Globalization normally refers to free trade but it has a broader meaning which has various effects on a country or nation. There are mainly four domain globalization touches such as language, migration pattern of immigrant communities, the spread of English as a global language and social class differences. China was one of the greatest opponents of globalization but now China has become an open economy so that globalization has the enormous effect on it. Globalization effect makes the world global community as one village. The underdeveloped areas can enjoy the benefits of the advantages of industrial progress of other areas. China was considered as the failed nation in mid 19th century. The country was forced to join the world community by the western powerful nations. At the end of the opium war in 1840, China became a half colony and half autonomous which was shared by many world powers. China gradually became the modern industrial state from the agriculture-based half colonial state. In this paper, the role of Globalization will be analyzed considering its socio-cultural and political impact on China. How globalization has derived the political, social and cultural reforms is the main concern of this study.
Purpose and Scope of the study
China’s political adoption of Marxist ideology along with the implementation of the modern economics has given a new shape to the country. The economic analysis is only a part of the research which might have been shaped and reformed by globalization. This paper analyzes the effects of globalization on social institutions such as families, communities and cultural traditions. Globalization has changed the feudal country to a diverse and dynamic country. Globalization effect will be found by comparing the distinctive ancient Chinese state with the modern Chinese states. The implication of this comparison is to acquire the understanding of the how society and the practice of cultural traditions changes with globalization. It is not possible to conduct a thorough primary research on the impact of globalization on the cultural and social changes in China with a limited time frame and resources. This research study will analyze the research study done by other scholars and academics to get a clear idea about how the China responded to the globalization effect and how it responded to the possible impacts.
Aim and objectives:
Every research study has some particular aims and objectives. The aim of the paper and objectives set the building blocks for it. The aim of this research study is to draw the conclusion that modern China nation is the result of the globalization. The objectives of the research are
• To investigate effects of the globalization of social changes
• To identify the factors derived from globalization to transform culturally.
• To find the impact of Globalization of political and economic reforms
It is very certain that Nationalist party of China played a great role in the development of modern Chinese state. But unlike other countries, China’s closed economy developed in a different way. The comparison of two states will identify particular characteristics which had been crucial factors in social and cultural changes.
Literature review
The literature review is the synthesis of information which helps to critically analyze the information gathered to fill the gaps in current knowledge. The literature review also shows the limitation of theory and point of view and shows the path for the further research in areas of controversy. Literature review surveys the chosen area of study and presents the gathered information in a very organized way (Welman et al. 65). It a secondary way of gathering and evaluating information which uses the books, articles, magazines, research papers of others and sometimes web as the source of valuable information. The in-depth information on the social and cultural changes will be provided to grasp a better understanding.
Effect of globalization on social institutions and structure
Globalization is the process of exchanging social and cultural values between the eastern and western region. Increased globalization led to the social and cultural identity crisis among the population. Adolescence is a certain period of time between the adulthood and childhood. It involves the psychological uncertainty, curiosity towards new trend and willingness to learn. Zheng states the cultural unification which is called national culture is primarily developed by the universal education system (215). The modern state of China established a universal education system that plays a great role to create a homogenous national identity.
There are three kinds of national identity which are identified by the academics and scholars; these are national identity, social identity, and cultural identity. National identity depends on the civic model which focuses on the territory and the idea of “Patria”. Non-western model of national identity emphasizes the blood descent. Tubilewicz claimed that social and ethnic nationalism is more important than the geographic national identity (212). National identity has a relationship with the cultural identity. Identity is constructed by the values, attitude social and cultural practices with the political ideas. The division of labor is a complex idea and it is constantly changing. In ancient time China was politically united and the population would live in rural life. The population was illiterate and there was a clear distinction between the vernacular and high society. The people of the rich families were well educated and could become the government officials very easily.
Amiot et al. states the development of national identity can be analyzed by the secondary socialization theory (62). Curriculum and school education play a major role in nurturing and developing the national identity. According to Tubilewicz education system works as the process of pedagogic technique which strengthens the concept of individualism and reinforces the concept of cultural and national identity (253). If the national identity of China is analyzed it shows that identity is associated with the anti-imperialist political movement. The author stated Mao’s communist-led peasant Red Army is regarded as the symbol of liberty which united the Chinese people (Zheng 173). Great Chinese philosopher Confucius could achieve a strong influence after that period. The challenges to the social identity of young Chinese people can be analyzed under the globalization circumstances. Social identity includes ethnic membership identity as well as the cultural identity.
