First 4 Readings of Locating Oneself in Global Learning! I suggest to do all of the readings from the class reading selection list on it'slearning. Here is just a reference so you do not have to open 4 different links in order to remember the content. Will add more as class progresses. We will have a great time learning together. These words are not my own and taken directly from the designated readings.
Locating Oneself in Global Learning- First 4 Readings
1. Adult Learning and Global Change Program
First 4 READINGS FOR STUDY: LOCATING ONESELF IN GLOBAL LEARNING
Green, D. (ND). The Rough Guide to Globalisation
This briefing explains what globalisation is, its impact on the poor countries of the world, and what needs
to change. CAFOD has been charting the impact of globalisation on development for many years, and is
currently running a four-year campaign on trade and food security (2001-5).
Interconnectedness takes place in several arenas:
Global Logo inc. The inexorable rise of giant transnational corporations (TNCs) lies at the heart of
globalisation.
Supporters of globalisation argue that TNCs bring jobs and new
technology to developing countries, while critics worry that their
growing political might is undermining national governments and
allowing corporations to run the global economy to suit
themselves and their shareholders.
The World in Your Supermarket
Poor countries have concentrated on clothes, footwear, electronics, and food - a trip down the aisle of your
local supermarket has become a tour of the Third World, with asparagus from Peru, prawns from
Bangladesh, and Mangetout from Zambia.
2. The accelerating pace of One problem is unequal
innovation in information Globalisation and the poor access to technology
Globalfuture.com technology (IT) is driving
One reason that globalisation has failed to benefit the
globalisation.
poor is inequality. In a highly unequal society, the poor
IT can cut costs and create a global village, but receive less benefit from economic growth. Rising
has awakened fears of a growing "digital divide" inequality, both between and within nations, has been one
between the haves and have-nots. Thailand has of the most alarming features of recent decades
more cellular phones than the whole of Africa.
countries with lower inequality grow faster and consume
more imports.
One Disney McWorld each country competes for foreign investment by offering
The spread of information and corporate lower wages, fewer unions or rights at work, and more
branding has generated something akin to a tax breaks for corporations, all of which reduce the
single global culture, especially among the potential benefits of investment to the host country and
teenagers of the MTV generation. Those hyping the workforce.
globalisation believe this will lead to greater
international understanding. Others fear that the Unable to get access to credit or modern technology, they have
global cultural tapestry could be replaced by been expected to compete with northern agribusiness, which
bland corporate imagery and the platitudes of enjoys huge subsidies from its governments. The average
"Just do it" branding. European cow receives support of $2.20 a day, more than the
income of half the world's people, enabling Europe to dump
$2 trillion a day. artificially cheap milk powder on countries such as Jamaica
and Brazil, with devastating consequences for local dairy
The capital crossing the world's borders in three farmers.
days exceeds a whole year's global trade.
http://www.esoterictube.com/life-and-debt.html
Since 1997, capital surges have caused severe
social and economic crises in Thailand, Korea,
What Needs to Change?
Indonesia, Russia and Argentina. The World
Bank has found that these crises tend to hit the Given sufficient political will, it is quite possible to regulate
poor hardest, while subsequent recoveries corporations, stabilise international financial flows, and
benefit the better off, ratcheting up inequality. ensure that the poor benefit fully from the potential offered by
increased trade and investment.
3. Reform of the Institutions of Globalisation
In an unplanned, ad hoc way, globalisation has come to be administered by several key
institutions. Best known are the World Trade Organisation, the World Bank, and the
International Monetary Fund, but there are many others. Most of them have been criticised for
the same failings - a lack of transparency and accountability, an ideological bias in favour of
deregulation and the reduction of governments' role in managing the economy, and the
disproportionate influence exerted on them by a few powerful governments. If globalisation is
to work for the poor, these institutions must be reformed.
