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A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication

GLOBALIZATION THE ESSENTIALS GEORGE RITZER

Globalization

Globalization A Basic Text

George Ritzer

This balanced introduction draws on academic and popular sources to examine the major issues and events in the history of globalization.

Globalization: A Basic Text is a substantial introductory textbook, designed to work either on its own or alongside Readings in Globalization. The books are cross-referenced and are both structured around the core concepts of globalization.

2009 • 608 pages • 978-1-4051-3271-8 • paperback www.wiley.com/go/globalization

Readings in Globalization Key Readings and Major Debates

Edited by George Ritzer and Zeynep Atalay

This unique and engaging anthology introduces students to the major concepts of globalization within the context of the key debates and disputes.

Readings in Globalization illustrates that major debates in the fi eld are not only useful to examine for their own merit but can extend our knowledge of globalization. The volume explores both the political economy of globalization and the relationship of culture to globalization.

The volume is designed so it may be used independently, or alongside George Ritzer’s Globalization: A Basic Text for a complete student resource.

2010 • 560 pages • 978-1-4051-3273-2 • paperback

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A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication

GLOBALIZATION THE ESSENTIALS GEORGE RITZER

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ritzer, George. Globalization : the essentials / George Ritzer. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-470-65560-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) – ISBN 978-0-470-65561-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Globalization. I. Title. JZ1318.R5835 2011 303.48'2–dc22 2010042203

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CONTENTS

Preface xi

1 Globalization 1 Conceptualization, Origins, and History

Conceptualizing Globalization 3 From “Solids” to “Liquids” 3

“Flows” 7

“Heavy” and “Light” 8

“Heavy” Structures that Expedite “Flows” 10

“Heavy” Structures as Barriers to “Flows” 12

Subtler Structural Barriers 16

Origins and History of Globalization 17 Hardwired 17

Cycles 18

Epochs 18

Events 18

Broader, More Recent Changes 20

Chapter Summary 22

2 Theorizing Globalization 28

Imperialism 29 Colonialism 31 Development 32 Americanization 34

Anti-Americanism as a Global Process 36

Neo-Liberalism 37 Neo-Liberalism: Basic Ideas 40

The Neo-Liberal State 41

Critiquing Neo-Liberalism: Karl Polanyi 42

Contemporary Criticisms of Neo-Liberalism 44

Neo-Marxian Theories 45 Transnational Capitalism 45

Empire 47

Chapter Summary 49

3 Structuring the Global Economy 55

Before Bretton Woods 56 A Prior Epoch of Globalization 56

Contentsvi

Economic Development during and after WW II 57

Bretton Woods and the Bretton Woods System 58 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 60

World Trade Organization (WTO) 61

International Monetary Fund (IMF) 61

World Bank 64

The End of Bretton Woods 66 Changes in, and Critiques of, Bretton-Woods-Era Organizations 67 Other Important Economic Organizations 72 The Multinational Corporation (MNC) 72 The Myth of Economic Globalization? 75 Chapter Summary 76

4 Global Economic Flows 81

Trade 82 Trade Surpluses and Defi cits 82

Global Trade: Economic Chains and Networks 82

Global Value Chains: China and the US 84

Scrap metal 84

Waste paper 85

T-shirts 86

iPhones 87

Increasing Competition for Commodities 88 The Economic Impact of the Flow of Oil 89

Oil Wealth 90

Race to the Bottom and Upgrading 91 Upgrading in the Less Developed World? 92

Outsourcing 93 Financial Globalization 95

The Great Recession 95

Consumption 98 Consumer Objects and Services 100

Consumers 100

Consumption Processes 101

Consumption Sites 101

Global Resistance 101

Chapter Summary 102

5 Global Political Structures and Processes 106

On Political Flows 107 The Nation-State 108

Threats to the Nation-State 109

Global fl ows 109

viiContents

International human rights 110

“Shadows of war” 111

In Defense of the Nation-State 111 “Imagined Community” 112 Changes in Global Nation-State Relations 114 United Nations (UN) 117

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 118

United Nations Educational, Scientifi c, and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO) 118