Globalization has brought cultural changes:
According to the definition of Miller cultural identity is the emotional significance of belonging to a large culture (106). The author indicated that culture is the worldview of the construction of individual and communitywide interactions (Zheng 202). Religions and the language shape the cultural identity but these are not the determining factors. As to the cultural identity, the young people of China believed that the heritage of Confucian culture takes a dominant position in the society. Confucianism has long been a most valued cultural tradition in China before the Mao’s political movement. Identity was based on the response to the challenges of the social and national environment. Globalization invaded the traditional cultural values of China and created the cultural identity crisis. Under the influence of globalization, China has experienced different generations growing in a different environment. The willingness to learning and accepting the western values developed from the globalization with the traditional social norms of collective culture created a vagueness of identity among the young people’s identity.
In the context, the cultural and traditional values held by the society can be regarded as the circumstance of the primary socialization of Chinese people. Schooling and education system develops the secondary socialization of population. Identity crisis is created because the newly promoted global culture and western values contradict the primary concept which was developed in adolescence. Though globalization accelerates the communication around the world China is famous for its closed environment and conservative culture (Miller 123). Chinese are family oriented people values the family tie and filial piety which implies the proper relation of the children and parents. Parents have power over their children even after the adulthood and they are taught to take care of their parents. Increased globalization effect on the present population shows that there is 49.7% empty-nest home where only the old couples live according to a recent survey.
Miller believes that the western notion of individualism and materialism triggered a series of changes Chinese society as the result of globalization (128). Especially the young generation is facing challenges to maintain the traditional values as they are raised in a modern society which has created a conflict between the old tradition and modern way of living. The example of extreme globalization effect is the celebrating the western festivals such as Christmas and Valentine’s day while forgetting and ignoring the Chinese traditional festival such as pure brightness day, dragon boat and double ninth festival. The changes are taking place because of the people think western culture and values are more standard and better than old traditional values.
Political and economic reforms
The cultural and social identities are being reshaped by reforming the educational curriculum. School plays important role in reshaping the identity of a population. The purpose of the reformation is to improve the quality of the whole nation according to the socialist ideology which will create a politicized identity among the children. The author shows that language plays a very important role to foster cultural and national identity (Amiot et al. 79). Chinese literature curriculum included the traditional culture and values especially the Chinese classic literature including four books of Confucius to prevent the invasion of western philosophy. The process of political centralization was developed long before with the decadence of feudal system of Zhou. The central government abolished the feudal system and established the centralized administration from by drawing the officials from the newborn intellectual class ‘Shi’ and the common people (Amiot et al. 89). The system was incorporated in the state system where Qin was the strongest warring state defeated other six states and unified the whole China. Qin state-created monopoly on economic power and ruled over the whole region.
Globalization doesn’t include only social and cultural changes. It also refers to the flow of goods and capital and information technology across the national boundaries. Han dynasty is the first civilization that understood the role of globalization and created the silk route. Chinese Communist party was established in 1921. From them it was ruling party which holds the exclusive political power over the country. Party holds the firm control over the state bodies through interlocking the organizations. All decisions of the central government have to be passed by the party which means the political power is vested in party government is only the executive body.
Miller argued Globalization effect has forced the economy to move from the closed economy to a partially free trade economy (134). The early years of economic reforms removed the power of the party over the decisions of the government though they still kept a watchful eye on the decisions. Deng moved the relationship of the political system with the economic affairs from “politics in commands” to “economics in Command” which enabled the executive power of the government solely on it. At the grassroots level, people were facing difficulties as the reforms were reflected in the rural areas. Grass-root level democracy is one of the most important reforms which have influenced China’s political institutions today (Tubilewicz 278).
The modern Chinese society came into being with the industrial revolution and capitalist market economy. Modern state sees the capitalist economy the foundation of strength and power in contrast to the agriculture-based socialist economy. But the socialist movement didn’t close the gap between the classes of people since the people were divided into four classes such as peasants, intellectuals, handicraftsman, and merchants. In ancient period most of the people of China lived in rural areas and with a small family. The families provided taxes to the state government and dependent on the state. The dependency of people to the central government continued until the political and economic reforms took place in 1978. The reform program was initiated in 1978 giving priority to modernizing China and aimed to build a market-based economy leaving the party-state relationship. Economic reformations lead to many social and cultural changes.
Den Xiaoping’s ‘open door policy’ encouraged the free trade by abolishing the restrictions step by step. After the removal of the restrictions, China increased their foreign trade with many countries in 2002 China’s export to the U.S. accounts 620.8 billion. In 2004 the volume reached to 1.1 trillion. In 2001 China joined World Trade Organization (Zheng 252). Unlike other communist countries, China realized that it is not possible to achieve higher economic growth with closed door policy. Industrialization and the modern market-based economy is the direct result of globalization. Moreover, China worked to attract foreign direct investment to expedite its economic growth. Though it is not the fundamental factor of economic growth of China it played a major role.
