Globalization and Cultural Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Globalization and Cultural Change - Essay Example There are many convincing arguments both against and in favor of globalization. Those against globalization have one primary concern; they claim that globalization benefits corporations while harming people. It is feared that globalization reduces human rights, harms the environment, undermines sovereignty, and increases inequality. Below are some important points for and against globalization. Strengths and Opportunities: Productivity grows more quickly when countries produce goods and services in which they have a comparative advantage. Living standards can go up faster. Global competition and cheap imports keep a lid on prices, so inflation is less likely to derail economic growth. An open economy spurs innovation with fresh ideas from abroad. Export jobs often pay more than other jobs. Unfettered capital flows give the U.S. access to foreign investment and keep interest rates low. Weaknesses and Threats: Millions of Americans have lost jobs due to imports or production shifts abroad. Most find new jobs--that pay less. Millions of others fear losing their jobs, especially at those companies operating under competitive pressure. Workers face pay-cut demands from employers, which often threaten to export jobs. Service and white-collar jobs are increasingly vulnerable to operations moving offshore. U.S. employees can lose their comparative advantage when companies build advanced factories in low-wage countries, making them as productive as those at home. Anthropology can be very beneficial in the study of globalization if properly organized. Corporations, firms, NGOs, non-profits, governments, universities, policymakers and a host of other entities comprised of humans interact daily in global networks. They are underpinned, for the most part, by a neo-liberal framework constructed in assumptions about rational choices. Many anthropologists study these networks, frameworks and assumptions, grounding them within particular socio cultural contexts. Anthropology, however, has yet to engage in an exploration of its own assumptions, findings and responses to "globalization" in an attempt to integrate our anthropological understanding of these processes, to evaluate the questions that frame research and advocacy and the methods used in carrying these out, and to communicate our contributions in this area of research to our discipline, policymakers and the public. The implications that globalization has on societies is quite extreme, especially in the developing third world nations. For example, Thousands of farms and homes in east and central India are being swallowed up by coal mines financed by the World Bank. The entire village of Balanda was demolished last year by bulldozers. The local villagers were sent to the "resettlement colony" of Handidhua, which lacked drinkable water, electricity, and small businesses promised as part of the $530 million World Bank loan guarantees. These are just few of many severe implications that globalization brings upon the world (Lukas, 2000: 4). But do the benefits out weigh the costs The world is becoming more and more a mixed environment, and all of these different cultures, different people who have grown up in these particular different cultures are coming up against each