Negative Impacts of Globalization - Assignment Example

?The negative impacts of globalization Introduction The world has grown as a global village over the centuries, resulting in increased integration ofthe different cultures. Advanced technology has removed the intercultural differences. Businessmen in one country study and explore the culture of a different country in order to be able to better interact with the businessmen in that country by respecting their cultural norms and values. Globalization has added dimensions to all kinds of fields which people avail to intermingle with one another in a better way. Although globalization is generally talked about in a positive manner and the positive consequences are overemphasized upon, yet the fact that globalization has exposed the world to a whole range of challenges cannot be denied. This paper discusses the potential negative effects of globalization. The negative impacts of globalization Increase in unemployment One of the most frequently debated consequences of globalization is outsourcing. As more and more people from the developing countries migrated to the advanced economies, employers in the host countries started to take benefit of it by offering jobs to migrants instead of the local citizens. This saved them the cost of business as the migrants agreed to work upon salaries significantly lower than what a local candidate with the same level of competencies and abilities would ask for. Migrants are “ready to work at one-fifth of what someone in developed world may call 'low-pay'” (Pillai, 2011). A vast majority of such migrants come from such countries as India and China to the advanced countries like Canada and the USA. A lot of people in the developing countries are competent in spoken English and are eligible to serve in many areas including the customer service field. While globalization has brought fortune for the migrants as well as their home countries in terms of remittance, the local citizens of the developed countries are very upset and often outraged upon the increasing tendency of the employers to replace them with the migrant workers. They feel like their jobs are being taken away. Many of them accuse the migrants for the socioeconomic issues that keep surfacing in their countries from time to time. Mismatch between work load and salary There is a significant percentage of migrants who have reached the advanced countries through illegal channels. Such people are ready to work in the host countries at any cost. Employers take advantage of their situation and make them take a lot of work-load for a minimal wage. “Women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours, produce half of the world’s food, but earn only ten percent of the world’s income, and own less than one percent of the world’s property” (members.tripod.com, n.d.). Although many migrants are earning much more than they did in their home countries, yet they have to go through very tough circumstances on daily basis in order to maintain their living in the host countries. Spread of racism This issue is linked with the one just discussed. A lot of people in the developed countries are not satisfied with the quality of customer service they receive from the migrant workers. They either express problems understanding them and accuse them of not speaking English with reasonable competence, or complain that the worker offended them because of his/her lack of awareness of the cultural and social norms and values of the host country. Such encounters between migrant workers and the indigenous people have “caused a lot of animosity among people and has added to the dissent that people already have against outsourcing” (Pillai, 2011). Most of the issues are unnecessarily overemphasized upon. These kinds of problems lay basis for racism that is often complained of in the developed countries. Decline of developing countries Many people are of the opinion that globalization has benefited the developing countries by enabling their citizens to earn money abroad and send to their homelands as remittances, but very few of them realize the damage globalization does to the developing countries by taking their most eligible and talented students out of their hands. A vast majority of the most talented and capable students in the developing countries leave their homelands in search of a better future. They seek higher education in foreign countries. There are a lot of opportunities of professional growth for such capable and talented people in the advanced countries utilizing which, they establish themselves there and never return to their homelands. Over the decades, this practice has created a talent and skill gap in the developing countries as they have been deprived of their most talented students. On the other hand, advanced countries are being saturated with talented people from all over the world. Hence, developing countries are in a very unfortunate situation not just because they are being constantly deprived of people capable of bringing positive changes in them, but also because the developed countries are advancing at such a pace that makes it nearly impossible for the developing countries to ever come parallel to them. Increase of poverty Globalization has widened the gap between the rich and the poor. One of the most fundamental reasons of the spread of poverty is that resources from the developing countries are being consumed by the more powerful advanced countries. Even the people of the poor countries are playing a role in it. For example, thousands of students from developing countries migrate to advanced countries for higher education, taking all the money they have with them to pay the tuition fee abroad. This is causing the economic strength of their home countries to decline and that of the host countries to improve. “There is a continuing transfer of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of resources (financial and material) from the poor to the rich persons and countries, due to unfair trade, debt services, transfer payments for technology, patents and as profits from investments” (Balasuriya, n.d.). Consequently, rich people have become richer and poor people have become so poor that they often don’t get meals. Growth of child labor and slavery Many people consent that globalization is one of the root-causes of the spread of slavery in the world. People in countries where the situation of law and order is not very strong have adopted child labor as a means of