Cheat sheet: Globalization of social processes in the modern world. Globalization of sociocultural processes Globalization of sociocultural processes in the modern world

Another important change in this system was the ever-increasing pressure of people and society on nature. For the 20th century The world's population has grown from 1.4 billion to 6 billion, while over the previous 19 centuries of our era it increased by 1.2 billion people. Serious changes are taking place in the social structure of the population of our planet. Currently, only 1 billion people (the so-called "golden billion") live in developed countries and fully enjoy the achievements of modern culture, and 5 billion people from developing countries suffering from hunger, disease, poor education, form a "global pole of poverty" that opposes the "pole of prosperity" . Moreover, the trends in fertility and mortality make it possible to predict that by 2050-2100, when the population of the Earth reaches 10 billion people. (Table 18) (according to modern concepts, this is the maximum number of people that our planet can feed), the population of the "pole of poverty" will reach 9 billion people, and the population of the "pole of well-being" will remain unchanged. At the same time, each person living in developed countries exerts 20 times more pressure on nature than a person from developing countries.

Table 18

World population (million people)

Source: Yatsenko N. E. Explanatory dictionary of social science terms. SPb., 1999. S. 520.

Sociologists associate the globalization of social and cultural processes and the emergence of world problems with the presence of limits to the development of the world community.

Sociologists-globalists believe that the limits of the world are determined by the very finiteness and fragility of nature. These limits are called external (Table 19).

For the first time, the problem of external limits to growth was raised in a report to the Club of Rome (a non-governmental international organization established in 1968) "Limits to Growth", prepared under the leadership of D. Meadows.

The authors of the report, using a computer model of global changes for calculations, came to the conclusion that the unlimited growth of the economy and the pollution caused by it by the middle of the 21st century. lead to economic disaster. To avoid it, the concept of "global equilibrium" with nature was proposed with a constant population and "zero" industrial growth.

According to other globalist sociologists (E. Laszlo, J. Bierman), the limiters of the economy and the sociocultural development of mankind are not external, but internal limits, the so-called sociopsychological limits, which manifest themselves in the subjective activity of people (see Table 19).

Table 19 Limits of human development

Toffler should be considered the knowledge and ability to withstand the ever-increasing pace of social change, as well as the delegation of resources and responsibility to those floors, levels where the relevant problems are solved. Of great importance is the formation and dissemination of new universal values and norms, such as the security of people and societies, of all mankind; freedom of activity of people both within the state and outside it; responsibility for the conservation of nature; availability of information; respect for public opinion by the authorities; humanization of relations between people, etc.

Global problems can be solved only by the joint efforts of state and public, regional and world organizations. All world problems can be differentiated into three categories (Table 20).

The most dangerous challenge to mankind in the XX century. there were wars. Only two world wars, which lasted more than 10 years in total, claimed about 80 million human lives and caused material damage of more than 4 trillion 360 billion dollars (Table 21).

Table 20

Global problems

Table 21

The most important indicators of the First and Second World Wars

Since the Second World War there have been about 500 armed conflicts. More than 36 million people died in local battles, most of them were civilians.

And in just 55 centuries (5.5 thousand years), mankind has survived 15 thousand wars (so that people lived in peace for no more than 300 years). More than 3.6 billion people died in these wars. Moreover, with the development of weapons in combat clashes, an increasing number of people (including civilians) died. Losses especially increased with the beginning of the use of gunpowder (Table 22).

Table 22

Nevertheless, the arms race continues to this day. Only after the Second World War, military spending (for 1945-1990) amounted to more than 20 trillion dollars. Today, military spending is more than $800 billion a year, that is, $2 million per minute. More than 60 million people serve or work in the armed forces of all states. 400 thousand scientists are engaged in the improvement and development of new weapons - this research absorbs 40% of all R & D funds, or 10% of all human expenditure.

Currently, the environmental problem comes first, which includes such unresolved issues as:

land desertification. Currently, deserts occupy about 9 million square meters. km. Every year, deserts "capture" more than 6 million hectares of land developed by man. A total of 30 million sq. km of inhabited territory, which is 20% of all land;

deforestation. Over the past 500 years, 2/3 of forests have been cleared by man, and 3/4 of forests have been destroyed in the entire history of mankind. Every year, 11 million hectares of forest land disappear from the face of our planet;

pollution of reservoirs, rivers, seas and oceans;

"the greenhouse effect;

ozone holes.

As a result of the combined effect of all these factors, the productivity of land biomass has already decreased by 20%, and some animal species have become extinct. Mankind is forced to take measures to protect nature. Other global problems are no less acute.

Do they have solutions? The solution to these acute problems of the modern world may lie on the paths of scientific and technological progress, socio-political reforms and changes in the relationship between man and the environment (Table 23).

Table 23 Ways to solve global problems

Scientists under the auspices of the Club of Rome are engaged in the search for a conceptual solution to global problems. The second report (1974) of this non-governmental organization (“Humanity at the Crossroads”, authors M. Mesarevich and E. Pestel) spoke of the “organic growth” of the world economy and culture as a single organism, where each part plays its role and uses that share of common goods, which correspond to its role and ensure the further development of this part in the interests of the whole.

