Sumblog 12

What's Green Got To Do With It?

As we discussed in class, Greenpeace is a non-state political organization, which reinforces the trend we have been writing about for months; the world's organizations are moving from a national to a global stage. Using Greenpeace as an example, it is comprised of members from all over the planet and does not have an affiliation with any particular state. An example of an organization on the  national stage would be the National Wildlife Federation, with a strong association to the United States and members affiliated to their states. The middle ground between these two sides, which we are seeing more and more of as we transition, would be the United Nations where the organization operates on the global stage but its members maintain their state affiliation.

This trend can be seen in this graph depicting the amount of NGOs (non-governmental organization) created each year (the bars) and the total number of NGOs. As time passed before 1966, there were not many NGOs in existence or being created, but once 1966 came around there was a boom in the creation of NGOs. Since that date, the number has been rising and furthering the trend.

 

My opinion of this trend is positive. I feel that as more non-governmental global organizations are created, the world issues will begin to see more exposure and reactions. My once concern is that organizations operating on the national stage will lose power and the power of the world will become too central for dealing with domestic and local issues.

Sumblog 11

One of These Things is Not Like the Other

On the topic of development in Kenya, where the global system is in direct conflict with the local population, the term cultural imperialism has a large role. In this case, cultural imperialism refers to the global influence of the west on the development of other "less developed" areas of the world. Assuming that there is more than one way to develop, this could mean that as one area is taking its own path towards development, the global model of development (which is a mostly western version of development) is being imposed on that country, altering its course. We can see an example of this in the film we have recently viewed in class, where the views of what it means to be poor differs between a Kenyan family and an international farming company. The company had built a new rice farming installation in Kenya which they claimed was bringing needed development into this poor region of Kenya, however, it destroyed some of the livelihoods of these "poor" families. When you look at this from the Kenyan families' perspectives, they are not poor at all. A few of these families were quite rich in terms of livestock and land, which had just been destroyed by the company. The international company saw houses insulated with mud and struggling farmers, where in actuality, there were happy prosperous farmers.

What could be seen as poverty by our definition, could be seen as prosperity by another

I chose the picture (left) to demonstrate that what we see as a lack of wealth (houses made of sticks and tattered novels), could be interpreted differently by other cultures. I see this issue as something difficult to solve. I see the solution as education emphasizing the understanding of other cultures and their perspectives instead of considering only the western ideals. Like many solutions requiring more education, this goal would be almost impossible to achieve on a large scale, however, most of those making decisions with international impact are well educated and a change to the educational system would benefit the globe through its future leaders.

Sumblog 10

What ain't no country I've ever heard of!

Recently, the topic of population came into discussion while talking about the environmental facet of Globalization. There are many different ways of controlling population falling under two main categories: Population Control (pertaining to the births/potential births) and immigration control.


Visual depictions of the effects of China's one child policy.
I chose these three charts in order to demonstrate the effects of
population control on a country's pop. growth and demographics


 

Population control focuses on preventing or even limiting births through voluntary and involuntary methods. Voluntary methods include the promotion of birth control and other forms of family planning. Involuntary methods include sterilization (linked to necessary government aid) and laws only allowing each family to have one child.

Immigration control attempts to limit or restrict the number of people that move across borders and settle down. Some countries create large legal barriers to live, work and act within their borders without citizenship status, while others physically deport immigrants or physically protect their borders.

My take on the issue of population control is that as effective as some government's actions on pop. control may be, countries have often regulated their pop. through social and structural means (i.e. as more people move to the cities, children become less productive, as they were in rural areas, and more of a liability. This often has led to declining fertility). As times and environments change for a country, so should the population. Also birth and immigration policies tend to be very difficult to enforce in my opinion. While it may be hard for a non-citizen to find legitimate work, they may have a very easy time finding illegitimate, unregulated work.