Ending Northern Double Standards
The EU and US preach free trade, but often fail to practise it. The EU slaps taxes on Third World
exports and dumps its subsidised produce in developing country markets, destroying local
livelihoods.
Kicking Away the Ladder
A government should treat foreign investors and companies at least as well as domestic companies.
Undermining Sovereign Governments
Globalisation can undercut national sovereignty by drastically reducing a government's options.
Trade rules must not prevent developing countries from pursuing the right policies for development.
Corporate Responsibility
Regulation can curb the worst corporate excesses and ensure companies are required to report
publicly about their social and environmental impact, but corporate cultures and management must
also change if they are to be effective.
Can Globalisation be Reformed?
For the well-being of all the world's peoples, developing countries and their citizens must be given a
greater voice in, and see greater benefits from, the evolving global system. That will require political
will from decision makers, North and South, but also active involvement by citizens and non-
governmental organisations.
Concludes with Winners and Losers Testimony
4. Smith, M. K. (2002). ‘Definitions of Globalisation’, The Encyclopedia of Informal
Education
Definitions of Globalization
Globalization as Internationalization
It describes the growth in international exchange and interdependence.
(Hi rst an d Peters 1996: 8 an d 10)
Globalization as Liberalization
A process of rem ov ing gov ernm ent-im posed restrictions on m ov em ents
between countries in order to create an "open", "borderless" world
econom y (Sch ol te 2000: 16)
Globalization as Universalization
In this use, 'global' is used in the sense of being 'worldwide' and 'globalization'
is 'the process of spreading v arious objects and experiences to people at all
corners of the earth'.
Globalization as Westernization or Modernization
Here 'globalization' is understood as a dy nam ic, 'whereby the social structures
of m odernity (capitalism , rationalism , industrialism , bureaucratism , etc.) are
spread the world ov er, norm ally destroy ing pre-existent cultures and local self-
determ ination in the process.
Globalization as Deterritorialization
Here 'globalization' entails a 'reconfiguration of geography , so that social space is no
longer wholly m apped in term s of territorial places, territorial distances and territorial
borders. Anthony Giddens' h as thus defined globalization as ' the intensification of
worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local
happenings are shaped by ev ents occurring m any m iles away and v ice v ersa.
(Gi dden s 1990: 64)
5. Im portant new insight can, howev er, be gained from approaching globalization as the growth of 'supraterritorial'
or transworld r elations between people. It allows for us to explore deep-seated changes in the way that we
understand and experience social space.
The proliferation and spread of supraterritorial... connections brings an end to what could be called
'territorialism ', that is a situation where social geography is entirely territorial. Although... territory still
m atters v ery m uch in our globalizing world, it no longer constitutes the whole of our geography .
(Sch ol te 2000: 46)
There has been a m assiv e growth in social connections that are unhooked in significant way s from territory .
Martin Shaw (2001) has argued Scholte’s
... misses the maximum sense of the global: the recognition of human
commonality on a worldwide scale, in the double sense that the world
framework is increasingly constitutive of society, and of emergent common
values. I t is not that supraterritorial spaces are growing more important,
but that both territorial and supraterritorial spaces - more fundamentally
national-international as well as supranational-transnational relations - are
both globalized in this double sense.
Concludes with Further Readings and References
6. Smith, M.K. and Smith, M. (2002) ‘Globalisation’ The Encyclopedia of Informal
Education
'Globalization' is com m only used as a shorthand way of describing the spread and connectedness of production,
com m unication and technologies across the world.
With increased econom ic interconnection has com e deep-seated political changes - poorer, 'peripheral', countries
hav e becom e ev en m ore dependent on activ ities in 'central' econom ies such as the USA where capital and technical
expertise tend to be located.
We hav e also witnessed the rise and
globalization of the 'brand'. Brands
like Coca Cola, Nike, Sony , and a host
of others hav e becom e part of the
fabric of v ast num bers of people's liv es.
Globalization, thus, has powerful econom ic, political, cultural and social dim ensions.