In 1977, the third report to the Club of Rome was published under the title "International Order Revisited". Its author J. Tinbergen saw a way out in the creation of global institutions that would control global socio-cultural and economic processes. According to the scientist, it is necessary to create a world treasury, a world food administration, a world administration for technological development and other institutions that would resemble ministries in their functions; on a conceptual level, such a system presupposes the existence of a world government.

In subsequent works by the French globalists M. Guernier "The Third World: Three Quarters of the World" (1980), B. Granotier "For a World Government" (1984) and others, the idea of a global center that governs the world was further developed.

A more radical position in relation to global governance is taken by the international public movement of mondialists (International Registration of World Citizens, IRWC), which was created in 1949 and advocates the creation of a world state.

In 1989, the report of the UN International Commission on Environment and Development chaired by G. H. Brundtland "Our Common Future" created the concept of "sustainable development", which "satisfies the needs of the present, but does not jeopardize the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

In the 1990s the idea of a world government is giving way to projects of global cooperation between states, with the vital role of the UN. This concept was formulated in the report of the Commission on Global Governance and Cooperation of the United Nations "Our Global Neighborhood" (1996).

Nowadays, the concept of “global civil society” is gaining more and more importance. It means all the people of the Earth who share universal human values, who actively solve global problems, especially where national governments are not capable of doing this.

At present, this idea of the formation of a single civilization on our entire planet has become widespread and developed; its strengthening in science and in the public consciousness was facilitated by the awareness globalization of social and cultural processes in modern world.

The term "globalization" (from the Latin "globe") means the planetary nature of certain processes. The globalization of processes is their ubiquity and inclusiveness. Globalization is connected, first of all, with the interpretation of all social activity on Earth. In the modern era, all mankind is included in a single system of socio-cultural, economic, political and other connections, interactions and relations.

Thus, in the modern era, in comparison with past historical epochs, the general planetary unity of mankind has increased many times over. It is a fundamentally new supersystem: despite the striking socio-cultural, economic, political contrasts of various regions, states and peoples, sociologists consider it legitimate to talk about the formation of a single civilization.

The globalist approach is already clearly visible in the previously discussed concepts of “post-industrial society”, “technotronic era”, etc. These concepts focus on the fact that any technological revolution leads to profound changes not only in the productive forces of society, but also in the whole way of life. of people.

Modern technological progress creates fundamentally new prerequisites for the universalization and globalization of human interaction.

Thanks to the broad development of microelectronics, computerization, the development of mass communication and information, the deepening of the division of labor and specialization, humanity is united into a single socio-cultural integrity. The presence of such integrity dictates its own requirements for humanity as a whole and for an individual, in particular:

– society should be dominated by the orientation towards the acquisition of new knowledge;

– mastering it in the process of continuous education;

– technological and human application of education;

- the degree of development of the person himself, his interaction with the environment should be higher.

Respectively, a new humanistic culture should be formed, in which a person should be considered as an end in itself of social development.

The new requirements for the individual are as follows: it must harmoniously combine high qualifications, virtuoso mastery of technology, ultimate competence in one's specialty with social responsibility and universal moral values.

Globalization of social, cultural, economic and political processes gave rise to a number of serious problems. They were named " global problems of our time»: environmental, demographic, political, etc.

The totality of these problems has posed the global problem of "humanity's survival" before humanity. A. Peccei formulated the essence of this problem in the following way: “The true problem of the human species at this stage of its evolution is that it turned out to be completely culturally incapable of keeping pace and fully adapting to the changes that it itself introduced into this world.”

If we want to curb the technical revolution and direct humanity towards a worthy future, then we need, first of all, to think about changing the person himself, about the revolution in the person himself. (Pecchei A. "Human qualities"). In 1974, in parallel with M. Mesarovic and E. Pestel, a group of Argentine scientists led by Professor Erera developed the so-called Latin American model of global development, or the model "Baryloge".

In 1976, under the leadership of Ya. Tinbergen(Holland) a new project of the "Club of Rome" was developed - "Changing the International Order" However, no global models could predict the colossal changes that took place in the second half of the 1980s and early 1990s. in Eastern Europe and on the territory of the USSR. These changes significantly modified the nature of the course of global processes, since they meant the end of the Cold War, the intensification of the disarmament process, and had a significant impact on economic and cultural interaction.

Despite all the inconsistency of these processes, the huge costs for the population of socio-economic and political transformations, it can be assumed that they will contribute to a greater extent to the formation of a single global social civilization.

Section 3 Methods of sociological research

Globalization- a term for a situation of change in all aspects of society's life under the influence of a global trend towards interdependence and openness.

The main consequence of this is the global division of labor, global migration of capital, human and production resources, standardization of legislation, economic and technological processes, as well as convergence of cultures of different countries. This is an objective process that is systemic in nature, that is, it covers all spheres of society.

Globalization is connected, first of all, with the internationalization of all social activities on Earth. This internationalization means that in the modern era all mankind is included in a single system of social, cultural, economic, political and other connections, interactions and relations.

Globalization can be viewed as integration at the macro level, that is, as the convergence of countries in all areas: economic, political, social, cultural, technological, etc.

Globalization has both positive and negative features that affect the development of the world community.

