● Will Globalization Lead the Way to…?

Listen to the short passage. Note down every word in it. Then have a group discussion about the issue involved in it.

Will globalization lead the way to…?

Technology has now created the possibility and even the likelihood of a global culture. The Internet, fax machines, satellites, and cable TV are sweeping away cultural boundaries. Global entertainment companies shape the perceptions and dreams of ordinary citizens, wherever they live. This spread of values, norms, and culture tends to promote Western ideals of capitalism.

Will local cultures inevitably fall victim to this global “consumer” culture? Will English eradicate all other languages? Will consumer values overwhelm people’s sense of community and social solidarity? Or, on the contrary, will a common culture lead the way to greater shared values and political unity?

●Take the Globalization Quiz

Directions: Decide true or false about each statement about globalization.

1. Global wealth doubled from $14 trillion to $28 trillion in one decade. _____

2. According to the World Bank, this wealth has reduced global poverty. _____

3. Almost one fourth of the world’s population (1.2 billion people) lives on less than $1 per day, the measure for extreme poverty. _____

4. Almost 50% of the world’s population lives on less than $2 a day, the measure for poverty. _____

5. About forty countries today are poorer than they were twenty years ago. _____

6. The top seven developed countries in the world (called the G-7) have 10% of the world’s population and 63% of the wealth. _____

7. Seventy-five percent of the world’s population lives in the 133 nations which are still developing (called the G-77), but these 133 nations combined have only 20% of the wealth. _____

8. Women suffer harsher consequences in the global economy. Women and their children make up more than 70% of the poorest people on earth. _____

9. Two-thirds of the 125 million children in the world who do not go to school are girls. _____

10. Workers have, for the most part, benefited from globalization._____

●Do You Know?

The most recent wave of globalization, which started in 1980, was spurred by a combination of advances in transport and communications technologies and by large developing countries who sought foreign investment by opening up to international trade.

The first wave lasted from 1870 to the start of World War I.

Following World War II, a second wave of globalization emerged, lasting from about 1950 to 1980.

Discuss in groups.

The growing integration of economies and societies around the world. It is an inevitable phenomenon in human history that’s been bringing the world closer through the exchange of goods and products, information, knowledge and culture. But over the last few decades, the pace of this global integration has become much faster and dramatic because of unprecedented advancements in technology, communications, science, transport and industry.