Essay Sample on Globalization: Impact of Media on Increasing Interaction

Globalization is a term that is common in contemporary times, and it refers to the increase in global relationships between the inhabitants of the world in present times (Dovchin 1). These relationships range from cultural interaction, economic activities, intellectual exchange of knowledge, regular communication and many other aspects that humans can share. Media, commonly termed as mass media, is one of the proponents of globalization for a variety of reasons but the main one is that it is the tool that most people use to peddle information from one part of the globe to another. As such, mass media and globalization go hand in hand, for globalization to take place as it currently is, mass media is playing a significant role in the spread of culture, economics, relationships and other pertinent factors that are connecting people now more than ever. The two have so much in common that scholars and other researchers keen on the issue of globalization and mass media term the impact of the latter on the former as cultural imperialism. The significance of this term is that mass media spreads culture, politics and economic motives across various parts of the world and therefore, it has the capacity for either evil or good. Thus, the matter of the role of mass media and globalization on violence is one of the hotly contested issues in contemporary scholarly circles (Dovchin 3).

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To a large extent, globalization has a myriad of sound effects such as promoting the flow of excellent ideas, removal of cultural barriers, bolstering of the world economy and so forth. Mass media is an essential tool to globalization as it enables the transfer of many ethical aspects of the economy and information concerning various aspects of human life, however, it is also a conduit for conscientious individuals to spread violence and other negative aspects that go along with it. Contemporary political and economic talk on mass media outlets often alludes to the peace that most people in the present time enjoyed in comparison to previous centuries when the world was in chaos. Although politicians and other pertinent people spread the notion that most people enjoy peace now than ever before, this is not true for a variety of reasons. For one, most new reports suggest that violence may be on a steady increase and this has been happening for a while now. Secondly, globalization is enhancing the spread of most negative ideas to many people across the world and hence, peace as most people know it is slowly and gradually becoming a matter of the past. Finally, with the current economic trends where poverty seems to be the order of the day, violence is bound to increase (Globalization and the Media 127).

The presence of mass media and globalization allows the dissemination of information to various parts of the globe; as such, people around the world get access to a wealth of information concerning various topics. One of these topics in contemporary times is that of economic disparity between the earth's dwellers. Most media channels are rife with economists and financial experts giving their opinion on matters of wealth and income distribution among various people on the globe. Some of the issues that these experts talk about are the financial state of most people in the world, and the topic has some fascinating insight. For one, the gap between the rich and the poor is increasingly widening, and the reason for this is that the people with opportunities are using them to rip off the unfortunate ones. Secondly, the ease of access of information through mass media channels has enabled most people a peek into the lives of the world's wealthiest people. The mass media is full of many reality shows of most wealthy people showing off their expensive lifestyle and how they seem to be having the most fun out of life because they can afford to buy many things which the common folk cannot. These ideas that mass media enables most people to access often angers the world's poorest and it stirs in them feelings of hatred for the system and the wealthy people (Ampuja 58).

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, media outlets often show economic and financial experts whose opinions on the matter to do with wealth and economic equality is often the main topic of discussion. These experts usually like to talk about how the contemporaries are enjoying better lives due to globalization which has allowed a myriad of benefits and advantages. These experts typically wish to dispute whether globalization is aggravating economic inequality and financial freedom of most people in the present times. They usually want to allude to the fact that people in current times enjoy more financial freedom and more benefits than their predecessors. It is however clear from scholarly and research articles that the gap between the poor and the rich is wider now more than ever before. Most people in today's world are more unfortunate than their ancestors, and this information is available to many people because of globalization which allows mass media to reach various parts of the globe (Ampuja 62). New reports are full of images and video clips of the world's poorest people dying of hunger and other natural calamities in most parts of the third world countries across the globe. While mass media is allowing people in the world a glimpse into the lives of the poorest, it is also showcasing the devastating effects of poverty on the world's unfortunate. While the rich are spending their lives in material luxury which they can afford to buy because of the massive amounts of money that they have access to, the poorest cannot even afford to buy food for themselves. These comparisons that people have access to through mass media enrage most of the contemporary inhabitants of the globe. It is no wonder then that globalization and mass media are responsible for most of the violence in today's world. The people who view and have access to news reports about how the wealthy live their lives while the poor live in abject poverty stirs a lot of hatred for the rich. The hate is so massive that some people from third world countries view the developed nations as untrustworthy. They blame them for their financial misfortunes and thus, respond through violent means which as captured in the opening paragraph, are on an ever increasing trend. It is no wonder then that violence in contemporary times is higher than it was in previous times. It is attributable to the financial disparities between countries and various people (Ampuja 83). These disparities are common knowledge to most people in the world because of globalization and mass media which are advancing the acquisition of this state of affairs.

