Download to read offline
Critical Analysis One-
- 1. GLOBALISATION AND THE SHRINKINGWORLD The theories of Bauman, Appadurai, and Klein Zygmunt Bauman Arjun Appadurai Naomi Klein
- 2. Zygmund Bauman, ArjunAppadurai and Naomi Klein are three writers who discuss the ways in which globalisation has impacted equality throughout the world. Their three theories each offer great insight into the ways in which the world is being shaped by the changing forces of globalisation.
- 3. Tourists and Vegabonds “Ina world of global dependencies with no corresponding gobal polity and a few tools of global justice, the rich of the world are free to persue their own interests while paying no attention to the rest” - Zygmund Bauman Getty Images. Accessed from Sundiata Post
- 4. Fear of SmallNumbers “One man’s imagined community is another man’s political prison” - Arjun Appadurai Photograph by Steven Rubin. Accessed from Right Now: Human Rights in Australia.
- 5. Fences and Windows “Youactually cannot sell the idea of freedom, democracy, diversity, as if it were a brand attribute and not reality– not at the same time as you’re bombing people, you can’t.” - Naomi Klein Photograph by Seema Sengupta. Accessed from The Nation.
- 6. REFERENCES Image of ZygmundBauman- Photograph by Ela Lempp, sourced from Book Institute Image of Arjun Appadurai- Paulette Goddard, sourced from Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development Image of Naomi Klein- Ethan Cox, sourced from Rable.ca “Naomi Klein: This economic model is at war with life on Earth ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Appadurai, A. (2006). Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Geography of Anger. United States of America: Duke University Press. Bauman, Z. (1998). Globalisation: The Human Consequences. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers. Klein, N. (2007). Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate. United States of America: Picador.
Editor's Notes
- #4 Zygmund Bauman uses the terms ‘tourists’ and ‘vegabonds’ in order to distinguish between groups at the opposite end of the economic spectrum of globalisation. Tourists move about the world because they want to, and are also in a financial position to be able to. Vegabonds on the other hands are forced to move around the world due to poverty, war, or discrimination, with the ultimate goal being to secure permanent employment. The problem with Baumans theory is that in this theory, globalisation is geared towards only the dreams and desires of the ‘tourists’ or those who are economically comfortable. He concludes that two-thirds of the worlds population has lost out because of globalisation. As a criticism, the idea of both, the tourists and the vegabonds is very broad with no mention of those individuals in between. Bauman argues that globalisation separates people as much as it unites them, but fails to discuss the gaps between the two predominant groups. It is not uncommon for an individual, who Bauman would deem a tourist to seek a type of vagabond lifestyle. For example, one in a comfortable economic situation may choose to migrate to a third-world country in order to assist the way in a particular village may run. This can be seen through the oppurtunities that arise for qualified teacher (tourists) to emerge themselves with a different culture of whom, the citizens may be in a less-stable financial situation (vegabonds).
- #5 The concept of ‘a fear of small numbers’ was coined by Arjun Appadurai in order to address the ways in which the majority are confronted, fearful, or insecure of the minorities that are present. He discusses the ways in which the majority will often lash out at the minority, as well as the possibility of the minority reacting to the inequalities. This allows for minority groups to become both, the victims, as well as the victimisers. For example, the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centres caused, not only America, but the majority of the Western world to be fearful of Al-Qaeda, and ignited the assumption that any individual with similar physical appearances or religious beliefs to those who committed the terrorism were to be tainted with the same brush and treated as terrorists. On this same note, American soldiers in Iraq, who were sent to assist in ‘liberation’ were targeted by minority coalitions and are often killed for being part of the majority. Appadurai somewhat credits globalisation as causing, and encouraging global violence because it has allowed for a gap between two differing groups (or majority and minority) to be observed throughout the world. Globalisation, Appadurai argues, blurs the lines between ‘us’ and ‘them’, and rather than bringing people together as a group of national belonging, it causes increasing uncertainty. The opinion that a particular nation would be ‘a pure and untainted’ country if the minority was gone has sparked a type of rebellion that has seen many riots and protests within Australia alone. For example, the Cronulla riots in 2005 as the result of a small group of people, who happened to be from a non-Anglo Australian ethnic minority clashing with a group of white-Australians. In this situation, a fear of small numbers (the minority who assaulted the anglo-Australian life guards) led to conflict that resulted in a number of arrests, and even caused a number of surrounding countries to issue travel warnings for Australia. However, although Arjun Appardurai introduces some valid concepts and ideas, he fails to give examples of his perspectives on a large scale. He uses India as an example for the vast majority of things he is trying to address and therefore, the same points tend to become more of a generalisation when it comes to other nations. India is not exactly an accurate mirror to the rest of the world and therefore, the way in which the fear of small numbers is relevant to the particular country may not be entirely accurate on a broader scale.
- #6 In this metaphor used by Naomi Klein, the fences are designed to protect the rich and ‘keep out’ the poor. There is a heavily juxtaposed presence of gated communities, and those who erect fences around their houses or surrounds in order to keep people out. There is a sense of prestige surrounding a gated area and it tends to reinstate a type of ‘us and them’ attitude. On the other end of the spectrum are those individuals who are gated in. For example, an asylum seeker detention centre is gated in order to keep the individuals inside hidden from the outside. Fences and windows explains the way in which the freedom associated with globalisation is merely a discourse.