Introduction: Globalization and Your Identity


To what extent should globalization shape identity?

Perspectives on Globalization and Identity



Think about

The British metaphysical poet and clergyman, John Donne, wrote the following lines in 1624:

 
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of the friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."

(Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, #17)



In Donne's day, when someone died, the church bell rang or "tolled" to alert people of the death. Donne believed that humans are all interconnected in some way. If someone dies, everyone is affected. This was particularly true in Donne's day when people rarely moved away from their place of birth and tended to know all their neighbours. If the local baker died, you might not get your bread. He might be your uncle or father-in-law. Donne believed that when anyone died, the loss was not only for the local community, but also for the whole world.

Is this still true today? In 1966, the Edmonton-born social anthropologist Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase the global village. McLuhan believed that electronic media (television, radio, etc.) would unify the human race. His idea was that through technology we are all connected to each other just as members of a village. When someone dies of HIV in Africa, how is a teenager in Canada affected?

When a grove of old growth forest is cut down in Canada, what difference does that make to the people of China? These issues and others are considered in this course.


Be careful when forming a position on an issue in Social Studies. When you form your position on a related issue, you need to defend it with evidence/examples drawn from your social studies knowledge and research.

You must show that you fully understand the question and that you have explored various ways of thinking about it. That's a lot to think about! We cannot form a position without knowing more about the issue.