Chapter 23

This chapter talks about four big aspects of globalization: the globalization of the world economy, feminism, religious transformations, and the anthropocene era. The prospects of the continuation of these transformative processes are seemingly different.

The globalization of the international economy seemingly will continue absent some form of revolutionary upswing. The labor arbitrage at the root of this process has every reason to continue for the foreseeable future. Capital is always seeking cheap labor in order to maximize profits, and the technological changes, including that in transport, that have enabled transnational corporations to move production abroad will continue apace. It remains to be seen whether there will be a response from below due to the increasing inequality it has produced throughout the whole world.

Feminism seems to be poised to continue to be an important movement. Even though this movement takes different forms and has different goals both within countries and between countries, women clearly do not have the same rights and power as men throughout the world. A good example of such differences were noted by our textbook in the United States. While middle and upper class white women saw the family structure as the problem and pushed for the inclusion of women in the workforce, black women were already by necessity in the workforce and saw the family as a key element in their battle against racism.

I see religion as likely to fade as a major global force in the future. While religion can be comforting in times of stress, I don't see how it can deliver the goods of economic prosperity that most people seek and has seemed ever more distant of an achievable goal by billions of people.

Finally, the anthropocene. The movement to stop the ever worsening environmental degradation of the planet and global climate change seems quite weak at present. These changes are a threat to all life on the planet. Capitalism is focused only on profit, and can never address this issue on its own. The Market is an incredible productive force that in theory could address this problem. However, just as the smog in our large cities were alleviated by market forces only after the government gave marching orders to the market to increase auto gas mileage and to make catalytic converters, governments will have to give similar marching orders, especially to our huge transnational corporations. But our government, among others, seems to have been captured by the large amounts of money these TNCs shovel to politicians. Once again, either an enormous disaster or a large mass movement that cannot be ignored will be necessary for us to take the needed steps.