Globalization: Good vs Bad Essay

Globalization is happening all around us everyday whether it is wanted or not. Some may believe that globalization is a bad thing and should be controlled to some degree. Others say that it is a great thing that is happening in the world and that it should be seen as a move in the positive direction. What is globalization, What makes it so important, and why is it only recently being noticed? Globalization is a process of interaction and integration between governments, cultures, and companies. It is important because it has effects on the environment, on culture, on politics, and on economics to name a few. Currently speaking, globalization can be summed up as being a free-market, policy driven, open economy and reasonably open governments. People may think that globalization is new, but it is not. In fact globalization has been around for thousands of years, it just had not been noticed as easily as it is today. Technology. Technology is the main reason of why we are noticing globalization. Without technological developments in transportation and communication our world would be much more different. With the developments in transportation people can travel to places that people in the past have dreamt of. Since traveling had been made easier, faster, safer, and more efficient, trading with other countries became possible. The development of the means of communication linked one side of the planet to the other. With communication being a press of a button away news and information can be received within moments of an event happening. All of this is what made globalization more noticeable. Even with all the new communications opened and new opportunities available globalization still is a highly debated topic that seems to split into a pro and con argument. You have the people that say that globalization will help the whole world to deal with crises like unemployment/poverty, it will help to raise the global economy, gradually there will be a world power that is being created instead of separate governments, different cultures are being adopted by others, and we are becoming more accepting and tolerant of each other. Then you have the people that say that globalization is a leading cause of wars, social degeneration, and the outsourcing of countries that can’t keep up any longer with the fast growing demand for items. The people who would argue for globalization would say that it is creating a bunch of job opportunities for people all over the world and that it is also providing companies with the much needed man power. Another pro would be that globalization has made living and utilizing products from various parts of the world incredibly easy. Globalization also brings in the needed foreign exchange into the developing countries from the developed countries and that this helps in development of the nations. They would also argue that culturally, people are becoming more tolerant towards other people, that it is the first step towards accepting the differences of cultures that are present all over the globe and learning to live in relative peace with them. Another point would be that there is a greater exchange in knowledge and that it is educating the range of knowledge around the globe. Overall, if someone were to just hear the pro side of globalization they would be all for it. However, with every pro there is a con side. A person who would be against globalization would argue that one of the major cons of globalization is that it threatens the jobs of many developed countries. There are nations that are constantly losing their jobs as a lot of the work is now being outsourced to developing countries. A ton of effort is being put into setting up branches or companies in other countries. As a result there is a loss of resources from the country itself. Another one for the cons of globalization is that it can lead to the spread of infectious diseases. Apart from that, there are high chances of globalization leading to social degeneration as well because everyone is adapting to different cultures. Unfortunately the biggest threat is posed by the corporate world because a majority of the power lies in their hands. This may not always be a good thing and may not be the safest situation to be in. Eventually, some people think about the cons of globalization in a way that this process can turn into a form of colonization. Finally we get to the most agued con points, war. People against globalization will bring up that most wars could have been prevented if we weren’t so interconnected. Because the world is all connected by communication conflicts of different cultures and religions are more often and wars break out more frequently than before we were all globalized. The reality is, the question whether globalization is good or bad is not black and white. But it has lead to the process of connecting various economies and spreading technology, ideas, and culture has done more good than harm. Globalization has posed the more obvious economic, social and also political benefits worldwide. But it also comes with a small price compared to the big picture. On the economic side of things, globalization is responsible for all the various consumer products that are stacked on shelves in local supermarkets or large chain ones. It has economic benefits on both sides of the countries in trade. A multinational corporation from the U. S. makes a direct foreign investment by building branches in that country and setting factories for production. The corporation then gets cheap labor which creates a greater profit. Socially, there is the spread of technology, knowledge and culture. And politically (a trickier topic), globalization is responsible for spreading differing political ideals ranging from democracy to communism. And the major role of the media in assisting globalization, can expose corrupt governments to the public and therefore, pressure the removal of oppressive dictators. In honest opinion, globalization is not meant to â€Å"level the playing field† and remove poor nations out of poverty. Globalization is meant more to spread knowledge, technology, cultures, religion in a world that’s ever becoming much smaller to live in. The fact that it may create a larger gap between the poor and rich countries is an effect. This is a topic that can’t have one right side. It’s all part of globalization right? To have an open mind and be able to think about both sides of things. With globalization and were it’s heading all you can do is wait and see what happens. So far it’s kind of in a rocky place with the economy being so messed up, but if it gets re-situated then who is to say that globalization is a bad thing or a good thing? Like mentioned above. It isn’t black and white. It’s a gray topic that can go anywhere at this point.