globalized, we can very well say that globalization is the best way to achieve equality among nations.

In simple words, globalization means the spreading of a business, culture, or any technology on an international level. When the boundaries of countries and continents matter no more, and the whole world becomes one global village in itself. Globalization is an effort to reduce the geographical and political barriers for the smooth functioning of any business.

There are four main factors that form the four pillars of globalization. These are the free flow of goods, capitals, technology, and labors, all across the world. Although, many of the experts that support globalization clearly refuse to acknowledge the free flow of labor as their work culture.

The international phenomenon of global culture presents many implications and requires a specific environment to flourish. For instance, it needs the other countries to come to a mutual agreement in terms of political, cultural, and economic policies. There is greater sharing of ideas and knowledge and liberalization has gained a huge importance.

Undoubtedly, globalization helps in improving the economic growth rate of the developing countries . The advanced global policies also inspire businesses to work in a cost-effective way. As a result, the production quality is enhanced and employment opportunities are also rising in the domestic countries.

However, there are still some negative consequences of globalization that are yet to be dealt with. It leads to greater economic and socio-cultural disparities between the developed and the developing countries. Due to the MNC culture, the small-scale industries are losing their place in the market.

Exchanges and integration of social aspect of people along with their cultural and economic prospects is what we term as Globalization. It is considered as a relatively new term, which has been in discussion since the nineties.

Initial Steps towards Globalization:

India has been an exporter of various goods to other countries since the earlier times. Hence Globalization, for India, is not something new. However, it was only around in the early nineties that India opened up its economy for the world as it faced a major crisis of severe crunch of foreign exchange. Since then, there has been a major shift in the government’s strategies while dealing with the PSUs along with a reduction in the monopoly of the government organisations perfectly blended with the introduction of the private companies so as to achieve a sustainable growth and recognition across the world.

The Measurement of Success:

The success of such measures can be measured in the form of the GDP of India which hovered around 5.6% during the year 1990-91 and has been now around 8.9% during the first quarter of 2018-19. In fact, in the year 1996-97, it was said to have peaked up to as high as 77.8%. India’s global position is improved tremendously due to the steady growth in the GDP thus furthering the impact of globalization on India. As on date, India is ranked as the sixth biggest economy in the world. This globalization leading to the integration and trade has been instrumental in reducing the poverty rate as well.

However, given the fact that India is the second most populated country of the world, after China, this growth cannot be considered as sufficient enough as other countries such as China have increased their growth rates at much faster pace than India. For instance, the average flow of FDI in India, over the past few years has been around 0.5% of the GDP while for countries such as China it has been around 5% and Brazil has had a flow of around 5.5%. In fact, India is considered among the least globalized economy among the major countries.

Summarily, there has been a tremendous increase in the competition and interdependence that India faces due to Globalization, but a lot is yet to be done. It is not possible for a country to ignore the developments and globalization occurring in the rest of the world and one need to keep the pace of growth at a steady rate or else you may be left far behind.

The twentieth century witnessed a revolutionary global policy aiming to turn the entire globe into a single market. The motive of globalization can broadly define to bring substantial improvement in the living condition of people all around the world, education, and shelter to everybody, elimination of poverty, equal justice without any race or gender consideration, etc. Globalization also aims to lessen government involvement in various development activities, allowing more direct investors/peoples’ participation cutting across border restrictions thus expected to reap reasonable prosperity to human beings.

Main Objectives of Globalization:

The four main aspects of globalization are; Capital and Investment movements, Trade and Transactions, Education and Spread of knowledge, along with Migration and Unrestricted Movement of People.

In simpler terms, globalization visualizes that one can purchase and sell goods from any part of the world, communicate and interact with anyone, anywhere in the world and also enables cultural exchange among the global population. It is operational at three levels namely, economic globalization, cultural globalization, and political globalization. Right from its inception, the impact of globalization has both advantages and disadvantages worldwide.

Advantages of Globalization:

As the word itself suggests, this policy involves all the nations across the globe. The lifting of trade barriers can have a huge impact especially in developing countries. It augments the flow of technology, education, medicines, etc., to these countries which are a real blessing.