Here we want to focus on four them es that appear with som e regularity in the literature:
•De-localization and Supraterritoriality;
•The speed and power of technological innovation and the associated growth of risk;
•The rise of multinational corporations; and
•The extent to which the moves towards the creation of (global) free markets to leads to
instability and division
7. 1. Globalization: Delocalization and Supraterritoriality Sophisticated inform ation sy stem s are
essential in such globalization.
Activ ities and relationships hav e been uprooted from local origins and cultures
(Gray 1999: 57)
When we buy books from an internet supplier like Am azon our com m unications pass through a large num ber of
com puters and routers and m ay well trav el thousands of m iles; the com puters taking our orders can be on a
different continent; and the books can be located any where in the world
Most em ploy m ent, for exam ple, is local or regional - but 'strategically crucial activ ities and econom ic factors are
networked around a globalized sy stem of inputs and outputs' (Castel l s 2001: 52).
[T]he starting point for understanding the world today is not the size
of its GDP or the destructiv e power of its weapons sy stem s, but the
fact that it is so m uch m ore joined together than before. It m ay look
like it is m ade up of separate and sov ereign indiv iduals, firm s,
nations or cities, but the deeper reality is one of m ultiple
connections. (Mu l gan 1998: 3)
Globalization and the Decline in Power of National Governments
The internationalization of financial m arkets, of technology and of som e m anufacturing and serv ices bring with
them a new set of lim itations upon the freedom of action of nation states.
There is a strong argum ent that the im pact of globalization is m ost felt through the extent to which politics
ev ery where are now essentially m arket-driv en.
The im pact of globalization is less about the direct way in which specific policy choices are m ade, as the shaping and
reshaping of social relations within all countries
8. 2. Risk, Technological Innovation and Globalization
Dev elopm ents in the life sciences, and in digital technology and the like, hav e opened up v ast, new possibilities
for production and exchange. Innov ations like the internet hav e m ade it possible to access inform ation and
resources across the world - and to coordinate activ ities in real tim e.
Globalization and the Knowledge Economy
The rise of the so-called 'knowledge econom y ' has m eant that econom ists hav e been challenged to look bey ond
labour and capital as the central factors of production.
Knowledge capitalism : 'the driv e to generate new ideas and turn them into
com m ercial products and serv ices which consum ers want' is now just as
perv asiv e and powerful (Leadbeater 2000: 8).
Com m entators like Charles Leadbeater h av e argued for the need to 'innov ate and include' and for a recognition
that successful knowledge econom ies hav e to take a dem ocratic approach to the spread of knowledge: 'We m ust
breed an open, inquisitiv e, challenging and am bitious society ' (Leadbeater 2000: 235, 237).
In recent y ears we hav e witnessed a significant growth in attem pts by large corporations to claim intellectual
rights ov er new discov eries, for exam ple in relation to genetic research, and to reap large profits from licensing
use of this 'knowledge' to others.
Globalization and Risk
Hazards linked to industrial production, for exam ple, can quickly spread bey ond the im m ediate context in which
they are generated. In other words, risks becom e globalized.
As knowledge has grown, so has risk.
Risk has been globalized.
9. 3. Globalization and the Rise of Multinational Corporations and Branding
Such com panies now account for ov er 3 3 per cent of world output, and 6 6 per cent of world trade.
(Gray 1999: 62).
International businesses are still largely confined to their hom e territory in term s of their
ov erall business activ ity ; they rem ain heav ily 'nationally em bedded' and continue to be
m ultinational, rather than transnational, corporations. (Hi rst an d Th om pson 1996: 98).
The erosion of pubic
Globalization and the Impact of Multinationals on Local Communities space by corporate
activ ities.
First, they look to establish or contract operations (production, serv ice and sales) in countries and regions
where they can exploit cheaper labour and resources.
