Giddens’ globalization: Exploring dynamic implications

Abstract

The dynamic complexity of the social phenomena that people bundle together and call globalization accentuate a divisive public discourse with strong arguments for and against the globalization process and its effects. To help unearth the dynamic processes that support or inhibit globalization, this article shows the recursive relations and mutual causal links among technology, institutional structures, beliefs and social behavior, which sociologist Anthony Giddens has posited on globalization. Giddens' sociological analysis of the globalization process incorporates not only favorable conditions, such as the development of telecommunications technology and world economy integration, but also political transformations, transnational corporation growth, and cultural effects. These concerns outline the components of a system dynamics modeling example, the experimental and model analysis results of which allow reflecting on Giddens' sociological globalization positions.