Anna Tsin's Essay: The Global Situation
Anna Tsin's essay "The Global Situation" illustrates a globalization perspective that focuses on the study of national and regional units and their potential to influence international interconnectivity.
Examining the Phenomenon of Globalization
Tsin explains how the sensation of globalization has driven social scientists and anthropologists to concentrate on the end result of the globalization period rather than objectively studying the smaller units that influence its meaning. She compares the globalization phenomenon to a stream on a hillside that steadily transforms the landscape by river forming and reformation, with a greater emphasis on the flow of the creek than on the channels. Analytical considerations reveal that complexity rather than direction will mark the future of globalization.
Three Aspects of Globalization
Anna Tsin explains the globalization era through the aspects of futurism, conflations, and circulation, which appeal to the audience. Futurism describes the newness feature of a global world setting it apart from the past existence. Conflation addresses the merging of ideas and activities to form a single system. Circulation refers to the spreading of information, people, and ideologies that surpass restrictions and boundaries. These three aspects create excitement in the imagination of the people. Globalism will be characterized by political, social, and cultural diversity as opposed to the expected homogeneous units. The evaluation of three social scientists by Tsin shows that their prediction of the future global world is contrary to the heterogeneity of the cultural systems. Tsin proposes the shift from quick predictions of the future global world without consideration of the elements that influence the process.
Response
I agree with Anna Tsin that the excitement about the globalization era has blurred people's attention to the critical analysis of the relevant changes occurring on the smaller scale levels. The large focus on a future globalized world overlooks the unit transformations of the cultural, political, corporate, and social networks that influence the direction of the process. I join Anna Tsin in advocating for a multidirectional and multilevel approach to the globalization concept.
Reflection
The essay by Tsin reveals the hasty tendencies human beings possess in addressing issues that cause excitement. From the onset of her essay, I see Anna Tsin emphasizing on the significance of the gradual unfolding of the globalization era. Through the use of the creek imagery, she intentionally evokes a clear picture in the reader to aid in the comprehension of her argument. She cautions against the haste with which anthropologists have defined globalization and attempted to create a framework that will supposedly guide the world towards the achievement of globalization. Actions driven by excitement towards a goal are usually indifferent of the procedural details that contribute to the attainment of the goal. Tsin describes globalization as seductive to highlight the enormous potential of the concept to create shortsightedness in its address.
The Importance of Individual Functionality
The idea by anthropologists and social scientists to create a single framework for the world's march towards globalization was inaccurate. I believe that a framework is only viable if it incorporates the input of all stakeholders in its design and is practically tested for its workability. A globalization model generated by a team of social scientists based on research without consideration of the views of other society members is incomplete. Tsin provides a list of individuals and organizations she feels participate in the flow of globalization that includes bankers, media moguls, corporations, international lawyers, refugees, consumers, social movements, trade organizations, nation-states, and nongovernmental organizations. Tsin opposes the idea of the formulation of a globalization framework stating that the diverse regional networks should be allowed to function individually. The benefit of the individual functionality of the networks is the exposure of the pleasures and dangers of this multiplicity which is unachievable within a single framework. The participants in the globalization process have individual interconnections that would be omitted in the analysis of the era if their input is not considered.
The Unpredictability of Theoretical Frameworks
The theoretical construction of concepts differs from the practical application due to the unpredictable performance of the variables. The anthropologists' creation of the globalization framework was based on research. If such a framework is implemented in the globalizing world, the probability of failure will be high due to the presence of unaccounted variables. For example, social scientists drafted the modernization framework after World War II to create oneness among the people. The framework failed to uphold human wellbeing after the nations that had gained independence from their colonizers declared their intention to build their individual nations on their terms. The theoretical framework in the eyes of its creators seemed like the perfect vehicle acceptable to all. The refusal to adopt modernization by the newly-independent nations was unforeseen by the social scientists. Tsin posits that globalization will imitate the trend of modernization in its implementation. Only after the failure will the scientists realize the loopholes in its invention.
Analysis Tool: The Scale
Tsin's proposal to use the scale as an analysis tool is acceptable since she focuses on the channel of the globalization flow. In my opinion, I find it sensible to begin the analysis with identification of the cultural claims about the different levels of interaction, such as the locality, the region, and the globe. The approach gives a more accurate interpretation and prediction of globalism as an interconnected framework rather than a single homogeneous framework. The interconnected structure defines the flow and the channels of globalization as opposed to a homogenous framework that focuses on the flow only.
Work Cited
Tsing, Anna. “The Global Situation.” Cultural Anthropology, vol. 15, no. 3, 2000, pp. 327-360.
