Abstract
Globalization is bringing about profound changes. The farthest reaches of the world are becoming accessible, in ways that most of us were unable to imagine even just 20 years ago. Accelerating advances in communication and information technologies are changing the ways in which we connect, access information, and interact with each other. For some, these changes have opened up new venues and opportunities: distant places are increasingly accessible, new relationships can be forged, and work and learning can occur from any location that has an Internet connection. For others, these same changes have been associated with loss: the loss of traditions, or jobs, or significant relationships. But whatever form these changes take, few realize the magnitude, intensity, and long-term implications of these transformations. Fundamental widespread beliefs and naturalized relationships are being questioned, negotiated, and, at times, dissolved. These changes are not just restricted to the West or the industrialized world. Instead, extreme transformation is rapidly becoming a global experience. While societies, communities, families, and individuals in all regions of the world, live under a multitude of conditions, they are not immune to the increasingly accelerated, profound, deeply rooted changes that we are witnessing. These changes, however, are not distributed equally between or within societies. Instead, in some areas we are witnessing extremely rapid societal transformation, and in other places only certain groups or regions are affected.
Even though globalization is a hotly contested phenomenon, there is some agreement that globalization entails a new form of bridging geographic and cultural distances, and that these developments are the product of constantly evolving transportation, communication and information technologies. From mid-1990 onward, there has been an increased awareness on the part of economists and political scientists on the impact of globalization. Of particular interest has been the movement of capital, the changing role of the nation-state, the increased transnational migration of individuals, and the growth and expansion of multinational corporations and transnational organizations. Despite the fact that individuals and families are affected by these phenomena, there has been remarkably little attention focused on the social side of globalization. This omission has occurred, in spite of a general realization that in a global context the meaning of the very categories that are a part of globalization have been altered: the nation-state, economies, communities, social class, gender, ethnicity, and families (Baars et al. 2006). Thus, it is remarkable that we do not have more extensive dialogue and critical analyses that examine the transformative nature of these processes from more societal and local levels. In particular, the implications and effects of globalization on families is a striking oversight.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
In the following chapter, the debate on family definitions is reviewed.
- 3.
Individuals are bound to each other either through emotional, legal or kinship ties. In the West, as in many other parts of the world, we characterize these relationships as family.
- 4.
See Parkin and Stone (2004) for the anthropological perspective on kinship and family discussions.
- 5.
As of the writing of this book, one article on this topic (Edgar 2004) had been published.
- 6.
The world catalogue currently lists over 61,000 publications dealing with various aspects of globalization.
- 7.
Interestingly, globalization has entered into the vocabulary of other languages also.
- 8.
The varying meanings accorded to globalization have been concisely discussed by J. Scholte in Globalization. A critical introduction (2000).
- 9.
An interesting example is the current popularity of social networking sites that link individuals across the globe. These networks are now being harnessed into certain social movements – a phenomenon in this form was unimaginable even just 2 or 3 years ago.
- 10.
This is also the perspective that leads to the mass demonstrations every year against meetings of the G8 and the World Trade Organization.
- 11.
This ecological argument is found in a multitude of writings juxtaposing the Northern hemisphere with the Southern hemisphere, and arguing that the North is industrialized, while the South is “developing.”
- 12.
One of the most dramatic modern day examples can be found in the United Arab Emirates where the world’s largest man-made islands have been constructed on water (The Palm Dubai and The Palms) and desert conditions have even been modified to include an indoor skiing arena.
- 13.
Obviously this is not true for all individuals nor all relationships – however, it is present to a much greater extent than was imagined even just a couple of decades ago.
- 14.
For example, when it comes to the study of families, books on global families are virtually all organized by country. As an illustration, “French families” will be contrasted to “Chinese families” and Latinos are compared to Asians. In a globalized context, these demarcations have little significance and do not offer us useful insights.
- 15.
For example, immigrant families to the United States today may, on the surface, look like immigrant families at the turn of the twentieth century. The small nuclear family leaves the larger extended family behind as it resettles in the United States (this is just one example – the multiple types of immigrant families will be discussed in a later chapter). However, today’s immigrant family will differ in tangible and intangible ways. One hundred years ago, immigrants were limited in their communications with their home societies. Re-settlement meant a loss of cultural ties with family, friends, and all that represented their lives. This also implied assimilation to the host society – we see this in language acquisition, the socialization of children, and even often name changes. Today’s immigrant, and/or immigrant family enters on a new trajectory once it decides to make the radical shift. They may move to a new society but the ties with the old one need not be broken. Communication technologies allow individuals to remain in constant contact with family and friends, mass transportation allow for relatively easy access to home again should that need arise, and a growing pride in ethnicity allows individuals to retain the vestiges of their backgrounds be they language, customs, names, etc.
- 16.
We continue to be faced with complex unanswered questions: Under what conditions do we move to greater egalitarian relations between men and women in the intimate sphere of the family? If so, under what socio-economic and cultural conditions? Do families socialize their children in increasingly similar ways due to the spread of certain types of knowledge? Do the structural changes that have affected so many people around the globe (women working outside the home in unprecedented numbers, later ages at marriage and childbearing) influence families in varying ways? Does the local still take precedence over the global? How do we categorize people in a census, a research study, a society – according to class? Religion? National affiliation? And we need to pose newer questions about the role of technology in social relationships within families and outside of families? Are we moving to new social forms that will eventually replace families as we know them? How does transnationalism affect family processes?
- 17.
Fictive kin refers to those individuals who someone may feel emotional and/or economic ties to without a biological, adoptive, or marital relationship.
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Trask, B.S. (2010). Globalization as a Dynamic Force in Contemporary Societies. In: Globalization and Families. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-88285-7_1
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