C103 Professional Contexts.globalisation.25.11.11

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C103 Professional Contexts

Globalisation



Anti-globalisation



Globalisation

What do we mean by the termGlobalisation?

Where does it come from?

Is it a ‗natural phenomenon‘ or the resultof political choices?

Can we dismantle globalisation as aconcept?

Components; technological and socialchange, economics, politics and policy.

Why does it matter to you?



Globalisation and technology

The ‗post war‘ periodand a shrinking world.

1952… travel to

Australia took sixweeks by ship.

1952 the firstcommercial jet airlinerroute from London toJohannesburg, SA.

Comet Airliner – 36seats.

Stopped in Rome,Beirut, Khartoum,Entebbe, and

Livingstone, nearVictoria Falls.




Tourism and generaltravel accounted for10.7 per cent of world-wide GDP in 1996, and

is predicted to increaseto 11.5 per cent by2006 (WTOS/C/W/5123September 1998)

Developing engine andmaterials technology and

improved designextended access to longdistance travel beyond anaffluent elite.




Developing Mediatechnology, lightweight cameras andease of travel…

…contributed to visionsand understanding of

the world beyond theimagination of previousgenerations.




Apollo 11 landed thefirst humans, Neil

Armstrong and Edwin"Buzz" Aldrin, Jr, onEarth's Moon on July20, 1969




The development of personalcomputers, hand held media &

communication technology andthe internet transformed ourability to communicate and trade.



Globalisation & Politics

Non-party politicalmovements, often

‗single issue‘, grew

up aroundsymbolic slogans

‗Environmentalism‘ & ‗Human rights‘

became ‗global‘ trans-nationalconcepts.




Coups fermented by bothsides toppleddemocratically electedgovernments in Chile,Iran, S Vietnam,Guatemala, HungaryCzechoslovakia, and manyother countries.

The ‗Cold War‘ betweenCapitalist West andCommunist East was atit‘s height.

It was a ‗Hot‘ war,fought by proxy in SEAsia, South & CentralAmerica, The MiddleEast, The Far East and

Europe. Fascist governments

rules Spain, Portugaland Greece into the80‘s




The Bretton Woodssystem of monetarymanagementestablished the rules

for commercial andfinancial relationsamong the world'smajor industrial states.

The agreement

established theInternational MonetaryFund and the WorldBank.

The Bretton Woodssystem was the firstexample of a fullynegotiated monetaryorder intended to governmonetary relations among

independent states.




In 1971 Richard Nixon,President of the USAwithdrew unilaterallyfrom the Bretton

Woods agreement andfrom that point allcurrencies, includingthe US Dollar and GBpound floated on world

money markets. The IMF and GATT

become agencies forpromoting free trade & market capitalism



The World Trade Organisation

W.T.O grew out of GATT. Its missionis to promote free

trade, theliberalisation of trade agreementsand reduction andelimination of

trade tariffs. Thisapplied mainly totrade in goods

In 1994 the WTO was setup under the Marakeshagreement. It expandedinto liberalisation of tradein investment, servicesand intellectual propertyrights.



The World Trade Organisation

Critics say…

The WTO favours developed over developingcountries.

It creates an environment where trade infinance and services cannot be subjected tonational regulation.

It creates an environment where Corporationscan ignore the democratic will of nation states.

It creates conditions where labour rights areundermined.

It has nothing about environmental protectionin its remit.



The International Monetary Fund

In return for financial helpcountries are usuallyrequired to launchstructural adjustmentprograms (SAPs), whichhave been dubbed the

Washington Consensus.

The IMF focuses onpolicies that have animpact on theexchange rate and thebalance of payments.

The stated objectivesare to promoteinternational economiccooperation,international trade,employment, andexchange rate stability,by making resourcesavailable to membercountries to meetbalance of paymentsneeds



The International Monetary Fund

Critics say… The IMF advocates austerity programmes, cutting public

spending and increasing taxes even when the economy isweak, to bring budgets closer to a balance, thus reducingbudget deficits.

