It is made very clear, that globalisation has affected the economies of countries of the world. With the impact on economy, comes along other effects that are inseparable with the word " globalisation. " I have found a few cartoons to support this stand.
This first cartoon is very closely related to my previous post on Multinational Coporations ( MNCs ). It shows what is behind the fame and glamour behind the Nike brand. The irony reveals as the big poster of the Nike advertisement is compared to the tired workers in the forground. They make the shoes to be exported to the world, yet they are expected to "just do it" and not say anything. In this cartoon, Nike is not just a worldwide famous brand, it shows how the brand has globalised and brought about vast changes and improvements in the economies of countries involved. The workers of the factory, if we look closely enough, are Chinese and Indian. They represent the countries like China and India where these MNCs set their factory up in. The workers for this two countires usually provide cheaper labour.
Therefore we can conclude that although globalisation created chances of employment, the workers of the factory, representing the countries where MNC's factories are set up, work to manufacter goods for the MNCs to export. They are actually unwilling as it is these MNCs who earn the most, yet for their own livelihood, they have no choice but to work for the MNCs. This is the downside of globalisation in the economic aspect as workers provide cheap labour and earn just enough to pass their everyday lives, while MNCs earn alot just by creating these brands. The rich countries get richer, while the poor countries gets relatively poorer, and the gap between the rich and the poor is widened.
This cartoon depicts that the effect of globalisation on the environment and culture comes closely along with the impact of it on economies. It shows how investors from different countries, different ethnicity come together to invest. Firstly, globalisation brings investors from all over the world, crossing national boundaries to invest. It affect economies of many countries in the world. Also, the mixture of businessmen of different ethnicity, races and languages will also definitely result in homogenisation or at least a mixture of culture.
Another main aspect of this cartoon is that the businessmen are attracted by the factories that are causing the environment so much pollution, portraying that they, in the real world, are very interested in just economical gains by dominating the global economy and do not care about the environmental harm it is causing. Globalisation has caused people to desire domination over the material world, to monopolise global economy and forget about the harm they have caused to the environment.
In conclusion, globalisation has its downside. In the economical aspect, the above cartoons have shown that the gap between the rich and poor has vastly enlarged and people are concentrating only on global economic dictation. At the same time, it proves my point that globalisation do not only cause changes on economies, it also adversely affects the culture and environment. Therefore, it is more than just economic globalisation, it is more than just positive economic globalisation.
Credits of cartoon to :
http://www.seppo.net/cartoons/displayimage.php?album=search&cat=0&pos=0
http://www.seppo.net/cartoons/displayimage.php?album=search&cat=0&pos=0
Economic expert, XIAOWEI :D
Labels: Globalisation and Economy