Sumblog 9

A Better Brand of Berger Makes a Nation-State Stronger

In class, we discussed Berger's argument that the strongest cultures have a balance between fundamentalism and relativism. Both fundamentalism and relativism are ideal types, which no culture can be entirely one or the other. That would be impossible! If a culture was entirely fundamental, there would actually be no fundamentalism; without new and changing ideals, the resistance against them (fundamentalism) would not exist. If a culture was completely relativist, there would be no guidelines or ideas of right and wrong. There would be a massive feeling of anomie throughout the culture. This brings it back to Berger's argument; a strong culture is a mix/balance of these two extremes. The culture would exhibit relativism by accepting new, changing ideas and showing tolerance towards the non-traditional. For example, the existence of the sign below, is a testament to America's relativism. It reinforces the relativist idea that a belief in God is not the only way to live, it is not an immutable truth.

 

Fundamentalism would be exhibited by maintaining a set of morals and rules that are held as truths (i.e. our systems of laws; instead of looking at each crime case by case, we have set truths which become our laws). An example of this is depicted in the image below. The idea that "There can be only one!" is itself fundamentalism, because the "one" is seen as the only truth/option.

 

I agree completely with this model/idea of a strong culture. If our country was more fundamentalist, there wouldn't be as many different sects of religion present and accepted as we have today. There could even be only one religion accepted and every other idea practiced would be prosecuted. On the other side of the coin, if America was more relativist, we might not have judicial system. If someone was to commit murder, we might see it as his/her own version of what one can and can't do, instead of deeming it right or wrong.

Sumblog 8

It's a Series of Tubes!

A large portion of this week's lecture/discussion has been the film on Anonymous and other sects branching off of it. Anonymous is a group of people (most of them with vast amounts of computer hacking and programming skills) who had found their shared values, beliefs, etc. in posts on an online forum called 4chan. Through this outlet, they became a globalized culture with their own symbols and language. The group's dynamics were always changing as time went on and the "membership" started to widen even into the domain of activism. Eventually those in the globalized community began to diverge slightly, based on their ideas and values, and formed sub-cultures within the Anonymous/4chan culture. One example of this was Lulzsec; a group with a stronger inclination towards chaos and trying to shake the powers that be.

When you look at how this community formed, it appears to be the definition of culture; It formed solely on the basis of shared values, beliefs and symbols. Anonymous not only shares a huge value placed on freedom of speech and information, but they also share symbols, known as memes (see below), as well as a language (the ridiculously vast amount of Internet slang). Anonymous/4chan also develops over time and takes on different forms based on these developments, whether it is producing a new sub-culture within itself, or shifting from merely pranking to legitimate forms of activism. In my opinion, I would say that Anonymous/4chan is almost an even better example of pure culture than most nation-states.

Top Ten Memes
I choose this somewhat small list of memes in an attempt to recognize that although they are not the kinds of symbols we associate with cultural symbols (I.e. a flag), they are still symbols with a shared meaning for a vast amount of people.

Sumblog 7

They're Teaching Her. . . and Then They're Going to Teach Me! 

Our form of American mass public education is beginning to spread worldwide. Before we had public schools and classrooms where most of the educating took place, there were parents, master crafts-people, other more informal ways or learning. From there we began to educate children in a classroom setting and then we began to require education for everyone. That has become our form of education and it is becoming (if not, it already has become) the standard of education world wide.

For example, the NY Times Article, linked here, explains a push by the UN to provide classrooms and primary education for all children. The mass-education model is beginning to take the place of all other forms of education.

My internal feelings are that diversity is better for the world, meaning that nation-states should have their own forms of education, fitted to the needs of the nation-state. Some may need a larger focus on vocational training for factory and craftsman positions as opposed to learning about topic above the practical needs of the country. On the other side of the coin, my realistic feelings point towards conforming to the global standard of education. I think it's very important in today's global conditions to conform to what the world is considering "developed", if a nation-state does not, they might be left slowly developing while the rest of the world grows at a much faster rate.

