In the earlier centuries,
including the 19th century, people interacted with others across
international borders and conducted exchanges but did not recognize the term
‘globalization.’ The actual growth and influence of globalization became
rampant after World War II.
During the period, globalization facilitated four main aspects:
- transformation of the world economy (globalization)
- the rise of global feminism
- response to global modernity by world religions (Fundamentalism), and
- global consciousness about the impact of human activities on the environment (Environmentalism). These are discussed below.
Globalization
In the 1990s, globalization
referred to the increased engagement of distant individuals through
international networks. The networks comprised political relations, economic
transactions, economic influences, and cross-border movements of people. Such
processes can be traced back to connections among the Arab, Mongol, Russian,
Chinese, and Ottoman empires. The participants used the Silk Road, the Indian
Ocean, and trans-Saharan trade routes. Globalization also characterized the
expansion of Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. As a result of the
relationships created in the Eastern Hemisphere during this time, new rulers,
religions, products, technologies, and even diseases emerged.
In the 20th Century, globalization referred to the intense involvement in international economic transactions witnessed during the second half of the twentieth century. This same understanding was carried forward to the 21st Century. In the twenty-first century, people view globalization as a natural aspect that is unavoidable and thus cannot be stopped.
Even then, World War I and the Great Depression of the first half of the 20th century reduced the global economic
linkages. However, the usual trend was recovered, especially by capitalist
victors such as the United States that aimed to prevent the re-occurrence of
events like those of the Depression. Technological advancements fueled the economic
globalization of the period. The period was characterized by the shipping of
containers, giant oil tankers, and air express services that caused a significant
fall in transportation costs.
Feminism
The remarkable rise in protest
movements across the globe characterized the 1960s. The most significant of the
ideas of the recent century was the emergence of the global culture of
liberation. The feminist movement of the 1920s in both the United States and
Western Europe advocated for granting voting rights to women. The organized
feminist movements lost relevance after women achieved suffrage. The activities
created in the 1960s in both the US and Western Europe were based on the ideas
of the book The Second Sex by Simeone
de Beauvoir (1949), which helped women recognize how they were exploited. This
time, women demanded the right to control their bodies.
During the 20th and 21st
centuries, however, millions of women in America responded to Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique of 1963, which
figured out the identity issues of educated women, which were not fulfilled by
either marriage or motherhood. While some activists again agitated for equal
rights, the focus was on employment and education as opposed to voting rights.
Fundamentalism
Fundamentalism emerged as a response to modernity’s difficulties in the world’s religions. Fundamentalism is an aggressive, forceful, and complete defense of piety witnessed in the 19th century and earlier religious traditions. Several intellectuals had predicted that modernity, science, communism, or globalization threatened to eliminate the twentieth religion.
The belief was encouraged by the rapid fall in religious beliefs in
places like Britain, France, the Netherlands, and the Soviet Union. Besides, a
scientific culture was already spreading around the world. Buddhism,
Christianity, and Islam were popularly recognized as possessing the ability to
expand beyond their sources. Buddhist concepts such as meditation and yoga were
accepted in the West. Islam had been exclusive to Africa and South Korea but gained popularity in China towards the end of the 20th century.
During the early 21st
century, Christianity gained 62% followers in Asia, Africa, Oceania, and Latin
America. Before this period, Christianity was known as the religion of Europe
or North America. The instability in religion in the 20th century
encouraged the spread of certain traditions to new areas and necessitated the
adaptability of religions to the modernizing world. The primary threat of
science is its challenge to basic religious beliefs in the invisible realm of
reality. Moreover, capitalism, industrialization, and globalization did away
with relations sanctified using religious traditions.
Environmentalism
Environmentalism movements began in the
1960s and onwards and challenged global modernity, focusing on the impact human
activities would bring on the earth and all living creatures. Environmental
transformation and consciousness were recognized after the wars, revolutions,
and empires had been dealt with. The concern for the environment developed
during the Industrial Revolution since it led to the extinction of 24 species,
raised levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, destroyed groundwater
reserves, increased desert formation, led to dead ocean zones, and landscape
alterations.
The ability of humanity to change
the natural order is the most prominent feature of the 20th century. The human
impact on the environment took three major forms:
- an increase in human numbers so that the world’s population in 2014 was 7.2 billion as opposed to 1.6 billion in 1900
- the discovery of energy tapping potential from fossil fuels, such as coal in the 19th century and oil in the 20th century, and
- phenomenon of economic growth, since modern science and technology significantly increased the production of goods and services.
Conclusion
Capitalism, modernity, science, and globalization of the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries presented opportunities and threats to the natural order of life in the prior centuries. Globalization encouraged international networks and business transactions, among other exchanges.
Modernity and capitalization encouraged urbanization and the creation
of employment opportunities, while science gave rise to new sources of
knowledge. However, these factors contributed to exploitative relations,
alteration of the natural order, and interfered with past religious beliefs.