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 118

Global Governance 119 Civil Society 121

International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) 124

Chapter Summary 128

6 High-Tech Global Flows and Structures 133 Technology, Media, and the Internet

Technology 134 Medical Technologies 135

Space-Based Technologies 136

Leapfrogging 136

India’s “One Lakh Car” (or NANO) 138

Problematic Technological Flows 139

Media 139 Media Imperialism 139

“Media Were American” 140

New Global Media 141

Indymedia 142

Thinking about the Global Media 143

The Internet 145 Online Social Networking 146

Spam 147

Computer Viruses 147

The Internet in China 148

Chapter Summary 149

7 Global Culture and Cultural Flows 153

Cultural Differentialism 155 Civilizations 155

Cultural Hybridization 159 Muslim Girl Scouts 160

Appadurai’s “Landscapes” 161

Cultural Convergence 163

Contentsviii

Cultural Imperialism 163

Indian sari weavers 164

Deterritorialization 165

World Culture 165

McDonaldization 167

McDonaldization, expansionism, and globalization 169

Beyond fast food 170

The Globalization of Nothing 171

Cricket: local, glocal, or grobal? 173

Chapter Summary 174

8 Global Flows of Migrants 178

Migrants 179 Migration 180

Flows of Migrants to and from the US 183

Illegal Mexican migrants to the US 183

Migrants through Mexico and to the US 185

Increased law enforcement 185

Flow of Migrants Elsewhere in the World 187

Illegal immigrants in Europe 187

Great Britain 187

Switzerland 188

Greece 189

Illegal immigrants in Asia 190

The Case Against the Backlash to Illegal Immigration 191

Remittances 194

Diaspora 197

Chapter Summary 199

9 Global Environmental Flows 204

Differences Among Nation-States 207 Collapse 207 The Leading Environmental Problems 208

