GLOBALIZATION: ORIGIN, CONCEPT, HISTORY, CHARACTERISTICS, EXAMPLES - DUDAS - 2025

The globalization is a process in which different regions of the globe have integrated and constantly interact in such areas as culture, economics, politics or health. It is a general order, common in different countries of the world and that allows the territories to be more interrelated and maintain a bond of dependency.

Over the years, globalization has created a network that grows with the passage of time and is responsible for connecting more quickly and reaching a wide number of regions within the planet.

Globalization has to do with the global interconnectedness of the economy, politics, culture and other areas of society Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

People, goods and services, innovations, money, ideas and even diseases are among the elements that have moved along these connecting routes that globalization has created.

One of the main actors in this phenomenon has been technology, the development of which has allowed a much faster exchange than in any other era prior to the present.

Globalization has such an important role that it is an element of study within any area such as economics, politics or education, since anything that happens in one region of the world has the possibility of influencing another.

Origin

The origin of the term "globalization" is related to the Anglicism "globalization" which comes from the English word globalization. There are those who prefer one term over the other and there is even a tendency to differentiate them, but they have a common origin.

The word globalization is derived from the term globalize. Its first uses can be traced back to the 1940s, however, it is from the late 1980s that it began to become popular within the field of economics and social sciences.

Theodore Levitt, a professor and economist at Harvard Business School, is known as one of those who popularized the term during this time.

Globalization concept

Since the term globalization has gained relevance within various areas of society, there are many definitions that various authors have postulated. However, within them there are usually various aspects in common such as interaction, exchange and integration of elements within the economy, politics, society and other areas.

One of the best known concepts is the one proposed by Anthony Giddens, a renowned British sociologist whose studies have focused on modernity. According to his words:

"Globalization can be defined as the intensification of global social relations, which link distant locations in such a way that local events are shaped by events that occur several miles apart and vice versa" (Anthony Giddens, 1990. p 64).

The relationships that can be generated between two regions can come from different avenues such as trade, politics, technological advances, health and more. Likewise, these links have the ability to shape any region that connects with another.

For example, any discovery in the field of health may influence other countries in the world. The creation of a vaccine against an epidemic can generate a great change in terms of the life expectancy of an affected population.

On the other hand, technology is one of the most outstanding examples of today. The development of platforms such as Facebook, have allowed creating connections between people who live in different places. These links can generate changes like in the economy, since the accelerated growth of electronic commerce has totally shaped the way of selling products and services.

This is how it can be affirmed that globalization is a phenomenon that establishes connections throughout the entire planet and between different regions, allowing an exchange of resources in different areas.

This exchange is capable of causing changes, shaping new structures and modifying both parts of the same link, that is, both the one who exerts the influence and the one who receives it.

Characteristics of globalization

-It is capable of integrating different regions of the planet.

-It can influence various areas such as the economy, education, health and society in general.

-Makes it possible to exchange resources more quickly and in some cases, immediately.

-It is capable of causing changes that occur in one part of the world to generate influence in other more distant regions.

-Born due to the need to exchange resources throughout history.

-Generates interdependence between nations at an economic level, since economic activities are connected between different countries.

-They allow the dissemination of values, beliefs, trends and information capable of shaping and moving groups in society.

-Globalization is the generator of an international political system. In this way, what happens politically within a country is related to what happens internationally and in other nations.

History of globalization

Despite the fact that the term is relatively recent, the truth is that the phenomenon of globalization dates back to remote times in history. It refers to the first journeys of humanity in order to exchange ideas, products, artifacts and designs both in nearby places and in distant regions.

One of the best-known and oldest examples is the Silk Road, a commercial network from the Middle Ages that was responsible for connecting part of East and Southeast Asia with various regions of Europe and Africa in the period between the 50s. C and 250 d. C.

The arrival of the Spanish in America marked another momentous point. The search for new routes by Europeans in the search for spices and silk, fell on the encounter with the New World and generated a new route of exchanges that apart meant an important connection that would mark a great development for the modern era..

However, the Industrial Revolution was the event whose influence has been one of the most accelerated and important in recent centuries. Thanks to the development of machines and transportation routes, the communication process between different places took a faster pace.

The development of trade, migration, the transport of goods, the increase in agriculture and the many technological inventions that were born after this stage modified the way of life of humanity on a world scale. This is how a process that began in England could influence the entire world forever, transforming an economy based on agriculture into an industrialized economy.

Then, at the end of the 20th century, with the arrival of the Information Age, great advances in communications such as satellites, the Internet and the World Wide Web, turned the entire world economic system upside down. Information becomes the core of the economy and the new form of connectivity between people, countries and continents.

This is how today, the world is more interconnected and interdependent.

Globalization of the economy

Economic globalization is a perspective in which international trade is one of the most relevant aspects and it is the one that generates an interdependence between the different economies of the world.

In relation to the current era, information plays a fundamental role since it has relevance in all types of economic activities. Added to this, the development of science and technology is the factor that has most favored expansion, since they have allowed a reduction at the level of transport and communications.

It is this same cost reduction that has allowed a greater field of economic exchange. On the other hand, the time factor also plays an important role, since technology has allowed immediacy in different areas.

These reductions in space and time allow the market and production to be efficiently organized globally.

Political globalization

It refers to the growth of the political system worldwide. Politics were usually viewed from a national level in which rulers looked after the citizens within their territories.

However, globalization has brought with it an order that goes beyond an individual state and integrates the different regions of the world within a global political system.

Cultural globalization

It has to do with the diffusion of ideas, values ​​and customs around the world generating an expansion of social relations.

This process standardizes some cultural expressions. Today, the internet, social networks and electronic commerce are the main resources for the globalization of culture.

Social networks have promoted and accelerated the process of connection between people Image by Erik Lucatero from Pixabay

This is how trends, fashions and other elements related to culture can manifest themselves in different parts of the world and influence people in both their behavior and preferences, thus influencing the culture of a place.

In the globalization of culture there is also the formation of norms or knowledge with which various groups of people can identify individually.

Examples of globalization

On a social level

Ecotourism, a movement that many have joined. People who follow the norms and ideas of ecotourism have started to travel in a different way, sharing their experiences, customs and benefits for the world and in turn, changing the conventional way of doing tourism.

Economically

The reduction of costs when it comes to marketing: at present, shipments of merchandise by ocean, for example, have been reduced by more than 50% in relation to the 1930s. The development of means of transport and new facilities when making purchases, allow a higher volume of sales and a much faster dynamics.

At the political level

Political integrations are examples of systems created between countries as a result of globalization.

For example, the European Union, the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund are systems that unify countries under a series of agreements and can influence the internal politics of each region that comprises them.

This is how any political decision or action that occurs within a place can affect the international political system or the other way around.

At a technological level

Social networks are one of the fundamental examples for globalization. Sharing content immediately and without barriers of time and space allows people to be connected in real time.

In this way, influences can be generated from anywhere in the world that has access to networks.

References

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