The Contemporary World Module - Global Population and Mobility
The Contemporary World Module - Global Population and Mobility
The Contemporary World Module - Global Population and Mobility
http://www.albiladdailyeng.com/these-six-men-have-as-much-wealth-as-half-the-worlds-population/
Learning Outcomes:
Activity 1.1.
Images of trendsetters living the life, travelling from one well-known city to the next,
tasting delicacies each has to offer litter the internet and other social media sites. Some of
you might have already visited some of these places. Others may have relatives living in
London and New York who send them items in balikbayan boxes offering a taste of how they
live in those areas. For some, these and other similar sights fuel their desire to partake in
what life has to offer. But have you once stopped and think of why people prefer so me
cities over the others to go to and visit and eventually migrate into? What makes these top
destinations appealing and to a degree important?
Prior to the existing competition among major cities of the world to reign supreme and
be branded as the most powerful, the study of global cities has its humble beginnings. It
arose in the 1980's when researchers concerned themselves with identifying common
attributes found among cities considered as front liners in development. Compared to the
rural areas of nation-states, cities are seen as the avenues where global networks and
transactions transpire. It is where financial cash flows of massive scales take p ace attracting
companies and multinational corporations to invest in infrastructures and other business
endeavors which in turn generate employment opportunities for their citizens. Other
individuals become attracted as well to migrate into these global cities because it comes
with a promise of a better life than that which they already have.
According to the Britannica Encyclopedia, a global city is an urban centre that enjoys
significant competitive advantages and that serves as a hub within a globalized economic
system. The term was first used by a sociologists named Saskia Sassen in 1884, she primarily
used economics as the main criteria for determining which of the cities all over the world is
to be labeled as such. In her research in the said period, she was able to identity three cities
considered as centers of capitalism and global financial transactions: London, Tokyo and
New York. In support to this selection, Manuel Castells stated that:
... London because it is the world's leading financial market as far as transactions are
concerned and also constitutes a crucial airport node and is one of the ends of the economic
backbone that crosses Europe; New York for being the main receiver of capital flows and
service exporter, and Tokyo for being the greatest capital lender and the headquarters of the
most important banks in the world, as well as an international center in the economy of
services, education, advertising, and design."
However, several changes have occurred since the time the term was coined. Such
changes includes the development of improved transportation, telecommunications,
production, science, warfare, the internet, other technological innovations, migration,
cultural exchanges - all of which were not included as criterion in determining global cities.
The fact is the world today is characterized mainly of unrelenting progress in numerous
aspects of human life. This basically makes it difficult to have just one definition of what a
global city is. So in going about this endeavor of determining which city or cities belong to
the cluster of global cities let us examine some its indicators.
The then list of characteristics and attributes that made a city a forerunner in the global
scene has transformed and within it included other criterion such as the occurrence of an
international population based. Global cities now become melting pots of international
culture and cuisine. In the image below, a Mongolian BBQ shop is cozily located in the heart
of Dublin. This and other similar establishments offering foreign products are a familiar
scene for a vast majority. As explained in previous chapters, this is made possible because of
globalization.
Global cities are also has the greatest number of business infrastructures housing
international organizations, and businesses alike. They undoubtedly become seats of power
where political, economic, cultural and religious engagements are overseen. To make this
characteristic more clearly, let us consider the United Nations, a powerful organization
capable of providing international humanitarian aids to countries in need. Its headquarters is
strategically located in New York. As with London who has advantageously positioned itself
as a global banking and financial centre. They are also centers of innovation and higher
learning. Global cities boasts having the world's top universities like Boston's Harvard
University and Cambridge University in England. These and several other features make up
the characteristics of what a global city must have.
https://www.e-zigurat.com/blog/en/smart-cities-urbanization-challenges/
By this time, you might have an idea of what a global city is and so we move to the next
challenge of carefully examining the challenges that comes with the rise of global cities.