The positive ones include rejection of the obedient subordination of the economy to the political principle, a decisive choice in favor of a competitive (market) model of the economy, the recognition of the capitalist model as the "optimal" socio-economic system. All this, at least theoretically, made the world more homogeneous and allowed us to hope that the relative uniformity of the social structure would help eliminate poverty and poverty, and smooth out economic inequality in the world space.

In the early 1990s many followers of the idea of global liberalization appeared in the West. Its authors believe that globalization is one of the forms of the neoliberal development model that directly or indirectly affects the domestic and foreign policies of all countries of the world community.

In their opinion, such a model of development may turn out to be "the end point of the ideological evolution of mankind", "the final form of human government, and as such represents the end of history." Preachers of such a course of development believe that "the ideal of liberal democracy cannot be improved," and humanity will develop along this only possible path.

Representatives of this trend in political science and sociology believe that modern technologies make it possible to accumulate wealth without limit and satisfy ever-growing human needs. And this should lead to the homogenization of all societies, regardless of their historical past and cultural heritage. All countries that carry out economic modernization on the basis of liberal values will become more and more like each other, drawing closer with the help of the world market and the spread of a universal consumer culture.

This theory has some practical evidence. The development of computerization, fiber optics, the improvement of the communication system, including satellite, allows humanity to move towards an open society with a liberal economy.

However, the idea of the world as a homogeneous socio-economic space, driven by a single motivation and regulated by "universal values", is largely simplified. Politicians and scientists in developing countries have serious doubts about the Western model of development. In their opinion, neoliberalism leads to a growing polarization of poverty and wealth, to environmental degradation, to the fact that rich countries are gaining more and more control over the world's resources.

In the social sphere, globalization involves the creation of a society that should be based on respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, on the principle of social justice.

There is little opportunity for developing countries and countries with economies in transition to achieve the level of material well-being of rich countries. The neoliberal model of development does not allow even the basic needs of the vast masses of the population to be met.

Manifestations of globalization in the sphere of culture:

1) the transformation of the planet into a "global village" (M. McLuhan), when millions of people, thanks to the media, almost instantly become witnesses of events taking place in different parts of the globe;

2) introducing people living in different countries and on different continents to the same cultural experience (Olympiads, concerts);

3) unification of tastes, perceptions, preferences (Coca-Cola, jeans, soap operas);

4) direct acquaintance with the way of life, customs, norms of behavior in other countries (through tourism, work abroad, migration);

5) the emergence of the language of international communication - English;

6) widespread distribution of unified computer technologies, the Internet;

7) "erosion" of local cultural traditions, their replacement by mass consumer culture of the Western type

Challenges and threats caused by globalization:

It should be noted that in recent years, economic aspects have become increasingly important in globalization. Therefore, some researchers, speaking of globalization, have in mind only its economic side. In principle, this is a one-sided view of a complex phenomenon. At the same time, an analysis of the process of development of global economic ties makes it possible to identify some features of globalization as a whole.

Globalization has also affected the social sphere, although the intensity of these processes largely depends on the economic capabilities of the integrated components. Social rights, previously available to the population of only developed countries, are gradually being adopted for their citizens by developing countries. In an increasing number of countries, civil societies, a middle class are emerging, and social norms for the quality of life are being unified to some extent.

A very noticeable phenomenon over the past 100 years has been the globalization of culture based on the enormous growth of cultural exchange between countries, the development of the mass culture industry, the leveling of the tastes and predilections of the public. This process is accompanied by the erasure of national features of literature and art, the integration of elements of national cultures into the emerging universal cultural sphere. The globalization of culture was also a reflection of the cosmopolitanization of being, linguistic assimilation, the spread of the English language around the planet as a global means of communication, and other processes.

Like any complex phenomenon, globalization has both positive and negative sides. Its consequences are associated with obvious successes: the integration of the world economy contributes to the intensification and growth of production, the mastering of technical achievements by backward countries, the improvement of the economic condition of developing countries, and so on. Political integration helps prevent military conflicts, ensure relative stability in the world, and do many other things in the interests of international security. Globalization in the social sphere stimulates huge shifts in the minds of people, the spread of democratic principles of human rights and freedoms. The list of achievements of globalization covers various interests from a personal nature to the world community.

However, there are also many negative consequences. They manifested themselves in the form of the so-called global problems of mankind.

Global issues are universal difficulties and contradictions in the relationship between nature and man, society, the state, the world community, having a planetary scale in scope, strength and intensity. These problems partially existed in an implicit form earlier, but mainly arose at the present stage as a result of the negative course of human activity, natural processes and, to a large extent, as the consequences of globalization. In fact, global problems are not just the consequences of globalization, but the self-expression of this most complex phenomenon, which is not controlled in its main aspects.

The global problems of mankind or civilization were truly realized only in the second half of the 20th century, when the interdependence of countries and peoples, which caused globalization, increased sharply, and the unresolved problems manifested themselves especially clearly and destructively. In addition, the realization of some problems came only when mankind had accumulated a huge potential of knowledge that made these problems visible.

Some researchers distinguish the most important from global problems - the so-called imperatives - urgent, immutable, unconditional requirements, in this case - the dictates of the times. In particular, they call the economic, demographic, environmental, military and technological imperatives, considering them to be the main ones, and most of the other problems are derived from them.

