Globalization: Good or Bad? (Net effect of Globalization)

When I attempt to understand globalization, I look at its effects on the world in positives and negatives. People can argue that this is two flat a view, that there are many grey area effects that cannot be separated into good and bad. I disagree. I believe that the effects of pulling this world together can be both disastrous and productive. We may be able to buy converse shoes anywhere in the world, but is it worth the twenty-one hour workdays a child puts in at a factory? Is it okay for a culture to be wiped out, so that a company can access prime oil fields? We have evolved into a world where something a person does on one side of the world, affects thousands on the other. It is important to consider both viewpoints, that of the positively affected, and that of the negatively. Because there is something running this massive machine we know as globalization, and sure as heck, it isn’t America.

Just imagine a world where you can eat sushi in Texas, McDonalds in Liberia, Levi Outfitters in Mongolia. It’s already happening, and we, the citizens of developed nations, are reaping the benefits. On the pros side of this debate we have unity, global competition, the growth of a capitalistic empire based completely around the consumer. It is the creation of a world where money actually does makes the world go round. Now, every country can compete for the consumer’s interest globally. We can communicate with others across the world, for free, and instantly. This has lead to the creation of new businesses that span several cultures and nations. It has lead to the intermingling of cultures to form a new “superculture” that dominates the entire world. We are becoming uniform, yet diverse, united through our differences in a vast net that spans the world. We promote peace through a union trade and culture. It is the next logical step for capitalism.

Well, its actually the next logical step for those who experience the benefits of capitalism. Its obvious that something is driving this massive force, something is pushing globalization forward. Its something that all those who experience benefits would like to forget and sweep under a rug. The only productive way to provide people with cheap products is to use cheap labor. That means illegal, slave, dirt poor labor, all of which is becoming available on a global scale. There are people in India who work for less than twenty-five cents a day to make clothes and other goods. Even on a slightly higher economic scale, people are losing their jobs to outsourcing. This means that people with half the pay can do twice as much the work, and have it done overnight. In this process we’re replacing cultures, and in some places completely eradicating them. This is developing a society based around working to provide for others, and to survive. All in all, this has just created a larger economic gap between consumer and producer.

All in all? Well I’d have to say that globalization is a good thing. Its good because, even though I can argue the point of a negatively affected person, I am one of the benefices. I am the one who can talk to my friends in NYC for free, and I’m the one that can go to china and buy designer clothes for dirt-cheap. I’m the one that’s going to be using globalization to expand and create new ideas, develop existing ones, and share them all around the world. I would agree that it has a few flaws, and needs to be tweaked a bit for everyone around the world to become a benefice, but at present I’m enjoying the current flattening of the world.