The Modernization Theory, The Dependency Theory And The Globalization Theory

This is how the three time Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Friedman described today’s globalization. No one can deny that the advent of policy developments and information technology has tremendously improved the interaction and integration among nations, as manifested by the drastic changes in international trade, investment, and migration. For instance, cross-border trade has increased by almost 20 times since 1950. Likewise, based on the World Investment Report, global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows rose by 9% in all socio-economic groups including developed, developing, and transition economies. This upward trend is projected to propagate over the next three years.

According to Osterhammel and Petersson, globalization “summarizes a wide spectrum of experiences shared by many people” (2). I agree with this statement and would go on to claim that globalization is a group of processes and events, some beneficial and some harmful, that have resulted in the spread of networks across the world. However, this spread of networks did not happen over night. This is in part because not all interactions are transformed into networks, as these require a certain degree of longevity. In order for interactions to become networks, groups must consider the range between each other and their interactions must be important or impactful, intense, fast, durable, and frequent. For the reason that each of these characteristics must be present in order for networks to form, globalization has been in the works for many centuries and is still at work today. Therefore, while the historical events and processes of past centuries have provided the roots of globalization, the modernization of recent decades has built upon these roots to connect the world in a way

Another important factor is wealth and economy. Canada, geographically, is the second largest country and home to a tremendous amount of resources. The entire country of Canada is basically scattered reservoirs of resources. In Alberta, there are huge reserves of oil and in BC, lumber is a booming industry. Mining in Ontario and fishing in the Maritime Provinces are just some more examples of abundance of resources. Manufacturing is also an industry that contributes to the Canadian economy, and ultimately, to Canadian wealth. In many developing nations, their economy is not even industrialized; they have no means of making any goods to sell internationally. Furthermore, many developing nations to not have the resources like Canada, and the resources that they do have might be in little or zero demand. As a result, the developing world does not have a natural reservoir of resources nor can they industrialize to make goods. The end result is zero wealth and a very poor economy.

The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology defines inequality as ‘the unequal distribution of opportunities, rewards, and power among and between individuals, households and groups’(1). It goes on to say that ‘the subfield of social stratification has as its main task the description and analysis of inequalities, or the makeup of the stratification system of any given society’.(1) From this one definition, we can already begin to see the strong links that lie between inequalities and social stratification. As we delve deeper into the topics, we can begin to see both the inevitability and the functionality of stratification

Technology has made the world a smaller place. Recent innovations in jets, satellites, and computers have made communication across the globe faster. People are now able to travel to any destination they want in less than a day, so why can’t businesses travel as well? Globalization intends to answer that question. New technology has increased worldwide trade and investment by allowing more companies to trade at a faster rate. Thomas Friedman considers globalization to be “farther, faster, cheaper, and deeper than ever before” (9). Multinational corporations that have entered globalization can now trade their business wherever labor is the cheapest.

According to Information System Today, (2014); Globalization will fall under all the categories of technology that move around the world “the greater international movement of commodities”. Globalization has change all aspect on how we do things, from ecumenical changes, cultural changes to technological changes. We are able to manage various things around the world with the comfort of our home (Schneider & Valacich, 2014). A perfect example of globalization would be the following: Leaving in Texas but having your clients or major business deals in Puerto Rico and been able to do it all from her home in Texas without having to do much traveling or no traveling at all. Been able to have conferences and meeting with different people around the

In most cases U.S. citizens who are in poverty are in relative poverty in relation to the rest of the U.S. population; whereas in the world as a whole a greater number of people are in absolute poverty and are barely able to survive on their income, or wages and earnings, and they have very little to no wealth since it is impossible to save any of their money. Ethnocentrism makes it difficult to obtain a clear picture of the conditions of poverty and inequality in other nations and cultures. There are many theories concerning the causes and solution for poverty in the global economy. The two major theories are the modernization theory which explains inequality in terms of technological and cultural difference between nations, and the dependency theory which explains poverty in terms of the historical exploitation of poor, or low-income, nations by rich, or high-income, nations. This theory has manifest itself in a new way in today’s world in the form of neocolonialism; economic exploitation by multinational corporations.

A process known as globalisation links different countries around the world together through different ways such as trade, investment, migration, internet, social media etc. Global trading is a major aspect of globalisation where different countries import and export goods and services with other countries. Globalisation has significantly changed over the past 30 years. Economies of scale has led to an increase in the production of goods, thus, created the need for expansion of markets beyond domestic boundaries. In addition to merchandise, various types of services are rendered to customers globally. This includes IT support, tourism, financial services etc. Globalisation has led to an upsurge in trade, multinational corporations, greater dependence on global economy, and easier movement of capital, goods and services and

However, globalization developed international contacts and made it possible to cooperate on the global scale. As a result, nowadays, basically due to the high level of development of IT and Internet, specialists physically living in different countries of the world may work on one and the same product. So, it may be said that globalization “eliminated geographical boundaries between countries” (Gomory 2002:187).

Globalization is difficult to simply define due to the variety of changing definitions that have been established over previous decades. Hamilton and Webster (2012) suggest that globalization is the connection between nations, defining globalization as a process in which barriers are reduced in order to encourage exchanges between countries. This view proposes that globalization refers very much so to the trade barriers and the improved communications between countries in order to ensure the world is unified. Globalization increases economic activity across the world and opens up markets for foreign investment.

1. What are the main differences between modernization theory and dependency theory? Does the human development approach represent a radical departure from both?

The practice of world trade amongst countries has taken over the rate of domestic production. It has led to the free flowing of money across national borders, which opens doors for companies and investors to seek for best rates for financing anywhere across the globe. Such trend is known as globalization and Cullen & Parboteeah (2008) defines globalisation as the worldwide trend of borderless and interlinked world economies, and companies no longer restrain by domestic boundaries and possibly conduct any business activities throughout the globe.

Globalization is the increasing interdependence and connectedness of the world, its businesses and it markets, as well as flow of goods, ideas, technology, people etc. This phenomenon has increased vastly over the years due to technological advances, telecommunications and internet. As the world becomes a global economy, countries have the opportunity to advance more but with the catch that there is also increased competition. Thus as it becomes more common and powerful a feature, it also has some resistance as well. (InvestorWords, n.d.)

People around the world are more connected to each other than ever before. Information and money flow quicker than ever. Products produced in one part of a country are available to the rest of the world. It is much easier for people to travel, communicate and do business internationally. This whole phenomenon has been called globalization. Spurred on in the past by merchants, explorers, colonialists and internationalists, globalization has in more recent times been increasing rapidly due to improvements in communications, information and transport technology. It has also been encouraged by trade liberalization and financial market deregulation.

Globalization became a worldwide phenomenon with the growth of market economy and information technology. With globalization, the operators of companies and enterprises could use resources, management, expertise, information and labour of the entire world to manufacture the goods in the most appropriate areas, and then sell the produce to the areas which require them, to accomplish the most favourable distribution of resources in the world. This caused enterprises and countries to break out the boundaries of the local resources and markets, starting a competition with others in a broader sense to accomplish development. Globalization brings states and regions together by reducing the distances between each other and increasing the degree