1. Identity and Forces of Globalization
Social Studies 10-1 Chapter 2 *

2. Key Terms transnational corporation media concentration
By the end of this chapter you must know the following terms:
transnational corporation
media concentration
media convergence
economies of scale
homogenization
acculturation
accommodation
assimilation
cultural revitalization *

3. Glocal
By definition, the term “glocal” refers to the individual, group, division, unit, organization, and community which is willing and is able to “think globally and act locally.” *

4. What are Forces of Globalization?
The worlds people are becoming more interconnected or globalized through the following:
International trade
Transportation
Communication technology
Media

5. Trade as a Globalizing Force
Goods may be imported into a country or they may be exported from one.
People who live in different parts of the world have connected with one another through trade for thousands of years. People trade with one another to obtain goods and services that are:
Not available in their own region
Better quality or less expensive
Different from goods produced at home
Goods that we consume on a daily basis (bananas, oranges, peppers) are not native to Canada, yet we enjoy them, as well as others because of international trade.

6. Transnational Corporation*
Transnational Corporation
A transnational or multinational corporation is a company that is based in one country, while developing and manufacturing its products, or delivering its goods and service in several other countries.
Examples of transnational corporations are:
Wal-mart
Coca-Cola
McDonald’s
Nike 6

7. Transnationals and globalization
If you ran a transnational corporation, what do you think your three most important goals would be? *

8. Transnational Corporations*

9. Interesting Point
Of the world’s top 500 transnational corporations based on total revenues,
170 are in the U.S,
70 in Japan,
38 in Britain,
38 in France,
35 in Germany and
14 in Canada.

10. Transportation as a Globalizing Force
Transportation is essential for trade.
Over the millennia, various forms of transportation — people, camels, draft horses, carts, ships, trains, trucks,
and planes — have been used to move products to market, the place where
they are sold. *

11. The Box: How the Shipping
Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger *

12. Question?
How does this revolution in transportation affect the price of goods that you buy?
How might this affect your identity as a consumer?
Would it make you want to buy Canadian goods, in order to support your country, or
Would it make you buy from a transnational company because it may be cheaper?

13. Ultimately this invention sped up the globalizing process, by allowing different parts of products to be made in different countries and finally assembled and sold elsewhere.
Example: When making a Barbie doll the hair may be made in Japan, the plastic from Taiwan, the dyes from the United States and it is finally assembled in China.

14. Communication Technology as a Globalizing Force
Computers have revolutionized the way information flows.
Initially computers were expensive and too complex for an average person to operate.
Digital technology has allowed computers to become cheaper, smaller, more powerful and easier to operate.

15. Communication Technology as a Globalizing Force
The Internet and the World Wide Web *

16. Look at the graphs on p47 in the text.
What trends do the statistics reveal?
Do you think the trends shown on the graph will change in the future?
Does access to the web affect your understanding of the world today?
Will the changes predicted affect you in the future?
% of Canadian Households with Internet Access
Growth in number of Web sites on the Internet

17. Media Concentration and Convergence
Two major trends have occurred in media since the 1980s. They are:
Media concentration and
Media convergence
Media Concentration refers to a trend that concentrates ownership of newspapers and other media in the hands of a few large corporations.

18. For example: In Canada CTV Globemedia owns:
“The Globe and Mail” Large Newspaper
CTV, T.V network
Report on Business Television
TSN and
Various radio stations.

19. Media Convergence refers to the use of electronic technology to integrate media such as newspapers, books, TV and the Internet.
For example: people can read their newspaper online opposed to getting a printed version.
They may also watch T.V clip online instead of watching the entire show on T.V

20. How is Identity Affected by Globalization?
The Dimensions of Globalization *

21. A Case Study on the Dimensions of Globalization: Bananas
Canadians eat 3 billion bananas a year-about 100 bananas a person. They are the most popular fruit in Canada after apples. What are some factors that you think make them so popular?

22. Ecuador, bananas, and the economics of globalization
Economic Dimension
Ecuador, bananas, and the economics of globalization

23. Economics of Bananas
Bananas do not grow in Canada. They are imported from developing countries in Central and South America, where they are a source of controversy for many reasons
Banana production is one example of the forces of globalization at work.

24. Economics and Globalization
For most people, price is an important factor in determining the popularity of an item. Bananas are the cheapest fruit sold in Canadian Supermarkets.
Apples, grown in Canada, can cost more than $3/kilo and bananas, shipped km before they can be sold, can be purchased for less than $1.50.

25. Factors Keeping Banana Prices Low
Bananas sold on huge plantations are owned or controlled by transnational corporations. They are thus able to take advantage of economies of scale- savings that come from producing, using and buying things in large quantities.
Banana yields are high due to pesticides. This means that often the supply is greater than the demand. This leads to reduced prices.

26. Factors Cont’d
Transnationals also reduce their costs by controlling many of the ships, containers and warehouses. Transnationals can give themselves a deal and keep the profits.
Labour in Central and South America is cheap and there are few unions. This keeps wages low.

27. Ecuador, Bananas and Economics
Ecuador exports more bananas than any other country.
Ecuadorian bananas are cheap because the cost of producing them is low.
One reason is because Ecuadorian banana workers are the lowest paid in Latin America.

