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There is a difference between globalization and standardization. It is important to distinguish the two, especially in light of the social and cultural requirements of industrial (and postindustrial) society. A very strong case can be made that the impulse to globalize is an effort to regularize and systematize the messy world of human relations into something that fits a mass-production, mass-consumption model. From the introduction of the factory system (1750) onward, industrial processes have become more and more efficient, systematizing and standardizing the elements of production, including the human ones. Ursula Franklin (1999) refers to the emergence of "a culture of compliance" in which the activities of humans outside the manufacturing process become subject to the same terms and conditions as are required in the process of mass production. This culture of compliance requires individuals to submit to systems; it requires them to behave in socially expected as well as socially accepted ways, thus removing the uncertainties and vagaries of human behavior from the operations of society. Although in the mechanical sphere of production, such habits of compliance are essential for the smooth operation of the system, taken outside into the social and cultural spheres in which people live, the antihuman effects of such standardization--treating people in effect like machines to be controlled and regulated--are unpleasant, if not soul-destroying.

Thus, in any discussion of globalization, it needs to be established from the outset what the benefit is, both to individuals and to societies, of some kind of uniformity or standardization in the social or cultural spheres. What is lost and what is gained by such changes, and by whom? Much has been made of the comment by Marshall McLuhan that humans now live in a "global village," thanks to the advent of mass communication devices such as the radio, the television, the telephone, and now the Internet. Yet studies were done of what television programs were being watched by the most people around the world and therefore had the greatest influence on the development of this new "global" culture that was replacing local and traditional cultures. Imagine the consternation when it was discovered that the two most watched programs were reruns of Wagon Train and I Love Lucy! Globalization and the cultural standardization that mass production, mass-consumption society assumes to be necessary may mean that the sun never sets on the fast food empires of McDonald's or Pizza Hut, just as 150 years ago it was said to never set on the British Empire. Yet if the dietary habits of local cultures, in terms of both the food that is grown or produced and the ways in which the food is eaten, are merely replaced by standardized pizzas or burgers (or McLobsters, instead of the homemade variety), one cannot help but think something has been lost.

In the same way as colonies were encouraged to supply raw materials to the homeland and be captive consumers of the manufactured goods it produced (along with the culture and mores that the homeland dictated), so too the commercial colonization of mass-production/mass-consumption society requires the same of its cultural colonies. The irony, of course, is that the homeland is much less identifiable now than it was in the days of political empires; although corporate America is often vilified as the source of the evils of globalization, the reality is that corporate enterprises are much less centralized and less entrenched than any nation state. Certainly the burgeoning economic growth of the European Union (with its large corporate entities that not only survived two world wars and a Cold War but even thrived on them), along with Japan, and the emergence of China and India as economic superpowers indicates that the capital of empire today is entirely portable. The reality that some corporations have larger budgets and net worth than many of the smaller nations in the world also indicates that borders are neither the boundaries nor the advantages that they used to be.

Although the economic examples of globalization today are arguably coercive (despite the inevitable objections that no one is forcing us to buy things), it is possible at least to conceive of other ways in which globalization might be non-coercive, incorporating mutually beneficial models instead. In a subsequent book, Making Globalization Work, Joseph Stiglitz (2007) works through the ways in which the current problems he and others identify with economic globalization could be overcome; while he proposes solutions to the major problems, he does not effectively address the motivational change that would be required for decision makers to make choices reflecting social responsibility on a global scale.

Bibliography:

Aronowitz, Stanley, and Heather Gautney, eds., Implicating Empire: Globalization and Resistance in the 21st Century World Order. New York: Basic Books, 2003.

De Rivero, Oswaldo, The Myth of Development: The Non-Viable Economies of the 21st Century. New York: Zed Books, 2001.

Easterly, William, The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts To Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Faber, Daniel, Capitalizing on Environmental Injustice: The Polluter-Industrial Complex in the Age of Globalization. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008.

Franklin, Ursula, The Real World of Technology, 2d ed. Toronto: Anansi, 1999.

Hilton, Matthew, Prosperity for All: Consumer Activism in an Era of Globalization. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2009.

Landes, David S., The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor. New York: W. W. Norton, 1999.

Saul, John Ralston, The Collapse of Globalism and the Reinvention of the World. Toronto: Viking, 2005.

Schweitzer, Albert, The Philosophy of Civilization. Translated by C. T. Campion. New York: Macmillan, 1949.

Stiglitz, Joseph, Globalization and Its Discontents. New York: W. W. Norton, 2003.

Stiglitz, Joseph, Making Globalization Work. New York: W. W. Norton, 2007.

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