Currently, a large number of problems of a different nature are classified as global. It is difficult to classify them because of mutual influence and simultaneous belonging to several spheres of life. Sufficiently conditionally global problems can be divided into:

Global problems of mankind:

Social character - the demographic imperative with its many components, the problems of interethnic confrontation, religious intolerance, education, healthcare, organized crime;

Socio-biological - problems of the emergence of new diseases, genetic safety, drug addiction;

Socio-political - problems of war and peace, disarmament, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, information security, terrorism;

Socio-economic character - problems of stability of the world economy, depletion of non-renewable resources, energy, poverty, employment, food shortages;

Spiritual and moral sphere - the problems of the decline in the general level of culture of the population, the spread of the cult of violence and pornography, the lack of demand for high examples of art, the lack of harmony in relations between generations, and many others.

A characteristic feature of the state of affairs with global problems is the growth of their number, the aggravation or manifestation of new, quite recently unknown threats.

The twentieth century was characterized by a significant acceleration of sociocultural change. A gigantic shift has taken place in the “nature-society-man” system, where an important role is now played by culture, understood as an intellectual, ideal, and artificially created material environment, which not only ensures the existence and comfort of a person in the world, but also creates a number of problems . Another important change in this system was the ever-increasing pressure of people and society on nature. For the 20th century The world's population has grown from 1.4 billion to 6 billion, while over the previous 19 centuries of our era it increased by 1.2 billion people. Serious changes are taking place in the social structure of the population of our planet. Currently, only 1 billion people (the so-called "golden billion") live in developed countries and fully enjoy the achievements of modern culture, and 5 billion people from developing countries suffering from hunger, disease, poor education, form a "global pole of poverty" that opposes the "pole of prosperity" . Moreover, the trends in fertility and mortality make it possible to predict that by 2050-2100, when the population of the Earth reaches 10 billion people. (Table 18) (according to modern concepts, this is the maximum number of people that our planet can feed), the population of the "pole of poverty" will reach 9 billion people, and the population of the "pole of well-being" will remain unchanged. At the same time, each person living in developed countries exerts 20 times more pressure on nature than a person from developing countries.

Table 18

World population (million people)

Source: Yatsenko N. E. Explanatory dictionary of social science terms. SPb., 1999. S. 520.

Sociologists associate the globalization of social and cultural processes and the emergence of world problems with the presence of limits to the development of the world community.

Sociologists-globalists believe that the limits of the world are determined by the very finiteness and fragility of nature. These limits are called external (Table 19).

Table 19 Limits of human development

Supporters of the concept of internal limits to growth believe that the solution to global problems lies in the ways of increasing the responsibility of politicians who make important decisions, and improving social forecasting. The most reliable tool for solving global problems, according to E. Toffler, should be considered the knowledge and ability to withstand the ever-increasing pace of social change, as well as the delegation of resources and responsibility to those floors, levels where the relevant problems are solved. Of great importance is the formation and dissemination of new universal values and norms, such as the security of people and societies, of all mankind; freedom of activity of people both within the state and outside it; responsibility for the conservation of nature; availability of information; respect for public opinion by the authorities; humanization of relations between people, etc.

Global problems can be solved only by the joint efforts of state and public, regional and world organizations. All world problems can be differentiated into three categories (Table 20).

Table 20

Global problems

Table 21

The most important indicators of the First and Second World Wars

Since the Second World War there have been about 500 armed conflicts. More than 36 million people died in local battles, most of them were civilians.

Table 22

Currently, the environmental problem comes first, which includes such unresolved issues as:

pollution of reservoirs, rivers, seas and oceans;

"the greenhouse effect;

ozone holes.

Table 23 Ways to solve global problems

Questions for self-control

List possible ways of development of society.

Name the main theories of progress.

Indicate the main, essential features of the Marxist view of the development of society.

What is a Formative Approach?

How does W. Rostow's approach differ from the Marxist one?

List the main stages of economic growth in the theory of W. Rostow.

Describe an industrial society.

What approaches exist in the theory of post-industrial society?

What are the signs of a post-industrial society (according to D. Bell)?

How has its social structure changed (according to D. Bell)?

List the features of Z. Brzezinski's technotronic society and compare them with the features of D. Bell's post-industrial culture.

How does O. Toffler's approach to the study of the "third wave" society differ from the approaches of his predecessors?

How do proponents of cyclical theories see social life?

What is a civilizational approach?

What is the essence of the theory of N. Ya. Danilevsky?

What is common and what is the difference between the theories of N. Ya. Danilevsky and O. Spengler?

What new things did A. Toynbee introduce into the theory of "cyclism"?

What are the main criteria for the development of society?

What criterion is used in their theories by N. Berdyaev and K. Jaspers?

What is the essence of the theory of "long waves" N. D. Kondratiev?

Compare the wave theories of N. Yakovlev and A. Yanov.

What are the criteria for fluctuations in social life in the theories of A. Schlesinger, N. McCloskey and D. Zahler?

What is the essence of P. Sorokin's concept of changing socio-cultural supersystems? How did R. Ingelhart supplement it?

Literature

Berdyaev N. New Middle Ages. M., 1990.

Vasilkova VV, Yakovlev IP, Barygin IN Wave processes in social development. Novosibirsk, 1992.

Vico D. Foundation of the new science of the nature of nations. L., 1940.

Marx K. The eighteenth brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. M., 1983.

Materialists of Ancient Greece. M., 1955.