28. Cont’d
In 2002, male banana plantation workers earned about $6.40 Cdn a day. Women were paid less, and children sometimes not at all.
Calculate how much a male banana-plantation worker who spends six days a week on a job would make in a month (Multiply weekly earnings by 4.3).
The government estimates that a Ecuadorian family of 4 needs at least $220 Cdn a month to meet basic needs. How did the worker’s monthly earnings compare with this minimum?

29. Consequences
Laws to protect worker rights in Ecuador are often ignored. Workers who try to form unions are blacklisted and thus cannot work.
Many families must put children to work to survive. Children work an average of 12 hours a day and most had started working when they were between 8 and 13. Less than 40% were still in school

30. Question
Does education help people define who they are as individuals and collectives?
Does education help define aspects of your identity?
How might a lack of schooling create a cycle that affects the individual and the collective identity?

31. Political Dimension
Continuing disputes over bananas illustrates how economic problems can become political and vice versa.
In many Central and South American countries banana production is controlled by three American transnationals- Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte.

32. Political Dimension Cont’d
Bananas are also grown in Caribbean countries, such as Jamaica and St. Lucia, on small, family owned farms, who cannot compete with the transnationals. To make money, they must sell their bananas at a higher cost.
During the 1990s, European countries agreed to help Jamaica and St. Lucia (former colonies) by removing tariffs (taxes) on bananas imported from them. However, bananas from other countries were taxed and subject to other import rules.

33. The Banana Wars
This situation sparked a conflict known as the Banana wars.
The transnationals protested the European Policy, saying it was unfair.
The Chiquita transnational took the case to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
WTO rules state that countries must treat one another equally.

34. WTO & Banana Wars
In 1997, the WTO ruled that European countries must change some of the trade rules that helped banana farmers in former colonies.
The American companies were not satisfied, and imposed tariffs on many European exports to the USA.
In response, European countries changed their banana importing system again to make it easier to import bananas from all countries.

35. Environmental Dimension
Deforestation:
To create more plantations
Result:
Negative Impact to Biodiversity
In Costa Rica, for example, about 60 per cent of the country’s rainforests have been cut down to clear land for banana plantations.
Nearly 18 per cent of tree species in that country may disappear.
Monoculture:
The Cavendish banana
Pest and disease
Environmental impact:
Pesticide and fertilizer use harming ecosystems

36. Social Dimension
So far we have seen the economic, political and environmental dimensions of globalization through an exploration of Bananas.
Let’s see how these are all connected now to the Social Dimension
In order to satisfy the economic, political issues have arisen, as have environmental ones.
Well, social issues are another result:
Low wages
Unsafe working conditions
Displacement of Indigenous peoples
It is important we recognize how the forces of globalization are interconnected accross the various dimensions (economic, political, environmental and social).

37. HOW DO SOME FORCES OF GLOBALIZATION PRESENT CHALLENGES TO IDENTITY?
Homogenization:
Erases the differences among peoples, and as a result, they become more and more similar.
Acculturation:
The cultural changes that occur when two cultures accommodate, or adapt to, each other’s worldview — the way they see the world.
Accommodation:
Accepting and creating space for one another. Accommodation may affect the customs, traditions, technologies, values, beliefs, and languages of both cultures.
Assimilation:
Occurs when the culture of a minority group is absorbed by another culture. In this process, the cultural identity of the minority group disappears as its members take on the identity of the other culture. *

38. HOW DO SOME FORCES OF GLOBALIZATION PRESENT CHALLENGES TO IDENTITY?
Metis
As the fur trade developed in Canada in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, some First Nations women married European fur traders. Their children were of mixed ancestry — and they laid the foundation for the creation of a distinct Aboriginal people: the Métis.
Métis people blended the cultures and spiritual values of their various origins.
They also share music, other art forms, technologies, knowledge, and sometimes language.
Language, Acculturation and Accommodation
Michif
Japanese - Chinese (writing)
Inuktitut - disappearing languages (dangers of assimilation) *

39. Points of View
Read page 59 in your textbook

40. HOW DO SOME FORCES OF GLOBALIZATION PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES TO AFFIRM AND PROMOTE IDENTITY?*

41. Cultural Revitalization
Cultural Revitalization - the process of affirming and promoting individual and collective cultural identity.
Two Case Studies:
Metis
Bolivia

42. The Métis and Cultural Revitalization
Let’s read pages *

43. Staging events
Celebrations
Use of the WWW
Michif language revival
On-line lessons
Dictionaries

44. Bolivia: The Revitalization of a Culture

45. Bolivian History
The South American country of Bolivia has a turbulent history. In the 1500s it was colonized by the Spanish and many of the indigenous people were forced to work in mines.
Bolivia gained Independence in 1825, however this did little to help the people. Spanish settlers continued to take over the land, and the people of Bolivia continued to live in poverty. On many occasions, this caused violence and revolutions.

46. Politics & Economics
Bolivia is rich in many natural resources, and has one of the largest natural gas reserves in South America.
Transnational corporations are very interested in these reserves, but Bolivians do not want these transnationals to be the only ones that benefit. They believe that all Bolivians should benefit from international trade in natural gas and other resources.