A 1 9 9 8 surv ey of special econom ic zones in China showed that m anufacturers for com panies like Ralph
Lauren, Adidas and Nike were pay ing as little as 1 3 cents per hour (a 'liv ing wage' in that area is around 87
cents per hour). In the United States workers doing sim ilar jobs m ight expect US$1 0 per hour.
(Kl ei n 2001: 212).
Multinationals constantly seek out new or under-exploited m arkets. They look to increase sales - often by
try ing to create new needs am ong different target groups.
The child and y outh m arket has grown into one the m ost profitable and influential sectors.
There has been a significant acceleration and intensification (and globalization) with the rise of the brand (see
below) and a heav ier focus on seeking to condition children and y oung people to construct their identities
around brands.
Multinational com panies can also hav e significant influence with regard to policy form ation in m any national
gov ernm ents and in transnational bodies such as the European Union and the World Bank
10. Branding and Globalization
‘Brand builders are the new prim ary producers in our so-called knowledge econom y '. One of the key elem ents that
keeps com panies as m ultinationals rather than Transnationals is the extent to which they look to 'outsource'
products, com ponents and serv ices. (N aom i Kl ei n A s 2001: 196)
.... corporations should not expend their finite resources on factories that will dem and phy sical upkeep, on m achines
that will corrode or on em ploy ees who will certainly age and die. Instead, they should concentrate those resources in
the v irtual brick and m ortar used to build 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, them selv es. As we hav e already seen with respect the operation of m ultinationals this has had a
particular im pact on children and y oung people (and education). There is an attem pt 'to get them y oung'.
Globalization and the Multinationals
The degree of control they hav e ov er the central dy nam ics of globalization rem ains lim ited.
In reality, they are often weak and amorphous organizations. They display the loss of authority and erosion of common
values that afflicts practically all late modern social institutions. The global market is not spawning corporations which
assume the past functions of sovereign states. Rather, it has weakened and hollowed out both institutions.
(Gray 1999: 63)
11. 4. Capitalism, Free Markets, Instability and Division
A new orthodoxy becam e ascendant. In the USA a Dem ocrat President renounced 'big gov ernm ent'; in Britain, the
Labour Party abandoned its com m itm ent to social ownership. The 'm arkets were in com m and' (Frank 2 002 : xv ).
The basic form ula ran som ething like the following:
Privatization + Deregulation + Globalization = Turbo-capitalism = Prosperity
(Luttwak quoted by Frank 2002: 17)
the push toward deregulation and 'setting m arkets free' that so dom inated political rhetoric in m any northern
countries during the 1 9 80s and 1 9 9 0s was deeply flawed. For exam ple, the central tenet of free m arket
econom ics - that unregulated m arkets 'will of their own accord find u nim prov able results for all participants'
has. (Wi l l Hu tton 1995: 237)
There is nothing in today 's global m arket that buffers globalization against the social strains arising from high
unev en econom ic dev elopm ent within and between the world's div erse societies. The swift waxing and waning of
industries and liv elihoods, the sudden shifts of production and capital, the casino of currency speculation - these
conditions trigger political counter-m ov em ents that challenge the v ery ground rules of the global free m arket.
(Gray 1999: 7)
The dev elopm ent of m arkets, the expansion of econom ic activ ity , and the extent to which growing prosperity is
experienced by populations as a whole has been, and rem ains, deeply influenced by public policies around, for
exam ple, education, land reform and the legal fram ework for activ ity .
Strong m arkets require significant state and transnational interv ention. To be sustained across tim e they also
require stable social relationships and an env ironm ent of trust.
Conclusion
12. Globalization and the Incorporation of Education
•Commodification and the corporate takeover of education.
•The threat to the autonomy of national educational systems by globalization.
•De-localization and changing technologies and orientations in education.
•Branding, globalization and learning to be consumers.to be con
1. Commodification and the Corporate Takeover of Education.
The making of a market - entailed the meeting of four requirements:
•The reconfiguration of the goods and services in question so that they can be priced and sold.
