2. A second problem arises when a broad multi-disciplinary concept is replaced by a more narrowly focused term. In this case, globalization is surely a multi-faceted process, not only with deep economic aspects, but also political, social, cultural, environmental, historical and geographical implications, putting into jeopardy all the established boundaries of Social Science By contrast, although capitalism clearly has political connotations, the word's focus on money and entrepreneurship suggests a kind of economic determinism.
Political scientists -- they may want to invert this perspective and ask how public policy decisions influence economic development or may regulate market forces -- are handicapped by the rhetoric of political-economy that typically makes politics a dependent variable. One advantage of globalization is that it overcomes this bias: it permits one to view the planetary spread of trade, markets, and industry as both a consequence and a cause of contemporary world affairs, using the model of circular causation rather than unilinear thinking. When modern states adopt policies that open or restrict the flow of goods, capital, and people, these political decisions have profound economic consequences -- surely political scientists should not rush to conclude that they are predetermined by economic forces.
3. A third problem I see in the program plan involves the assumption that globalization implies "the spread of Western values and institutions". IPSA members from many third world countries are well aware of powerful movements in their own countries that have emerged to combat Westernization and to resist its penetration. Even within the Western world, globalization has spawned movements to revive traditional values and practices and to counteract the more negative aspects of capitalism and materialism. Surely globalization does not compel homogenization -- instead, increasing diversity may be viewed as a normal response to unwelcome global pressures.
It is surely a misunderstanding of globalization to see it as a euphemism for Westernization. Consider some of the older terms like progress and development. Each had strong positive connotations that were rejected by critics who pointed to their unhappy consequences. One of the attractive features of globalization as a replacement for these earlier terms is its value neutrality -- it points to a fact of life in the world today that has both positive and negative consequences. It can, therefore, be studied empirically without presuppositions or any implied determinism. It is as important to explain the causes -- economic, political, social, psychological, geographical and historical -- of globalization as it is to look at its many consequences. One way to interpret this phenomenon rests on a reassessment of Area Studies as a tool for understanding how conquered and liberated peoples respond to the impact of the West in their lives.
4. Speaking terminologically, we can see that globalization is a kind of "shelter" or "umbrella" under which a congeries of overlapping and linked concepts can be subsumed. In context, however, one can use globalization to refer precisely to any one of these concepts but without such contextual markers the word is easily misunderstood. An everyday example might be the word mother which originally, no doubt, referred only to birth mothers, but has cone to include also "step mothers," "foster mothers," "surrogate mothers," etc. When the word is used in a fuzzy way to cover all these diverse relationships, it become highly ambiguous, but the use of more specific terms permits one to focus on different kinds of motherly relationships. In context, therefore, one can use mother to refer precisely to any one of several overlapping concepts, or to any combination of these relationships. Without such indicators, however, the word gives only a fuzzy impression which, of course, may well be all that is needed in a particular situation.
The same is true of globalization. Under the aegis of the International Sociological Association, Henry Teune and I launched a project last year which involved the analysis of texts from the work of many ISA members who had written about "globalization". The results are reported in a document that can beviewed at Concepts . It provided the basis for a Roundtable at the last ISA Congress in Montreal. COCTA plans to replicate that exercise at the Quebec IPSA Congress. Anyone using the term globalization in a research project or in the title of a paper prepared for presentation in Quebec, is invited to participate. Just contact Fred Riggs and express an interest in the project -- if possible, also send a text showing what one has in mind when speaking about globalization. The texts will be copied into a corpus and made the basis for subsequent analysis and discussion by all participants in the project.
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Updated: 14 February 2000
