JOURNAL OF EURASIAN STUDIES

January-March 2011 JOURNAL OF EURASIAN STUDIES Volume III., Issue 1.
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intensification of worldwide social relations, which links distant localities in such a way that local
happenings are shared by events occurring many miles away and vice versa. This is a dialectical process
because local happenings may move in an obverse direction from the very distanciated relations that
shape them. Local transformation is as much a part of globalization as the lateral extension of social
connections across time and space. 3 According to Malcolm Waters “globalization is social process in
which the constraints of geography on social and cultural arrangements recede and in which people
become increasingly aware that they are receding”. 4 According to Roland Robertson “globalization is the
compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole. 5
‘The world is in a rush, and is getting close to its end’- thus spoke one Archbishop Wulfstan, in a
sermon given in York, in the year 1014. It is easy to imagine the same sentiments being expressed today.
Are the hopes and anxieties of each period merely a carbon copy of previous eras? Is the world in which
we live, at the close of the twentieth century, really any different from the earlier times? 6 It is. There are
good, objective reasons to believe that we are living through a major period of historical transition.
Moreover, the changes affecting us aren’t confined to any one area of the globe, but stretch almost
everywhere.
The world, in which we find ourselves today, doesn’t look or feel much the previous century
philosophers predicted it would. Rather being more and more under our control, it seems out of our
control- a runaway world. Global climate change and its accompanying risks, e.g., probably result from
our intervention into the environment. They aren’t natural phenomenon. Science and technology are
inevitably involved in our attempts to counter such risks, but they have also contributed to creating them
in the first place.
Globalization is restructuring the ways in which we live, and in a very profound manner. It is led from
the west, bears the strong imprint of American political and economic power, and is highly uneven in its
consequences. Globalization also influences everyday life as much as it does events happening on a world
scale. That is why there is a strong debate and discussion of sexuality, marriage and the family. In most
parts of the world, women are staking claim to greater autonomy than in the past and are entering the
labour force in large numbers. Such aspects of globalization are at least as important as those happening
in the global market-place. They contribute to the stresses and strain affecting traditional ways of life and
cultures in most regions of the world. The traditional family is under threat, is changing, and will change
much further. Other traditions, such as those connected with religion, are also experiencing major
transformations.
In a globalizing world, where information and images are routinely transmitted across the globe, we
are all regularly in contact with others who think differently, and live differently, from ourselves.
Globalization may not be a particularly attractive or elegant word. But absolutely no one who wants to
understand our prospects at century’s end can ignore it. Globalization is intensively being discussed in
3 Anthony Giddens. 1990. The Consequences of Modernity. London: Polity Press. pp. 24-27.
4 Malcolm Waters. 1995. Globalization. London, New York. Routledge. P.3.
5 Roland Robertson. 1992. Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture. London. Sage Publications. P.8.
6 Anthony Giddens. 2002. Runaway World: How Globalization is Reshaping Our Lives. London: Profile Books Limited. P. 10.
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