Youth and Globalization
In 19th century, community was associated with the hope and the wish of reviving once more the closer, warmer, more harmonious type of bonds between people vaguely attributed to past ages (Elias 1974, quoted by Hoggett 1997 5). It was really only in 1915 that the first clear sociological definition emerged. A number of competing definitions of community quickly emerged. Some focused on community as a geographical area some on a group of people living in a particular place and others which looked to community as an area of common life (cited in Smith 2001).
In elective communities people share a common characteristic other than common ground. They are linked together by factors such as religious belief and customs, sexual orientation, occupation or ethnic origin. In this way we may talk about different groups such as the gay community, the Catholic community or the Chinese community. Development in what might be called the sociology of identity have played an important role in opening out the conceptual space within which non-place forms of community can be understood (Hoggett, 1997).
A community may come in one of many sizes, colours,intensities and locations, no two of which are alike. It may be a form of neighborhood in a larger city where congenial families live with common preferences and similar beliefs. Or it may also comprise smaller communities sharing a town where despite of the social differences, there remains significant common grounds ( cited in Flax 2006).
A community can be classified into two broader or more specialized base. A broader community might include individuals belonging in a particular tribe or group.In that sense, a community is not likely to be exclusive of other more compact and specific subsets. For instance, during the late Middle Ages, Scottish mercenaries committed service and dedication to those who live in the European continent. They were able to retain their loyalty to their clan although serving other sovereigns. On the other hand, Americans have had a broader identification with the shared concepts of the Founding Fathers reflected in our foundational documents while maintaining or developing more comprehensive, local community specific, sets of values and images to define an enormous, and sometimes quite different and conflicting, array of cultures and interests. Community is now afflicted with a variety of multi-culturalism where principles and beliefs of the members or residents are being influenced and altered by the traditions and cultures of other races (cited in Flax, 2006).
Indeed, a community is a sociological construct. It is a set of interactions, relationships and human behaviours that have various meanings and expectations between its groups or members. It is a place where children are being molded, disciplined and trained to become better individuals. It is also a social organism possessing a life of its own. The life cycle of every individuals and their personal changes do not affect the existence of a community. Human individuals grow and eventually die. But this inevitable fact only contributes to the stability of a society and strenghtening of a community. All things social and cultural are transmitted by symbols rather than by genes. Community development, which is a form of social change, requires changes in the messages of symbols rather than genetic surgery (cited in Bartle, 1967 ). But what role does it play in the lives of every human individual
Community development serves as the objective of particular groups and individuals to achieve a productive and better life through shared ideas and collective efforts. This development affects our social, cultural, spritual and emotional growth. Our collective efforts and collaboration of ideas lead to a process of creating linkages and develop a complex phenomenon known as globalization . The increase of population, initiative to go beyond the boundaries and growing interdependence of trade nationwide and worldwide result to the penetration of new innovations in the field of technology and acquisition of cultural products. This causes the existence of globalization and other factors affecting the community.
What describes the way of connectedness of production and technologies around the world is globalization. Sometimes, globalization refer to the efforts of the World Bank and other to develop a global free market for goods and services. The use of globalization in connecting different economy and cultural life across the world accelerates from generation to generation. The speed of communication and accuracy of information, the complexity and size of the networks involved, and the volume of trade, exchange and risk give what we now refer to as globalization.
With the deeper economic interconnection has come deep-seated political changes poorer, countries have become even more dependent on activities in central economies such as the USA where capital and technical expertise tend to be located. There has also been a shift in power away from the nation state and toward, some argue, multinational corporations. We have also witnessed the rise and globalization of the brand. It isnt just that large corporations operate across many different countries - they have also developed and marketed products that could be just as well sold in Peking as in Washington. Brands like Coca Cola, Nike, Sony, and a host of others have become part of the fabric of vast numbers of peoples lives ( cited in Smith, 2002).
Globalization involves the collaboration of ideas, practices and develoment of technologies. It is something more than internationalization and universalization. It is isnt just the liberalization of markets. According to Anthony Giddens, globalization is the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa. This involves a change in the way we understand geography and experience localness.
Globalization is at least contemporary with modernization and has therefore been proceeding since the sixteenth century. It involves processes of economic systemization, international relations between states and an emerging global culture or consciousness. The process has accelerated through time and is currently in the most rapid phase of its development. ( Waters, 2001, p.15). It involves the systematic connection to al social ties. Indeed, globalization) increases the inclusiveness and the unification of human society ( Walters, 2001, p.15). It is a genuine restructuring or improving of social organizations. Human activity has become interregional or intercontinental in scale. Although the globalization process is a long, historically rooted one, it is not without fits and starts and is not teleological. In short, globalization is a highly complex interaction of forces producing integration and disintegration, cooperation and conflict, order and disorder (cited in Brahm 2001). There may be positive impact of globalization but there are also negative ones caused by this phenomenon.