Contemporary Western Sociology: A Dictionary. M., 1990.

Sorokin P. Man, civilization, society. M., 1992.

Toynbee A. Comprehension of history. M., 1995. Spengler O. Decline of Europe. M., 1993.

Jaspers K. The meaning and purpose of history. M., 1994.

In the literature, one can come across discrepancies about the origin of the science of sociology. If we are talking about science, then the most accurate date of its foundation should be considered 1826, when Comte began to read public lectures in the course of positive philosophy. Most authors point to 1830 as the beginning of the publication of the “Course ...”, others consider (for example, A. Radugin and K. Radugin) the year of birth of sociology in 1839, since then the 3rd volume of the “Course ...” was published, in which Kont first used biltermin "sociology".

Comte O. The course of positive philosophy // Man. Thinkers of the past and present of his life, death and immortality. XIX century. M., 1995. S. 221.

Marx K. To the Critique of Political Economy (Foreword) //K. Marx, F. Engels. Cit.: V3 t. M., 1979. T. 1. S. 536.

Marx K. Decree. op.

Buckle G. History of civilization in England. SPb., 1985. S. 58.

Contemporary Western Sociology: A Dictionary. M., 1990. S. 216–217.

Kareev N. I. Fundamentals of Russian sociology. SPb., 1996. S. 38.

Ambivalence means duality of experience, perception of the social structure, duality in the sense that, on the one hand, it is conflict-free, balanced, and on the other hand, it contains contradictions, tension and opportunities for conflicts.

Lebon G. Psychology of peoples and masses. SPb., 1995. S. 162.

See: Sorokin P. A. Man, civilization, society. M., 1992. See: Boronoev A. O., Smirnov P. I. Russia and Russians. The nature of the period and the fate of the country. SPb., 1992. S. 122–140.

See: Socio-political magazine. 1995. N 6. S. 80.

Lenin V.I. Great initiative. M., 1969. S. 22.

Socis. 1994. No. 11. C. 1-11.

1 See: Man and Society: Reader. M., 1991. S. 223–223 2 See: Ryvkina R. V. Soviet sociology and the theory of social stratification. Achievement. M., 1989. S. 33

Weber M. Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism // M. Weber. Selected works. M., 1990. S. 81.

See: Hesiod. Works and days. Theogony. M., 1990. S. 172–174.

Cit. According to the book: Materialists of Ancient Greece. M., 1955. S. 44.

See: Vico D. Foundations of a new science of the common nature of nations. L., 1940. S. 323.

See: Gerder I.G. Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind. M., 1977.

Marx K. The eighteenth brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. M., 1988. S. 8.

Rostow WU Stages of economic growth. Non-Communist Manifesto. New York, 1960, p. 13.

Spengler O. Formations or Civilizations? // Questions of Philosophy. 1989. N 10.S. 46–47.

Spengler O. Decline of Europe. M.; SPb., 1923. S. 31.

There. S. 44.

Jaspers K. The meaning and purpose of history. M., 1994. S. 32.

Vasilkova VV, Yakovlev IP, Barygin NN Wave processes in social development. Novosibirsk, 1992.

Sorokin P. Man, civilization, society. M., 1992. S. 468. Subr. see: Socis. 1994. N 11. S. 73.

Similar information.

Federal Agency for Education

State educational institution

Higher professional education

Tula State University

Department of Sociology and Political Science

Control work on the topic:

"Globalization of social processes in the modern world"

Completed: stud. gr.631871

Golubtsova T.N.

Checked by: Makhrin A.V.

Introduction

1. The emergence of globalization

2. Society and processes of globalization

3. Manifestations of globalization

4. Challenges and threats posed by globalization

5. Globalization: challenges for Russia

Conclusion

Literature

Introduction

At the present stage of human development, a single civilization is being formed on the entire planet. The rooting of this idea in science and public consciousness contributed to the awareness of the globalization of processes in the modern world.

What is globalization? Globalization is a process of worldwide economic, political, social and cultural integration and unification. The main consequence of this is the global division of labor, global migration of capital, human and production resources, standardization of legislation, economic and technological processes, as well as convergence of cultures of different countries. This is an objective process that is systemic in nature, that is, it covers all spheres of society.

However, the globalization of processes is not only their ubiquity, not only that they cover the entire globe. Globalization is connected, first of all, with the internationalization of all social activities on Earth. This internationalization means that in the modern era all mankind is included in a single system of social, cultural, economic, political and other connections, interactions and relations.

Nevertheless, the globalization of social, cultural, economic and political processes in the modern world, along with the positive aspects, has given rise to a number of serious problems that are called "global problems of our time": environmental, demographic, political, etc. All these problems are very important for the present and future of mankind, the possibilities and prospects for the survival of mankind.

1. The emergence of globalization

The process of globalization is far from new. We can trace some beginnings of globalization already in the Age of Antiquity. In particular, the Roman Empire was one of the first states that asserted its dominance over the Mediterranean and led to a deep interweaving of different cultures and the emergence of a local division of labor in the regions of the Mediterranean.

