GLOBALIZATION

How Does Globalization Affect Society?

How Does Globalization Affect Society?

Introduction

Globalization is an inexorable phenomenon that has impacted the society world over. The affects of globalization are not limited to society only but also include changed in legal and business environment. Globalization is discusses very widely, but there are conflicts when it comes to the definition of globalization. On a very broad level, globalization may be defined as the increase in human activities as well as their impact that span national boundaries (Schor, 1991, p. 73). The human activities in this case can be a realm of social, political, cultural, economic and technological. It even includes biological activity whereby certain diseases may travel from one boundary to another and spread like an epidemic.

The paper discusses the impact of globalization on society as well the legal and business underpinnings of the topic.

Globalization and Society

The phenomenon of globalization dates back centuries and has only aggravated and accelerated over time. Globalization has served to connect the world. This connection and linkage is pregnant with many sundry changes some of which have become a matter of economic and political concerns. Life for people is changing by the day with the changes in society and market dynamics. These changes have come in in the form of advancements in technology, changes in lifestyle and changes in the vision and approach at a larger level. Hence, it would be not be wrong to say that globalization in this sense is an interaction of different societies which leads to great influence and mergers. It is imperative to state here that the changes in society as a result of globalization are both positive as well as negative. However, whether or not the benefits outweigh the losses is still debated (Bhagwati , 2004, p. 16).

The change in the quality of life over the past few decades is striking, to say the least. The affluent countries have benefitted more than the least developed countries. One of the examples to reinforce the claim is the number of primary school enrolments. While 90n percent school age children enrolled for secondary schools, only 20 percent of the total school are population enrolled in the poor countries (Sharma, 2004, p. 27). There is not a gap in education that is received by children but there is also a gap in the child mortality ratios, the same being higher for poor and developing countries on a relative basis.

Because of this reason, many a developmental economist have criticized globalization as only a means to facilitate the predatory activities of the developed nations towards the developing nations. The five primary economic dimensions of globalization are finance, ideas, migration, trade and aid. All these have been affected by globalization and the effect has both pros and cons. It has served to uplift and upgrade the lifestyle for some, while for others it has taken the shape of financial burden.

Having highlighted the economic gap that has widened because of globalization, it is also imperative to discuss the level ...