Destruction of Natural Habitats 208

Decline of Fish 208

Decline in Fresh Water 209

The paradox of bottled water 211

Toxic Chemicals 212

Greenhouse Gases and Global Warming 212

Rising seas 213

Global warming and health 214

Population Growth 215

The Global Flow of Dangerous Debris 215

ixContents

Global Responses 216 Sustainable Development 216

Dealing with Climate Change 218

Carbon Tax 219

Carbon Neutral 220

Alternate Fuels and Power Sources 220

Hybrid technology 220

Ethanol 221

Solar power 222

A Technological Fix? 222

Economic Issues 224

Opposing Environmentalism 224

Chapter Summary 225

10 Negative Global Flows and Processes 230 Dangerous Imports, Diseases, Crime, Terrorism, War

Dangerous Imports 232 Borderless Diseases 233

HIV/AIDS 234

Avian Flu 235

SARS 236

Ebola Virus 236

Tropical Diseases in Europe 237

Crime 237 Terrorism 242 War 247

Global Military Structures 249

Technology 249

Information War 250

Cyber-War 252

The Impact of Negative Global Flows on Individuals 253 Chapter Summary 254

11 Inequality 260

Global Inequality 261 “The Bottom Billion” 261

Migration 262

E-Waste and Inequality 263

Global Digital Divide 263

Race and Ethnicity and Gender 264 Race and Ethnicity 264

Gender 270

Gender and the economy 271

Contentsx

Global care chains 275

Traffi cking in the sex industry 276

Mail-order brides 277

Responding to and resisting global minority status: the case of women 277

Rural–Urban and Inequality 278 Rural 278

Urban 281

Cities: the main locus of global problems 283

Chapter Summary 284

12 Dealing with, Resisting, and the Future of, Globalization 291

Dealing with Globalization 292 Dealing with the Global Economy 292

Protectionism 293

Fair trade 295

Helping the “bottom billion” 298

Dealing with Political Globalization 299

Accountability 299

Transparency 299

Transparency International (TI) 300

Resisting Globalization 301 Local Resistance 304

A Social Movement? 305

More Formal Social Movements 306

World Social Forum and Cyberactivism 306

Is the Resistance to Globalization Signifi cant? 308

The Futures of Globalization 309 A “Mad Max” Scenario 311

Chapter Summary 312

Glossary 317 Index 322

PREFACE

Globalization: The Essentials is an abbreviated version of Globalization: A Basic Text (2010). While the latter is designed as a full - scale textbook for a course on global- ization, this volume is considerably shorter. It can still be used as a text in such a course, but its comparative brevity enables the instructor to assign other books, as well. In addition, it can be used as a supplementary book in a variety of other courses in sociology and the social sciences. As the title suggests, this volume retains the essential elements of the original text. Four chapters, the Appendix and various other portions of the text have been deleted from Globalization: A Basic Text to create this volume. That material is, of course, important, but hard decisions had to be made about what to cut and not to cut. It is my belief that this shorter text continues to deliver what is most important to a fundamental understanding of this most important process of our day and in the foreseeable future.

CHAPTER

1 Globalization Conceptualization, Origins, and History

Conceptualizing Globalization ■ From “ Solids ” to “ Liquids ” ■ “ Flows ” ■ “ Heavy ” and “ Light ” ■ “ Heavy ” Structures that Expedite “ Flows ” ■ “ Heavy ” Structures as Barriers to “ Flows ” ■ Subtler Structural Barriers

Origins and History of Globalization ■ Hardwired ■ Cycles ■ Epochs ■ Events ■ Broader, More Recent Changes

Chapter Summary

Globalization: The Essentials, by George Ritzer © 2011 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Globalization2

Globalization is increasingly omnipresent. We are living in a – or even the – “ global age ” (Albrow 1996 ). Globalization is clearly a very important change; it can even be argued (Bauman 2003 ) that it is the most important change in human history . This is refl ected in many domains, but particularly in social relationships and social structures, especially those that are widely dispersed geo- graphically. “ In the era of globalization … shared humanity face[s] the most fateful of the many fateful steps ” it has made in its long history (Bauman 2003 : 156, italics added).

The following is the defi nition of globalization to be used in this book (note that all of the italicized terms will be discussed in this chapter and will inform the remainder of this book):

globalization is a transplanetary process or set of processes involving increasing liquidity and the growing multi - directional fl ows of people, objects, places and information as well as the structures they encounter and create that are barriers to, or expe- dite , those fl ows …

In contrast to many other defi nitions of globalization, this one does not assume that greater integration is an inevitable component of globalization. That is, global- ization can bring with it greater integration (especially when things fl ow easily), but it can also serve to reduce the level of integration (when structures are erected that successfully block fl ows).

A term that is closely related to globalization is transnationalism (Morawska 2007 ), or “ proc- esses that interconnect individuals and social groups across specifi c geo - political borders ” (Giulianotti and Robertson 2007 : 62). A related concept is transnationality , or “ the rise of new communities and formation of new social iden- tities and relations that cannot be defi ned through the traditional reference point of nation - states ” (Robinson 2007 : 1199 – 201).

Globalization and transnationalism are often used interchangeably, but transna- tionalism is clearly a more delimited process than globalization. Transnationalism is limited to interconnections that cross geo - political borders, especially those asso- ciated with two, or more, nation - states. An example is Mexican immigrants in the US sending remittances home to family members in Mexico. Globalization includes such connections, but is not restricted to them and encompasses a far wider range of transplanetary processes (e.g. direct relationships between people in many places in the world networking via the Internet). Further, geo - political borders are only one of the barriers encountered, and often overcome, by globalization. Some phe- nomena, labor unions for example, are better thought of as transnational than as global. That is, the relationship between labor unions in, for example, the US and Sweden is more important than are moves toward a global labor movement.

Globalization : Transplanetary process(es) involving increasing liquidity and growing multi - directional fl ows as well as the structures they encounter and create.

Transnationalism : Processes that interconnect individuals and social groups across specifi c geo - political borders.

Transnationality : Rise of new communi- ties and formation of new social identities and relations that cannot be defi ned as nation - states.

3Globalization

Transnationalism is most often used in thinking about, and research on, immi- grants who move from one country to another, but who continue to be involved in various ways with the country from which they came (Portes 2001 ).