The first of these challenges is the significant rise in the city population as people flock
towards cities trying their luck to improve their financial status. However, not all who
migrates to cities are rewarded for many end up contributing to the slum populace.
Globalization creates a rush of high paying jobs within global cities creating a chain reaction
demanding low income employment to attend to their growing needs. These low income
jobs comprise of domestic helpers, maids, cooks, food attendants. Thus implying that
flocking to global cities does necessarily mean a good life for everyone.
With the significant rise in the population, several other issues spring out which leads us
to the next challenge which is food and water shortage. Researches reveals that 2.5 billion
individuals have no access to clean water and sanitation. Many people still go hungry as food
is unevenly distributed all over the world bringing into question global food security food
security.
Lastly, the problem about climate change and rising temperatures. Cities are considered
as the greatest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change affects more
people than others for some are more equipped to handle the effects of climate change.
Activity 1.2.
You will be assigned a global city to discuss and research on. You shall present an
imagined group educational tour in the global city showing pictures of the places you visited
in the fictional tour. Your output should include answers to the following guide questions:
Global Demography
Learning Outcomes:
Activity 2.1.
Choose one among the political cartoons given and explain its connotation.
A.
B.
https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/513058582526652406/
C.
https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/p/popul
ation.asp
https://news.mb.com.ph/2017/07/17/population-a-problem-but-also-a-blessing/
The UNICEF estimates the all around the world, an estimate of 353,000 babies are born
each year. That's an approximate of 4.3 babies being born in every second. Ten years from
now, you might be contributing to the world's increasing population yourself. You may have
started your own family of procreation and even built a private townhouse. Future plans
that may further fuel your desire to do well in school and earn a degree or two. Married
couples in several highly developed countries opt to have one or two children as they focus
most of their energy saving money to provide for their kids need. Having less number of
children would ensure that most, if not, all of their needs are satisfactorily met. An ideal
number to progenies may have also come into your mind as prices of basic commodities
seem to increase steadily for the past years. Demography, basically looks into the different
elements of population like size, mortality rates, income, incidence of diseases, and fertility
rates for these have a direct relationship with the quality of the society's complex makeup.
Are there consequences if global demography is not checked and controlled? Is having a
majority of old population beneficial for the society? Is an increased influx of migrants a sign
of a booming economy? These are but a few of the questions that we intend to shed light on
with this chapter.
History of man is speckled with stories of people migrating from one place to the next
either in search for food, escape raiders, conquest or for pleasure. Possibly in this point in
your life, some of you may have plans of pursuing a career abroad attracted by the sights
and sounds of the city life. Perhaps, you may have lured by friends and families who have
successfully rooted themselves in a foreign land. Such is the nature of man - to be mobile.
Demography is the study of population based on elements like age, race and sex. With the
migration and unrestrained increase in the population, the natural order of things gets
upset, and changes have to be made in order to offset these imbalances. For example, if
people flock to the cities, more food, basic commodities and employment are required to
accommodate these migrants. If the growing population is kept underfed, undernourished
afflicted with sickness, the future manpower of the society may not be as effective.
Lawmakers and policy makers alike consider the demography of their nation when drafting
bills, acts and ordinances to be executed for the maximum benefit of the people.
Countries all over the world experience the entry of foreigners at an unprecedented
rate. Surveys show that more that more than 160 million individuals live out of their country
of origin. Factors accounting for this transition can range from simple employment
opportunities to flight from human rights abuses and political repression. Motivations for
migration have been categorized into either the Push Factor or Pull Factors.
Push Factor
Survival for themselves, or for their family, is one of most obvious motives which
explain migration. Escape either from man-made disasters, civil war and decline of economic
opportunities threatening them of starvation can be prime motivators. They leave their land
in order to secure safety for themselves because their communities can no longer sustain life
for its people.
To put it simply, push factors refer to causes that drive a number of people to abandon
their residences.
