Sumblog 10: Brain Balance

Since we have began talking about the environmental facet of globalization it only makes sense that we would need to talk about people. Since we are humans on this Earth we have a direct connection to what happens to resources, landscapes, and the effects that follow all of our actions. Before addressing these huge issues we must start with the basics. There are 7 billion people on the planet and the distribution between countries and the number of people they hold are not balanced. People have been able to live longer and will continue to do so, which means our home planet needs to be nurtured.
People will always be moving around, so migration is not a new concept to the world. The push and pull factors of immigration and emigration however, have changed over the years. The idea of brain drain and brain gain is very real. I studied in Spain this past spring and would converse with many college students studying a wide variety of subjects. All of them knew they had to go to school in order to receive a job and hopefully a career. More often than not, I ran into people who had gone to England for a years time or so to learn English. They said it was a crucial advantage to know how to speak English since many companies desire it greatly. Some were planning to go to England and Germany for a while to be able to find employment. Many students I talked to knew that this was the only way they were going to be able to survive and thrive in the area they studied. Some even knew it was going to be a long time before they would be able to return to Spain. This is a prime example that Germany and England are gaining many talented and intelligent graduates while Spain is losing its successful individuals in this generation.
In the video I included, it demonstrates this idea. An engineering student went to Germany seeking work and found it. He had to study for 3+ hours every night after work to make sure his German was up to par. He is very skilled in his field and the company that hired him is pleased. The cultural and climatic differences however for the new engineer was  and still is an adjustment. Additionally, the woman running the company said that while Germany's unemployment rate is less than 5%, people are getting older and older and do not have sufficient young people to fill in the positions. We also discussed this in class. If there isn't a balance between the ages and sexes in a country, issues can ensue. Ultimately, gain and drain will occur but I believe it is something the world needs to keep a close eye on so the dynamic between the two isn't too skewed.

VIDEO---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwukSZNIk2A

Sumblog 9: Is it Time for Africa?

This week we discussed many new concepts to help classify global growth and better understand which sociological ideas apply. One of these concepts was hybridization, which is the mixing of cultural elements while still keeping the structure of the culture in tact. We can see this by looking at the United States as a salad instead of a melting pot. In place of many cultures coming together to make one consistency, like a homogenized world, we can view each part of the salad as it it.

I think the idea of hybridization is every present in pop-media and society. It is becoming ever popular to be "global" and see other aspects of a culture without actually leaving the United States. The two examples we talked about in class are the film Slumdog Millionaire, which talks about slums in India and it all ends up connecting to a game show, Who wants to be a Millionaire. The other example that I decided to dive into was Shakira. She performed a song called Waka Waka, translated to "Time for Africa," at the World Cup in 2010. There are mixed views on this song choice and the artist singing it.

Some South Africans found it offensive that a Colombian woman, who has no cultural ties to the Cameroonian marching chant was therefore overstepping her boundaries as an artist. Others felt it was OK because a group with African heritage was playing along side her called Freshlyground. Finally, some just enjoyed the idea all together because people got to experience a small part of African culture. I understand where the anger is steaming from because even this small amount of African culture is manipulated to appeal to the crowd and to make the song more mainstream or popular. The article I included provides a video of Shakira singing Waka Waka, a video of the African group, Freshlyground playing music, and a bit more insight on the issue surrounding the World Cup song.

I prefer to look at the globe with hybridization in mind because as people we should not lose our identity. Each individual makes up a fraction of the world, no matter how small and that contributes to the plethora of cultures in it. Although Shakira does show some prime examples of hybridization, I believe it is more important for countries to represent themselves in the cultural market.

Article and videos ---> http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2010/06/world-cup-song-by-shakira-stirs-controversy.html

Sumblog 8: Brave New World

The idea of an uprising against the government is not something new to society today. In class we watched a documentary on the impact of uncensored websites such as Anonymous. The use of technology may seem to be a new phenomenon but the reality is the concern for our government getting too powerful has been present for a long time. The concept of 'New" World Order gives many positives to the countries involved, such as a well-being when there is an issue that a country cannot handle on their own. The networks of the New World Order can be viewed with a bit more hesitation. There is the horizontal network that depicts countries relating with other countries. They are on the same level and face similar issues. The other network is vertical which reveals a connection from one country to a global group that has no real geological location. This is the network that I believe causes these online, uncensored websites because there is a lack of trust.

