Status of the world

Tuesday, 18 March 2008

Status of the world

Watch this brilliant interview with British philosopher Phillip Blond.

He tell it like it is - what is wrong in the world today, how the economy is polarizing with a little elite that takes it all and everybody else is left out of the growth.

The show is about half an hour long, but it is def worth watching.

It is in Danish in the beginning, but the rest is in English.

From Danish television DR2 4. Marts 2008.

Enjoy!

11. time

To read more of Phillip Blonds thoughts on the world, take a look at these two short articles. One is about the decline of Western society and the growth of Chinese and Indian economy.

The other article outline the differences between rich and poor made by the neo-liberal economy in the West. Further it points out how neo-liberalism have an effect on political and economical power and at the same time influence the access to resources, such as owning your own houses and having the ability to go to university.

Harald Tribune

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Globalization is an ongoing phenomenon, that has been around for ages.

Today’s Globalization is faster and more extensive because of the massive growth in global economy, new technology and all kinds of mobility.

In other words - Globalization is everywhere.

Globalization is the reason for economical growth both in western and non-western countries, creating a fast growing middle class all over the world. At the same time the increasing economy in certain parts of the world is a consequence of globalization. The outsourcing of production to non-western countries have had a huge impact on the global economy. When brand became more important than the actual product, the outsourcing to low production cost countries exploded and changed the global economy.

Mobility is another aspect of the globalization. People are much more mobile today, new technology allows them to fly around the world all day long - if they have the finance for it. If not, at the other end of the mobile spectrum they can be trafficked around as modern slaves.

Globalization as well mobility has a range of positive and negative effects. These different consequences are what interests me about globalization.

A part of globalization was colonialism, when the west started using all kind of resources from non-western countries to support their economy growth. The elite in the west started consuming elaborately. As the middle class expanded, the consumerisms growth increased as well. Today consumerism is an elitist’s movement now spreading to the middleclass in the west as well as to growing economy all over the world. Consumerism is living large, and the effects off consumerism are considerable. There are a lot to consider related to consumerism. The production influence the environment and the workers life in a multiply of aspects. Consumerism raises questions about the sustainability aspect of the environment as well as the aspect of power and dealing with assets and world resources.

All of these major consequences raise a lot of questions about the globalization and the future of the world. These post-modern questions are my main interest. The world seems to get more polarized and divided in religious, political and economy aspects everyday. It’s a Them – Us world, polarizing people in mobility ability and as well in the level of consumerism representing today’s class society.

Through pop culture, art, debate, science, philosophy, contemporary social theory, politics, sociology, cultural geography and communication I seek the aspects of today’s globalization.

Come along and let’s see where it takes us.

Globalization - The consumerism way

Tuesday, 18 March 2008