•The inducing of people to want to buy them.
•The transformation of the workforce from one working for collective aims with a service ethic to one working to produce
profits for owners of capital and subject to market discipline.
•The underwriting of the risks to capital by the state. (2001: 4)
1. There has also been the wholesale strengthening of the market in many education systems. Schools have to
compete for students in order to sustain and extend their funding. This, in turn, has meant that they have had to
market their activities and to develop their own 'brands'. They have had to sell 'the learning experience' and the
particular qualities of their institution. To do this complex processes have to be reduced to easily identified
packages; philosophies to sound bites; and students and their parents become 'consumers'.
13. 2. Giroux (2000: 85) reports that the for-profit education market represented around $600 billion in revenue for corporate
interests. Over 1000 state schools have been contracted out to private companies (Monbiot 2001: 336).
2. Globalization and the Governance of Education
The initiation, or acceleration, of the commodification of public services was... a logical result of government's
increasingly deferential attitude towards market forces in the era of the globalized economy... A good deal of what
was needed [for the conversion of non-market spheres into profitable fields for investment] was accomplished by
market forces themselves, with only periodic interventions by the state, which then appeared as rational responses
to previous changes. (Leys 2001: 214)
3. De-localization and Changing Technologies and Orientations in Education
In Britain, this has been seized upon by New Labour thinkers like Tom Bentley (1998) (head of Demos and a former
special advisor to David Blunkett). He describes 'Labour's learning revolution' as follows:
It requires a shift in our thinking about the fundamental organizational unit of education, from the school, an institution
where learning is organized, defined and contained, to the learner, an intelligent agent with the potential to learn from
any and all of her encounters with the world around her. (Reported in The Economist, October 9, 1999, page 42
As a result, Field goes on to suggest, many adults now take part in organized learning throughout their lifespan; that the
post-school system is populated by adults as well as by young people; and that 'non-formal' learning permeates daily life
and is valued (ibid.: 38-49). Typical of the last of these has been a substantial increase in activities such as short
residential courses, study tours, fitness centres, sports clubs, heritage centres, self-help therapy manuals, management
gurus, electronic networks and self-instructional videos (ibid.: 45). In these latter examples we can see an important
aspect of the growing trans-national corporate presence in education and learning - and the extent to which profits are
dependent on people continuing and extending their self-directed learning projects and activities.
14. 4. Branding, Globalization and Learning to be Consumers
Through the use of teaching packs, sponsored videos, advertisements on school computer screen savers and the like,
large companies are able to bring their brand directly into the classroom. In so doing they are looking to gain a certain
legitimacy (after all the use of their materials etc. has been 'approved' by the school) as well as the raising general brand
awareness. Schools also have the distinct advantage for corporates of organizing their students along key demographics
such as age and supposed academic ability - so it is possible to target advertising and marketing.
... they carry with them an educational agenda of their own. As with all branding projects, it is never enough to tag the
school with a few logos. Having gained a foothold, the brand managers are now doing what they have done in music,
sports and journalism outside the schools: trying to overwhelm their host, to grab the spotlight. They are fighting for their
brands to become not the add-on but the subject of education, not an elective but the curriculum. (Klein 2001: 89)
High ideals tend to fade away as State-provided finances decline and as the State 'encourages' closer partnerships
between education and industry. Educationally sound and attractively packaged curriculum materials fill the hole in the
resources budget of schools and offer technologically sophisticated 'solutions' to the pedagogical problems of
overworked teachers. These pressures have created a conflict of interest between schools' mandate to educate, and
their moral and ethical duties to protect children from exploitation by consumer culture. Corporations have recognized
and taken advantage of this dilemma. (op. cit.)
Conclusion
Learning has increasingly been seen as a commodity or as an investment rather than as a way of exploring what
might make for the good life or human flourishing.
