George Ritzer's Contemporary World, Summaries of Contemporary History

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The Contemporary World Module 3 Reading 3.1: Theorizing Globalization Imperialism Broad concept that describes various methods employed by one country to gain control of another Exercises control (political, economic, and territorial) over the county/ies Term came from Roman imperium First associated with domination and political control over neighboring nations Empire Derived from imperium; used to describe political forms that had characteristics of Roman Rule Great power of leader Huge chasm between power of the ruler and the ruled Associated with rulership over vast geographic spaces and people who live there; associated with globalization Trade, migration, communication existed Term came into widespread in the late 19" century as Germany, Italy, Belgium, Great Britain, France, the US, competed for control over previously undeveloped areas Came to negative connotation beginning with the Boer War; questions were raised if there was a need for political and cultural control by imperial powers Vladimir Lenin First leader of Soviet Union; important early theorist of imperialism He said: economic nature of capitalism leads capitalistic economies, and dominated nation- states, to seek out and control distant geographic areas Control over foreign markets and foreign investments was needed to provide resources for capitalist industries; also to create new markets Sees imperialism as a parasitic system and one that was part and reflected the decay of capitalism Criticisms There are several arguments against the view that imperial is purely economic; the flow of profits to dominant countries was not great as assumed Imperialism had much more to do with European politics and competition among European nation-states European sense of superior culture and belief; gave right to exploit and civilize the ‘less developed’ Capitalist Imperialism - New imperialism - Imperialism has been changed by a far mor subtle and complex network of global political/economic/ cultural processes that are exercising a new form of control, better (Hardt & Negri, 2000) - Contradictory fusion of economics and politics; US is prime representative (Harvey, 2003) Colonialism - Creation by the colonial power of an administration in the area that has been colonized to run its internal affairs - More specific that Imperialism - Involves settlers; much more formal mechanisms of political control - Two great ages: European powers and Modern Phase Difference between Colonialism and Imperialism: Edward Said: imperialism means the practice, theory, and attitudes of a dominating metropolitan center ruling a distant territory; Lenin: political control Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin: colonialism is implanting settlements in a distant country; Lenin: more defined by economic control Decolonization - Process of revealing and dismantling colonialist power in all its forms - Involves hidden aspects of those institutional and cultural forces that maintained colonialist power and that remain after political independence - Movements began to succeed with greater frequency as the 20" century unfolded - Followed by the period of neo- colonialism Neo-colonialism existence because of the state Neo-Marxian Theories Leslie Sklair: Transnational Capitalism Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri: Empire, involves global dominance without a nation-state at its center, decentered global dominance Empire is a far more subtle and complex network of global, political, economic, cultural processes than imperialism, which are exercising a new form of control Reading 3.2: Ideologies of Globalization Introduction Ideology Systematic and encompassing political belief system that speaks to people in powerful convincing stories and narratives of truth about life, society, and culture Way of believing Helps know what is true or not A strong discourse (Bordieu and Bauman) Globalism is difficult to resist because it relies on the widespread belief that its prescriptive program is derived from an objective description of the real world Judith Butler: the constant repetition, public recitation, and performance of an ideology’s core claims tend to have the capacity to produce what they name Dogma the conceptual units and ideological claims with specific meanings often accepted by people in society without being questioned, something held as an established authoritative option Configuration arrangement of the core concepts into a “pattern” that links them with other concepts in a meaningful way Hegemony the degree of dominance or the power and influence associated with an ideology or a dominant group Points to remember in the study of ideologies: 1. political belief systems are ephemeral constellations whose shifting morphologies demand period scholarly reassessments 2. reappraise antiquated popular and conventional classification systems that might obscure more than they illuminate - one must be willing to entertain the possibility of ideological transformations, and thus be prepared to rethink, revise, and perhaps replace outdated conceptual morphologies that no longer capture the dynamics of current political belief systems 3. it requires considerable intellectual imagination to redraw old ideological boundaries and to reconfigure ideological systems Semantic and Political Roles Semantic Trying to convince us that they are right and that they speak the truth. Ideologies become devices for coping the interdeterminacy of meaning Political Need to decontest the concepts that they use because they are instruments that shape collective social decisions and actions Is Globalization an Ideology? Freeden It is far too early to pronounce globalization’s status as an ideology Steger Globalism not only represents a set of political ideas and beliefs coherent enough as a new ideology, but it is also the dominant political belief system of our times Globalization: Process, Condition, or Ideology? Freeden: not an ideology but a range of processes or global flows Steger: not just an ideology but is the belief of our times; dimensions: ethnoscapes, technoscapes, mediascapes, finanscapes, and ideoscapes Steger coined three terms: 1. Globalization Unprecedented compression of time and space as a result of political, economic, and cultural changes as well as powerful technological innovations (process) 2. Globality Future social condition characterized by thick economic, political, and cultural interconnections and global flows 3. Globalism A rising political belief or ideology which associates globalization with expanding free markets and norms and values that seek to cultivate consumerist behaviors and identities among billions of people around the world Sic Cores Claims of Globalism 1. Globalization is about the liberalization and global integration of markets 2. Globalization is inevitable and irreversible 3. Nobody is in charge of globalization 4. Globalization benefits everyone (in the long run) . Globalization furthers the spread of democracy in the world . Globalization requires a global war on terror