The case of baseball is useful in clarifying the distinction between globalization and transnationalism (Kelly 2007 : 79 – 93). Baseball is a transnational sport because many of its fundamentals – techniques, strategies, etc. – and players have circulated across the borders of a small number of nations, especially Japan, Taiwan, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and, of course, the US. However, it is not global because it has not fl owed on a transplanetary basis to a large portion of the world.

In contrast, soccer would be much more clearly a global sport because it exists in virtually every area of the world. For example, over 200 of the world ’ s nations are members of a global organization, the F é d é ration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). Another example of globalization in the realm of sports is the summer (and winter) Olympics, sponsored by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in which about the same number of nations participate.

CONCEPTUALIZING GLOBALIZATION

In spite of the focus in this book on globalization, there are many scholars who do not accept the idea. Nevertheless, this book embraces, and operates from, a “ glo- balist ” perspective (Hirst and Thompson 1999 ) – globalization is a reality. Debates about globalization are one of the reasons that there is undoubtedly no topic today more diffi cult to get one ’ s head around, let alone to master, than globalization. However, of far greater importance is the sheer magnitude, diversity, and complex- ity of the process of globalization which involves almost everyone, everything, and every place, in innumerable ways. (The concept of globality refers to the condition [in this case omnipresence] resulting from the process of globalization [Scholte 2004 : 102 – 10].)

Before proceeding to the next section, a note is needed on the use of metaphors (Brown 1989 ), which will occupy a prominent place in the ensuing discussion. A metaphor involves the use of one term to help us better understand another term. Thus, in the next section, we will use the metaphor of a “ solid ” to describe epochs before the era of globalization. Similarly, the global world will be described as being “ liquid. ” The use of such metaphors is designed to give the reader a better and a more vivid sense of the global age and how it differs from prior epochs.

From “ Solids ” to “ Liquids ”

Prior to the current epoch of globalization (as we will see in the second part of this chapter, most observers believe that there was a previous epoch, if not many

Globality : Omnipresence of the process of globalization.

Metaphors : Use of one term to help us better understand another.

Globalization4

previous epochs, of globalization), it could be argued that one of the things that characterized people, things, information, places, and much else was their greater solidity . That is, all of them tended to be hard or to harden (metaphorically, fi gu- ratively, not literally, of course) over time and therefore, among other things, to remain largely in place. As a result, people either did not go anywhere or they did not venture very far from where they were born and raised; their social relationships

were restricted to those who were nearby. Much the same could be said of most objects (tools, food, and so on), which tended to be used where they were produced. The solidity of most ma- terial manifestations of information – stone

tablets, newspapers, magazines, books, and so on – also made them at least some- what diffi cult to move very far. Furthermore, since people didn ’ t move very far, neither did information. Places were not only quite solid and immoveable, but they tended to confront solid natural (mountains, rivers, oceans) and humanly con- structed (walls, gates) barriers that made it diffi cult for people and things to exit or to enter.

Above all, solidity describes a world in which barriers exist and are erected to prevent the free movement of all sorts of things. It was the nation - state that was most likely to create these “ solid ” barriers (for example, walls [e.g. the Great Wall of China; the wall between Israel and the West Bank], border gates and guards), and the state itself grew increasingly solid as it resisted change. For much of the twentieth century this was epitomized by the Soviet Union and its satellite states which sought to erect any number of barriers in order to keep all sorts of things out and in (especially a disaffected population). With the passage of time, the Soviet Union grew increasingly sclerotic. The best example of this solidity was the erection (beginning in 1961), and maintenance, of the Berlin Wall in order to keep East Berliners in and Western infl uences out. There was a more fl uid relationship between East and West Berlin prior to the erection of the Wall, but that fl uidity was seen in the East as being disadvantageous, even dangerous. Once the Wall was erected, relations between West and East Berlin were virtually frozen in place – they solidifi ed – and there was comparatively little movement of anything between them.

