GOV. ALFONSO D.

TAN COLLEGE
Maloro, Tangub City

GE CONWOR (THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD)

MODULE 1

Name: Program/Year:
Instructor: Course Schedule:

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 GOV.ALFONSO D. TAN COLLEGE
INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Maloro, Tangub City

Course Description

This course introduces students to the contemporary world by examining the multifaceted
phenomenon of globalization. Using the various disciplines of the social sciences, it examines the
economic, social, political, technological, and other transformations that have created an increasing
awareness of the interconnectedness of peoples and places around the globe. To this end, the
course provides an overview of the various debates in global governance, development, and
sustainability. Beyond exposing the student to the world outside the Philippines, it seeks to inculcate
a sense of global citizenship and global ethical responsibility.
This course includes mandatory topics on population education in the context of population
and demography.

Course Intended Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, the students should be able to:

A. Competencies
1. Distinguish different interpretations of and approaches to globalization
2. Describe the emergence of global economic, political, social, and cultural systems
3. Analyze the various contemporary drivers of globalization
4. Understand the issues confronting the nation-state
5. Assess the effects of globalization on different social units and their responses
B. Skills
1. Analyze contemporary news events in the context of globalization
2. Analyze global issues in relation to Filipinos and the Philippines
3. Write a research paper with proper citations on a topic related to globalization
C. Values
1. Articulate personal positions on various global issues
2. Identify the ethical implications of global citizenship

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STUDY GUIDE AND MODULE RULES:
1. Schedule and manage your time and understand every point of the module. Read it over and
over until you understand the point.
2. Study how you can manage to do the activities of this module in consideration of your other
modules from other courses. Be very conscious with the study schedule. Post it on a
conspicuous place so that you can always see. Do not ask about questions that are already
answered in the guide.
3. If you did not understand the readings and other tasks, re-read. Focus, if this will not work,
engage all possible resources. You may ask other family members to help you. If this will not
work with again, text me first so that I can call you or text you back for assistance.
4. Do not procrastinate. Remember, it is not others who will be short-changed if you will not do
your work on time. It will be you.
5. Before you start doing your tasks, read and understand the assessment tools provided. Do not
settle with low standards; target the highest standards in doing your assigned tasks. I know
you can.
6. Quote your sources if there are in answering all the activities.
7. Lastly, you are the learner: hence, you do the module on your own. Your family members and
friends at home will support you but the activities must be done by you.

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MODULE 1

Unit Intended Learning Outcomes

1. Develop a working knowledge about globalization
2. Identify the different aspects of globalization.
3. Explain the impact of globalization to different
individual

Directions: Read the article provided below and write the underlying
definitions of globalization in 30-100 words. (insert article)

The Coronavirus Is Killing Globalization as We Know It

By Philippe Legrain
MARCH 12, 2020, 1:31 PM

The outbreak has been a gift to nativist nationalists and protectionists, and it is
likely to have a long-term impact on the free movement of people and goods.

Until recently, most policymakers and investors remained complacent about the
potential economic impact of the coronavirus crisis. As late as the end of February,
most wrongly assumed that it would have only a brief, limited, China-specific impact.
Now they realize that it is generating a global shock, which may be sharp—but which
most still expect to be short. But what if the economic disruption has an enduring
impact? Could the coronavirus pandemic even be the nail in the coffin for the current
era of globalization?
The coronavirus crisis has highlighted the downsides of extensive international
integration while fanning fears of foreigners and providing legitimacy for national
restrictions on global trade and flows of people.