Hypothesis:
1. Social structured is changed by globalization
2. Cultural changes are derived by globalization
3. Political and economic reforms had taken place for globalization
Methodology
Methodology in research provides the guidelines to solve the problem of the research systematically. It provides the scientific way to conduct the research study. Research methodology includes research philosophy, research approach, research types, data collection and sampling techniques and research design.
Research philosophy and Approach
Research philosophy is the point of view of a phenomenon and the view to how the data should be gathered and analyzed. There are two main research philosophies and these are positivists and interpretivist. Positive research philosophy requires the researcher to observe certain variable or phenomenon with respect to another factor to gain an objective point of view about the phenomenon (Welman et al. 95). Interpretive on the hand accepts the fact that researcher can produce knowledge from others perception and knowledge and the results can be affected by the point of view of a researcher. So clearly interpretivist research philosophy has been followed. Based on this research philosophy there are two types of research approaches such as qualitative research and mixed or hybrid research. This research is a qualitative research because the information used and results are based on the descriptive analysis. Qualitative research crosses the boundary of the theoretical limit and provides insight into a problem in a descriptive style. Mixed or Hybrid research approach uses both qualitative and quantitative research approach. Among all the research type descriptive or interpretive research style has been used for this study.
Data collection, analysis method, and techniques
There are mainly two sources of data used for the research study for instance: Primary data source and secondary data source. Primary data are collected from the field by the researcher or the representative of the researcher. Secondary data sources are books, articles, journals and the scholarly paper published by academics. In this research study, secondary data sources are used for data analysis. Journals, articles, and books are the sources of information. Data will be analyzed using the descriptive statistics and interpretive method. Secondary surveys will be used for the descriptive statistical analysis.
Analysis of Findings and Discussion
People of China were greatly influenced by the great Chinese philosopher Confucius until the red army took the power of China. China had a glory of social and cultural traditions from the feudal period to the modern time. After the Communist Party of China took the power of the country China had experienced reshaped social and cultural identities which lead the people especially to the crisis of national identity. People experienced an internal conflict between the ideas and values primarily adopted in education and the new learned behaviors norms and values of the western culture. This conflict leads to the identity crisis of a person. National identity is comprised of social, cultural and religious identity. Political identity also plays a great role. Primary education of a person develops the identity. Globalization is a broad term which refers not only to the exchange of goods or technology but also the exchange of culture, language, and traditions. China was a closed economy until 1978 Deng took the open door policy which enabled the country to build a better relationship with the world.
Political and economic reforms had been taken in 1978 by making China a market-based economy. Scholars and academics agreed that the necessity of an open market economy was perceived by the political power of that time. It was a effect of globalization. Like a person, if any country has excess production it can’t thrive until it sells the product to other countries. When the barriers to foreign trade and investments were removed China began to mix up with other people of other countries. It brought social and cultural changes in a country. Before the globalization affect the social structures were rural more people would live in a village with the community. After the industrialization took place people had started to move at the urban areas. Old parents would live with their son but modern society changed this scenario completely. This is completely the effect of globalization because the western culture and values teach the people individualism and materialism. Western cultural traditions such as Christmas, Thanksgiving Day, Halloween are being celebrated while ignoring the Dragon boat dance and other old cultural festivals. Political ideologies are being implanted instead of the philosophical and theological or spiritual teachings.
Conclusion
This research study is a brief analysis and discussion on the effect of globalization on a country’s Society, culture and politics. The political and economic reforms have transformed the families and the relationship of the party with the state. The influences of the political party on the life of families have diminished steadily. People are not fully controlled by the government at this time. The new age of globalization has taught people how to accept better from the worst. Globalization has made the world a global village. Though there are some negative effects it can’t be ignored when people mix up they start to adopt norms and behavior of others. Communication and information technologies have made two remote part of the world closer to each other. After all the result of the open door policy or the modern age of China is now being seen by others. How China turns out to be the next superpower from the ashes is still astounds people of the world. It wouldn’t be possible if it didn’t take the decision at that time. Now China has been redesigning its curriculum in an education system which includes the classical philosophical and spiritual teachings of Confucius. How such reforms can transform the young generation will be seen in future.
Works Cited
Amiot, Catherine E. et al. "Cultural Identity Dynamics: Capturing Changes in Cultural Identities over Time and Their Intraindividual Organization". European Journal of Social Psychology, vol 5, no. 8, 2018, pp. 55-98. Wiley-Blackwell, doi:10.1002/ejsp.2355.
Miller, Debra A. Globalization. Greenhaven Press, 2007, pp. 89-154.
Tubilewicz, Czeslaw. "China and Globalization: The Social, Economic and Political Transformation of Chinese Society. Doug Guthrie". The China Journal, vol 59, 2015, pp. 208-310. University of Chicago Press, doi:10.1086/tcj.59.20066419.
Welman, J. C et al. Research Methodology. Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 09-175.
Zheng, Yongnian. Globalization and State Transformation in China. Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 150-269.
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