Pros and Cons of Globalization

Pros - Economic Aspect

• Employees of a transnational corporation may be well paid compared to other workers in the country

• Increased investment in developing countries stimulates their economies

• Free trade between nations is established – countries can produce to its strengths and import the goods it needs without the threat of tariffs

• A wide range of products are available at affordable prices due to free trade

• Sharing of technological innovations is fast and fair

Cons - Economic Aspect

• Jobs are being outsourced from developed countries to less developed countries resulting in higher unemployment

• Transnational corporations may have fewer environmental regulations to follow and can pay lower wages – they can ‘shop around’ for best options

• Corporate headquarters are usually located in the USA or western Europe resulting in resentment in the accumulation of economic power

• Transnational corporations are becoming so large they are beyond the power of smaller governments

• Economies are linked due to trade – economic hardship in one country will more greatly affect other nations

• Cultural identity is lost due to mass use of western consumer products and entertainment

• Profits usually do not stay in developing countries – they are returned to developed world

Pros – Cultural Aspect

• Globalizations of communications sees great quantities of information shared around the world

• The best of cultures can be shared and understood on a global scale

• There is more influx of information between two countries, which do not have anything in common between them

• There is cultural intermingling and each other is trying to know about the other’s cultural preferences and in the process of doing so, we are actually coming across things that we like and in the course of time adopt it

Cons – Cultural Aspect

• A small number of private media companies decided what information is to be shared and shape public opinion through sensationalization (bias)

• Media and entertainment impact is westernizing other cultures

• There are some experts who think that globalization; along with the positive aspects is also leading to the incursion of negatives like communicable diseases and social degeneration

Pros – Political Aspect

• Gradually there is a world power that is being created instead of compartmentalized power sectors. Politics is merging and decisions that are being taken, are actually beneficial for people allover the world

• Since we share financial interests, corporate and governments are trying to sort out ecological problems for each other

• International agreements are working towards trying to protect the environment from pollutants that cause global warming, destroying ecosystems, and increasing acidity levels in seas and oceans

• Communications allow for the message of political freedom tyranny in the for of democracy to spread globally

Cons – Political Aspect

• For nations that are at the receiver’s end are also giving up the reins in the ends of a foreign company which might again lead to a sophisticated form of colonization