Pull Factor
In the contrary, continents like Africa and parts of Asia with high fertility rates create
rapidly emerging communities unable to cope with the demands of the population like
employment, health services, and education. People opt to leave these densely populate
areas and take their chances elsewhere.
The following are listed as the leading global demographic issues facing the world
today. They become problems because they are the outright consequence of globalization
and uncontrolled economic growth and decline.
Many of developing countries in Asia rely on agriculture, as the major driving force of
the economy thus having more number of children is necessary to maintain farm operation.
On the contrary, residents of high income and developed countries tend to limit their
offspring to one or two. Aside from the abundant supply and selection of birth control
methods, parents in this part of the world tend to focus their attention to saving enough
money for future needs such as medical expenses, insurances, matriculation and retirement
funds to mention a few. Meaning having more than two children can become too expensive.
Demographers and researches alike agree in saying that the existing and still growing
number of people in the world surpasses the maximum number of inhabitants that the
planet can actually sustain. Naturally, people need resources in order to survive. Resources
that only nature and the environment could provide. Man, millennia's ago discovered
agriculture which enabled him to exploit the land towards his own benefit. Being able to
produce food for himself eventually resulted to the increase in population. Nowadays,
technology even furthered such developments in agriculture incl ding livestock raising,
creating a variety of produce, increasing the yield and producing food for consumption.
However, nature has its limits and over exploiting it can have catastrophic consequences.
With the substantial use of fertilizers and other detrimental chemicals with the goal of
increasing food production, land and water resources become polluted giving rise to a great
number of global concerns. Nature is unable to heal herself because of the relentless desire
of man to satisfy his needs and wants.
C. Slum Urbanization
Whilst globalization stirs the flow of financial capital generating income and wealth, not
all individuals are given a fair share in these riches. Wealth tends to accumulate on the
upper strata of the social hierarchy benefiting a specific social class of the society making
upward mobility impossible and widening the gap of social inequality. So what happens
when people move into cities and they don’t find jobs to support themselves, they become
addition to the people living in slum areas. These shantytown are common sight in areas like
Manila, and places in India.
D. Spread of Diseases
Generation and spread of diseases and other terminal illnesses, like HIV/AIDS, also
hasten keeping pace with globalization. However, international aids and programs have
been organized in order to extend help and contain the further circulate and create an
epidemic.
Activity
Direction:
Explain your own take on the premise “As the population increases, the value of life
decreases.” You should write down your arguments whether you take pro or con
perspective.
Lesson 3
Global Migration
https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/drawing-for-change-analyzing-and-making-political-
cartoons/
Learning Outcomes:
Analyze the political, economic, cultural, and social factors underlying the
global movements of people; and
Activity 3.1.
https://account-master.com/blog/filipino-values/
Given 2 choices, one is to pursue your career abroad some time in the future, and the
other is to work in your own country. What will you choose and what are your reasons?
This lesson will discuss about the impact of global migration in each country as well as
its causes and effects. The lesson will emphasize that global migration has always been and
will be forever part of globalization. That there is nothing wrong nor evil of it, but it will
however give us a clearer picture of the phenomena and will give as a better understanding
of its occurrence and effects.
Migration
Migration means crossing the boundary of a political or administrative unit for a certain
minimum period (Boyle et al. 1998, chapter 2). It is classified as either internal migration
which refers to a move from one area (a province, district or municipality) to another within
one country or International migration which means crossing the frontiers which separate
one of the world's approximately 200 states from another. Many scholars argue that internal
and international migration are part of the same process, and should be analyzed together
(Skeldon 1997, 9-10).
For better understanding, the migrants come now with different criterion. (Stephen
Castles, 2000)
1. Temporary labor migrants- they are popularly known as overseas contract workers
who migrate for a limited period in order to work and send remittances to their families left
at home.
2. Highly skilled and business migrants- they are the people with special skills and
qualification who seek employment through international labor markets for scarce skills.