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 All sorts of businesses have suddenly realized the risks of relying on complex
global supply chains that are specific not just to China—but to particular places such
as Wuhan, the epicenter of the pandemic. Chinese people—and now Italians, Iranians,
Koreans, and others—have become widely seen as vectors of disease;
senior Republican politicians in the United States have even labeled the disease the
“Chinese coronavirus.”
Meanwhile, governments of all stripes have rushed to impose travel bans,
additional visa requirements, and export restrictions. The travel ban on most arrivals
from Europe that U.S. President Donald Trump announced on March 11 is particularly
broad, but far from unique. All of this is making economies more national and politics
more nationalistic.
Much of this disruption may be temporary. But the coronavirus crisis is likely to
have a lasting impact, especially when it reinforces other trends that are already
undermining globalization. It may deal a blow to fragmented international supply
chains, reduce the hypermobility of global business travelers, and provide political
fodder for nationalists who favor greater protectionism and immigration controls.
The complex China-centered global supply chains on which so many Western
companies have come to rely are particularly at risk. The cost advantage of producing
in China has eroded in recent years as the country has become richer and wages have
soared. The risks of doing so were highlighted by President Trump’s imposition of
punitive tariffs on imports from China in 2018 and 2019, leading businesses to
scramble for alternatives.
While the January deal marked a fragile truce in the U.S.-China trade war, the
perils of producing in China remain; both Democrats and Republicans increasingly
view China as a long-term strategic rival that needs to be contained. And no sooner
had the trade war abated than the coronavirus intervened. The extended shutdown of
many Chinese factories has pushed exports down 17 percent in the first two months of
the year compared with a year earlier, and it has disrupted the production of European
cars, iPhones, and other consumer goods.
Inertia is a powerful thing. And there are still many advantages to producing in
China, such as scale and efficient logistics. But the coronavirus crisis could mark a
tipping point that prompts many businesses to remodel their supply chains and invest
in more resilient and often more local patterns of production.
One option is to shift and diversify operations across other Asian economies,
such as Vietnam or Indonesia. Another is to shorten supply chains, with U.S.
companies moving production to Mexico and European ones to Eastern Europe or
Turkey. A third is to invest in robots and 3D printing within advanced economies,
producing locally closer to consumers.
A second enduring consequence of the coronavirus crisis may be reduced
business travel. Technology gurus have long argued that videoconferencing and chat
apps would eliminate the need for most business travel and allow many people to work
from home more. Yet until the coronavirus crisis, business travel had continued
growing, seemingly inexorably.
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 Now, whether because of government bans, business decisions, or individual
caution, all but the most essential international travel has been canceled, and those
who can work from home are increasingly staying put.
Thanks to this forced grounding, businesses may discover that while face-to-face
meetings are sometimes necessary, technological alternatives are often just fine—and
also much less costly, time-consuming, and detrimental to family life. And at a time of
increasing concern about the impact of airplane emissions on the climate, and with
many businesses keen to highlight their commitment to environmental awareness and
sustainability, there is both an environmental reason and an economic one why
business travel may decline.
Perhaps most significantly, the coronavirus crisis plays into the hands of
nationalists who favor greater immigration controls and protectionism.
The speed and scope of the virus’s spread across the globe have spotlighted people’s
vulnerability to seemingly distant foreign threats. The coronavirus has not just spread
to global hubs such as London and New York. It has also leaped directly to provincial
cities such as Daegu, South Korea’s fourth-largest city; nursing homes in the suburbs
of Seattle; and even small towns such as Castiglione d’Adda (population: 4,600)—one
of the 10 towns in Lombardy first quarantined by the Italian government in February.

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History of Globalization

The term globalization should be confined to a set of complex, sometimes

contradictory, social processes that are changing our current social condition based on
the modern system of independent nation-states. Indeed, most scholars of
globalization have defined their key concept along those lines as a multidimensional
set of social processes that create, multiply, stretch, and intensify worldwide social
interdependencies and exchanges while at the same time fostering in people a growing
awareness of deepening connections between the local and the distant. At its core,
then, globalization is about the unprecedented compression of time and space as a
result of political, economic, and cultural change, as well as powerful technological
innovations. The slogan ‘globalization is happening’ implies that we are moving from
the modern socio-political order of nation states that gradually emerged in the
seventeenth century toward the ‘postmodern’ condition of globality. Indeed, like
‘modernization’ and other verbal nouns that end in the suffix ‘-ization’, the term
‘globalization’ suggests a dynamic best captured by the notion of ‘development’ or
‘unfolding’ along discernable patterns. Such unfolding may occur quickly or slowly, but
it always corresponds to the idea of change, and, therefore, denotes the alteration of
present conditions. This crucial focus on change explains why globalization scholars
pay particular attention to shifting temporal modes and the reconfiguration of social and
geographical space (Manfred B. Steger).
It seems a moot question, when someone asks about the history of globalization.
By looking at the contemporary feel regarding effects of globalization, it is a common
practice in media and even in scholars to look at globalization as a recent trend
emerged before few decades (Pieterse, 2012). The usual timeline of globalization
emphasized by the scholars and researchers is post-second world war and on the
minimum post-cold war. Effective database on globalization in the fields of social
sciences, humanities, political science, media, cultural studies, communication, film
studies and international relations can be found out from 1970s or 1980s onward
(Pieterse, 2012) and this era has been considered as most relevant as well as have
accelerated global flows and effects.

