Impact of IT on Globalization, Culture, Society, and Politics Essay

Introduction

Over the past decades, the rise of information technology has brought forth various innovations, consequently impacting human societal lifestyle. One may therefore ask; to what extent has information technology impacted on globalization, human culture, the society, and politics in recent decades?

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Globalization

Through globalization, business enterprises and other organizations have exploited technological avenues to create international influence and starting international operations. With the rise of information technology, the way in which the world operates has completely changed. Previous barriers to business interaction and communication across the globe have been reduced greatly, if not broken completely, because of innovations in the IT sector. The world has virtually become a global village, where businesses can share information and even products across the globe without any hindrance whatsoever. For instance, innovations in the transport sector have boosted transportation of goods across the globe, regardless of their perishability (Autor, 2015). Elsewhere, inventions in the communications sector have allowed for the sharing of business information and knowledge across nations (Autor, 2015).

Culture

Products of Information Communication Technology, such as the Internet, have influenced cultural values, norms, and behaviors. In the current age, people view the world differently, with numerous individuals integrating various technologies into their lives. By creating awareness, through educational material and emerging cultural issues shared through various Information Service platforms, certain cultures have considerably altered some of their cultural values. For instance, certain conservative societies, such as Arab communities have re-considered restrictions on women activities (Murphie, 2017). Currently, in most Arab nations, women are allowed to perform certain activities such as operating automobiles. Such conservative cultures chose to allow these values after interacting with other societies via information technology (Murphie, 2017). As a result, more women in Arab world have now ventured into businesses, thus reducing dependency ratios in those countries.

Society

Ever since the introduction of Information Technology, the society has created co-dependence on technological products to the extent that now it cannot separate from using technology. Currently, humans depend on technology to operate virtually everything; from the wake of dawn to dusk. For instance, technological products come in handy in daily travels, communication, learning and running businesses on a daily basis (Murphie, 2017). The Internet, for instance, has become a major avenue to run business errands; from advertising, purchasing and offering after-sales services (Murphie, 2017). Unfortunately, advancement in technology, especially in manufacturing industries has also impacted negatively on the society through pollution of the environment, thus leading to an increase in diseases such as asthma and other respiratory diseases (Murphie, 2017).

Politics

When it comes to technological advancement, even influence in the political arena cannot be dismissed. IT progression, particularly in the information and communication sector has been essential in politics. The media has since kept a close watch on political endeavors, with an aim of informing the public (Papacharissi, 2015). Additionally, political outfits have capitalized on ICT products to run their campaigns and sharing their manifestos to woo their supporters. For instance, in 2008 the Democrats' campaign used avenues like Facebook and YouTube to pass across their political views and solicit for votes during the electioneering period (Papacharissi, 2015). As time goes by, more political outfits continue to embrace ICT and use the platforms and even involve the public during activities such as lobbying for policies like the gun control policies, which affect the public directly (Turkle, 2017).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the wake of Information Technology made the society at large to align its dependence on technology, especially concerning business operations. Business enterprises around the world now depend fully on technology (Turkle, 2017).

References

Autor, D. H. (2015). Untangling trade and technology: Evidence from local labour markets. The Economic Journal, 125(584), 621-646.

Murphie, A. &. (2017). Culture and technology. Macmillan International Higher Education. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=_1FdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false

Papacharissi, Z. (2015). Affective publics: Sentiment, technology, and politics. Oxford University Press.

Turkle, S. (2017). How computers change the way we think. In Law and Society Approaches to Cyberspace. Routledge.