Globalization expects to create ample job opportunities as more and more companies can extend their presence to different parts of the world. Multinational companies can establish their presence in developing countries. Globalization gives educational aspirants from developing and underdeveloped countries more quality learning opportunities. It leads not only to the pursuit of best higher education but also to cultural and language exchanges.

Globalization also enhances a faster flow of information and quick transportation of goods and services. Moreover one can order any item from anywhere merely sitting at home. Another plus point of globalization is the diminishing cultural barriers between nations as it offers free access and cultural interactions . Also, it has been observed that there is a considerable reduction of poverty worldwide due to globalization . In addition to this, it also enables the effective use of resources.

Disadvantages of Globalization:

Globalization turned out to be a significant threat to the cottage and small-scale industries as they have to compete with the products of multi-national companies. Another dangerous effect of globalization is the condition of weak sections of the society, as they are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer. The situation leads to the domination of economically rich countries over emerging countries and the increase of disparity.

The actions of multi-national companies are deplorable and always facing criticism from various social, government and world bodies as they are incompetent in offering decent working conditions for the workers. Irrational tapping of natural resources which are instrumental in causing ecological imbalance is another major accusation against multi-national companies.

Globalization is also blamed to have paved the way for human trafficking, labor exploitation and spread of infectious diseases too. In addition to all these, if any economic disaster hit a country and if they subsequently suffer from economic depression, its ripples are felt deeply in other countries as well.

Despite all its disadvantages, globalization has transformed the entire globe into a single market irrespective of its region, religion, language, culture, and diversity differences. It also leads to an increase in demand for goods, which in turn calls for more production and industrialization. Our focus should be to minimize the risks and maximize the positive outcome of global policy, which in turn can help for a sustainable long-standing development for people all around the world.

Introduction:

Globalization is the procedure of global political, economic, as well as cultural incorporation of countries . It lets the producers and manufacturers of the goods or products to trade their goods internationally without any constraint.

The businessman fetches huge profit as they easily get low price workforce in developing nations with the concept of globalization. It offers a big prospect to the firms who wish to deal with the global market. Globalization assists any nation to contribute, set up or amalgamate businesses, capitalize on shares or equity, vending of services or products in any country.

How does the Globalization Work?

Globalization benefits the international market to the entire deliberate world like a solitary marketplace. Merchants are spreading their extents of trade by aiming world as a worldwide community. In the 1990s, there was a limit of importing some goods that were already mass-produced in India such as engineering goods, agricultural products, toiletries, food items, etc.

But, in the 1990s the rich countries pressurize the WTO (World Trade Organization), World Bank (affianced in improvement financing activities), and IMF (International Monetary Fund) to let other nations spread their trades by introducing market and trade in the deprived and emerging countries. The process of liberalization and globalization in India began in the year 1991 below the Union Finance Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh.

After numerous years, globalization has fetched major uprising inside the Indian marketplace when international brands arrived in India such as KFC, PepsiCo, Mc. Donald, Nokia, IBM, Aiwa, Ericsson, etc., and began the delivery of an extensive variety of quality goods at low-cost rates.

The entire leading brands presented actual uprising of globalization at this time as a marvellous improvement to the economy of an industrial sector. Rates of the quality goods were also getting low owing to the cut-throat war happening in the marketplace.

Liberalization and globalization of the businesses in the Indian marketplace is submerging the quality of imported goods but influencing the local Indian businesses badly in large part causing the job loss of illiterate and poor labors. Globalization has remained a goldmine for the customers, but it is also a burial ground for the small-scale manufacturers in India.

Positive Influences of Globalisation:

Globalization has influenced the education sectors and students of India predominantly by making accessible the education material and enormous info on the internet. Association of Indian universities with the overseas universities has fetched a massive modification in the education business.

The health industries are too influenced enormously by the globalization of health observing electronic apparatuses, conventional drugs, etc. The trade globalization in the agricultural sector has provided a range of high-quality seeds possessing disease-fighting property. But, it is not beneficial for the underprivileged Indian agriculturalists owing to the reason of expensive seeds as well as agricultural equipment.