But a question arises that does it make sense that a momentous concept like
globalization emerged in only few decades? Globalization, as a complex connectivity,
may situate before few decades but globalization process comprised of social, political,
economic and cultural flows instigates us to go further back in times (Tomlinson, 1999).

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According to Pieterse (2012), many features of globalization can be found in the past
and embedded in the evolutionary times. In this sense, globalization becomes part of
big history which situates planetary evolutionary processes within cosmic evolution
(Spier, 2010). The study of “historical globalization” indicates that the world had never
been a place for unconnected/discrete communities rather there were strong
evidences of cross cultural exchanges and interactions from the earliest times of
human existence in the planet (Bentley, 2004). Looking at globalization as current
trend probably is a semantic issue. Many historians have found out the basis of deep
and wide infrastructure of globalization in the past era without using the term
globalization (Pieterse, 2012).

Historians have taken different threshold levels for defining the emergence of
globalization. The emergence of world economy is one of the thresholds for
globalization. Frank (1998) in his research in Asia and Gunn (2003) in his research on
Southeast Asia considers 1200s as a most relevant time for economic emergence. But
Hobson (2004) has found out evidences of world economy as far back as 3500 BC.
According to Hobson (2004), although economic globalization starts emerging from
3500 BC but a huge expansion of global connections and trade occurred during post
600- period which is termed as oriental globalization encouraged by the revival of
camel transport.

Era of commercial revolution is also a threshold for defining globalization which

unfolded from 1000 BC. A web of commercial ties have created a link between big
portion of the world in which India, South China and Mediterranean, and with the help
of Europe, East & West Africa, Central Asia, Indonesia and North & Western Pacific
were active points. The core element of newly established commerce system was
widely recognized money system, development of new technology of accounting,
merchandizing and shipping, establishment of commercial routes and development of
social institutions (Ehret, 1998; Manning, 2005).

If trade linkages between different distant regions are taken as the criterion of
globalization emergence, then it may leads further back to Bronze Age. Besides cotton
and silk from China, early trade includes turquoise, agate, beads and lapis. The Silk
Road from Xian to Mediterranean dates back to 800 BC and evidence of Jade road
from central Asia to China can be found in 3000 BCE (Mair, 2006). It also matches with
the early commerce technologies like charging interest on loans, whose evidence can
be found in Sumer dated back to 3000 BC (Goetzmann & Rouwenhorst 2005).

Jennings (2011), who is an Archeologist, takes the formation of cities as a

threshold for globalization. There was rapid social changes and urbanization in
Mesopotamian world in Uruk period (4200-3100 BCE). Uruk-Warka was a major urban
center which was three times in size of Athens (Jennings, 2011).

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 Steger (2003) has summed up the debate on history of globalization and
provided a short chronology, based on five distinct historical periods. These periods
are segregated by significant changes in the social, cultural, political, technological and
economical factors. Following are distinct historical periods suggested by Steger
(2003) with some important characteristics.

Pre-historic period (10000 BC – 3500 BC)

In the start of this human history, interaction among thousands of hunter all
over the world was limited to geographical limitations and was coincidental. But
the extent of social interaction changed dramatically when food cultivation was
focused. Although, the process of globalization started but its magnitude was
limited. Evidence showed centrally administered warfare, agriculture,
bureaucracy and religion as key agents of social interaction which ultimately
resulted in growing societies in different regions of the world.