The Wall, together with East Germany and the Soviet Union, is long gone and with it many of the most extreme forms of solidity brought into existence by the Cold War. Nonetheless, solid structures remain – e.g. the nation - state and its border and customs controls – and there are ever - present calls for the creation of new, and new types of, solid structures. Thus, in many parts of Europe there are demands for more barriers to legal and illegal immigration. This has reached an extreme in the US with concern over illegal Mexican (and other Latin American) immigration leading to the erection of an enormous fence between the two countries. Thus, solidity is far from dead in the contemporary world. It is very often the case that demands for new forms of solidity are the result of increased fl uidity. However, a strong case can, and will, be made that it is fl uidity that is more characteristic of today ’ s world, especially in terms of globalization.

Solidity : People, things, information, and places “ harden ” over time and therefore have limited mobility.

5Globalization

Of course, people were never so solid that they were totally immobile or stuck completely in a given place (a few people were able to escape East Berlin in spite of the Wall and many will be able to enter the US illegally even when the fence on the Mexican border is completed), and this was especially true of the elite members of any society. Elites were (and are) better able to move about and that ability increased with advances in transportation technology. Commodities, especially those created for elites, also could almost always be moved and they, too, grew more moveable as technologies advanced. Information (because it was not solid, although it could be solidifi ed in the form of, for example, a book) could always travel more easily than goods or people (it could be spread by word of mouth over great distances even if the originator of the information could not move very far; it moved even faster as more advanced communication technologies emerged [telegraph, tele- phone, the Internet]). And as other technologies developed (ships, automobiles, airplanes), people, especially those with the resources, were better able to leave places and get to others. They could even literally move places (or at least parts of them), as, for example, when in the early 1800s Lord Elgin dismantled parts of the Parthenon in Greece and transported them to London, where to this day they can be found in the British Museum.

However, at an increasing rate over the last few centuries, and especially in the last several decades, that which once seemed so solid has tended to “ melt ” and become increasingly liquid . Instead of thinking of people, objects, information, and places as being like solid blocks of ice, they need to be seen as tending, in recent years, to melt and as becoming increasingly liquid. It is, needless to say, far more diffi cult to move blocks of ice than the water that is produced when those blocks melt. Of course, to extend the metaphor, there continue to exist blocks of ice, even glaciers (although even these are now literally melting), in the contemporary world that have not melted, at least not completely. Solid material realities (people, cargo, newspapers) continue to exist, but because of a wide range of technological devel- opments (in transportation, communication, the Internet, and so on) they can move across the globe far more readily. Everywhere we turn, more things, including ourselves, are becoming increasingly liquefi ed.

Karl Marx opened the door to this kind of analysis (and to the use of such meta- phors) when he famously argued that because of the nature of capitalism as an economic system “ everything solid melts into air. ” That is, many of the solid, ma- terial realities that preceded capitalism (e.g. the structures of feudalism) were “ melted ” by it and were transformed into liquids. However, while Marx was describ- ing a largely destructive process, the point here is that the new liquids that are being created are inherent parts of the new world and are radically transforming it. In the process, they are having both constructive and destructive effects (Schumpeter 1976 ).

Marx ’ s insight of over a century - and - a - half ago was not only highly prescient, but is far truer today than in Marx ’ s day. In fact, it is far truer than he could ever have imagined. Furthermore, that melting, much like one of the great problems in the global world today – the melting of the ice on and near the North and South

Globalization6

poles as a result of global warming (see Chapter 9 ) – is not only likely to continue in the coming years, but to increase at an exponential rate. Indeed, the melting of the polar icecaps can be seen as another metaphor for the increasing fl uidity associ- ated with globalization, especially its problematic aspects. And, make no mistake, the increasing fl uidity associated with globalization presents both great opportuni- ties and great dangers.

Thus, the perspective on globalization presented here, following the work of Zygmunt Bauman (2000, 2003, 2005, 2006) , is that it involves, above all else, increasing liquidity (Lakoff 2008 : 277 – 300). Several of Bauman ’ s ideas on liquidity are highly relevant to the perspective on globalization employed here.

For example, liquid phenomena do not easily, or for long, hold their shape. Thus, the myriad liquid phenomena associated with globalization are hard - pressed to maintain any particular form and, even if they acquire a form, it is likely to change quite quickly.