A compromise between the two sides of the issue could be to slightly tailor the mass-education model to each nation-state's needs. Some nation-states could educate all of their youth on the secrets of the physical world, while others could focus on building and maintaining small engines or electronics.

Sumblog 6

Make a Nation-State out of Me

This idea of the world-identity, to me, could have some quite interesting consequences. First off, what I drew from our discussion in class is that there is a global identity which acts as a template for all nation-states, old and new. It acts as a mold for new developing nation-states, by guiding the development of said nation-state into the global model of what a nation-state would be. For example, a newly recognized nation-state is pushed towards the global identity's ideal of a developed nation-state (democratic, protective policies, environmental protection, etc.). The global identity can also pressure developed nations into conforming with the global model's values. An example of this can be seen in our own nation-state; although most other "developed countries" have some form universal healthcare coverage, we still have privatized insurance companies providing the majority of the coverage. We are moving towards universal healthcare (as slow going as it is) and will then fit into the global model of developed.

In my opinion, this idea is both beneficial and harmful. Sadly, if new developing nation-states are all developing in line with one model, global diversity of forms of government, policy, etc. will begin to decrease. Problems that re-occur will be solved using the same means, as opposed to using a possibly more efficient solution. 

This image (taken from Pink Floyd's The Wall) depicts my issue with the global identity, nation-states are molded by the global identity into a homogenous, ground beef-like "product".

On the other side of the coin, developing in different ways leaves a lot of room for mistakes and less humanitarian options. Nation-states may develop and have absolutely no environmental regulations or use practices that have been deemed inhumane (i.e. slavery). The developmental process would also take a lot longer without a global model to guide it.

Sumblog 5

Where My Jobs At?
Global inequality has been a huge issue since societies first became interconnected. Some societies had more power than others, some societies were further "developed" than others, and those countries have used their power and development to profit off of other countries. In the past, the Roman Empire used the surrounding tribes; a little more recently, industrialized nations (US, UK, Spain, etc.) used other smaller nations to grow cash crops and provide revenue. Today the formal bonds of colonialism have been broken, however there is still a legacy lingering and global inequality continues.

In my opinion, economic factors are a major player in the retention of these subordinate and dominant roles. First and foremost, as we discussed in class, capitalism is the perfect vessel for inequality; not only does is create losers as much as winners, but it also allows and encourages exploitation. An import characteristic of capitalism is the pursuit of profit, which has often fueled global inequality. We have seen manifestations of this in world systems theory. Often the peripheral countries who house the harvesting of raw materials and the manufacturing process are chosen for their lack of labor laws and workers' protection. This means that these countries often have low wages and the employees can be maintained with little cost to the company. In choosing these countries, the business exploits them by profiting from the legal and cost differences when compared to other core nations. There are also many other causes of global inequality besides the exploitation of countries for profit. I feel that the economic system which is characterized by this practice (capitalism), is one of the major reasons.

To convey a slightly different response to this aspect of the global market, the CATO Institute provides a video with a more factual view of outsourcing labor than we are used to in media sources. It explains the reasons for outsourcing, but their own view of outsourcing shows through as well (which tries to steer away from the inequalities created by this system).

SumBlog 4

Where in the World is World Systems Theory

This week we started to discuss Wallerstein's World Systems Theory what has stuck with me the most are the terms core, semi-periphery, and periphery areas. These terms act as classifications for nations based on the parts of the world economy taking place inside of them. Core areas often house business' headquarters and do little of the actual manufacturing. Periphery areas are where the physical production and harvesting of raw materials take place. The semi-periphery areas land inbetween the two categories; they contain not only distribution and administration  facilities but also manufacturing plants and raw materials.

This typology of nations seems to work well. I can think of plenty of instances where semi-periphery areas have switched to core areas because a business had moved it's manufacturing plants to periphery areas with lower wages and less regulations. America is the first one that comes to my mind. America used to perform a lot of manufacturing with little regulation and low wages, but as time went on, regulations began to develope and companies began to move their manufacturing steps to other countries. This shift "upgraded" our country from semi-periphery to core area.

