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From the literature review I have done, I discovered how important this phenomenon of globalisation is because it is going to have such an influence on our daily lives. There is no widely agreed upon definition of ‘’globalisation’’, nor a unified body of theory on this phenomenon. The definition of globalisation as "the intensification of economic, political, social and cultural relations across borders" (Holm/ Sorenson, in Pugh 2000) seems a good base for trying to explain it. First, this process is an economic one. Economy has now a global aspect, everything seems linked, and for example, the last Asian economic crisis had an effect on all markets. The influence of trans-national companies is increasing with consequently the homogenisation of markets, which is damaging for cultural diversity. In addition, for some writers globalisation is primarily the extension and triumph of the capitalism ideas over the world’s economy and political systems, especially since the collapse of the Soviet Union (Fukuyama 1992). Even if there are some debates on what exactly globalisation is, there is widespread agreement on its effects. In a world: "in which time and space have become compressed because of the operation of modern transport, communications and the increasing internationalisation of economic activity. Thus actions in one part of the globe have consequences elsewhere"- (Pugh 2000). Since all events are interlinked, one needs a powerful communication tool in order to know quickly what is going on. That is where the development of information technology combined with the globalisation process gives us the possibility to access information and to transmit it quasi-instantly. For Castells you can speak of an Information Society "the same way sociologists have been referring to the existence of an industrial society, characterized by common fundamental features in their socio-technical systems" (Castells 1996, 20). He also explains "the importance of digital technology is captured by the term "Information society" often used instead of post- industrial society" (ibid). I totally agree with his point of view and that is what made me decide to use the term Information Society in my dissertation to refer to this new form of society. For Zonis, "the technological revolution which is producing this connectivity will change globalisation in dramatic and still unanticipated ways" (Zonis 2000). According to him, the combination of globalisation and the new technologies affects not only on the economy but also the whole society’s social structures. Some authors go even further, arguing that The Internet is also changing, "the self perception of what it means to be a human being today" (Capurro 2000) and will bring along new ethical challenges to the Information society. The impact of the Information Society in people’s life will be important but not clear yet but the less educated part of the population is already affected by the transformation of the western countries. The required skills are much higher in the information Society and therefore more people might be unable to get the necessary knowledge. For these people another major change is the rapid disappearance of manufacturing jobs from big industrial companies. The globalisation of the economy makes mass production impossible in these countries for reasons of cost-effectiveness. The profit logic induces to produce in countries where wages are incomparably lower (as is their welfare system). In addition, the passage from an industrial to an information society resulted in the shut down of some of these companies. People who occupied these semi-skilled jobs had a chance to have a decent life and therefore avoid exclusion from the job market. Their disappearances weaken their situation even more because they can no longer rely on that kind of jobs and an equivalent does not exist in the Information Society. |