These groups want to be seen and heard as part of their world. This idea of global governance seems to make the individual even smaller. It gives more power to the people on top and the ones underneath are heard less and less. As I mentioned earlier though, this is not something new as one can read about it from books of the past, listen to songs from today, and watch movies about it. This literature can be seen in books such as "Brave New World," “The Handmaid's Tale”, and “Fahrenheit 451” to just name a few. They all deal with a futuristic world were the government controls the societal structure, functions, and censorship of everything. The movie I thought of was V for Vendetta, which we also saw in the documentary. When someone wanted to be anonymous they wore a Guy Fawks mask because it represented a people who wanted to unite together to stand up for something they believe in. My song example that exposes opposition against too much governmental control is included in this blog. It is entitled, “Uprising” by Muse and mentions many of the same ideas that these other popular media sources have.

We as a people have been thinking these thoughts for a while now. The Internet has given individuals the means to make their voice heard and some of those voices have started to shout. As far as the impacts of the technological opposition I do believe the United States government is too powerful at this point to actually allow anything to occur but past history has revealed that if people do not feel valued and heard they will make it a point to do so. I think it would be good for the government to have a revelation about the importance of the people before it becomes a revolution.

“They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious” -Muse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_tDwpB3Vnk

Sumblog 7: Learning to Infinity and Beyond the Books

As we began to look at a global society, we examined two aspects of this which were education and health care. I found that education becoming a global entity was very intriguing and the more we began to discuss this thought in class the more interested I became. Whittling down to the core of what education is, one can extract the latent curriculum, or the unofficial forms of schooling. Some examples of this would be how we as students build up our time management skills and working with groups. The other curriculum we receive from education is manifest, which is the actual information being transmitted. As the level of our education goes up, we expand on these skills and use them to build upon the persons we wish to be.

A specific aspect of how the education system has become homogenized, is that many countries are following the western example. It can vary from how many years we are education children to the structure of the classroom but the trend that I wanted to focus on was studying abroad. Thinking of this idea as something beyond America is different because all the research we see is based off of where we are traveling to as American students. In addition, it is a very new topic and there are not many studies done at this time. Even as I tried to get more information on the topic, all I could find are the increasing numbers of students from the United Sates and the rising popularity of certain locations, mostly in Europe. In my blog, I have included an article listing the top ten places American students venture for a semester or more. While this is interesting I really wanted to see the trends of other countries grabbing hold of the "study abroad" train. It makes me wonder, of these top countries, how many of the students from those locations are studying in different countries?

In my study abroad experiencing of going to the number two country on the top ten list, Spain, I learned an exponential amount that I feel will help me so much in my professional future.  The other idea tied to studying abroad popularity across the globe that has been studied, is why students decided to take the leap of faith for their education. As the globe consistently continues to be more interconnected the abroad experience can only benefit. The experiences give insight of the latent curriculum kind and knowledge of in the manifest curriculum. The thought of having students from across the world broadening their horizons to the more global picture is exciting. This is one western trend that I wish to see continue to grow for years to come.

Article---> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/28/the-most-popular-study-abroad_n_1307971.html#s736426&title=10_Argentina

Sumblog 6: Gettin' Globally Greener

We have now started to discuss the political facet of sociology and how each nation works. In the beginning there was empires that covered vast amounts of territory and were functioning on the rulings of the empire and nothing more. As we have become more modern and have made nation-states, which encompass both the ideas of a nation and a state, we have tried to differentiate how these countries work. One of these theories is that each country is becoming more like everyone or isomorphic, because of a common world culture. This world culture is composed of many international groups that are there to create the greater good globally. The world culture is there to not only provide a central authority but also gives an identity to nations that are part of it.
Knowing all of this I wanted to take one of these identifiers and see how countries have "peer pressured" one another into moving forward. Sustainability is an initiative that has exploded across the globe and since the world culture is in support of it, every country has been making their own efforts to exemplify this. In the article I found, the top ten sustainable countries offer something different to take a stance on this global issue. Iceland, the number one country, has taken advantage of their pristine forests by preserving them. The research conducted looked at many aspects like air quality, biodiversity, agriculture, and water quality. It is interesting that even though there can be a broad topic like sustainability each country finds its identity with the location and people it has been provided with.