Liquid phenomena fi x neither space nor time. That which is liquid is, by defi ni- tion, opposed to any kind of fi xity, be it spatial or temporal. This means that the spatial and temporal aspects of globalization are in continuous fl ux. That which is liquid is forever ready to change whatever shape (space) it might take on momen- tarily. Time (however short) in a liquid world is more important than space. Perhaps the best example of this is global fi nance, where little or nothing (dollars, gold) actually changes its place (at least immediately), but time is of the essence in that the symbolic representations of money move instantaneously and great profi ts can be made or lost in split - second decisions on fi nancial transactions.

Liquid phenomena not only move easily, but once they are on the move they are diffi cult to stop. This is exemplifi ed in many areas, such as foreign trade, invest- ment, and global fi nancial transactions (Polillo and Guillen 2005 : 1764 – 802), the globality of transactions and interactions (e.g. on Facebook, Twitter [Clive Thompson 2008 : 42ff.]) on the Internet, and the diffi culty in halting the global fl ow of drugs, pornography, the activities of organized crime, and illegal immigrants.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, that which is liquid tends to melt what- ever stands it its path (especially solids). This is clearest in the case of the much discussed death, or at least decline, of the nation - state and its borders in the era of increasing global fl ows (see Chapter 5 ). According to Cartier ( 2001 : 269), the “ forces of globalization have rendered many political boundaries more porous to fl ows of people, money, and things. ”

It is clear that if one wanted to use a single term to think about globalization today, liquidity (as well as the closely related idea of fl ows) would be at or near the top of the list. That is not to say that there are no solid structures in the world – after all, we still live in a modern world, even if it is late modernity, and modernity has long been associated with solidity. And it does not mean that there is not a constant interplay between liquidity and solidity, with increases in that which is liquid (e.g. terrorist attacks launched against Israel from the West Bank during the

Liquidity : Increasing ease of movement of people, things, information, and places in the global age.

7Globalization

Intifada) leading to counter - reactions involving the erection of new solid forms (e.g. that fence between Israel and the West Bank), but at the moment and for the foreseeable future, the momentum lies with increasing and proliferating global liquidity.

“ Flows ”

Closely related to the idea of liquidity, and integral to it, is another key concept in thinking about globalization, the idea of fl ows (Appadurai 1996 ; Rey and Ritzer 2010 ); after all liquids fl ow easily, far more easily than solids. In fact, it is the concept of fl ows that is widely used in the literature on globalization and it is the concept that will inform a good deal of the body of this book.

Because so much of the world has “ melted, ” or is in the process of “ melting, ” and has become liquefi ed, globalization is increasingly characterized by great fl ows of increasingly liquid phenomena of all types, including people, objects, information, decisions, places, and so on. For example, foods of all sorts increasingly fl ow around the world, including sushi globalized from its roots in Japan (Bestor 2005 : 13 – 20), Chilean produce now ubiquitous in the US market (and elsewhere) (Goldfrank 2005 : 42 – 53), Indian food in San Francisco (and throughout much of the world) (Mankekar 2005 : 197 – 214), and so on. In many cases, the fl ows have become raging fl oods that are increasingly less likely to be impeded by, among others, place - based barriers of any kind, including the oceans, mountains, and especially the borders of nation - states. This was demonstrated once again in late 2008 in the spread of the American credit and fi nancial crisis to Europe (and elsewhere): “ In a global fi nancial system, national borders are porous ” (Landler 2008 : C1).

Looking at a very different kind of fl ow, many people in many parts of the world believe that they are being swamped by migrants, especially poor illegal migrants (Moses 2006 ). Whether or not these are actually fl oods, they have come to be seen in that way by many people, often aided by politicians and media personalities in many countries who have established their reputations by portraying them in that way.

Undoubtedly because of their immateriality, ideas, images, and information, both legal (blogs) and illegal (e.g. child pornography), fl ow (virtually) everywhere through interpersonal contact and the media, especially now via the Internet.

Decisions of all sorts fl ow around the world, as well as over time: “ The effect of the [economic] decisions fl owed, and would continue to fl ow, through every possible conduit. Some decisions would be refl ected in products rolling off assembly lines, others in prices of securities, and still others in personal interactions. Each decision would cascade around the world and then forward through time ” (Altman 2007 : 255).