Globalization has given an enormous rebellion to the occupation sector by increasing the growth of trades related to the handloom , cottage, artisans and carving, carpet, jewellery, ceramics, and glassware, etc.

Globalization is definitely required by the people and nation to progress and turn into an established society and country. It benefits in expanding our visualization and thoughts. It also aids in endorsing the philosophy that we fit in a huge crowd of persons, i.e., the humankind. Once the two nations congregate, they flourish by sharing their beliefs, thoughts, opinions, customs, and behaviors. People come to know new things and also acquire a chance to discover and get acquainted with other values.

Globalization has provided many reasonably priced valued goods and complete economic welfares to the emerging nations in addition to the employment. But, it has also given growth to the crime, competition, terrorism, anti-national activities, etc. Thus, along with the pleasure it has supplied some grief too.

Globalization is a term that we hear about every now and then. Question is; do we really know what it is all about? Globalization is defined as the process of integration and interaction among people, cultures and nations who come together in order to get things done easily through contact. Globalization began with the migration of people from Africa to different parts of the world. Global developments have been achieved in various sectors through the different types of globalization. The effects of globalization have been felt in every part of the world and more people continue to embrace it. Globalization has some of its core elements that help in the process.

Types of Globalization:

Globalization does not just transform a sector unless the strategies are related to that specific sector. The first type of globalization is financial and economic globalization whereby interaction takes place in the financial and economic sectors especially through stock market exchange and international trade. The other type is technological globalization which involves the integration and connection of different nations through technological methods like the internet. Political globalization transforms the politics of a nation through interactions with adoption of policies and government that cut across other nations. Cultural globalization is basically the interaction of people from different cultures and sharing. Ecological globalization is the viewing of the earth as one ecosystem and sociological globalization is on equality for all people.

Elements of Globalization:

Globalization works with characteristic elements. Trade agreements is one of the components that significantly benefits the economic and financial globalization. These trade agreements have been designed to promote and sustain globalization by preventing barriers that inhibit trade among nations or regions. Another element is capital flow that is concerned with the measures of either a decline or a rise in domestic or foreign assets. Migration patterns is a socio-economical and cultural element that monitors the impacts of immigration and emigration actively. The element of information transfer involves communications and maintains the functioning of the markets and economies. Spread of technology is an element of globalization that facilitates service exchanges. Without these elements, globalization would have faced many challenges, which would even stagnate the process of globalization.

Impacts of Globalization:

The impact of globalization is felt differently among individuals but the end result will be either positive or negative. Globalization has impacts on the lives of individuals, on the aspects of culture, religions and education. The positive impacts of globalization include the simplification of business management through efficiency. In business, the quality of goods and services has increased due to global competition. Foreign investment has been facilitated by globalization and the global market has been able to expand. Cultural growth has been experienced through intermingling and accommodation. Interdependence among nations has developed and more people have been exposed to the exchange program between nations. Improvement of human rights and legal matters has improved through media and technology sharing. Poverty has been alleviated in developing countries due to globalization and also employment opportunities are provided. Through technology, developments have been positively influenced in most parts of the world.

Although globalization has positive impacts, the negative impacts will remain constant unless solutions are sought. One of the negative effects of globalization is job insecurity for some people. Through globalization, more innovations are achieved, for e.g., technology causes automation and therefore people get replaced and they lack jobs. Another negative impact is the frequent fluctuation of prices of commodities that arises from global competitions. On the cultural side, the fast food sector has become wide spread globally, which is an unhealthy lifestyle that was adopted due to globalization. Also, Culture has been negatively affected for people in Africa because they tend to focus more on adopting the western culture and ignore their cultural practices.

Possible Solutions to the Negative Impacts of Globalization:

Globalization has impacted the society negatively and some of the solutions might help to mitigate the impacts. When adopting cultures from other people, it is important to be keen on the effects of the culture on the people and the existing culture being practiced. For example, Africans should not focus more of the western culture such that they ignore their own culture.