4. Refugees- is a person residing outside his or her country of nationality, who is unable
or unwilling to return because of a 'well-founded fear of persecution on account of race,
religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion' (1951
United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees)
6. Forced migration - this includes not only refugees and asylum-seekers but also
people forced to move by environmental catastrophes or development projects.
One on the main disadvantage brought by migration is the "brain drain". Brain drain is a
problem for many poor countries losing skilled workers to richer countries. The most skilled
and most talented workers of a certain less developed country are bound to look for better
job opportunities or employment in a developed countries considering work guarantee and
better lives conditions for himself and that of his family. However, the country where he
came from is to settle with those who are left as its workforce but cannot do anything
because it has no remedy to the situation. It is to add further that the regulation of
emigration from less-developed countries is often ineffective thus allows exploitative
employment and abuses. Many of the emigrants has stories to tell when it deals with
abuses, cruelty and violence. Crimes like women and children trafficking, smuggling, drug
related cases and other forms of crimes are being charged to them or they became victims
of such. For these reasons, the government must create and have strong teeth for its
implementations of policies and laws that prevent abuses or exploitation of their citizens
while they are abroad. If the government will be able implement the policies and laws, it will
guarantee the safety and well-being of its citizens. In addition to these, the government
must provide assistance in cases of death, illness, accidents and other similar cases of same
nature to its citizens It is in a way to show the gratitude of the government as to the help
these emigrants are doing for the economic growth of the country.
Many of the emigrants who finds good paying employment abroad still wishes to come
home to be with their families. The money acquired or have been saved from work abroad is
used as an investment for a new business or enterprise. However, many countries do not
have policies to assist returning migrants to start anew in their own country. Usually, they
are left on their own on how to manage their own affairs. Some become successful but
majority suffers from a major setback. They will settle in finding a job but face difficulty in
finding a job commensurate with the skills they have acquired abroad. Thus will eventually
decide to go back abroad and leave again their families. To avoid such chain, the
government should institutionalize a plan of action that will benefit the returning emigrants,
for them to be given better options in staying in their country than going back abroad.
Activity
OFW Interview
Direction:
1. State the reasons why the OFW decided to leave the country.
2. What are the problems they encountered in the country they went to?
3. What are the benefits they obtained in the country they went to?
4. What are the significant differences as well as the similarities with the country they went
to and our country?
5. If they are given the choice, would they still leave our country? Why and why not?
References:
S. Amer Ahmed. (2015). How are global demographics changing? Retrieved April 9, 2019
from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/10/how-are-global-demographics-changing/.
Charnock, Greig. Global City. (2013). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved April 12, 2019 from
https://www.britannica.com/topic/global-city.
Demographics. Planetary Project Serving Humanity. Retrieved April 12, 2019 from
http://planetaryproject.com/global_problems/demography.
Essays. UK. (2018). Effects of Globalization on Migration. Retrieved April 12, 2019 from
https://ukesays.com/essays/cultural-studies/migration-in-the-era-of-globalization-cultural-
studies-essay.php?vref=1.
Kiprop, Victor. (2017). What is A Global City? World Atlas. Retrieved April 12, 2019 from
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-a-global-city.html.
La Croix, Summer, J., Mason, A., and Abe, S. Population and Globalization. Retrieved April 12,
2019 from https://www.eastwestcenter.org/publications/population-and-globalization.
The New Challenges of Global Cities. (2018). Barcelona Centre for International Affairs.
Retrieved April 12, 2019 from
https://www.cidob.org/en/events/issues/global_cities/the_new_challenges_of_global_cities
.
Sadles, Stephanie. (2014). What makes a Global City? The Global Educational Network.
Retrieved April 12, 2019 from https://www.capaworld.capa.org/2014/03/12/makes-global-
city.
Sassen, Saskia. Global City: Introducing a Concept. Retrieved April 12, 2019 from
https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/articles/the-global-city-introducing-a-concept/.