Week 15: Globalization Theory

Globalization theory emerged as a result of developments and changes both in the world as a whole and in academia. Globalization can be analyzed culturally, eco- nomically, politically, and institutionally. A concern for homogenization/heterogenization cuts across work in all of these areas. Central to the work of Giddens on globalization 

is losing control over the juggernaut of modernity and creating a runaway world. Beck sees hope in globality with the decline of the nation-state and the emergence of trans- national organizations and possibly a transnational state. To Bauman, what defines the global world is a “space war” between those who have and those who do not have mobility. However, even those with mobility face grave problems.

Cultural theories of globalization may be divided into three paradigms: cultural differentialism, cultural convergence, and cultural hybridization. Cultural differential- ism adopts the view that there are lasting differences among and between cultures and that those differences are largely unaffected by globalization. Huntington offers the best-known example of cultural differentialism with his focus on civilizations, the major civilizations of the world, and the likelihood of economic conflict between Sinic and Western civilization and warfare between Islamic and Western civilization. Cul- tural convergence takes the view that globalization is leading to increasing sameness around the world. Two examples of cultural convergence are the McDonaldization thesis and the idea that the world is increasingly dominated by the “grobalization” of nothing. Cultural hybridization adopts the perspective that globalization is bringing with it the mixing of cultures, producing new and unique cultures that are not reduc- ible to either global or local. A number of theoretical ideas are associated with cultural hybridization, including glocalization, hybridization, and creolization. A major theory included under the “cultural hybridization” heading is Appadurai’s thinking on land- scapes and the disjunctures among and between them.

Economic theories of globalization are illustrated with two examples. Leslie Sklair develops a neo-Marxian economic theory of globalization that focuses on trans- national capitalism, especially transnational corporations, the transnational capitalist class, and the culture-ideology of consumption. Sklair argues that transnational capi- talism is providing the basis for the emergence of socialist globalization. According to Hardt and Negri, we are in the midst of a transition from capitalist imperialism to the dominance of empire. Empire lacks a center and is based on juridical power. The multitude sustains empire, but it also has, at least potentially, the power to overthrow empire and create counter-empire.

International relations theory encompasses various political approaches to glo- balization, including political realism, complex interdependence, and international political economy. Much of this discussion centers on the fate of the nation-state in the global age. The chapter closes with a detailed discussion of neoliberalism, which is important in both economic and political thinking on globalization. The fundamen- tal tenets of neoliberalism are discussed, as are the major criticisms (including those of Karl Polanyi).