Life in the Global Era.
A look into the daily life of a businesswoman who works in New York would tell you that a lot of things that she wears and does have developed over time. After waking up and showering, she puts on a designer sweater and a pair of khaki pants. She brews and drinks a cup of coffee and eats a banana before heading off to work which involves meeting with other business professionals and making business transactions as well.
Each of these products followed a complex process from a different part of the world to take its place in this woman’s morning routine. Simply put, the sweater and the khakis for all we know could have been manufactured somewhere in Australia, knitted and sewn (as in the khakis) into a pattern by an Italian designer. The coffee beans used to make coffee maybe grew on a plant in the high mountains of Kenya. In essence, a lot of the things we do in our modern society are connected to various places outside our current place of residence.
Over the past centuries, many instances of advancement have been observed. These instances of progression due to technological improvement have increased interaction and connectivity among people all over the world. From black and white TVs and cameras to coloured ones, from hand-woven fans to electrical fans, from smoke signals and couriers to phones, telephones and the internet as means of communication, from cowries to minted paper currencies in trade. It becomes indisputable that the common saying “The world is now a global place” is well established on our planet.
In as much as Globalization has induced pros on the society, it has also stemmed cons as well. Globalization has had a great effect on a lot of important areas of daily living some of which include production and manufacture, fashion, means of communication, comfort, cooking, washing amongst other activities. In improving these areas, it has also raised the standard of living of individuals in the society.
The emergence of globalization raised the levels of complexity in technological equipment. The origin of technological operations goes as far back as The Industrial revolution which witnessed the change from the use of crude implements to more complex ones in the eighteenth century. This change has made a lot of employment opportunities available for many individuals especially in the area of production and manufacture. With an increased employment rate, several countries are able to derive enough revenue to stabilise or better off improve their economies.
Advances in communication have also brought about unity amongst various people in the world. For example, the introduction of communication satellites enable television stations to broadcast recent happenings all over the world to viewers thus making people socially aware of what goes on in their world. Also, the invention of telephones, phones, faxes have made means of interaction much easier. The coming of the World Wide Web has made information easily accessible to students and workers as well. The introduction of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, My Space, Hi5 etc. has enabled several individuals to re-connect and interact easily with long lost contacts.
Improvement in Information Technology has encouraged easier and cheaper business transactions among corporate and financial institutions, one which would not have been possible if the crude methods were used. Early anthropologists thought of societies and their cultures as fully independent concepts. But today, many nations are multicultural societies, composed of numerous smaller subcultures as a result of information technology.
Ghana as a sovereign state has benefitted greatly from the effects of Globalization as mentioned above. This can be proven with the establishment of financial, health, social, economic and political institutions such as The Bank of Ghana, Ghana Stock Exchange, The Ashanti Goldfields Corporation, Ghana Trade Union Congress, The National Media Association etc. with the common aim of improving the standard of life and living in all aspects.
Ghana’s economy has also improved greatly due to Globalization. The coming in of foreigners to invest in the country has immensely helped Ghana to create a lot of job opportunities and created an avenue for individuals to be able to provide food, clothing and shelter for their families especially in the industrial sector. The availability of technological equipment and fertilizers although not self- produced has helped foster accelerated production of agricultural products. Also, many restaurants and entertainment centres have evolved to improve the social standards of people.
Although Ghana has had its fair share of the blessings of Globalization, it has also unfortunately suffered its consequences as well. Globalization in Ghana has greatly influenced the lifestyle and culture of Ghanaians. In Ghana, there have been several cases where people especially children are no longer familiar with the customs, traditions and language of their tribe all because of an upgrade in the modern way of living.
Even the foods we eat are slowly becoming influenced by the effects of globalization. Ghanaians disregard the value of nourishment they can derive from eating foods such as kontomire, eto, palmnut soups and lots more; rather, they go for continentals like lasagne, pizza, soufflés most of which don’t necessarily nourish our bodies come to talk of give of enough energy for daily activities.
A fact must not be forgotten that the emergence of technology has caused great harm not just in our lifestyle but also physically as well. The invention of nuclear bombs has increased war rates in the world. Also, the coming of guns have lost their value as defence mechanisms. These days, people can kill on impulse. With ever rising industries , the level of pollution especially in air and on water has increased tremendously, killing millions of people. Life in the global era is one worth living. Advances in technology especially, has aroused great opportunities or advantages for mankind. Whether it influences our lifestyle or not, greatly relies on the mind-set and self-control of individuals, organizations, nations, corporations etc.
In a world filled with so many opportunities and rapid development yet so much pollution, immorality and deaths, we only hope that someday the latter would be erased in the conceptual discussion of this subject.
By: Cassandra Darkwa
Human Geography 42S.