Even places can be said to be fl owing around the world as, for example, immi- grants re - create the places from which they came in new locales (e.g. Indian and

Flows : Movement of people, things, information, and places due, in part, to the increasing porosity of global barriers.

Globalization8

Pakistani enclaves in London). Furthermore, places (e.g. airports, shopping malls) themselves have become increasingly like fl ows (for more on this and the transition from “ spaces of places ” to “ spaces of fl ows ” see Castells 1996 ).

Even with all of this increasing fl uidity, much of what would have been consid- ered the height of global liquidity only a few decades, or even years, ago now seems increasingly sludge - like. This is especially the case when we focus on the impact of the computer and the Internet on the global fl ow of all sorts of things. Thus, not long ago we might have been amazed by our ability to order a book from Amazon. com and receive it via an express package delivery system in as little as a day. That method, however, now seems to operate at a snail ’ s pace compared to the ability to download that book in minutes on Amazon ’ s Kindle system (a wireless reading device to which books and other reading matter can be downloaded).

“ Heavy ” and “ Light ”

There is another set of conceptual distinctions, or metaphors, that are useful in thinking about globalization. In addition to the change from solids to liquids, we can also think in terms of change that involves movement from that which is heavy to that which is light (this is another distinction traceable to the work of Zygmunt Bauman).

The original Gutenberg bible (in mid - fi fteenth - century Germany) was usually published in two volumes, ran to close to 1,400 pages, and was printed on very heavy paper or vellum. It was in every sense of the term a heavy tome (almost like the one you are now reading), diffi cult, because of its sheer weight and bulk, to transport. Fast forward to 2006 and a much lighter bound copy of the bible could easily be purchased from Amazon.com and transported in days via express mail virtually anywhere in the world. By 2007 that bible had become weightless since it could be downloaded using the Kindle system.

More generally, it could be argued that both pre - industrial and industrial societies were quite “ heavy, ” that is, characterized by that which is diffi cult to move. This applies to those who labored in them (e.g. peasants, farmers, factory workers), where they labored (plots of land, farms, factories), and what they pro- duced (crops, machines, books, automobiles). Because of their heaviness, workers tended to stay put, and what they produced (and what was not consumed locally) could be moved, especially great distances, only with great effort and at great expense. Later advances, especially in technology, made goods, people, and places “ lighter, ” easier to move. These included advances in both transportation and technology that made all sorts of industrial products smaller, lighter, and easier to transport (compare the netbook computer of today to the room - size computer of the mid - twentieth century).

Karin Knorr Cetina ( 2005 : 215) has written about what she calls “ complex global microstructures, ” or “ structures of connectivity and integration that are global in scope but microsociological in character. ” She has described fi nancial markets (Knorr Cetina and Bruegger 2002 : 905 – 50) in these terms and, more recently, global

9Globalization

terrorist organizations such as al - Qaeda. We will have more to say about these global microstructures (see Chapter 10 ), but the key point here is that while Knorr Cetina sees these global microstructures as having several characteristics, of primary importance is their “ lightness ” in comparison to “ heavy ” bureaucratic systems. Thus, unlike the armed forces of the United States, al - Qaeda is not a heavy bureau- cratic structure, but rather a light “ global microstructure. ” It is al - Qaeda ’ s (as well as the Taliban ’ s in Afghanistan) lightness that gives it many advantages over the extremely cumbersome US military, and the huge bureaucracy of which it is part, and this helps account, at least so far, for the latter ’ s inability to suppress al - Qaeda or to catch Osama bin Laden.

It could be argued that we moved from the heavy to the light era in the past century or two. However, by about 1980, we can be said to have moved beyond both of those epochs. We are now in an era that is increasingly defi ned not just by lightness, but by something approaching weightlessness. That which is weightless, or nearly so, clearly moves far more easily (even globally) than that which is either heavy or light. The big changes here involved the arrival and expansion of cable and satellite television, satellite radio, cell phones, PDAs, and, most importantly, the personal computer and the advent of the Internet (and networking sites such as Twitter). It is with the personal computer and the Internet that globalization reaches new heights in terms of the fl ow of things and of social relationships, in large part because they, and everything else, have approached weightlessness.