One of the major factors in the breakdown of traditional communities is the globalization of economic activity.This is because it invites multi-culturalism in acquiring effective resources. Globalization consists of flowing sets of information that circulates through space and time. Since a culture is a set of beliefs and informations it now becomes susceptible to the penetration of globalization thereby being altered and improved. This means that those groups whose values and behaviors differ from the general culture are definitely affected. Such groups are called subcultures. The U.S society contains thousands of subcultures where mostly young people belong.
Social class and race are important to youth subcultures. These are some of the factors that influence the minds and identities of young people today. Embodied examples of what subcultures do may consist the social activities of drug use, fighting on the terraces, sexual practices, body-piercing,dancing, drinking or tattooing. To develop a more refined analysis of process, and garner a deeper understanding of what young people actually do in particular places, ethnography can be a unique instrument with which to probe young peoples life worlds (Nayak,2003,p.31). This only shows that personal identities and social grace of the youth can be greatly influenced by the community through the aid of globalization.
Globalization can also be defined as a concept that refers both to the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole (Robertson, (), p. 8). The idea of compression means that media plays a significant role in globalization.Media attempts to consolidate the idea of the global community. The idea of globalization which is to intensify consciousness and uncerstanding of the world as a whole motivates every individual to initiate change by bridging the gaps with the advent of mass media and new information technology. Such projected images from various forms of visual entertainment seemed to affect the social aspects of the youth. Young people are now updated regarding social issues and economic trends. Many students and young leaders organization are being created because of the increasing social consciousness. Young people are more empowered and motivated to make a difference in our growing communities in many ways like through social networking. One of the famous social networking websites in the world is the facebook. It was launched in February 2004. Users can add their friends and reach out to other users in different parts of the world. Anyone over the age of 13 can become a user. Thats why most of the fans of this website are young people. Using this website, they find it convenient to express their thoughts and communicate with other people despite of the social differences. In this manner, globalisation exists. It is an example on how societies and cultures have become integrated through a global network of communication and trade.
Aside from the effects on media, behaviors of the youth are also affected by the external factors within the community. Accordng to the department of Justice, Research indicates that youth commit more than one-quarter (25.8 percent) of all sex offenses and more than one-third (35.6 percent) of sex offenses against juvenile victims. Additional research on youth who sexually offended against children found that as many as 40 percent of the victims were either siblings or other relatives ( cited in Youth with Sexual behavior problems, 2010). What triggers the youth to commit such action is the kind of the training imposed by the parents and the community environment. Despite of the influence of media, young people will realize what is moral and acceptable if the parents will instill good values in their hearts and minds. Yes, the training of the children should start within the family but the community is also responsible in providing a safe and pure environment as well. That is why rules and policies exist to be imposed by the community to avoid such disorders. Personal development is greatly shaped by social capital. Trust, networks, and norms of reciprocity within a young childs family, univeristy, peers, and other larger community have far reaching effects on their opportunities and choices, and hence on their behaviour and development. Also, economic progress can be achieved if social networks flourish, individuals, firms, neighbourhoods, and even nations prosper economically. Social capital can aslo assist to mitigate the insidious effects of socioeconomic disadvantage (cited in Smith 2002).
Different fields of arts and sciences are also some of the things molded by the community and developed by globalization. One of the duties a human should perform is giving meaning to life. Social life offers infinite opportunity for organizing, as is seen wherever people protest against laws and policies they oppose or rally support for their chosen causes. When we speak of culture, we describe a people s operating system to borrow an analogy from one of humanity s most suggestive creations, the computer. Culture underpins all choices, all outcomes. It contains the means of expressing all thoughts and emotions. It enables all associations. The purest and densest meanings are conveyed through art, through individual and collective creations driven by the desire to express objectives (cited in Brahm 2005).
Within the community cultural development field, projects are remarkably diverse. All artistic media and styles are adaptable. Projects have employed visual arts, architectural and landscape design, performing arts, storytelling, writing, video, film, audio and computer-based multimedia. Activities include structured learning, community dialogues and issue-driven activism, as well as the creation of performances, public art, exhibitions and publications. In all this work, the powerful experience of bringing to consciousness and expressing one s own cultural values is deemed worthwhile in and of itself, apart from the outcome (cited in Brahm 2005).
Young people have a very significant role to play in the community. They should become positive role models for their community. They have the duty to shape their community for a better future. One example of the community-based project created was the Charting the FutureYouth Take on Climate Change . It is organized in the US associated with the upcoming Children and Youth International Conference on the Environment Let s Take Care of the Planet . Youth participants in Charting the Future met at the Peer Learning Exchange to share their research and action projects, present their local charters, discuss global environmental changes, and write the National Charter. Along with all the work, the young people expressed their hopes for the International Conference and their intentions for continuing their efforts in the months ahead (cited in Gregg, 2010).