In conclusion, it is evident that globalization results in both negative and positive consequences. The society should embrace the positive and mitigate the negative impacts. Globalisation is a dynamic process which involves change, so flexibility among people is a must.

The buzzword befitted to describe the growth of Modern Indian economy is ‘Globalization’. But what exactly is Globalization? Globalization can be defined as integrating the economy of a country with the rest of the countries of the world. From the Indian perspective, this implies encouraging free trade policies, opening up our economy to foreign direct investment, removing constraints and obstacles to the entry of multinational corporations in India, also allowing Indian companies to set up joint ventures abroad, eliminating import restrictions, in-short encouraging Free Trade policies.

India opened its markets to Global Trade majorly during the early Nineties after a major economic crisis hit the country. New economic reforms were introduced in 1991 by then Prime Minister Shri. P V. Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister at the time, Dr. Manmohan Singh. In many ways, the new economic policies positively contributed to the implementation of the concept of Globalization in India.

It’s Impact:

1. Economic Impact :

Globalization in India targets to attract Multinational Companies and Institutions to approach Indian markets. India has a demography with a large workforce of young citizens who  are in need of jobs. Globalization has indeed left a major impact in the jobs sector. Indian companies are also expanding their business all over the world. They are driving funds from the bigwigs of the Global economy.

The Best example in today’s time is OYO Rooms, a budding Indian company in the hospitality sector. OYO Rooms recently made headlines when it declared to raise a fund close to $1 Billion from Japan’s Soft Bank Vision Fund. Globalization has also led the Indian Consumer market on the boom. The Giant of FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) sector WALMART is also enthusiastic and actively investing in the India market.

2. Socio-Cultural impact on the Indian Society:

The world has become a smaller place, thanks to the social networking platforms blooming of the internet. India is a beautiful country which takes immense pride in “Unity in Diversity” as it is home to many different cultures and traditions. Globalization in India has left a lasting impression on the socio-cultural aspect of Indian society.

Food chains like McDonald’s are finding its way to the dining tables. With every passing day, Indians are indulging more and more in the Western culture and lifestyle. But Globalization in India has also provided a vibrant World platform for Indian Art, Music, Clothing, and Cuisine.

The psychological impact on a common Indian Man: The educated youth in India is developing a pictorial identity where they are integrating themselves with the fast-paced, technology-driven world and at the same time they are nurturing the deep roots of Indian Culture. Indians are fostering their Global identity through social media platforms and are actively interacting with the World community. They are more aware of burning issues like Climate Change, Net neutrality, and LGBT rights.

Advantages:

India has taken the Centre Stage amongst the Developing Nations because of its growing economy on the World Map. Globalization in India has brought tremendous change in the way India builds its National and International policies. It has created tremendous employment opportunities with increased compensations.

A large number of people are hired for Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Export Processing Zones (EPZs), etc., are set up across the country in which hundreds of people are hired. Developed western countries like USA and UK outsource their work to Indian companies as the cost of labour is cheap in India. This, in turn, creates more employment. This has resulted in a better standard of living across the demographic of young educated Indians. The Indian youth is definitely empowered in a big way.

Young lads below the age of 20 are now aspiring to become part of global organizations. Indian culture and morals are always strengthening their roots in modern world History as the world is now celebrating ‘International Yoga Day’ on 21st June every year. Globalization in India has led to a tremendous cash flow from Developed Nations in the Indian market. As a positive effect, India is witnessing the speedy completion of Metro projects across the country. Another spectacular example of newly constructed High-end Infrastructure in the country is the remarkable and thrilling ‘Chenani-Nashri Tunnel’, Longest Tunnel in India constructed in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Globalization has greatly contributed in numerous ways to the development of Modern India.

Disadvantages:

As there are so many pros we cannot turn a blind eye to the cons of Globalization which are quite evident with the Indian perspective. The worst impact is seen in the environment across Indian cities due to heavy industrialization. Delhi, the capital of India has made headlines for the worst ever air pollution, which is increasing at an alarming rate.