An excellent example of this can be found in the world of music. Vinyl records were quite heavy and the shift to cassettes and later CDs did not make music much lighter. However, the creation of advanced technologies such as iPods and cell phones allows us to carry around thousands of once very heavy albums in our pockets. We can carry that music with us anywhere in the world and we can exchange music over the Internet with people around the globe.

Of course, there are still many heavy things in our increasingly weightless world. Factories, offi ces, buildings, large and cumbersome machines (including MRI machines), newspapers, hardback books, and even some people (made “ heavy ” by, for example, minority status, poverty, a lack of education) continue to exist. All, of course, are nevertheless being globalized to some degree in one way or another, but their weightiness makes that process more cumbersome and diffi cult for them. For example, the global parcel delivery systems (e.g. FedEx) have become very effi cient, but they still need to transport a physical product over great distances. Clearly, that process is still quite weighty, in comparison to, say, the downloading of weightless movies from Netfl ix (a website that began by allowing members to receive heavier DVDs via snail - mail). In fact, of course, it is increasingly the case that that which is weightless (e.g. iTunes and downloadable music in general, downloadable movies, blogs) is destroying that which is comparatively heavy (e.g. the CD, the DVD, newspapers).

The ideas of increasing liquidity and weightlessness being employed here do not require that the world be “ fl at ” or be considered as such (Friedman 2005 ). Fluids

Globalization10

can seep through all sorts of tall and wide structures and, in the case of a fl ood, those structures can even be washed away (as was the Berlin Wall, for example, and more metaphorically, the Iron Curtain), at least temporarily. Further, that which is weightless can waft over and between the tallest and widest structures. Thus, the world today is increasingly characterized by liquidity and weightlessness, but it is not necessarily any fl atter than it ever was. Those tall, wide structures continue to be important, especially in impeding (or attempting to impede) the movement of that which is solid and heavy. It is less clear how successful these structures will be in impeding that which is liquid, light, or weightless.

The most obvious of such structures are the borders (Crack 2007 : 341 – 54; Rumford 2007 : 327 – 39) between nation - states and the fact that in recent years we have witnessed the strengthening (heightening, lengthening, etc.) of many of those borders. Similarly, the Chinese government has sought to restrict the access of its citizens to at least some aspects of the Internet that the government feels are dan- gerous to its continued rule. The electronic barrier that the government has con- structed is known as the “ Great Firewall ” (French 2008 : A1, A6). (A fi rewall is a barrier on the Internet; the idea of the “ Great Firewall ” plays off China ’ s Great Wall.)

The huge “ digital divide ” in the world today (Drori and Jang 2003 : 144 – 61), especially between North and South, is another example of a barrier. The relative absence in the South of computers and the supporting infrastructure (telephone and broadband connections) needed for a computerized world creates an enormous barrier between the North and the South. In terms of computerization, the world may be increasingly fl at (although certainly not totally fl at) among and between the countries in the North, but it has many hills in the South and huge and seemingly insurmountable mountain ranges continue to separate the North from the South.

The history of the social world and social thought and research leads us to the conclusion that people, as well as their representatives in the areas in which they live, have always sought to erect structural barriers to protect and advance them- selves, and to adversely affect others, and it seems highly likely that they will continue to do so. Thus, we may live in a more liquefi ed, more weightless, world, but we do not live in a fl at world and are not likely to live in one any time soon, if ever. Even a successful capitalist, George Soros, acknowledges this, using yet another metaphor,

in his analysis of economic globalization when he argues: “ The global capitalist system has pro- duced a very uneven playing fi eld ” (Soros 2000 : xix, italics added).

“ Heavy ” Structures that Expedite “ Flows ”

The liquefaction of the social world, as well as its increasing weightlessness, is only part of the story of globalization. As pointed out already, another major part is the fact that many heavy, material, objective structures continue to exist and to be created in the globalized world. Some are holdovers from the pre - global world, but

Economic globalization : Growing economic linkages at the global level.