Thesis B - Globalization and its Fans
What is globalization, anyway?
If there’s one thing that I learned in this class, it is that globalization will not and cannot be confined to a strict definition. It applies to a set of processes that seem to be omni- and ever-present.
Still, people try to concisely define globalization. The reason that it is so difficult to define, though, is that it seems everyone everywhere has a theory on it or integrates it into a field of study. In my research I came across numerous texts on forest preservation and globalization, marine life and globalization, and religion and globalization; each text or article offered its own definition. For the purposes of this paper, I used the explanation provided by Manfred Steger, Professor of Politics and government at Illinois State University, in his text Globalization: A Very Short Introduction: “globalization is best thought of as a set of as a multidimensional set of social processes that resists being confined to any single thematic framework” (xi).
Anyone who read The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman probably got the hint that he is pro-globalization. As a fan of the phenomenon, he is a prime figure for the idea that globalization is an inescapable force that is at once brilliant and beneficial. There are many people who agree with his theory on the subject. They support the efforts that supporters of globalization have made to connect with countries worldwide and gain from them.
These supporters avidly argue that we should continue to diminish the borders that exist between nations and their cultures.
