Vinnytsia English Club on Globalization

Topic: Globalization

Globalization can be conceived as a process (or set of processes) which embodies a transformation in the spatial organization of social relations and transactions, expressed in transcontinental or interregional flows and networks of activity, interaction and power. It is characterized by four types of change. First, it involves a stretching of social, political and economic activities across frontiers, regions and continents. Second, it is marked by theintensification, or the growing magnitude, of interconnectedness and flows of trade, investment, finance, migration, culture, etc. Third, it can be linked to a speeding up of global interactions and processes, as the development of world-wide systems of transport and communication increases thevelocity of the diffusion of ideas, goods, information, capital and people. And, fourth, the growingextensity, intensity and velocity of global interactions can be associated with their deepeningimpact such that the effects of distant events can be highly significant elsewhere and specific local developments can come to have considerable global consequences. In this sense, the boundaries between domestic matters and global affairs become increasingly fluid. Globalization, in short, can be thought of as the widening, intensifying, speeding up, and growing impact of world-wide interconnectedness.

Fun Fact of the Day: As of the 2010 Census, “the foreign-born population of the U.S. is 12.5% of the total population” and rising (http://www.dosomething.org).

Topic:

1. What is “globalization”?  What images come to mind when you hear this word?  How have aspects of popular culture and technology increased globalization?  Are there any “symbols” of globalization that you can think of? 

2. What are the main pros and cons of globalization?  How has it directly affected your life?  Do you think globalization has improved peoples’ lives in general?

3. Is globalization continually growing or beginning to stabilize over time?  Is it better to embrace or ignore globalization trends?   Why do you think there is opposition to globalization?

4. Which countries or areas of the world do you think are the most positively and negatively affected by globalization?  Which areas are changing the most as a result?  How does globalization affect local economies, food production, goods distribution, and education, among other things?

5. Imagine the world 50 or 100 years from now: How do you think globalization will have changed Ukraine by then?  Do you think that globalization will continue or will it eventually start to reverse itself for more individual or localized trends?

6. What do you think of the term “global village”?  Do you think the world as one can be considered a “global village” as a result of globalization?

  Schedule:

Thursday, 19 July at 5:30

Saturday, 14 July at 10:30

 Please remember to put any topic ideas in our new Suggestion Box!