The functioning of the globe is pushed to be better in many factors, because of this "peer pressuring." The underlining thought that if the world culture wants it, we will want it too. The transformation may be slower for others and look unique to their circumstances, but if it has been decided as a positive alteration, the isomorphic push of the world will act. In the eyes of sustainability, I think the green push will benefit the world more than we realize.

Article ---> http://carbonpig.com/article/10-most-sustainable-countries-world

Sumblog 5: The Tortoise and The Hare

In looking at economical progress, we addressed three different theories that could explain how the world functions in this aspect. The one I want to break down more is Modernization Theory, formulated by Herbert Spencer and Carl Marx in the 1940s. The main idea of this is that the transformation of countries is unidirectional and that each one follows the same path to success. Now, in the historical context this theory was formed right after World War II, so I understand that the powerful countries could been seen as a good modeling point. However, to think that a country's main wish is to become more like America or the other winning countries is foolish to me.

Every country offers it's own resources, regulations, and labor. It is unfair to say that all the aspects of one country are bundled together as they make their way down the one and only line of transformation. Looking at the world today, it would be ethnocentric to observe the world functioning in this way. In the video I included it discusses how even though we give approximately 50 billion dollars to other countries annually the approval rate of Americans is only 63%. The majority of residents in countries that disapprove of America come from those that receive money from us such as Egypt and Pakistan. In the news clip the reporter states that these countries may be feeling like it is America trying to put on Band-Aid on problems of the past. I would also argue that it has to do with it feeling like pity money. These countries want to work on their own wellbeing instead of being offered money that appears to the rest of the world as a helping hand.

The truth about it all and the true irony is that even though we are offering to help all these other countries to become more like us, we ourselves continue to raise our national debt. We cannot even function as a nation right now because our federal government is shut down on a dispute between raising the national debt more or not. Even the most "powerful" appearing countries have their own issues. Although America is viewed in the light of dominance, my point is we still do not have it all together. The world's countries are each taking this "race" at their own pace, where the finish line is in different locations. We are not all the same. Our paths to success aren't either. And success is defined by the country itself.
VIDEO---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oiFH0pMGhI

Sumblog 4: First the Worst, Second the Best, Third the Golden Bird

As we begin to cover the economic facet of globalization it is important to categorize the globe. There is a world systems theory that addresses this idea. When we were brainstorming in class the categories that we came up with are the first, second, and third worlds. We also covered developed and underdeveloped but how do we come up with these categories. Is it fair to break down the world based on the "haves" and the "have-nots"? I realize in order to study the globe and try to get a grasp on the economic growth we have to put up the lines somewhere but could we look at it from a different angle?

As I write this I know that much of the economy and capitalism is based on money. Since these categorizations are mostly formed on GDP and other branches connecting to tangible money in the country it does make sense. Also, if we are accepting capitalism as a strong component to our world's economy then I suppose looking at the financial status of a country as a way of categorization is acceptable. My argument is whether in today's day and age, if it is just.

The link I have connected to the blog gives a plethora of information on underdeveloped and developed countries. It states, "...37 of the 46 states ranked as having low human development are located in Africa." My next point is that since we are studying globalization and know that underdeveloped countries exist why are we not stepping up our game? The developed countries should see this as an opportunity to share the wealth both literally and figuratively. If each country is seen to have a role then as a world we should be working together as a team to be victorious. Each country has something unique to offer and instead of working to capitalize the money for one given country there should be a sense of good for all. I think there is a way to add the cohesive cement to the global economy to keep the cycle functioning but better yet, balanced.

Link--> http://www.globalization101.org/the-divide-between-developed-and-developing-countries