Pre-modern period (3500 BC – 1500 C)

There was a dramatic change in globalization in this period because of

invention of wheel (3000 BC) in South Asia and writing in central China, Egypt
and Mesopotamia. Invention of wheel encouraged huge infrastructural
innovations like permanent roads (for example silk road) and animal-drawn cart
that helped in transportation of goods as well as human resources to distant
places. Major technological innovations of that time includes tapping of natural
gas, hydraulic engine, paper printing, sophisticated metal working techniques
and silk fabric. Irrigation system comprised of canals; not only encouraged
productivity but also provided best transportation system. Furthermore values of
coinage encouraged the market and trade expansion.

Early modern period (1500-1750)

The term modernity and enlightenment have been associated with

eighteenth century project of liberating thoughts. The remarkable advancement
during these two centuries accelerated globalization. European benefited a lot
from Islamic and Chinese innovations. European entrepreneurs laid the
foundation of capitalist world system and resulted in the emergence of joint stock
companies. Expansionistic desire of Europeans instigated them to seek for
profitable sea routes, which encouraged the innovations like revised maritime
technologies, postal system and advance navigation system.

Modern period (1750-1970)

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 Idea of globalization became at the stage of rapid growth in this period.
Due to political and economical influences, significant level of networking and
integration was visible in social, cultural and technological sectors. Level of world
trade dramatically increased due to multinational banks, global pricing systems,
railway system, mechanized ships and air transport. Furthermore, social
interaction increased because of telegraph system that provides basis for
telephones, mobile, internet and many other related inventions.

Contemporary system (1970 onward)

A dramatic expansion and acceleration of globalization is another quantum

leap in its history. Now, the world is socially interconnected through mobile,
social media, internet and electronic media, as well as, MNCs played their role in
cultural integration. Global integration increased drastically due to technological
advancement in this era.

Definition of Globalization

Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people,

companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international
trade and investment and aided by information technology. This process has effects on
the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and
prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world.
Globalization is:
 About the liberalization and global integration of market;
 Inevitable and irreversible;
 Nobody is in charge of it;
 Benefits everyone in the long run;
 Furthers the spread of democracy in the world; and
 Requires a global war in terror.

Although word of ‘globalization’ has been used by scholars in their work in

second half of 20th century but the word has a longer pedigree. In English language,
several hundred years ago, when it was discovered that earth is round, a noun ‘globe’
began to use for planet (Scholte, 2002). In late nineteenth century, other than its
meaning of spherical, the adjective ‘global’ was used for “world scale”. The word
globalism and globalize appeared in 1940s and in 1961, the word globalization was
first entered in American English dictionary (Scholte, 2002). There are examples of
word globalization in languages other than English like ‘quanqiuhua’ in Chinese,
‘globalizacion’ in Spanish, ‘lil` alam’ in Arabic, ‘globalizatsia’ in Russian and
‘mondialisation’ in French.
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 Cerny (1995), Jones (1995) and Bairoch & Kozul-Wright (1996) have defined
globalization as a process of economic and financial integration. According to Cerny
(1995): Globalization is defined here as a set of economic and political structures and
processes deriving from the changing character of the goods and assets that comprise
the base of the international political economy - in particular, the increasing structural
differentiation of those goods and assets.

Thomas, & Wilkin (1997) and McGrew (1998) have focused on social aspect of
globalization. According to Thomas (1997), “globalization refers broadly to the process
whereby power is located in global social formations and expressed through global
networks rather than through territorially-based states”. McGrew (1998) defined
globalization as: A process which generates flows and connections, not simply across
nation-states and national territorial boundaries, but between global regions, continents
and civilizations. This invites a definition of globalization as: ‘an historical process
which engenders a significant shift in the spatial reach of networks and systems of
social relations to transcontinental or interregional patterns of human organization,
activity and the exercise of power.

At the end, Al-Rodhan, & Stoudmann (2006) and Hebron & Stack (2013) have
provided more generalized and conclusive definitions, comprising the dimensions of
economic, political, cultural and social. According to Al-Rodhan, & Stoudmann (2006),
“globalization is a process that encompasses the causes, course, and consequences
of transnational and transcultural integration of human and non-human activities”.
Similarly, Hebron & Stack (2013) defined globalization as “the further development of
the process initiated over many centuries, reflected in the trade expansion, exploration,
conquest, migration, colonization, technological advancement, and so on that have
taken place throughout world history”.