Globalization already existed in the past and continues to grow in our todays generation. For instance, China now expands Science globalization trends.Scientific research seems to be a worldwide endeavor. According to the Yale Global, a Sino-French joint research institute in Shanghai has been in existence for six years and has produced breakthroughs in stem cell research and other fields. A separate Sino-Brazilian partnership has launched several satellites, providing information on deforestation in Brazil and earthquakes in China. As a result, scientific globalization not only offers new research, but also the fostering of local scientific talent that might otherwise have been overlooked cited in YaleGlobal, 2010). This is one of the benefits that globalization can offer.
As time goes by the pace of global integration speeds up. Independence was achieved through the innovations made in communications, technology and transportation. Today, business enterprises and multinational corporations manufacture products and provide services in different countries. Resources easily circulates across national borders resulting to the transformation of laws and
economies from national to international level. Indeed, it is a big leap from traditional forms to modern processes. These things would not be possible without globalization. The globalized world elimiates regulation and undermines local and national politics, just as the consolidation of the nation state swept away local economies, dialects, cultures and political forms. Globalization develops new markets and wealth though it causes some disadvantages and disorders. The great financial crisis of 2008-2009 has exposed the dangers of an inconsistent, deregulated, global economy but it has also given rise to global initiatives for change.
Globalization achieves a wider scope and accelerates the exchange of ideas and commodities over distances. Forms of globalization explore the various manifestations of realationship and closer connections in the world, noting how globalization affects real people and different places. They appear to be a force of nature, a phenomenon without limitations and alternatives. But several human activities show that it is neither unalterable nor uncontrollable. Citizens allover the world and residents from different communities and societies whether ordinary people from the global North or from South can work together hand in hand to mold a brighter future, to build a globalization of solidarity, harmony, trust and respect for our common planetary environment.
Supporting this idea, I firmly believe that the young people can take advantage of their youthfulness and new knowledge in exercising globalization. This can start within their communities by joining different organizations that aim to achieve a better future and make a difference today. They may not have the authority, power and sufficient knowledge and resources to make huge differences and implement great innovations but through the initiatives and determination, more desirable community would not seem to be far fetched at all.
Yes, there are numerous disadvantages of globalization but it is not impossible to turn these things into something beneficial and productive like scientific globalization towards innovation, development of social networking, media and publication, progress in globalizing businesses and trade and upliftment of education through integrated education.
Everytime people are asked to describe what a community is, it is more on networking and belongingness. I agree that we experience the deepest sense of belongingness in the closest and most intimate social networks like family and friends. But beyond that, there lies a civic life that can also help us develop a sense of individuality and manage our demands for convenience in our everyday lives.
The nature of the networks within in particular place is fundamental when making judgments about communities and the extent to which people can flourish within them. Humans are rational and social beings. Connection,interaction and communication widen and deepen what we can achieve, and strenghten our individual character.
Community can be approached as a value (cited in Frazer 2000). As such it may well be used to bring together a number of elements, for example, solidarity, commitment, mutuality and trust. It comes close to the third of the ideals that were inscribed on many of the banners of the French Revolution fraternity. Socialists such as William Morris talked similarly of fellowship
Fellowship is heaven, and lack of fellowship is hell fellowship is life, and lack of fellowship is death and the deeds that ye do upon the earth, it is for fellowship s sake ye do them. (Dream of John Ball, Ch. 4,18867)
Considering the thought that social networks are essential in a community, we should use these things as an instrument in adapting globlization. Each community should be open for globalization in order to progress and meet the growing needs and preferences of the people. On the other hand, the member sof the community especially the young ones should perform their roles well to contribute effort towards innovations and developments. The future of every community lies in the hands of the youth. They are the bearers of the responsibilities that should be taken cared of and resources that are needed to be allocated properly. Globalization may only be a disadvantage if the individuals intend to aim for personal gratification rather than for the common good.
The legacy that the parents should give is the good values, right conduct and proper training of their children. On the other hand, children should realize the weight of their responsibility through education and future experiences. They should acquire pride and confidence in expressing ones own cultural values and tribal beliefs.
In the field of business, globalization plays a crucial part. For instance, Nike and Levi and other major companies spend huge sums of money in advertising and sustaining their brands. One strategy is to try and establish particular brands as an integral part of the way people understand, or would like to see, themselves. As we have already seen with respect the operation of multinationals this has had a particular impact on children and young people. There is an attempt to get them young. In reaching out to clients, the company should consider the current taste and preferences in the marketplace.
Significantly, the focus on brand rather than the inherent qualities of the product endangers the brand and harms the sales and profitability. If a brand becomes associated with failure or disgrace then it can face major problems in the marketplace. This shows the complexity of globalization. In introducing a brand to another country, one must conduct extensive research and studies in order to identify the proper businesss strategy to be implemented.
Globalization is very challenging. A community should first be strengthened and equipped with a strong work force before accepting the consequences what globalization may bring.
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