Globalization is one of those words thrown around a lot today. But as it turns out, we only started using it pretty recently to describe processes that have been going on for centuries. Globalization is all about how the world has become more interconnected. The pace of this change has intensified over time and has only sped up in the last century. This article explores the positive and negative effects of globalization.

This article gives an overview of globalization and how globalization has changed our communities, networks, and production and distribution. It provides global level evidence to help you respond to the Unit Problem. It should also help you understand the impacts of globalization on the diversity of human societies. Finally, it will help you start gathering evidence to evaluate whether globalization is good or bad, a central theme of this lesson.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. How does this author define globalization?
2. What events does the author say intensified globalization?
3. What are some effects of globalization on communities and economies?
4. According to the author, what are some of the positive effects of globalization?
5. According to the author, what are some negative effects of globalization?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following question:

1. Look around your desk or your classroom. What objects do you see that are a product of globalization?
2. In what ways has globalization improved your life? In what ways has it made your life worse?

Check out the t-shirt you’re wearing. John Green thinks it’s a pretty good metaphor for globalization. Our world is deeply interconnected and economically interdependent. This has been going on for a while, but in the last century, the scale of this interconnection has increased exponentially. Trade, travel, and communication have all sped up. John Green walks you through how t-shirts are made in the twenty-first century. How has this system improved our lives? How has it endangered us?

This video provides you with evidence at the global level to respond to the Unit Problem. It should also help you understand how globalization has made the world both “flat” and “lumpy.” Finally, it should provide information to help you evaluate whether the changes in production and distribution brought on by globalization have been a good thing for humanity.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

As a reminder, open and skim the transcript, and read the questions before you watch the video.

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

Think about the following questions as you watch this video:

1. How does John Green define globalization?
2. What are some factors that John Green points to in order to explain why the scale of global trade has increased?
3. What was the Marshall Plan?
4. How does John Green say your t-shirt is an indication of how globalization has made your life better?
5. John Green mentions some of the radical changes brought by globalization. What are they?

Evaluating and Corroborating

1. This video is subtitled “the Upside”. But John Green still seems to give a lot of downsides to globalization. Do you think the advantages of globalization are “worth it”? How might your answer change if you lived somewhere else or in different circumstances?

Globalization is often seen as a positive development, but there are many downsides to what John Green calls this “cultural phenomenon”. In this activity, you will consider the negative outcomes of globalization. This will remind you that there are always multiple perspectives, or many sides to one story.

First, with your class, brainstorm the upsides of globalization. If needed, review the transcript from the video Globalization I—The Upside: Crash Course World History #41 to get some ideas.

Next, choose three of the upsides to globalization and try to come up with three downsides that relate to the upsides. In other words, what is the other side of the story? Even if you don’t have solid evidence for your downsides, do your best to use intuition and logic to come up with ideas.

Be prepared to share your downsides with the class, and be sure to notice whether you came to similar conclusions about the downsides, or if you and your classmates ended up creating multiple perspectives regarding similar issues.

Those who support globalization argue that it creates freedom and prosperity. Free trade deals like NAFTA open up borders and create close economic ties, bringing down the cost of consumer goods. But all around the world, many workers have had to shoulder the burdens of a world economy. The processes of globalization upend communities and disrupt local patterns of life and production. The Zapatista movement in Mexico and anti-WTO protests in Seattle are two examples of some of the ways people have worked together locally and transnationally to resist globalization.

This article digs deeper into the negative sides of globalization. It provides you with evidence at the local, national, and global levels for understanding the challenges of increasing global connections. This article will help you evaluate the impacts of globalization on human communities, networks, and production and distribution. It provides several examples of globalization’s impacts on global and local economies as well as some networks and communities that resisted its spread. These examples will help as you consider the Unit Problem, which asks how our lives today are both similar and different, and what the causes are of these variations and commonalities.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming section of the Three Close Reads worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. Who were the Zapatistas, and how did they react to globalization?
2. What was the Zapatistas’ main complaint about NAFTA?
3. What is direct action? What example does the article provide for direct action?
4. Is Nike “woke”? In other words, does the clothing company promote social justice through globalization?
5. What is austerity, and how it is an example of the downsides of globalization?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. This article ends by asking “is it possible for globalization to benefit all parts of the world?” But the evidence in this article clearly seems to point toward the answer being “no.” Using examples from your life or from other parts of this course, challenge this claim. What evidence can you think of that shows how the benefits of globalization outweigh the negative examples in this article?
2. The actions of the Zapatistas in Mexico and the “direct action” tactics of the WTO protesters in Seattle were extreme. These people were clearly pushed to a breaking point by the injustices of globalization. What would it take for you to engage in “direct action” and protest injustice in the streets?

Globalization has given us more connections and more opportunities. And it’s given those things to more people than ever before. So, it’s made the world “flat,” or leveled the playing field, right? Not so fast. Others think that it's given more people more things but worry that it’s given a lot more of those things to a small group of people, usually wealthy people. That makes the world, “lumpy” not flat. This article introduces you to this complex debate through the words of some of the biggest critics and proponents of globalization.

This article directly addresses the Unit Problem, which asks whether the world is “flat” or “lumpy.” It provides you with evidence from the people engaged in that debate and asks you to consider what you think about globalization.

Preview – Skimming for Gist

Fill out the Skimming for Gist section of the Three Close Reads Worksheet as you complete your first close read. As a reminder, this should be a quick process!

Key Ideas – Understanding Content

For this reading, you should be looking for unfamiliar vocabulary words, the major claim and key supporting details, and analysis and evidence. By the end of the second close read, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What does Thomas Friedman argue in his book?
2. What are the “dynamic forces” that have driven Friedman’s described stages of globalization?
3. How did Richard Florida critique Friedman’s book?
4. How does Richard Florida use urbanization as evidence to support his argument?
5. What is Dr. Vandana Shiva’s critique of Friedman?

Evaluating and Corroborating

At the end of the third close read, respond to the following questions:

1. The idea of a “flat” and “spiky” world can be hard to understand. So, let’s make it more local. What are some ways that the distribution of power (or authority) in your school is flat or spiky?
2. Richard Florida and Dr. Shiva both argue that globalization has made inequality worse than ever before. Do you agree or disagree and why? Can you think of any historical examples when inequality was worse?