Knowledge Sheet
What is Globalization ? Globalization (or globalisation) is the process of international integration arising from the interchange of world views, products, ideas, and other aspects of culture. Advances in transportation and telecommunications infrastructure, including the rise of the telegraph and its posterity the Internet, are major factors in globalization, generating further interdependence of economic and cultural activities. Though scholars place the origins of globalization in modern times, others trace its history long before the European age of discovery and voyages to the New World. Some even trace the origins to the third millennium BCE. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the connectedness of the world's economies and cultures grew very quickly. The term globalization has been increasingly used since the mid-1980s and especially since the mid-1990s. In 2000, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) identified four basic aspects of globalization: trade and transactions, capital and investment movements, migration and movement of people, and the dissemination of knowledge. Further, environmental challenges such as climate change, cross-boundary water and air pollution, and over-fishing of the ocean are linked with globalization. Globalizing processes affect and are affected by business and work organization, economics, socio-cultural resources, and the natural environment.
Local Wisdom and Recent Situations in Globalization. Maybe the biggest problem humans face these days is the inability to live harmoniously together. This ability can come from using local wisdom. People living in modern cities should learn the old local wisdom and adapt it to their circumstances. The problems posed by globalization provoke many people to search for ways to better manage their lives. These ways differ depending on the choices that individuals make. Wise and knowledgeable elders were indispensible for this research, making it possible to choose an appropriate framework for communities to learn to live responsibly and sensibly.
Communities with sustainable natural resource management are led to exploit their land and produce with high technology machines that damage natural resources. Living a simple, modest life is now viewed by many people as backwards and living in poverty. Thai communities follow richer countries in their development models. Natural resources are devastated and traditional wisdom and values are destroyed (Chusakun, 2009. Thailand is affected by globalization which causes a lot of problems. It is increasingly necessary for communities to rely on local knowledge. Traditional communities are holistic learning units where direct learning and teaching is simply the natural way of life. Passing on knowledge in this way necessarily operates at every level of every activity – individual, family, community, community networks, and even the whole nation – because problems arise and spread through every level. Change happens when individuals start with themselves and then gather people together to learn about communal problems and find solutions (Wijarn, 2006). Weak communities that become strong begin with self-learning. The members must see the causes of their problems. It is unlikely that even smart, skilled, caring and conscientious development experts and government officials can solve communities’ problems. They are outsiders, and it is difficult for outsiders to understand the problems better than the community’s members themselves. Trying to solve problems through government giving money to individual community members as well as communities as a whole does not solve problems. Instead, it creates other problems. The members often become more indebted, or when the budget for a project is gone, the project usually comes to an end. Community members who know their problems well have a much better grasp of the situation. They can have more influence among members and are in a better position to make appropriate decisions. One major problem is people’s inability to see through capitalism, in which powerful people take advantage of consumers in every way. It is necessary for people to realize what causes problems and find ways to free themselves from capitalistic domination.