profitability. Officials are bribed to keep the child labor going. Globalization has also caused an increase in the unethical work practices including work overloading and unpaid over-timing at the workplace. “The mixture of corporate capitalism and Western culture models is dissolving family and community social controls as witnessed by higher rates of family violence, rape, divorce, and family breakdown” (members.tripod.com, n.d.). Increase in health issues Globalization has also caused a spread of the threats to health. Today, such fast food restaurants as McDonalds and KFC can be visited in even the remote areas of the world. People’s eating habits have changed for the worse. More and more people have included foods very high in calories and fat in their daily menu and the percentage of people consuming healthy organic food is decreasing day by day. As a result of this, a lot of people have become overweight and obese. The obesity has brought many unwanted changes in the life of people. Obesity not only lowers their self-esteem but also renders them ineligible for competition in the tasks and jobs that are physically demanding. “Apart from the health concerns, there is something else that globalization has been criticized for, and it is the accusation that it has opened floodgates for restaurants and eateries which are insensitive to the religious beliefs of the host nation” (Pillai, 2011). Spread of fatal diseases Several fatal diseases were originally confined to particular regions. For example, AIDS started from the Sub-Saharan Africa and has now spread all across the world. The number of people suffering from AIDS is increasing all over the world. Globalization caused a virus that emerged from a jungle to infect people distributed everywhere in the world. Globalisation is both midwife to the spread of the disease, as modern travel facilitates rapid dissemination of HIV infection across national borders, and, through concerted global action, triumphant conqueror over its devastating impact and expansion. Despite poorer countries having ever greater access to money, effective and affordable interventions, and technical support, the epidemic continues unabated in many of the resource-constrained regions of the world. (Coovadia and Hadingham, 2005). Dilution of cultures Globalization has caused cultures to fade away. In the past, every culture had its distinct characteristic features which served as the defining elements of those cultures. As people from different cultures have come together in the present age as a result of globalization, they have adopted one another’s habits as well as elements of cultures. This has caused a spread of cultures but with a decline in the individuality and originality of cultures. Although many cultures still retain their distinct features, but the differences are not as prominent as they used to be few centuries before. Americanization of the world Globalization has not only caused the cultures to merge, but has also caused one particular culture to spread much more than the rest. Many people consent that the world has been Americanized as a result of globalization. People who are citizens of countries whose first language is not English speak English even in their home countries. They follow the trends of American fashion. They style like Americans, eat like Americans and to much extent, live like Americans. “A definition of globalization as “Americanization” or, perhaps, the "McDonaldization," of the world presents globalization as a process driven by American consumer culture that rolls over other cultures” (Rothenberg, 2003, p. 2). Moral denigration of nations Globalization has caused nudity to spread in the world in the name of fashion and glamour. Today, media has become a source of entertainment even in the most conservative societies in the world. People gain influence from media which is gradually causing a social change to take place. Spread of terrorism Globalization has contributed to the spread of terrorism and violence in the world. Although globalization is not solely the cause of the US wars with Iraq and Afghanistan, yet it certainly has played an important role in their occurrence. With the spread of globalization, several countries increased their collaboration with one another and several countries increased in enmity. The growth of relations between any two countries raised concerns in many others which assumed that their social and political conditions were affected in a negative way. Conclusion Concluding, globalization is the reason why world has changed for the worse in so many ways. Globalization has made people jobless in their own countries. People who have migrated from the developing countries are having a tough time taking the load of work in foreign countries for a very low wage. They are exposed to racism in the host countries. Many people live like third class citizens in the foreign countries in an attempt to earn more money and live a better life than most people do in their home countries. Talented people migrating to advanced countries are causing their home countries huge loss. They grow up consuming the resources of the developing country and when it is time for them to serve their country and make some positive contribution for changing the circumstances for the better, they leave the country only to make it all the more difficult for it to compete with the advanced countries. Globalization has faded their indigenous cultures away which has in turn, challenged their religious and cultures norms and values. Globalization has caused violence and terrorism to spread far and wide. Along with that, there has been a spread in different kinds of fatal diseases. Had it been managed appropriately, globalization had tremendous tendency to create wealth and prosperity both in the home and the host countries, but inadequate management has caused the corruption to grow and the money to be accumulated by specific groups. References: Balasuriya, T n.d., Globalization and Human Solidarity, viewed, 27 January 2011, . Coovadia, HM and Hadingham, J 2005, HIV/AIDS: global trends, global funds and delivery bottlenecks, Globalization and Health, Vol. 1, No. 13, doi:10.1186/1744-8603-1-13. members.tripod.com n.d., Negative Effects of Globalization, viewed, 27 January 2011, . Pillai, P 2011, Negative Effects of Globalization, viewed, 27 January 2011, . Rothenberg, LE 2003, The Three Tensions of Globalization, Globalization 101, No. 176, viewed, 27 January 2011, . Read More