Modern man is alienated from himself, from his fellow men, and from nature. He has been transformed into a
commodity, experiences his life forces as an investment which must bring him the maximum profit obtainable under
existing market conditions. (Fromm 1957: 67)
Alternative ways of educating that look to well-being and participation in the common life have been well articulated.
Whether they can be realized is is down in significant part to our courage as educators, and our ability to work with
others with a similar vision.
15. Dunklin, A.L. (2005) Globalisation: A Portrait of Exploitation, Inequality, and Limit
LINK DISFUNCTIONAL AT MOMENT
Putzel, J. (2004). The political impact of globalisation and liberalisation: evidence
emerging from crisis states research [online] London: LSE research Online.
WILL BE IN ADDITIONAL PRESENTATION
Forward_> Copy of The Previous Classes Resource Suggestions
16. Resources
Scientists for Global Responsibility: http://www.sgr.org.uk/
Scientists for Global Responsibility promotes the ethical practice and use of science and technology. We are playing our
part in the worldwide development, by scientists and citizens, of a new conception of the role of science and scientists in a
socially responsible democratic society. Our work involves research, education, lobbying and providing a support network
for ethically-concerned scientists. Carlsson, Elizabeth elizabeth_carlsson@email.com
Charter 99: http://www.charter99.org/accountability/
"Charter 99 is developing an index to measure the accountability of global organisations to 'we the people' of this world.
Using a stakeholder model of accountability, the index challenges organisations to be responsive to the communities they
affect. The index will assess how open and receptive global organisations are to the internal demands of their members
and the external demands of individuals and groups who are affected by the organisations daily operations. " Carlsson,
Elizabeth elizabeth_carlsson@email.com
Pioneers of Change: http://pioneersofchange.net/
Established by a group of young students to explore ways of achieving a better world through learning from each other Foot,
Martyn Newton M artyn_Foot@wvi.org
Folk High Schools: http://www.folkbildning.se/
About people´s education in Sweden with new insights on adult learning, information about the folk high school concept
and with links to European Council for Adult Education. Carlbäcker, Els-Marie
Swedish Institute for Social Research: http://www.sofi.su.se/
Links to several institutions of interest. Research on social policy, level of living and labour economics in Sweden over the
years compared with other nations. Carlbäcker, Els-Marie
International Council for Adult Education: http://www.icae.org.uy/
A declaration made at their General Assembly in August this year can be found on this site. The subject of the assembly
was "creativity and democratic leadership - adult learning: a strategic choice". Carlbäcker, Els-Marie
The Training Village: http://www.trainingvillage.gr/etv/default.asp
Contains information and PDF-files on vocational training. Sub-sections concerning e-learning, non-formal learning, life-
ling learning etc. Lundkvist, Perolof
17. Resources
Globkom: http://www.globkom.net/
Articles on different aspects of global change. Lundkvist, Perolof
Education International: http://www.ei-ie.org/en/index.php
The world's largest educators' federation. There is a link to "Globalisation" and "Indigenous people"under "Action". Carlsson,
Elizabeth
The European Schoolnet: http://www.eun.org/portal/index.htm
Partner networks, not only within Europe. Teacher training. Collaboration. Innovation. Resources. Carlsson, Elizabeth
The Globalisation Guide: http://www.globalisationguide.org/
Adresses key pro- and con issues and presents an extensive collection of links. Stark, Jan-Erik
The Scorecard on Globalization: http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/the-scorecard-on-globalization-1980-2000-20-years-
of-diminished-progress/
Centre for Economic and Policy Research site. Entitled The Scorecard on Globalization 1980 to 2000. Twenty years of
diminished progress. Arendse, Glenville Darrel
An exellent site for links about Social Justice: http://www.guelphsocialjustice.org/
Gateways to International Organizations, International NGOs, etc. Carlsson, Elizabeth
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/GetDayPass?docid=1G1-20164806
http://www.languageweaver.com/page/home/
http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=423172&s tory_id=13686470
http://www.sociology.emory.edu/globalization/about.html