Race, Poverty & Globalization

Race, Poverty & Globalization

INTRODUCTION

How is poverty related to globalism, and why are people of color under the most severe threat from this process? Certainly, other people are also under a threat from this globalization process, and some would assert that democracy and capitalism itself may be undone by this process if it is not checked. To answer the above question and to understand why minorities and other marginal populations are most at risk, it is first necessary to better understand what globalism is, particularly the type of globalism that dominates today's markets.

In the most general sense, globalism refers to “the process in which goods and services, including capital, move more freely within and among nations” (Greider 1997:32). As globalism advances, national boundaries become more and more porous, and to some extent, less and less relevant. Since many of our early industries, such as steel, were location-sensitive, there was a natural limitation to globalization. To be sure, some things remain location-sensitive, but mobility is the trend (Norwood 1999). It is assumed that liberalizing laws and structures, so that goods and services can become more globally focused, will produce more wealth, and indeed this seems to be true. Using this general understanding of globalism and globalization, it would be accurate to say this process has been developing and growing for well over a hundred years (Fishlow 1999:5).

METHODS

Data Collection

After searching Florida State University’s (FSUs) Online Archives, I came across a reference manual that I believed would help me to compile and analyze my sociological research. I used the work of Otto Newman and Richard de Zoysa (2001), The Promise of the Third Way: Globalization and Social Justice, as a conceptual framework for data collection. Adhering to the advice of Newman and Zoysa, the following types of data were collected in order to "maximize time and to see the same scene from different angles" (2001: 115):

Documents and Literature

After further searching FSUs Online Archives, I selected several books, four journal articles and an in-depth study in order to begin my literature research. I read pertinent chapters and excerpts from the books and reviewed the journals and the study. Below is a list of the literature I used:

Books

Greider, William. 1997. One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Newman, Otto and de Zoysa, Richard. The Promise of the Third Way: Globalization and Social Justice. 2001. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Singh, Kavaljit. 1999. The Globalization of Finance: A Citizen's Guide. London & New York: Zed Books.

Journals

Fishlow, Albert. “Review: Globalism: New Reality, Old Strategy.” July 1999. American Journal of Sociology 2: 2.

Kasarda, John D. Oct. 1998. "The Threat of Globalism." Race and Class. 40: 2-3.

New York: Touchstone.

Norwood, Janet L. July/August 1999."Global Finance in the Americas: Wealth & Hunger

Revisited." NACLA Report on the Americas. 33:1.

Yutzis, Mario J. "A Special Issue on Globalization and Discrimination." 1998. Peoples for Human Rights, IMADR Yearbook. 6.

Study

United Nations Development Programme. “Human Development Report.” 1999. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

Interviews