Different scholars have tried to define globalization from various perspectives but
as far as this study is concerned, it is important to know that globalization is not a new
phenomenon. It is part and parcel of the process of expansion across continents based
on migration, trade, warfare, military alliances, conquest, exploration, colonization and
technological advancement. Contacts among states, societies and people from Stone
Age till now have knitted the world in the shape of interdependent patterns which
attenuated and intensified overtime. The outcome of the process of globalization is
characterized by unpredictable, far-reaching and ongoing changes (Hebron & Stack,
2013).

ASPECTS OF GLOBALIZATION

Globalization has various aspects which affect the world in several different
ways. These aspects include:
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 Economic globalization

– establishment of a global common market, based on the freedom of exchange

of goods and capital.

 Political globalization

– creation of international organizations to regulate the relationships among

governments and to guarantee the rights arising from social and economic
globalization.

 Informational globalization

– increase in information flows between geographically remote locations.

Arguably this is a technological change with the advent of fibre optic
communications, satellites, and increased availability of telephone and Internet.

 Cultural

– sharing of ideas, attitudes and values across national borders. This sharing
generally leads to an interconnectedness and interaction between peoples of
diverse cultures and ways of life. Mass media and communication
technologies are the primary instruments for cultural globalization.

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Activity 1

Directions: Choose two aspects of globalization that affects your present lifestyle. You
must give examples from your daily experience to elaborate your points.

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Activity 2

Directions: Study the 7 events in the table and decide which of the following aspects
of globalization that the event illustrates: economic, informational/technological,
cultural, and political. The first one has been done for you as an example.

Aspect of
Events
globalization
Disneyland, the American theme park, has been set up in
Hong Kong, Japan and France. ECONOMIC
1.

The parts of a car come from all over the world: Germany,
Japan, Korea etc. and the car is assembled in the U.S.
2.

Businesses are operated with many satellite locations or

call centres in other parts of the world to answer
questions in another: for example, someone in India
3. answering a call from the U.S. about a product or service.

The creation of regional forums such as the European

Union, Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) and
international organization such as the World Trade
Organization and the World Health Organization. These
international forums and organizations have new rules
4. and agreements for participating countries to follow.

The spread of language, products, and customs as

people are closely connected.
5.

Franchises (特許經營權) for McDonald's hamburgers,

Pizza Hut, Burger King, KFC and others carrying U.S.
6.
trade names are operating throughout the world

Cable News Network (CNN), based in the United States,

produces 24-hour news broadcasts that can be seen by
7.
people around the world.

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 GOV.ALFONSO D. TAN COLLEGE
INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

The GADTC-Institute of Arts and Sciences is the Heart of the institution in providing
humanistic and scientific education needed to produce holistic individuals who are globally-
competitive and value-oriented professional appreciative to both culture and innovations.

The GADTC-Institute of Arts and Sciences shall produce globally competitive and
value-oriented professionals who appreciate tradition and innovation and contribute to the
understanding of the diversity of cultures producing socio-cultural and environment related
researches to further serve the Institute and the community.

1. Provide the foundation learning that equips every Alfonsos with communicative,
analytic and cultural skills and the fundamental knowledge that are essential tools in
the making of a globally-competitive individuals;
2. Develop among our students a sense of creativity, cultural-sensitivity, commitment
and service to community and nation;
3. Foster dedication in promoting research that helps the academic community better
understand and appreciate human history, society, environment and culture; and
4. Engage in interdisciplinary and innovative approach in teaching humanities and
social sciences to produce holistic and value-oriented professionals.

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 GOV. ALFONSO D. TAN COLLEGE
Maloro, Tangub City

GADTC is integral to Tangub City’s becoming a center for learning and eco-cultural
tourism by producing God-centered citizens committed to be light of the world.

To provide opportunities for continuing education for faculty and staff, providing
upgraded facilities for quality and research-based instruction to students towards community
engagement and linkages to industry.

*INTEGRITY *COMPASSION *EXCELLENCE

Alfonsos as Lux Mundi: Serving Humanity with Empowered Mind, Passionate Heart
and Virtuous Soul

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