MAKE A REFLECTION PAPER ABOUT HERE: The Challenges of Globalization…

Question Answered step-by-step MAKE A REFLECTION PAPER ABOUT HERE: The Challenges of Globalization… MAKE A REFLECTION PAPER ABOUT HERE:The Challenges of Globalization and Pluralism to Ethical Decision-Making CHED-GET: ETHICS Instructor: Michael Ner E. Mariano Department of Philosophy Loyola Schools -Ateneo de Manila University Globalization Globalization can be defined as the continuing world-wide economic integration, recently facilitated by emerging information technologies, that has also affected the environment, culture, and politics of different groups of people. Globalization “Globalization is not just a phenomenon and not just a passing trend. It is the international system that replaced the Cold War system. Globalization is the integration of capital, technology, and information across national borders, in a way that is creating a single global market and, to some degree, a global village.” -On Thomas Friedman’s Lexus and the Olive Tree Globalization • For Friedman, the challenge of globalization for everyone is how to come up with a creative response to the confllict between the Lexus and the olive tree: • -Lexus (referring to the luxury line of Toyota), representing the “drive for prosperity and development” brought about by globalization. • -Olive tree, representing the “identity and traditions” brought about by the “ancient forces of culture, geography, tradition, and community” Issues in Globalization • “Globalization is deeply controversial, however. Proponents of globalization argue that it allows poor countries and their citizens to develop economically and raise their standards of living, while opponents of globalization claim that the creation of an unfettered international free market has benefitted multinational corporations in the Western world at the expense of local enterprises, local cultures, and common people. Resistance to globalization has therefore taken shape both at a popular and at a governmental level as people and governments try to manage the flow of capital, labour, goods, and ideas that constitute the current wave of globalization.” • From Globalization 101 (http://www.globalization101.org/what-is-globalization/)101pon Issues in Globalization • From Sylvain Ehrenfield (“Ethical Dilemmas of Globalization,” in Ethical Culture, http://ethicalfocus. org/ethical-dilemmas-of-globalization/): • “Protectionism”: a.k.a., “economic nationalism” – belief that international institutions (e.g., WTO, IMF, WB) adversely affect national interests, make the country subservient to multinational corporations • “Anti-globalists”: accuse international institutions for being “undemocratic,” ignoring environmental issues, promoting unjust labour practices (e.g., child labour, workplace safety), increasing inequality and further impoverishing the poor. Issues in Globalization • “There is much talk about free trade. We must remember that every free trade agreement is a negotiated document. It involves all kinds of bargaining about different products and tariffs. For example, for the North American Free Trade Agreement, (NAFTA), the results were uneven. US corn producers benefitted, while textile workers have not. Mexican farmers were devastated by US corn imports, and their textile workers lost out. Part of the reason is textile products from China and US subsidies for agriculture. It is estimated that the growth in Mexico and Latin America has benefitted the upper 30% but the bottom gained little.” • -Ehrenfield, “Ethical Dilemmas of Globalization” Issues in Globalization: Ethics and Human Rights • Particular moral codes (based on one’s culture, religion, or other social grouping) are absolute for members of the group • Are they? • Ex: the system of apartheid in South Africa (1948-1994) • Legal codes and morality • Who defines “human rights”? • The issue of China: Confucianism shaped China to value individual’s responsibility to community, to social harmony (“collectivism” vs. “individual rights”?) • “Western” vs. “Eastern” values? Notions of “right”? Pluralism • Can mean any of several things: • (1) The bare fact that there are many sets of beliefs and practices • (2) The attitude that recognizes (1)above, but on top of that maintains an openness to the differences and a desire for engagement and understanding across this diversity • For its followers, this is not reducible to relativism; instead, it’s a call to dialogue • The current era: contact between multifarious cultural, political, religious persuasions. • The question is how to creatively and constructively respond to such situations. Ethical Theories and Different Cultures • Are the ethical theories we studied – all coming from “dead, white, Western males” – irrelevant to our own cultural contexts? • What if you are alive, brown, Eastern, female… and lesbian and poor, as well?!? • Can we still learn anything from the “classic” (Western) ethical theories? A Suggestion for an Approach • Recognize, first of all, that you are free. • Identify the context that you’re coming from, and how that shapes your world view and value system. • When confronted with a complex moral situation (due to globalization or religious questions), realize that you are neither just a passive recipient of your context and its conditions, nor an entity who is absolutely free from all constraints.   Arts & Humanities Writing Share QuestionEmailCopy link Comments (0)