The issue of violence as a result of financial and economic inequality does not produce the same effects on every person who feels that the system is unfair to them. The mass media reports on the difference in the contemporary society stir diverse opinions in different people, some resort to violence in a bid to level the playing field while others prefer to work their way out of their poverty and make themselves better (Gil 464). Therefore, the issue of globalization and mass media inciting violence is not a specific matter. The cause and effect between inequality and violence are intricate and requires more analysis into it, to come up with definite conclusions as to the impact of globalization and media in stirring up violence. It is, however, a disservice to state categorically that force that is as a result of globalization and media is entirely due to financial inequality when there are a lot of matters that are to blame for the extensive violence that is the norm in the current world. One of the responsible culprits of violence in today's world is political affairs and the formulation of policies that govern various aspects of people's lives.

For a government to alleviate the financial travails of her people, there need to be well laid down policies and procedures to steer financial growth. Thus, politics has a significant impact on the business and economic state of not only the country but also the lives of the citizens of a nation. The aspect of globalization in the present world has made the issue of economies to be a fluid matter in a variety of ways. For one, the economic state of one country has the potential to influence that of another country (Pauwels 390). The reason for this is that trade takes place on a global platform where demand and supply mainly affect the wealth of a nation. For instance, a country that is rich in oil can only get financial stable by selling its product to other countries that need it, as such, the country's economy is dependent on another country purchasing its products. It is for this reason then that globalization plays an essential role in the financial freedom of a country and her citizens. Secondly, the educational level of the citizens of a country has a significant impact on the state of economic affairs in the nation. It is clear that education is the backbone of a country; if a society wants to be productive, it has to educate its citizens. Education is the key to the alleviation of poverty, and thus, a government has to ensure that it puts in place, policies that encourage her citizens to access training easily and afterward, create job opportunities for her educated masses to work and consequently, drive the economy of the country. If a state fails to do so, her citizens will immigrate to countries with better schools and offer better job opportunities (Moreira 139). In the end, the state will lack an expert workforce which is necessary for financial prosperity. As such, globalization has made it possible for individuals to look for better opportunities for themselves in countries where they are more likely to succeed in life. The immigration of citizens of one country to another, therefore, leads to one having a more skilled workforce, and consequently, that country will experience better economic prospects than the other. It is for this reason that globalization has a significant impact on the peace and prosperity of various nations across the world (Globalization and the Media 146).

The country that loses her workforce and experts ends up being economically and financially unstable. The inhabitants of the impoverished land will then only be seeing how wealthy people in other rich countries spend their money to live a good life while they live in deplorable conditions. In another context, the age of globalization has allowed international companies to operate anywhere in the world, provided they have the financial muscle and workforce to set up institutions which are conducive for business (Pauwels 400). It is for this reason then that most international companies set up operations in developing countries because they have access to cheap labor in comparison to their mother countries. The other reason for these global companies setting up operations in poorer countries is because most of the third world countries do not have well laid down procedures and policies to protect her native businesses from more financially muscled competitors. As such, these international businesses are the cause of the failure of most native companies in third world countries. It is this unfortunate system of affairs that irks the citizens of a third world country to mete out violence against the perpetrators of these international companies. They view these businesses as a hindrance to their financial freedom and therefore, resort to the use of force and intimidation in a bid to scare away these businessmen. Most of these international businesses prefer to the use of violent acts too, and this often leads to casualties on both sides. As such, globalization is not all good as one of the effects is perpetration of violence especially in...