Countries are often advised to lower their corporate taxrate. The IMF represents interests and ideology of Western

financial interests ―When the IMF arrives in a country, they are interested in

only one thing. How do we make sure the banks andfinancial institutions are paid?... It is the IMF that keeps

the [financial] speculators in business. They‘re notinterested in development, or what helps a country to getout of poverty.‖

—Joseph Stiglitz (Independent 03.06.2011) http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-its-not-just-dominique-strausskahn-the-imf-itself-should-be-on-trial-2292270.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-its-not-just-dominique-strausskahn-the-imf-itself-should-be-on-trial-2292270.html



































The 1970’s

The collapse of thepost war consensus.

1970 and the electionof Ted Heath.

Oil price crisis andrising national debt.

The first MinersStrike.

1974 and 2 elections Balance of payments

crisis

IMF intervention

The ‗Winter of

discontent‘ 1979 and the election

of Margaret Thatcher



The 1980’s

Collectivist left of centregovernments replaced byright-wing monetaristparties.

Regan-Thatcher alliancepromotes free trade & deregulation.

The self destruction of Labour and the rise of theSDP / Liberals

The second Miners Strike.

The Big Bang & 1999repeal of the Glass–Steagall Act in the USA

Increased importance of GATT / WTO and IMF inde-regulation of financialservices and banking,labour protection andcorporate taxation.



The 70’s & 80’s positive effects

Social movementsstarted in the1960‘s come to

fruition. An end to

deference andmovement on

prejudice Social mobility and

meritocracy.

Greater access to HE

Expanding middleclass & lower taxes.

New industries arecommunication anddesign led.

European Union

promotes trade & employmentprotection & humanrights



The 70’s, 80’s & 90’s negative effects

Unemploymentand a lost younggeneration

Destruction of manufacturing andmining industries.

Social division -

homelessness andriots.

Low tax take.

Degradation of publicservices; hospitalwaiting lists andcrumbling schools.

The destruction of trade unionism and

introduction of labourlaws.

Greater financialinequality



Globalisation and risk

The establishment anddevelopment of theinternet and its impacton finance and

corporate governance.

Ulrich Beck andthe risk society.

The export of risk

Employment: lackof safety & insecurity.

Environmental

catastrophe.

The re-importationof risk & degradedpractices.



Globalisation and risk

As China Roars,Pollution ReachesDeadly Extremes

New York Times

The Bhopal disasterand its aftermath: areview

PubMed Central

Murder and Impunityof Colombian Trade

Unionists USLEAP

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/world/asia/26china.html?pagewanted=all



http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1142333/



http://www.usleap.org/files/Colombia%20Fact%20Sheet_June2011.pdf














Hegemony and Gramsci

Developed the concept of culturalhegemony as a means of maintaining thestate in a capitalist society.

The prevailing cultural norms of society,imposed by the ruling class (bourgeoishegemony), must not be perceived asnatural and inevitable, but must berecognized as artificial social constructs

(institutions, practices, beliefs) that mustbe investigated to discover their roots associal class domination.



Hegemonic political settlements

19th Century Liberalism and the divisionof Labour in industrialised societies.

1830 – 1918 sees the rise of professionalclasses and class conflict rotted in

organised labour constrains capitalism. Theodore Roosevelt & Anti-trust laws

1918 – 1939 sees Imperial decline andthe rise of Fascism.

1945 – 1970 the post war consensusbased on the welfare state.

1970 – 1980 and the collapse of the post-war consensus.



Globalisation and policy

1979 to today a free market, low regulation, low taxpolicy has been enacted across developed countries.

Free market policies have been forced on developingcountries through intervention from the IMF and othersupra-national institutions

Economic growth has been the primary policy aim inglobal and national institutions.