The origins of globalization lie in the 16th and 17th centuries, when strong economic growth in Europe was combined with advances in navigation and geographical discoveries. As a result, Portuguese and Spanish traders spread throughout the world and began to colonize the Americas. In the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company, which traded with many Asian countries, became the first genuine transnational company. In the 19th century, rapid industrialization led to increased trade and investment between the European powers, their colonies, and the United States. During this period, unfair trade with developing countries had the character of imperialist exploitation. In the first half of the 20th century, globalization processes were interrupted by two world wars and a period of economic recession that separated them.

After 1945, two important processes unfolded simultaneously in the world economy. On the one hand, due to mutual investments and the mutual exchange of technologies, the introduction of organizational innovations, the developed countries began to converge in terms of technical and economic, as well as socio-structural and political indicators. On the other hand, the collapse of colonial empires, the conscious choice in favor of modernization, the spread of "flexible" methods of managing social processes were important prerequisites for a qualitatively new stage of globalization. This was also facilitated by the improvement of transport and means of communication: contacts between peoples, regions and continents were accelerated, consolidated and simplified.

2. Society and processes of globalization

In the 1990s the concept of globalization has become an essential element of the international political process. It is understood as a gradual transformation of the world space into a single zone, where capitals, goods, services, new ideas move freely, modern institutions and mechanisms of their interaction develop. Globalization can be viewed as integration at the macro level, that is, as the convergence of countries in all areas: economic, political, social, cultural, technological, etc.

Globalization has both positive and negative features that affect the development of the world community. The positive ones include the rejection of the obedient subordination of the economy to the political principle, the decisive choice in favor of the competitive (market) model of the economy, the recognition of the capitalist model as the “optimal” socio-economic system. All this, at least theoretically, made the world more homogeneous and allowed us to hope that the relative uniformity of the social structure would help eliminate poverty and poverty, and smooth out economic inequality in the world space.

The collapse of the USSR to some extent confirmed the thesis about the unidirectional historical process. It was in the early 1990s. many followers of the idea of global liberalization appeared in the West. Its authors believe that globalization is one of the forms of the neoliberal development model that directly or indirectly affects the domestic and foreign policies of all countries of the world community.

Inequality in the development of various countries can be traced in all spheres, primarily in the economic sphere. Thus, one of the first results of globalization was the integration of markets. However, the share of rich countries at the end of the 20th century accounted for 82% of export trade, and the share of the poorest - 1%.

Global inequalities are also evident in the distribution of foreign direct investment: 58% of these investments were placed in industrialized countries, 37% in developing countries and 5% in the transition economies of Eastern Europe and the CIS.

The United States and Japan are achieving 90% of GDP growth through the introduction of modern scientific and technological advances, and in terms of its production per capita, they have no equal. In Russia, this figure is only 15% of the US level, 33% below the world average and provides our country with only 114th place in the world.

Thus, globalization in its current form serves the interests of rich industrial countries that lead in the promotion of the latest technologies to the world market, and divides countries into those that use its opportunities for their development, and those that do not.

In the social sphere, globalization involves the creation of a society that should be based on respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, on the principle of social justice. However, the number of people living in poverty around the world at the end of the 20th century was more than 1 billion people, more than 800 million (30% of the active population) were unemployed or underemployed. Over the past 15 years, per capita income has declined in more than 100 countries around the world, according to the World Bank and the United Nations. Until now, half of the world's 6 billion people live on less than $2 a day; 1.3 billion on less than $1 a day, including 150 million citizens of the former Soviet Union; 2 billion people are deprived of sources of electricity; nearly 1.5 billion lack access to safe, clean water; 1 out of 7 school age children does not go to school. More than 1.2 billion people in developing countries do not have the basic conditions that would enable them to live beyond 40 years.

Developing countries (India, China) and countries with economies in transition (Russia) do not have the opportunity to achieve the level of material well-being of rich countries. The neoliberal model of development does not allow even the basic needs of the vast masses of the population to be met.

The growing socio-economic and cultural gap between the upper and lower strata of the world community becomes even more obvious if we compare the incomes of some of the richest people on the planet with the incomes of entire countries. The combined wealth of the 200 richest people on Earth in 1998 exceeded the combined income of 41% of the world's population. Only three super-rich people in the world own more than their annual income

3. Manifestations of globalization

In the political sphere:

1) the emergence of supranational units of various scales: political and military blocs (NATO), imperial spheres of influence (US sphere of influence), coalitions of ruling groups (the "Big Seven"), continental or regional associations (European Community), world international organizations (UN) ;

2) the emergence of the contours of the future world government (European Parliament, Interpol);

3) the growing political homogeneity of the world community (democratization of social and political life).

In the economic sphere:

1) strengthening the importance of supranational coordination and integration (EU, OPEC), regional and global economic agreements;

2) global division of labor;

3) the growing role of multinational and transnational corporations (TNCs) (Nissan, Toyota, Pepsi-Cola);

4) the formation of a universal, unified economic mechanism covering the whole world;

5) lightning speed with which financial markets react to events in individual countries.

In the field of culture:

1) the transformation of the planet into a “global village” (M. McLuhan), when millions of people, thanks to the media, almost instantly become witnesses of events taking place in different parts of the globe;

2) introducing people living in different countries and on different continents to the same cultural experience (Olympiads, rock concerts);

3) unification of tastes, perceptions, preferences (Coca-Cola, jeans, soap operas);

4) direct acquaintance with the way of life, customs, norms of behavior in other countries (through tourism, work abroad, migration);

5) the emergence of the language of international communication - English;

6) widespread distribution of unified computer technologies, the Internet;

7) "erosion" of local cultural traditions, their replacement by mass consumer culture of the Western type

4. Challenges and threats posed by globalization

However, there are also many negative consequences. They manifested themselves in the form of the so-called global problems of mankind.

