Globalization and Postmodernity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Globalization and Postmodernity - Essay Example The terminologies will be discussed at length to challenge past proposals while ensuring the final resolution is substantive. Globalization is a term that almost everyone knows because it is a buzzword. Academics, journalists, business executives, politicians, economists, and other people frequently use the term (Ritzer, 2003, p. 193). In all instances, the common meaning of the term denotes that something great is happening, including a new world economy, a new political and cultural dispensation, and a changing world overall (Robertson, 2001, p. 458). The use of the term in numerous contexts makes it lose meaning because it is difficult to know what exactly the term means, what function it serves, and how it affects contemporary politics and theory. Social theorists have lodged arguments to the effect that the contemporary world is shaped by globalization (Anangst, 2006, p. 510). Essentially, globalization is strengthening the capitalist economic system, and this supplants the sove reignty of nation states. Corporations and organizations are slowly taking over state power. Local cultures and traditions are also eroding slowly as the global culture sweeps across nations (Robertson, 2001, p. 458). Weberians, Marxists, functionalists, and other theorists have admitted that globalization is an unmatched trend in today’s world. Advocates of postmodernism have also not been left behind as they argue that changes in transnational capitalism have led to a new historical configuration of the world – postmodernism (Brandzel, 2010, p. 1). Social theories of today, therefore, consider globalization as an indispensable feature of the modern world. Nevertheless, globalization has been conceptualized differently. The term is applied in various contexts differently.