For most of the past three decades ‗growth‘ has beenachieved, tax take has increased in line with economicactivity.

It is now apparent that the growth achieved has not

been based on making but on debt secured on over-valued property and financial products which enticedborrowers to enter into "unsafe" or "unsound" securedloans for inappropriate purposes .

How did this happen?



The policy cycle

Government policy, in any country, issubject to debate. Most political partiesstart from a broad ideological position butthe detail of what they attempt to enact issubject to influence.

The question around policy is, where doesthat influence come from and whatagenda does it serve?

Early analysts highlighted Statedomination of Policy but recent studiesquestion that.



The policy cycle

The contexts are arenas of social and discursiveactivity through which ‗policies‘ move, within whichpolicies are produced and reproduced, created andenacted.

The context of influence is a setting of

power/knowledge where the object of policy and policyitself is formed -an elusive, multi-facetted process,fragmented, diverse and contingent. It is an arena of struggle - struggle to be heard - in which a particulartimes particular voices are privileged. It is often aclosed context. The context of text production is anopen context within which policies are written and

spoken about and thus subject to re-interpretation, andto different kinds of interpretation. The context of practice is where policy is subject to

interpretation and recreation.



Policy frameworks

By looking at influence and production we canwork backwards to see where the influenceemanates from.

Neo-liberal policy in developed Western

economies is dominated by corporate businessinstitutions such as the CBI, the IOD, the ERT,The Adam Smith Institute The Cato Institute inAmerica, together with the Heritage Foundationand Americans for Prosperity.

Looking at text production we can see how broadthe policy debate pool is.

For 30 years the policy drive has been anti-stateand pro free market.



Policy frameworks - Schumpeter

Socio-economic theory that underpins the pro-market / anti-state policy framework is derivedfrom Joseph Schumpeter and his assertion of the economic cycle.

Schumpeter coined the phrase ‗creativedestruction‘ to describe the way that an openmarket functions to allow new, innovative waysof deploying technology or doing business toreplace the old.

Schumpeter described a dynamic system inwhich the entrepreneur played a central role inthis system in ―Capitalism, Socialism & Democracy‖.




Schumpeter suggests that the success of capitalism inevitably leads to the elimination of competitors and an increasing desire to protectcapital value, progressively diminishing the effect

of creative destruction leading to the decline of entrepreneurs.

―The capitalist process unavoidably attacks thestanding ground of the small producer or trader.What it did to the pre-capitalist strata it also does– by the same competitive mechanism – to thelower strata of capitalist industry.” (Schumpeter1943; 125)




The role of the bourgeois state was crucial in settingthe legal framework that allowed capitalism tothrive; intellectual property law, private ownershipand the limited liability company and free trade.

Schumpeter theorises that the success of capitalisminevitably leads to the elimination of competitorsand an increasing desire to protect capital valuethrough the creation of giant enterprises.

“The perfectly bureaucratized giant industrial unit not only ousts the small and medium sized firm and

„expropriates‟ its owners, but in the end it also ouststhe entrepreneur and expropriates the bourgeoisie

as a class.” (Schumpeter 1943; 119)




This process not only progressively diminishes theeffect of creative destruction but also leads to thepolitical problem of detachment of the mass of people from the fundamentals of capitalistinstitutions, individual ownership of property and

freedom of contract. Essentially, the inevitableemergence of giant enterprises… “...by substituting a mere parcel of shares for the

walls and machines in a factory takes the life out of the idea of property... ...this evaporation of thematerial substance of property affects not only theattitudes of holders but that of the workmen and public in general. Dematerialized, de-functionalized and absentee ownership does not impress and call forth moral allegiance...” (Schumpeter 1943; 127)



Policy frameworks – anti state

The fear of stasis leading to ‗Socialism‘ – expressed inconcepts of ―Statism‖ - distinguishes “Capitalism,Socialism and Democracy”.