India takes pride in calling itself an Agriculture oriented nation, but now Agriculture contributes to fragile 17% of the GDP. Globalization in India has been a major reason for the vulnerable condition of Indian Farmers and shrinking Agriculture sector. The intrusion of world players and import of food grains by the Indian Government has left minimal space for Indian farmers to trade their produce.

The impact of westernization has deeply kindled individualism and ‘Me factor’ and as a result, the look of an average Indian family has changed drastically where a Nuclear family is preferred over a traditional Joint family. The pervasive media and social networking platforms have deeply impacted the value system of our country where bigotry and homophobia are becoming an obvious threat.

One cannot clearly state that the impact of Globalization in India has been good or bad as both are quite evident. From the economic standpoint, Globalization has indeed brought a breath of fresh air to the aspirations of the Indian market. However, it is indeed a matter of deep concern when the Indian traditions and value system are at stake. India is one of the oldest civilizations and World trade has been the keystone of its History. Globalization must be practiced as a way towards development without compromising the Indian value system.

Globalisation can simply be defined as the process of integration and interaction between different people, corporations and also governments worldwide. Technology advancement which has in turn advanced means of communication and transportation has helped in the growth of globalisation. Globalisation has brought along with it an increase in international trade, culture and exchange of ideas. Globalisation is basically an economic process that involves integration and interaction that deals also with cultural and social aspects. Important features of globalisation, both modern and historically are diplomacy and conflicts.

In term of economy, globalisation involves services and goods, and the resources of technology, capital and data. The steamship, steam locomotive, container ship and jet engine are a few of the many technological advances in transportation while the inception of the telegraph and its babies, mobile phones and the internet portray technological advances in communications. These advancements have been contributing factors in the world of globalisation and they have led to interdependence of cultural and economic activities all over the world.

There are many theories regarding the origin of globalisation, some posit that the origin is in modern times while others say that it goes way back through history before adventures to the new world and the European discovery age. Some have even taken it further back to the third millennium. Globalisation on a large-scale began around the 1820s. Globalisation in its current meaning only started taking shape in the 1970s. There are four primary parts of globalisation, they are: transactions and trade, investments and capital movement, movement and migration of people and the circulation of knowledge and information. Globalization is subdivided into three: economic globalisation, political globalisation and cultural globalisation.

There are two primary forms of globalisation: Archaic and Modern Globalisations. Archaic globalisation is a period in the globalisation history from the period of the first civilisations until around the 1600s. Archaic globalisation is the interaction between states and communities and also how they were incepted by the spread by geography of social norms and ideas at different levels.

Archaic globalisation had three major requirements. First is the Eastern Origin idea, the second is distance, the third is all about regularity, stability and inter-dependency. The Silk Road and trade on it was a very important factor in archaic globalisation through the development of various civilisations from Persia, China, Arabia, Indian subcontinent and Europe birthing long distance economic and political relationships between them. Silk was the major item from China along the Silk Road; other goods such as sugar and salt were also traded.

Philosophies, different religious beliefs and varying technologies and also diseases also moved along the Silk Road route. Apart from economic trade, the Silk Road also was a means of cultural exchange among the various civilisations along its route. The cultural exchange was as a result of people’s movement including missionaries, refugees, craftsmen, robbers, artists and envoys, resulting in religions, languages, art and new technologies being exchanged.

Modern globalisation can be sub-divided into early modern and Modern. Early modern globalisation spans about 200 years of globalisation between 1600 and 1800. It is the period of cultural exchange and trade links increasing just before the modern globalisation of the late 19 th century. Early modern globalisation was characterised by Europeans empires’ maritime of the 16 th and 17 th centuries. The Spanish and Portuguese Empires were the first and then we had the British and Dutch Empires. The establishment of chartered companies (British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company) further developed world trade.

