Globalization Myth or Reality?

Abstract

Since the 1960s, the world has witnessed an increasing fragmentation
of the production process across national boundaries; the emergence of
transnational (as opposed to multinational) corporations; the rise of new
social movements; and heightened cross-border flows of capital and
labor. As a result of these developments, scholars and practitioners have
sought to understand what has brought about these changes. Is globalization
the culprit, or is it simply a myth? If globalization is a reality, what
does it entail and how does it affect the realms of economy, polityy and
society? In Paul Hirst and Grahame Thompson’s Globalization in
Question: The International Economy and the Possibilities of
Governance (1 996); James H. Mittelman’s (Ed.) Globalization: Critical
Reflections (1 996); and Malcolm Waters’ Globalization (1 999, the struggle
to answer these questions and many others is undertaken.’
This article critiques the major points presented by each author in
regard to the questions asked above. Each author’s views on globalization
as it relates to the economy, the state, and culture will be examined.
Furthermore, this article will show that while all three works have their
drawbacks and shortcomings, it is recommended that each book be read
to gain an understanding of the wide range of empirical and theoretical
perspectives on globalization. The conclusion will offer suggestions on
areas requiring more in-depth inquiry.
What Is Globalization?
While Mittelman, as well as Hirst and Thompson, discuss globalization
primarily in terms of economic processes, Waters sees globalization
as driven by social or cultural processes. According to him, globalization
is a “social process in which the constraints of geography on social and
cultural arrangements recede and in which people become increasingly
aware that they are receding” (p. 3). Waters contends that in a truly ...