Despite these challenges and the fact that his writing wascontextualised by genuine totalitarian threat Schumpeter‘stheories have clearly influenced those who influence theCox Review such as Hayek, (1944) Freidman (1962) andother Chicago School economists.

Contemporary devotees tend, however, to substitute theKeynesian Welfare State both for ‗Socialism‘ and as theculprit in the ―death of the entrepreneur‖.

We can see evidence of this in austerity policies being

pursued across Western Europe which bear down on thepoor and middle classes, welfare services and publicservices such as education and health.

In his first budget speech Chancellor Osborne (2010)promised “...an economy where the state does not takealmost half of all our national income, crowding out

private endeavour...”




Schumpeter argued that the corporatism of late stagecapitalism will inevitably drive out those whose function isto develop or transform patterns of production byexploiting an invention or an untried technology.

Schumpeter attempted to distinguish exceptional people,a classification apart from the mass population, who havean innate capacity to get things done, to overcomeresistance to new ideas and ways of doing things.

The fantastic leap that Schumpeter made when heassociated entrepreneurialism with a quasi-mythical typerather than with physical and mental processes involvingmany individuals in multiple activity contexts and sociallyinteractive situations, even viewed from this distance, isextremely questionable.

This was challenged by von Mises (1946) who recognisedthat agency stems from uncertainty inherent in everyaction and is not confined to the economic sphere. Hebluntly stated that the “...entrepreneur is not a social typebut a social role attributable to all participants.” (vonMises 1946; 253).




Schumpeter‘s theories are complex and point directly tothe dangers of Corporatism which must be subject torestriction and regulation if Capitalism is to successfullycontest the drift towards Socialism.

The solution was found in an almost exclusive focus onone of many factors identified by Schumpeter, theEntrepreneur as ‗Type‘ and the function of ‗Entrepreneurs‘ as exclusively commercial.

Later Schumpeter modified his theory to incorporateCorporations as institutions with sufficient resourcescapable of supporting entrepreneurs. This accommodationdid not address the tensions he originally identified andcan be seen as a political rather than a critically rationalresponse.

The success of this contradictory ideology is manifestedboth in the elevation of business leaders to dominantpositions in policy formation and grotesque salariesdemanded by business people who acquire the sobriquetof entrepreneur through assertion of bureaucraticauthority rather than authority that is embodied.



Policy frameworks

Current political economic situation canbe characterised as the socialization of risk and the privatization of reward.

Schumpeter‘s fear of socialism in the faceof corporate gigantism might be said tobe exemplified by the suspension of democratic process in Greece & Italy.

The IMF represents interests and ideology

of Western financial interests Why does all this matter to professionals

practicing in Communication & Design?



Research & debate

Next term we will continue to exploreeconomic and political contexts in relationto our practice.

To what extent and in what ways are we

implicated in these contexts through ourcultural practice?

The first session next term will be givenover to discussion and debate, both inlarge shared sessions and in your course

groups. Subject areas to be covered might

include:



Research & debate – client relations

A few questions and topics…

How has globalisation affected culturalindustries in the UK?

Market forces, cultural industries & ethics.

Relations with clients / employers.

Opening markets and closing markets.

Can we reconcile the global and the local? Does competition really drive innovation?



Research & debate – writers

A couple of books you might look at… Thomas Frank… ―One Market under God: Extreme

Capitalism, Market Populism and the end of Economic Democracy.”

Homo-Econimus represents a conception of the social

world that must imagine people as fully sensibleeconomic actors, qualified to make their needs knownin the open market and of acting in their own interests.

Nick Couldrey… “Does Voice Matter?” ―...above all voice is undermined when societies

become organised on the basis that individual,collective and distributed voice need not be taken intoaccount, because a higher value or rationality trumpsthem.‖ (Couldry 2010; 10) PR culture and advertising

Go through the unit brief reading list… and questioneverything you have heard here today.

C103 Professional Contexts.globalisation.25.11.11

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