Chapter 23 - Capitalism and Culture

Wrapping up with our reading for the semester the class is reading about Capitalism and Culture. This is also known as The Transformation of the World Economy. When the term globalization is brought up most peopler referring to the immense acceleration in international economic transactions that took place in the second half of the twentieth century and continued into the twenty-first. I asked my roommate what she thinks about the term globalization and she said it is the spread of ideas and innovation between countries. I agree with her that it is the process of international integration originating from the interchange of world views, products, ideas and other aspects of culture. Many people have come to see this process as almost natural, certainly imminent, and practically unstoppable. The first half of the twentieth century are about wars and the Great Depression. The aftermath of World War II was very different. The capitalist victors in that conflict, led by the United States, were determined to avoid any return to such Depression-era conditions. In 1914, the United States convened the Bretton Woods Conference to plan post war economic growth and stability. From the first through the 20th of July 1944, 730 minister from 44 Allied nations got together and hammered out an agreements to create three economic organizations. The first organization is the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development known as the World Bank. The second s the International Monetary Fund. The last is the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs, which became the World Trade Organization in 1995. The Bretton Woods system of state led economics was very successful until 1971 when the US pulled out, opening the way to a market led economic system. However in 2013 economists and some politicians are calling for a Bretton Woods II the as a solution to current economic problems stemming from the 2008 crash. On page 1154, there is a figure that demonstrate Brazilian Feminism. The world is now shifting to a new idea and new openings for women so that their voice can finally be heard. This figure is demonstrating a protest macho culture and violence against women in San Paulo, Brazil in mid-2011 desired to counter the assumption that female victims of rape were responsible for those attacks because of how they dressed. The women in the figure are marching as "sluts", wearing revealing clothing, while arguing the "transformation of the world by feminism." The yellow sign declares: "It's my body."

On the last few pages of the textbook, the visual sources illustrates a heartbroken image about the globalization. This image shows a diverse group of women standing in rows folding jeans endlessly. By looking at their faces it looks like they do not want to be there working for hours and hours nonstop. Studies say globalization has led to "the most remarkable spurt of economic growth in world history from $7.1 trillion in 1950 to $55.9 trillion in 2003. Also, the gap between the rich and the poor has increased from 3 to 1 in 1820 to 86 to 1 by 1991. Similar gaps are seen in medical care, availability of drinking water, educational and employment opportunities. Overall, the globalization has been a dramatic change both positive and negative. Negative because there has been a down hill change about the workforce and positive because the world is now looking into the cultural change and the countries are now starting to accept the changes between women and men. With everything that has started in the 1940s it made an important impact in the twenty-first century.