How is Globalization Changing Religion?

            Through globalization, travel is expanding the interactions of people with different faiths. Immigration sometimes causes entire communities, including their religious leaders, beliefs, and gods to move across the world. There is much more information about different types of religions available and new technologies help to educate participants and alter strategies. New religious institutions are made from older ones by new immigrants in cities. They are able to connect to their homes and networks.

            Immigration from Catholic countries are renewing Catholic churches within the United States through new political engagements, membership, and worship styles. The Catholic News Agency said in June of 2006, the Pope discussed the new possibilities and the new risks of globalization. He says it is a chance to make a network of understanding between people, but also stages a problem within marginalization and poverty. A year before the Pope expressed these concerns on globalization, many rallies occurred in major cities within the United States.

            The U.S. Catholic leadership encouraged the support and changes being made for the U.S. immigration laws. The Church wants to reunite families across the world and stop low wage working. In turn, immigrants are rejuvenating the Church for the upcoming years. Many Mexican immigrants have brought their religious beliefs and practices to New York City and have helped reshape the Catholic churches while working in low-wage jobs. For example, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe is now seen in New York churches. It is said that in 1531, miracles began to happen and Our Lady of Guadalupe represents a lesson of faith and a lesson of understanding.

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope_considers_benefits_and_challenges_of_globalization/ 
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=456

How is Globalization Affecting the State?

            Decreasing boundaries of the state control and persuade external and internal affairs due to globalization. State borders are becoming more absorbent as the global economy increases the movement of money, goods, people, and thoughts. However, states can’t control what comes in and out of their borders as easily. International nonstate associates are giving state sovereignty a hard time. World Trade Organization, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund are examples of international financial institutions that are challenging states to use neoliberal economic policies. Free trade, free markets, free movement of goods, money, and ideas, and the use of local markets for transnational businesses and included in these plans. Lori Wallach, the Director of Global Trade Watch, talks about the misleading meaning of free “trade” that is involved in the World Trade Organization in an interesting video clip.

            The decrease in the state’s power to control what crosses borders and the increase in the state’s ability to participate in the global economy is fueled by developing countries privatizing state-owned infrastructure like water systems and transportation. State funding for health care, education, and social services is also lessened. Prospering civil society has slowed from this economic restructure. Nongovernmental organizations, or civil society organizations, prove this by protesting uneven development and social disturbance that go with neoliberal economic strategies. Local communities join forces to attain openings and assets to stop state policies.

            To access global accomplishments, civil society organizations come together through transnational networks and movements to change problems into a global projects for resources and rights. They can support women’s rights, human rights, and attack environmental concerns by working with other activists in organizations such as Africa Watch, World Vision, and Amnesty International. Transnational networks can form quickly through the spread by social media. Global information flows rapidly to observers, participants, and advisors through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The Amnesty International website contains ten ways anyone can make a difference for their cause. You can join a network of activists in their campaign, donate, become a member, attend an event, or even partner with Amnesty International to improve the state of human rights.

http://www.globalissues.org/article/39/a-primer-on-neoliberalism

http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved

How Does Globalization Influence Local Expressions of Sexuality?

            Time-space compression is assisting the movement of people, predominantly men, to travel within countries looking for sexual pleasure. Women are being forced to search for labor to support their families and themselves after their local economies are disturbed. Human rights and sexuality discussions are traveling across the world when international campaigns are started in Western countries. Economic procedures, immigration practices, and political movements influence transformations of sexuality and personal expressions. This influence creates huge changes for local understanding of sexuality.

            Globalization has increases sex tourism, or trips made through the tourism sector to ease commercial sexual relationships between local residents and tourists. This has become a multibillion-dollar industry and exists globally, including Cuba, Kenya, Thailand, and Brazil. Although this business gives an integrated product of package tours, it is harmful to local workers who are working for low wages. The money doesn’t reach the local restaurants, hotels, and other companies. The all-inclusive package tours monopolize tourists’ expenses, thus robbing the local businesses of customers. CHAME, a Brazilian organization trying to stop the increased sex tourism in Brazil, explains Brazil has the largest amount of children participating in prostitution in Latin America, following Thailand.  Nine-year-old girls are even involved. There are laws to protect women and children from these crimes, but the issue is the enforcement.

            Migrating women attempt to benefit from globalization by participating in sex work, or providing sexual services for payment to foreign tourists. They think that by earning money, their families and themselves can be freed from the poverty within their undeveloped country. They even dream of marrying the tourists they provide their service to and will help them escape their hardships. Because prostitution is illegal in most areas, these women are not given legal protection and are victims of harassment. Marriage and financial security rarely fulfilled by sex workers. In this way, globalization emphasizes unequal relations that used to be prevalent between men and women of different nationalities. This act also highlights inequality. Searching the web, I found a book that looked very interested called “The Globalization of Sexuality” by Jon Binnie. The description of the book had interesting anecdotes that I wanted to read about, including queer cosmopolitanism.

http://www.globalenvision.org/library/8/682

http://www.sagepub.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book207456

How is Globalization Altering Women’s Lives?

           During the 1980s, women were beginning to migrate to urban areas or near export-oriented factories from their rural homes to work in foreign companies looking for low taxes, cheap labor, and few environmental guidelines. Women undergo pressure within gender expectations and to take on wage labor in order to provide for their families. Women experience challenges in the labor force in areas such as Malaysia, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Barbados. A study online tries to uncover why Malaysian women don’t rise above their organizations to stand up for their amount of contribution to the company and their individual self-worth. They embody close to 50% of the workforce, but are under-represented. Men move to senior management positions more than women do.

            Anthropologist Aihwa Ong studied Malaysian women being supervised by management under increasingly invasive surveillance to regulate a rise in production efficiency. Some women workers would encounter a spirit possession on the factory floor, becoming violent and yelling at managers. They protested against independence and loss of humanity. Helen Safa research showed that the result of factory work varied pertaining to women’s ethnicity, class, and culture, but male dominance exists in the workplace as well as at home with their husbands. On the other hand, Carla Freeman discovered women in Barbados enjoy working in the informatics industry. Their working conditions are comfortable and enjoy company transportation, job security, and flexible work hours.

            Globalization encourages the movement of women to look for jobs so they can support themselves and their children. Tens of millions of women a year move to urban cities and export-processing factories in their own country. Some support their families in developing countries by working abroad. Still, some women become nannies, maids, and cleaning ladies. If it wasn’t for “care work” in wealthy countries, women in developed countries wouldn’t be able to work themselves. This absence, in turn, creates a distance between their own families. A website provided many links to explore the positive and negative ways to look at globalization affecting women’s lives. The website states that globalization helps groups of women mobilize, but can cause favoritism towards male workers. 

http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ach/article/viewFile/364/304

http://sociology.emory.edu/faculty/globalization/issues02.html