Global problems are understood as universal difficulties and contradictions in the relationship between nature and man, society, the state, the world community, having a planetary scale in scope, strength and intensity. These problems partially existed in an implicit form earlier, but mainly arose at the present stage as a result of the negative course of human activity, natural processes and, to a large extent, as the consequences of globalization. In fact, global problems are not just the consequences of globalization, but the self-expression of this most complex phenomenon, which is not controlled in its main aspects.

The presence of unresolved global problems characterizes the high risk of the existence of modern civilization, which took shape at the beginning of the 21st century.

Today, global problems have attracted the attention of international organizations, states, public associations, scientists, and ordinary citizens. In May 1998, the summit of the leaders of the "Big Eight" states paid special attention to this issue. The leaders of Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, Russia, the United States, France and Japan at a meeting in Birmingham (UK) were looking for ways to solve global problems, which, as they said, "in many ways determine the lives of people in each of our countries."

Some researchers distinguish the most important from global problems - the so-called imperatives - urgent, immutable, unconditional requirements, in this case - the dictates of the times. In particular, they name the economic, demographic, environmental, military and technological imperatives, considering them to be the main ones, and most of the other problems are derived from them.

Natural character - natural disasters and changes in the cyclical nature of natural phenomena;

Environmental - problems of the crisis of the natural environment due to anthropogenic impact, or rather, a whole range of problems associated with pollution of the land, hydrosphere and atmosphere, climate change, depletion of the ozone layer of the atmosphere, deforestation, desertification, the disappearance of certain biological species, resulting in a violation of the biogeochemical a cycle leading to a possible ecological catastrophe;

Technogenic disasters (technogenic safety), which has a mixed socio-economic and technological character;

Global problems of mankind

Social character - the demographic imperative with its many components, the problems of interethnic confrontation, religious intolerance, education, healthcare, organized crime;

Socio-biological - problems of the emergence of new diseases, genetic safety, drug addiction;

Socio-political - problems of war and peace, disarmament, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, information security, terrorism;

Economic character - problems of stability of the world economy, depletion of non-renewable resources, energy, poverty, employment, food shortages;

From the above classification it is clear that it is indeed conditional in many respects. After all, poverty and employment are not only economic, but also social problems, and the above socio-political and socio-biological problems are dual and require the same dual designation for their groups.

The same can be said about the problem of man-made disasters. It is directly related to the issues of design, production, operation in industry, energy, transport and agriculture. On the other hand, this problem has a significant economic component due to damage, restoration costs and lost profits. And, finally, its nature is largely determined by the severe social and environmental consequences of each disaster.

A characteristic feature of the state of affairs with global problems is the growth of their number, the aggravation or manifestation of new, quite recently unknown threats. Among the relatively new problems can be named: global climate change, the AIDS epidemic, etc.

Recently, due to the growing danger of major industrial accidents at potentially hazardous facilities (nuclear power plants, chemical plants, dams, etc.), the already mentioned problem of technogenic safety is beginning to be recognized as a global one. It can be attributed, due to its diversity, to various groups of global problems (for example, economic or environmental) or singled out as an independent problem.

The listed global problems demonstrate the widest range of threats that arose before humanity at the turn of the century, paint an alarming picture. The unresolved nature of these problems gives rise to dangers that pose serious threats to civilization, which can manifest themselves in various areas of human life, corresponding to the nature of the progenitor problems. Knowing the nature of these threats allows us to take preventive measures to reduce the potential danger of global problems and prevent possible emergencies caused by them.

The bulk of global problems currently do not find their solutions. This is primarily due to the natural and severe limitation of earthly resources, their fatal finiteness. In addition, a radical solution to global problems cannot be found because of their colossal complexity, huge scale and the lack of necessary resources and political will in individual countries and the world community as a whole; because of the opportunistic burning needs of the current life, distracting from more distant prospects; due to contradictions between countries and inequality between them.

Mankind is looking for ways out of the global crisis. The main existing approach approved by the world community is sustainable development. Its main idea is optimal self-restraint, fair and equitable distribution of resources, stopping the unlimited growth of consumption, and ensuring environmental safety. However, like any “beautiful” idea, it is very difficult to implement it in a competitive world.

5. Globalization: challenges for Russia

There are supporters and opponents of globalization in Russia as well. At the same time, the former, as a rule, share the ideas of neoliberalism, while the latter gravitate towards the notorious “soilers”. Unfortunately, very often the arguments of both of them are inherently speculative. Thus, the processes of globalization are sometimes identified with our future accession (non-entry) to the WTO, while it represents only one of the numerous institutional structures of globalization.

The process of globalization should be restrained by legally established social constraints, the need for the formation of which is the first of the most tangible challenges that globalization "addresses" Russia. The fact is that a significant part of the country's population still remembers the social paternalism of a planned economy. Unfortunately, in today's market economy, the number of jobs that are effective in terms of wages, occupying which you can not think about the social guarantees provided by the state, is not enough. For the majority of workers, especially in the public sector, their size and composition are still important.

