Globalization

I didn't finish but this is what i had done.. had a hard time writing it..

In David Nye’s book “Technology Matters” he writes about how technology affects all aspects of our lives. In Chapter 5, he talks about what globalization is doing to us. He says, “Recently, debates about globalization have addressed the question of whether technologies are being used to create a more homogeneous or heterogeneous world.” (Nye 80) I feel like he is wondering if technology is making countries more alike or even more diverse. In this chapter he uses sources to support both ideas. However, neither of these sources talked about technology which I thought was interesting. I did agree with the sources supporting the fact that the world is become more homogeneous.
The first source he used was George Ritzer who wrote “The McDonaldization of Society”. He says that McDonaldization is “The process by which the principles of the fast food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American Society as well as the rest of the world.” (Ritzer 1) Ritzer is stating that many other companies are adapting to the working style of McDonald’s, and the main qualities that they have which are efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control (substitution of nonhuman for human technology). (Ritzer 4) I think the reason Nye mentioned Ritzer at this particular part of his book is because Ritzer is showing how everyone is starting to work the same way so of course society is going to start becoming more alike rather than different. Nye uses Ritzer in his text by saying that Ritzer is “arguing that fast-food restaurants epitomize an impersonal standardization that Western nations aggressively export to the rest of the world.” (Nye 80)
Benjamin Barber also agreed with Ritzer’s concept of McDonaldization. Barber uses the phrase McWorld though. He says that in McWorld “there is no activity more intrinsically globalizing than trade, no ideology less interested in nations than capitalism, no challenge to frontiers more audacious than the market.” (Barber 23) I think Nye brought up Barber as a source because he did capture how people are looking more into what is efficient and consistent to what the consumer likes rather than the company just doing there own thing. Nye uses Barber in his chapter by saying, “Benjamin Barber has attacked the cultural imperialism that, he argues, is transforming a rich cultural variety into a single bland, McWorld.” (Nye 80) I think Nye’s reason for putting Barber’s ideas in his book is because Barber shows how the economy is becoming similar and transforming. He is just showing how yet another thing is becoming alike throughout all cultures.
I feel like Ritzer and Barber left out how McDonaldization can be positive and also how McWorld can be positive. I feel like Nye did a good job at showing both sides and the other authors could of too. However, it was a little confusing as to why Nye didn’t use authors that talked primarily about technology. Once you read through the sources it was understandable why Nye used them. They did a could job on expanding upon his thought of how globalization is making the world homogeneous.