The image below is an example of this situation where the move of manufacturers has been coined as outsourcing. The image not only shows a movement from America to other semi-periphery and periphery areas, but a movement out of other core areas, such as the western European nations, into those areas as well.

Sumblog 3

Is This Real Life?

In class this week, a huge topic we've trudged through is defining Global Identity. To me, global identity seems to meld together with Global Citizenship, however, I am beginning to see the difference between the two after our discussion.

At first, I thought about Global Identity as being aware and conscious of the world around you (literally meaning the world). Global Identity was knowing who you were and how you affected your global environment. After this week of class, I am beginning to notice that my definition wasn't really about Global Identity but rather Global Citizenship.

I now see Global Identity as more of a self-awareness rather than an awareness of others. I see it as knowing one's heritage and connections around the world rather than basing actions on the world's status. I'm not saying that having a global identity mean that you simply don't care if the world is burning, but that would rather fall under being a global citizen. I guess the largest aspect of Global Identity's definition is understanding your role in the global environment. Whether you have connections all around the world or simply use products and good from all over, you can still have a Global Identity.

To further drive the definition of Global Identity home, I choose a slightly silly picture of a man named Matt immersed in his heritage

As odd as this photo may seem, I would like to think that our good friend Matt is simply connecting to his roots/ancestry. This type of experience would help strengthen his Global Identity by providing him with a global background, with which he can identify himself.

Sumblog 2

Asking All Them Questions

The first reading we discussed in class this week was the Giddens article, which described with two viewpoints of globalization: the skeptics and the radicals. In other words, those who do not believe that the world is turning into one huge community, and those who stand by the idea of globalization. Most in the class stand in the middle of the two sides, a few side with the radical point of view, and even fewer stand by the skeptical point of view.

I lean towards the skeptical side of the argument. I'm not saying that the societies of the world are completely separate and isolated, but I don't feel that the world is or will be completely globalized. There is a great amount of influence and spread of certain aspects of societies, however, these aspects never remain the same once they migrate. As bratwurst came to America, it quickly changed from the traditional German dish into something that is now a main player in American culture. What started as a sausage link, served with a roll and mustard for dipping, became a hand-held, on-the-go, sausage and bun torpedo, topped with anything and everything. Through global trade and emigration, the bratwurst made it all the way to America, but once it arrived, it became something distinctively American and that is my point. Things may link nations and societies together on a global scale, however, these things become absorbed and adapted to such an extent that each society manages to maintain their own unique image.

Maintaining my culinary theme, I have chosen a video of Anthony Bourdain trying the traditional and the not-so-traditional sides of the food in China Town. As the foods and cooking styles of central Asia crossed into the United States, it changed into something completely different. What we consider to be Chinese food, isn't actually that Chinese at all; it has become something unique to America.

Blog 1

Global Sociology? How Does That Work?

In class when the topic/issue of collaborating globally to solve global issues came up, it sounded very straight-forward. Everyone works together, identifies issues, and comes up with solutions for said issues. Once the class started discussing the topic, an armada of issues came forth. One main issue is the huge amount of inequality still surrounding global sociology:

• The International Sociology Association has three main languages; those who do not speak these languages may have to sacrifice portions of their main idea in an attempt to even communicate it.
• Access to sociological communities are often only granted to the privileged with western credentials.
• In some parts of the world, rural sociology is not practiced and this provides a slanted view of rural systems.

These three points describe a very western-based global sociology, which, in my opinion, excludes some of the most interesting and unknown situations. Many countries that are in a state of rapid development (see adjacent chart) are also non-western, and the sociological topics surrounding this state of rapid growth could be overlooked by our current global sociology community. The findings from these topics could provide great insight for what to expect from other rapidly developing countries in the future, but with such inequality, sociologists in these countries may not be able to speak out or present their ideas. This is just one example of why true global sociology is still something to strive for in the future. Luckily, from the readings, it's evident that the issue has been noticed by the global sociologists.