The way out is seen in the formation of a regulatory and legal framework in the country that would anticipate the social consequences of globalization and orient the power structures towards making decisions that take these consequences into account. In addition, it is necessary to convince the world community of the need to create such a base at the global level.

The second challenge to Russia's globalization is the changing prospects for its labor market. According to a number of specialists and managers, the immediate consequence of globalization will be a simple restructuring of jobs, when the departure of those that today produce products that are not competitive by world standards will be combined with the emergence of new ones - in the non-material sphere; they will be used to meet the solvent demand of workers employed in newly created efficient jobs in the real sector of the economy. Modern employment trends seem to confirm that restructuring in the country has begun. Thus, in 1990, 55.5% of all employees worked in industry, construction, agriculture and forestry, in 2000 - 43.6%; at the same time, the share of employees in wholesale and retail trade, public catering, health care, physical culture and social security, education, culture and art, science and scientific services, management, finance, credit and insurance increased from 29.1 to 40, respectively, one%. Nevertheless, one should not forget about the overall reduction in the number of people employed in the country's economy: if in 1990, on average, 75.3 million people worked, then in 2000 - 64.3 million, or 15% less. In other words, the departure of jobs in stagnating industries is not compensated by their entry into dynamically developing ones: if in 1990-2000. the number of employed in industry as a whole decreased by 8.3 million people, while in wholesale and retail trade and public catering it increased by only 3.6 million people.

It is important to give a detailed forecast of the exit and entry of jobs in Russia in relation to different scales of globalization processes. Knowing the quantitative results, it will be possible to assess the budgetary consequences of the expected changes in the labor market of the country and its individual regions. We are talking about the calculation of the need for financial resources for the payment of unemployment benefits, active employment promotion programs, vocational training and retraining of workers.

Accordingly, changes in the amount of necessary social support for the population can be predicted. Most likely, the economic benefits of globalization will go to the citizens most adapted to the current socio-economic situation. At the same time, data on the distribution of incomes of the population indicate the inevitability of protecting the poor in Russia in the context of globalization. Thus, in the first quarter of 2002, the ratio between the total amount of cash income received by the top 20% of the population, on the one hand, and the bottom 20%, on the other, was 8.3:1. Ignore this when predicting the consequences globalization would be shortsighted.

It is also possible to restructure workers and households according to their income level. Some will lose their usual income from employment and will need support from budgetary funds, i.e. in poverty benefits; others will no longer be clients of social protection agencies as a result of rising income from employment. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that with spontaneous globalization, the incomes of the rich will increase, while the poor will become even poorer.

Among the challenges of globalization is the possible loss by states and their populations of national sovereignty, the independence of governments, and falling into complete economic dependence on TNCs. This is perhaps one of the most frequently exploited slogans by anti-globalists. The answer to this challenge, in contrast to those considered above, is ambiguous. It all depends on what coordinate system it is analyzed in. The absolute priority of the traditional (conservative) system is political and, to a lesser extent, economic independence of the country; and globalization, which objectively limits it, is perceived negatively.

However, if a country accepts globalization without imposing a legislative ban on the processes associated with it, then it will be impossible to preserve all national attributes without exception. In this regard, it is important to determine a set of criteria that are crucial for maintaining Russia's self-sufficiency, on the one hand, and those elements of the economy and the social sphere that can be abandoned without harming it, on the other.

Conclusion

The processes of globalization are an indisputable fact that is changing the face of the modern world. They open up new perspectives, but also pose serious dangers. This is rightly noted by S.M. Rogov: “There is no doubt that globalization opens up enormous opportunities for mankind, associated with the rapid expansion of the exchange of goods, services and information and the emergence of a fundamentally wider field of interaction between people than before. However, it should also be borne in mind that globalization gives rise to new socio-economic phenomena that may be negative in nature or require painful adaptation of society to them by changing social institutions, culture, consciousness and stereotypes of economic behavior.

In fact, a global information technology market has been formed that ensures the free movement of computer and telecommunications equipment, services, and information. All countries benefit from this. But at the same time, several gigantic super-multinational corporations located in developed countries are able to control this market, extract fabulous profits, impose on other countries and civilizations not only their goods and services, but also their worldview, views in the undeniable advantage of Western civilization and its value system, which should serve as a role model. This is the ideological basis for the formation of a unipolar world.

Globalization synchronizes the cyclic dynamics of different countries and civilizations, contributes to the rapid spread of financial, economic, environmental, socio-political crises across the planet, determines the need to combine the efforts of governments of different countries and interstate associations in the search and implementation of ways to overcome crises. The space of the planet is becoming more and more integral, permeated with tens and hundreds of global networks and interconnections, which requires the world community to develop and comply with a common agreed, mutually acceptable strategy that makes the benefits of globalization available to everyone.

Consequently, the processes of globalization in all their contradictory forms are the reality of the modern world, which must be reckoned with. They form an inevitable, objectively and subjectively determined, contradictory factor in the formation of a post-industrial society, the world civilization of the 21st century.

Literature

1. Textbook "Sociology" 2003 (http://vor-stu.narod.ru/posob-2.html).

4. Yakovets Yu.V. Globalization and interaction of civilizations. - M., 2001.