Globalisation and Social Change

CBSE Class-12 Sociology Test Paper-01

Part-2 (Ch-06 Globalisation and Social Change)

General instruction:

Question 1-5 carries two marks each.
Question 6-8 carries four marks each.
Question 9-10 carries six marks each.

Define ‘globalisation’.
What are the sharply divided views on the impact of globalisation?
Why was the Silk route famous?
What is policy of structural adjustments?
What are TNCs?
Explain the sociological perspectives on understanding globalisation.
Globalisation has a far reaching effects. Explain with examples.
Give reasons for the digital divide despite of growth in internet technology.
Describe the economic dimension of globalisation.
What are the revolutionary changes in global communication?

CBSE Class-12 Sociology Test Paper-01
Part-2 (Ch-06 Globalisation and Social Change)

Globalisation refers to the growing interdependence between different people, regions and countries in the world as social and economic relationships come to stretch world-wide.
There are sharply divided views about the impact of globalisation. Some believe that it is necessary to herald a better world. Others fear that the impact of globalisation on different sections of people is vastly different. They argue that while many in the more privileged section may benefit, the condition of a large section of the already excluded population worsens. There are yet others who argue that globalisation is not a new development at all.
Silk route was famous as centuries ago it connected India to the great civilisations, which existed in China, Persia, Egypt and Rome. Throughout India’s long past, people from different parts came here, sometimes as traders, sometimes as conquerors, sometimes as migrants in search of new lands and settled down here. In remote Indian villages often people ‘recall’ a time when their ancestors lived elsewhere, from where they came and settled down where they now live.
The policy of structural adjustments usually means cuts in state expenditure on the social sector such as health, education and social security in order to obtain loan by the government from international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These loans are given on the condition that the government will commit to pursue certain kind of economic measures that involve such policy of structural adjustments.
TNCs are companies that produce goods or market services in more than one country. These may be relatively small firms with one or two factories outside the country in which they are based. They could also be gigantic international ones whose operations criss- cross the globe. Some of the biggest TNCs are companies known all around the world: Coca Cola, General Motors, Colgate-Palmolive, Kodak, Mitsubishi and many others.
Sociology is not defined by what it studies but how it studies. Hence, it not only studies the social or cultural consequences of globalisation but also use the sociological imagination to make sense of the connections between the individual and society, the micro and the macro, the local and the global.
How is the peasant affected in a remote village? How is s/he connected to global changes? How has it affected the chances of employment for the middle class? How has it affected the possibilities of big Indian corporations becoming transnational corporations? What does it mean to the neighbourhood grocer if the retail sector is opened up to big transnational companies? Why are there so many shopping malls in our cities and towns today? How has it changed the way young people spend their leisure time?
These are just few examples of the wide ranging and different kinds of changes that globalisation is bringing about.
The effect of globalisation is far reaching. It affects us all but affects us differently. Thus, while for some it may mean new opportunities, for others the loss of livelihood.
For instance, women silk spinners and twisters of Bihar lost their jobs once the Chinese and Korean silk yarn entered the market. Weavers and consumers prefer this yarn as it is somewhat cheaper and has a shine.
Similar displacements have come with the entry of large fishing vessels into Indian waters. These vessels take away the fish that used to be earlier collected by Indian fishing vessels. The livelihood of women fish sorters, dryers, vendors and net makers thereby get affected.
In Gujarat, women gum collectors, who were picking from the ‘julifera’ (Baval trees), lost their employment due to the import of cheaper gum from Sudan. In almost all cities of India, the rag pickers lost some of their employment due to import of waste paper from developed countries.
Globally use of the Internet increased phenomenally in the 1990s. In 1998 there were 70 million Internet users world-wide. Of these USA and Canada accounted for 62% while Asia had 12%. By 2000 the number of Internet users had risen to 325 million. India had 3 million Internet subscribers and 15 million users by 2000, thanks to the proliferation of cyber cafes all over the country.
According to a CNN-IBN poll broadcast on August 15, 2006, about 7% of the country’s youth had access to the Internet while only 3% had computers to home. The figures themselves indicate the digital divide that continues to prevail in the country inspite of the rapid spread of computers.
Cyber connectivity had largely remained an urban phenomenon but widely accessible through the cybercafés. But the rural areas with their erratic power supply widespread illiteracy and lack of infrastructure like telephone connections still remain largely unconnected.
Liberalisation of the economy meant the steady removal of the rules that regulated Indian trade and finance regulations. The basic assumption was that greater integration into the global market would be beneficial to Indian economy.
The transnational corporations (TNCs) play a particularly important role in driving the process of globalisation. TNCs are companies that produce goods or market services in more than one country. They are oriented to the global markets and global profits even if they have a clear national base.
Another factor that underpins economic globalisation is the electronic economy that allows Banks, corporations, fund managers and individual investors to shift funds internationally with the click of a mouse.
The global economy is no longer primarily agricultural or industrial in its basis rather there is a growing important of weightless and knowledge economy. Hence, products have their base in information and much of the workforce is involved not in the physical production or distribution of material goods, but in their design, development, technology, marketing, sale and servicing.
Another important economic dimension is the globalisation of finance that has been made possible mainly due to the information technology revolution. Globally integrated financial markets undertake billions of dollars-worth transactions within seconds in the electronic circuits.
Important advances in technology and the world’s telecommunications infrastructure have led to revolutionary changes in global communication. Some homes and many offices now have multiple links to the outside world, including telephones (land lines and mobiles), fax machines, digital and cable television, electronic mail and the internet.
Some of you may find many such places. Some of you may not. This is indicative of what is often termed as the digital divide in our country.
Despite this digital divide these forms of technology do facilitate the ‘compression’ of time and space. Two individuals located on opposite sides of the planet – in Bangalore and New York – not only can talk, but also send documents and images to one another with the help of satellite technology.
Cellular telephony has also grown enormously and cell phones are part of the self for most urban-based middle class youth. This has been a tremendous growth in the usage of cell phones and a marked change in how its use is seen.

Globalisation and Social Change - Test Papers