Globalisation
MAN 3350: COMPARATIVE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
GLOBALISATION
Towards a Definition
Globalisation has become a buzz-word for political, economic, sociological and environmental trends that are said to present world-wide challenges. We need to be careful about how the word is used – and why.
Two accounts of globalisation that some of you will have seen before:
“the process that reduces barriers between countries, thereby encouraging closer integration of economic, political and society activity. Economic aspects are the most important.” (Frenkel and Peetz:1998:282)
“Globalisation is a word suitable for a world without illusions, but it is also one that robs us of hope.” (Wiseman:1998:11)
A single definition can be problematic because the word is used in a number of senses and interchangeably with ‘global restructuring’. Broomhill (1995:40) states that
“Some might suggest that the term global restructuring has become rather meaningless. For some it is seen as the cause of everything that’s wrong with our economies. For others, the internationalisation (or ‘liberalisation’) of the global economy is seen as the basis of an unprecedented era of growth and prosperity for all economies.”
We might even see that the meaning of globalisation has both material and ideological connotations. Robertson (1992) (cited in Hall and Hartley:1995:71) suggests that it is a concept “that refers both to the compression of the world and the intensification of the consciousness of the world as a whole.” Materially, the world is said to have shrunk and ideologically ideas about globalisation and its effects have become more concentrated, more accessible and more imperative. We need to question the way in which the word is used, whether or not globalisation was inevitable and, indeed, whether or not certain phenomena in our economic, social and work lives are a direct result of globalisation or if globalisation is used as
GLOBALISATION
Towards a Definition
Globalisation has become a buzz-word for political, economic, sociological and environmental trends that are said to present world-wide challenges. We need to be careful about how the word is used – and why.
Two accounts of globalisation that some of you will have seen before:
“the process that reduces barriers between countries, thereby encouraging closer integration of economic, political and society activity. Economic aspects are the most important.” (Frenkel and Peetz:1998:282)
“Globalisation is a word suitable for a world without illusions, but it is also one that robs us of hope.” (Wiseman:1998:11)
A single definition can be problematic because the word is used in a number of senses and interchangeably with ‘global restructuring’. Broomhill (1995:40) states that
“Some might suggest that the term global restructuring has become rather meaningless. For some it is seen as the cause of everything that’s wrong with our economies. For others, the internationalisation (or ‘liberalisation’) of the global economy is seen as the basis of an unprecedented era of growth and prosperity for all economies.”
We might even see that the meaning of globalisation has both material and ideological connotations. Robertson (1992) (cited in Hall and Hartley:1995:71) suggests that it is a concept “that refers both to the compression of the world and the intensification of the consciousness of the world as a whole.” Materially, the world is said to have shrunk and ideologically ideas about globalisation and its effects have become more concentrated, more accessible and more imperative. We need to question the way in which the word is used, whether or not globalisation was inevitable and, indeed, whether or not certain phenomena in our economic, social and work lives are a direct result of globalisation or if globalisation is used as