preview

Egalitarianism And Globalization Essay

Good Essays

Globalization, both as an ideology and process, has become the dominant political, economical and cultural force in the 21st century (Steger, 2002, 6). As a social and economic concept, globalization has its roots in neoliberalism which advocates: the primacy of economic growth, free trade to stimulate growth, a free market, individual choice, reduction of government regulation, and global social development based on a western model (Steger, 2002, 9). Although globalization is not a new concept, technological advancements in the last few decades have, for the first time in human history, allowed for real global production, transport and communication. Nowadays, transnational corporations can “produce anything anywhere on the planet and …show more content…

Under such conditions that deny materialistic inequality, egalitarianism cannot be achieved. Even though true egalitarianism is more of an idealistic than a practical concept, countries should nonetheless take steps to reduce the gap between classes (Dyck, 2009). In the unforgiving world of global market competition, governments should make sure that economic gains of the elites also translate into economic gains for the workers by ways of increased taxation and welfare programs (Dyck, 2009).
The role of government and democracy weakens with increased exposure to globalization. Neoliberal theorists, like Adam Smith, believe that the market should work under the principle of homo economicus, in which isolated individuals work only in their self interest (Steger, 2002). Some expand this idea even more by suggesting that economics have a superior position to politics and that the two should always be separate. The application of these ideas raises important questions about the role of the state (Falk, 1999):
Will it function in the future mainly as an instrument useful for the promotion and protection of global trade and investments or will it recover its sense of balance in the globalizing setting so that the success of markets will not be achieved at the expense of the

Get Access