Modern Globalisation of the 19 th century was as a result of the famed Industrial Revolution. Railroads and steamships made both local and international transportation easier and a lot less expensive which helped improve economic exchange and movement of people all over the world, the transportation revolution happened between 1820 and 1850. A lot more nations have embraced global trade. Globalisation has been shaped decisively by the imperialism in Africa and in Asia around the 19 th century. Also, the ingenious invention in 1956 of the shipping container has really helped to quicken the advancement of globalisation.

The Bretton Woods conference agreement after the Second World War helped lay the groundwork for finance, international monetary policy and commerce and also the conception of many institutions that are supposed to help economic growth through lowering barriers to trade. From the 1970s, there has been a drop in the affordability of aviation to middle class people in countries that are developed. Also, around the 1990s, the cost of communication networks also drastically dropped thus lowering the cost of communicating between various countries. Communication has been a blessing such that much work can be done on a computer in different countries and the internet and other advanced means of communications has helped remove the boundary of distance and cost of having to travel and move from place to place just to get business done.

One other thing that became popular after the Second World War is student exchange programmes which help the involved students learn about, understand and tolerate another culture totally different from theirs, it also helps improve their language skills and also improve their social skills. Surveys have shown that the number of exchange students have increased by about nine times between 1963 and 2006.

Economic globalisation is differentiated from modern globalisation by the information exchange level, the method of handling global trade and expansionism.

Economic Globalisation:

Economic globalisation is just the ever increasing interdependence of economies of nations worldwide caused by the hike in movement across borders of goods, services, capital and technology. Economic globalisation is basically the means of increasing economic relationships between countries, giving rise to the birth of a single or global market. Based on the worldview, Economic globalisation can be seen as either a negative or positive thing.

Economic globalisation includes: Globalisation of production; which is getting services and goods from a source from very different locations all over the world to gain from the difference in quality and cost. There is globalisation of markets; which is the coming together of separate and different markets into one global market. Economic globalisation includes technology, industries, competition and corporations.

Globalisation today is all about less developed countries and economies receiving FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) from the more developed countries and economies, reduction in barriers to trade and to particular extent immigration.

Political Globalisation:

Political globalisation is going to on-the-long-run drop the need for separate nation or states. Institutions like the International Criminal court and WTO are beginning to replace individual nations in their functions and this could eventually lead to a union of all the nations of the world in a European Union style.

Non-governmental organisations have also helped in political globalisation by influencing laws and policies across borders and in different countries, including developmental efforts and humanitarian aid.

Political globalisation isn’t all good as some countries have chosen to embrace policies of isolation as a reactionary measure to globalisation. A typical example is the government of North Korea which makes it extremely difficult and hard for foreigners to even enter their country and monitor all of the activities of foreigners strictly if they allow them in. Citizens are not allowed to leave the country freely and aid workers are put under serious scrutiny and are not allowed in regions and places where the government does not want them to enter.

Intergovernmentalism is the treatment of national governments and states as the major basic factors for integration. Multi-level governance is the concept that there are many structures of authority interacting in the gradual emergence of political globalisation.

Cultural Globalisation:

Cultural globalisation is the transmission of values, ideas and meanings all over the world in a way that intensify and extend social relations. Cultural globalisation is known by the consumption of different cultures that have been propagated on the internet, international travel and culture media. The propagation of cultures helps individuals to engage in social relations which break regional boundaries. Cultural globalisation also includes the start of shared knowledge and norm which people can identify their cultures collectively; it helps foster relationships between different cultures and populations.

It can be argued that cultural globalisation distorts and harms cultural diversity. As one country’s culture is inputted into another country by the means of globalisation, the new culture becomes a threat to the cultural diversity of the receiving country.

Globalisation has made the world into one very small community where we all interact and relate, learn about other cultures and civilisations different from ours. Globalisation has helped improve the ease of doing business all around the world and has made the production of goods and services quite easy and affordable. Globalisation isn’t all good and rosy as it can be argued that Globalisation is just westernisation as most cultures and beliefs are being influenced by the western culture and belief and this harms cultural diversity. Nevertheless, the good of globalisation outweighs the bad so globalisation is actually a very good thing and has helped shape the world as we know it.

Economics , Globalisation

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