Ethos Of Globalization Analysis

According to Maxwell and Miller, capitalism has treated labor and the environment as manipulatable cogs that can be controlled from long distance since the 19th century. This has been done through trans-national textual and military domination but also through a larger division of labor and the growing impression that human and nonhuman nature are disconnected. Maxwell and Miller explain that manual laborers in the 19th century started to understand that even though capitalists didn’t do any tangible/productive work, they controlled the machinery and enabling technology, which in turn controlled the lives of those actually doing the manual work. Workers began to realize that, “…at any moment technology may control their labor, spy on them,
Rather, we are witnessing the rise of an increasingly homogenized popular culture underwritten by a ‘Western’ culture industry based in New York, Los angeles, London and Milan. (Steger, 75) According to Steger, the Americanization of the world has overwhelmed more vulnerable cultures with Western norms and lifestyles. Another ideological tension of globalization is the concept of “ethos of infantilization,” a system that dumbs down adults to think more like children through dumbed down advertising and consumer goods while also targeting children as consumers. (Steger, 77) To increase profits and expand their businesses, global capitalists develop homogenous products that target the widest market possible, making global consumerism increasingly soulless and unethical in its pursuit for profit. Also, those in favor of the consumerist spread of capitalism must consider the consequences of such ideology, such as the decline of traditional communal sentiments as well as the commodification of society and nature. (Steger,
While the grand opening ceremony, paid for by hardworking taxpayers, provided the world stage with a lucrative spectacle that embodied Beijing’s rapid transformation, too many were distracted by the events onstage to question or care deeply about the events happening backstage. The events leading up to the Olympic games consisted of the disenfranchisement, conviction and displacement of ordinary people who peacefully protested the forced eviction from their homes. As police clashed with protestors, families had no choice but to leave, rendering thousands homeless. Nearly 1.5 million Beijing residents were displaced after the events of the 2008 Olympics. However if we look at the way the Olympic games are generally marketed to particular states, we see the event used more as tool of propaganda that entices countries to prove their predominance on the world stage. At the core of the event we find dozens of different competitive sports, an activity that is ideologically concerned with human perfection, competitiveness, camaraderie and bonding the between people of the world. In reality, there are incredibly severe economic consequences and costs that are levied on the people of a particular city within a state. The Olympics are a