Negative Impacts of Globalisation

As promised this post will look at some of the negative aspects of globalisation. The same note of caution applies to this post as the last - opinion on positive and negative areas will be dependent on an individual’s view-point.

 

The process of globalisation operates largely in the interests of the more economically developed countries (MEDCs). MEDCs have driven a process in which they continue to dominate world trade at the expense of developing countries. The role of less economically developed countries (LEDCs) in the world market is mostly to provide rich MEDCs with cheap labour and raw materials. There is little international regulation of TNCs which has lead to negative consequences for the safety of people and the environment. Globalisation provides a vector for diseases and invasive species to spread worldwide; this can lead to devastation of native ecosystems.

 

Investment by large TNCs is not guaranteed to benefit the local community. Profits are often sent back to the MEDC where the TNC is based. Added to this is the fact that TNCs benefit from the economies of scale and often drive local companies out of business. TNCs also have the capability to move the location of their factory if cheaper operational costs are available in another country. This leaves the workers vulnerable to redundancy through over dependence on TNC employment.

 

Some see the ‘positive’ of exchange of cultures as in fact a negative that reduces individuality and true culture. Local economies, traditions and languages are all threatened by globalisation which moulds the world into a capitalist western-society. This trend for western culture can be seen in the spread of fast food chains such as McDonalds and Burger King. This has increased the consumption of junk food across the globe and is having a negative impact on people’s health.

 

The negative impacts of globalisation are by no means restricted to LEDCs however. Outsourcing of jobs provides employment to the population in that country but at the same time takes away those jobs from the source country. This shift is apparent in the textiles industry which now thrives in LEDCs at the expense of jobs in manufacturing in the UK and other MEDCs.