Machida, Satoshi (2011). Globalization and Citizens’ Support for Global Capitalism Multi-level Analyses from the World-systems Perspective, Journal of Developing Societies 27 (2): 119–151.

(mostly excerpts from the article)

1. What are Machida’s focus and argument?

The focus: how globalization differently affects citizens’ perceptions of global capitalism in the core, semi-periphery, and periphery. – uses Pew Global Attitudes Project, 2002,

Argument: While globalization positively affects citizens’ evaluations of global capitalism in the core, globalization undermines citizens’ support for global capitalism in the periphery. What is the relationship between globalization and citizens’ perceptions of global capitalism?

2. What are the arguments of various writers he refers to, on globalization and its impact?

Deepening levels of economic globalization have eroded the importance of national borders

Economic globalization driven by “neoliberalism” has dramatic- ally affected citizens’ livelihood around the world, establishing a system of “global capitalism”

On the negative impacts of global capitalism. Gill (2002) argues that neoliberal globalization reinforces the structure of inequality in the global economy

While some states greatly benefit from global capitalism, other states seriously suffer from its destructive consequences.

Globalization affects citizens around the world differently, depending on states’ positions in the “world-economy”

Although economic globalization can potentially promote economic growth, neoliberal economic policies may lead to chaotic outcomes in developing countries

Globalization tends to promote inequality in various fields including “power,” “wealth,” and “knowledge.”

3. What is Machida’s theoretical hypothesis?

He theorizes the relationship between globalization and citizens’ perceptions of global capitalism by relying on the proposition of world-systems theory - global capitalism strongly emphasises neoliberalism.

4. What are the expressions of the market dynamics that advance global capitalism?

Liberalization of capital has drastically transformed the nature of global economic activities - multinational corporations (MNCs) are able to engage in their operation without being constrained by national borders – They (MNCs) have established the “Transnational Capitalist Class,” which powerfully drive the processes of global capitalism.

5. Why and how is WST useful for Machida’s study?

World-systems theory is quite useful for examining the issue of inequality in globalization processes that have integrated the core-semiperiphery-periphery.

  1. States in the periphery are forced to serve the interests of core states because they have to do “labor intensive” productions - core states are more economically advanced and therefore do “capital intensive” productions, which make it possible for core states to reap a greater benefit in the world-economy
  2. WST indicates that dependency on foreign capital leads to negative econ. Development - has an adverse effect on food consumption in poor states. Using the division of labour, the developed countries export environmental pollution to developing countries.

6. In this study, what is meant by economic globalization?

Economic globalization refers to increasing levels of international trade and foreign investment, as well as higher levels of deregulation in each state.

7. What are the disastrous consequences of economic globalization?

  1. Deteriorates the standard of living in developing countries
  2. Mobile capital in global capitalism accelerates the process of the “race to the bottom.”
  3. In a situation in which capital moves freely around the globe, governments in the Third World face harsh competitions to attract foreign investment in order to survive in the global economy
  4. developing countries have no choice but to adopt poorer labor regulations, workers in those countries are forced to work long hours under harsh working conditions
  5. Environmental damage to the developing countries
  6. Inequality and widening gap between the rich and the poor

8. What does socio-technical globalization mean?

It is a measure of how each state is exposed to mainly two types of influence: “personal contact” and “information flows.”

9. What is meant buy the cultural dimension of globalization?

It explains the movement of values, advanced technologies, and democratic ideas across national borders.

10. What does Machida examine in relation to socio-tech and cultural dimension of globalization?

He studies how the diffusion of information, knowledge, and standards around the world affect citizens’ perceptions of global capitalism.

  • e.g. MNCs utilize the media to establish the “culture-ideology of consumerism” in each state.
  • Globalization can fuel the tendency toward “cultural imperialism”
  • “homogenizing” cultures around the world
  • news coverage tends to be considerably skewed toward core states
  • the superiority of Western cultures in the context of global capitalism, because Western industrialized states dictate an overwhelming share of economic influence in global capitalism

11. What is political globalization?

It relates to the degrees of integration and participation of each state in international institutions and their activities.

12. What are the essential elements of data that the study used?

Pew Global Attitudes Project, 2002, that covers a large number of states around the world . Pew survey questions that directly tap citizens’ perceptions of global capitalism

13. What is the dependent variable in Machida’s study? What questions were examined in the data?

The Dependent Variable: Citizens’ Perceptions of Global Capitalism

Issues examined:

Re. good or bad for your country

  • growing trade and business ties between (survey country) and other countries
  • world becoming more connected through greater economic trade and faster communication

Re. good or bad for you and your family

  • growing trade and business ties between our country and other countries
  • what kind of influence the group is having on the way things are going in (survey country). Is the influence of large companies from other countries

14. What are the findings of Machida’s study?

Findings & analysis

  1. Males tend to have more positive perceptions of global capitalism. … women are more likely to develop negative perceptions of global capitalism since they often face harsh conditions in the global economy
  2. Age … younger respondents show more positive perceptions of global capitalism. Those who are younger seem to be more open to the influence of global capitalism.
  3. Education indicates a significant impact on the dependent variable in the core (Table 2), semi-periphery (Table 3), and periphery (Table 4). Judging from the positive sign of the coefficient, education renders individuals more receptive to the ideas of global capitalism . Also, education provides individuals with the necessary skills to fare well in the global economy
  4. Individuals’ perceptions of the world, their evaluations of their current national economies, and their predictions of their future economies. the more optimistic citizens are, the more supportive they tend to be of global capitalism. These results confirm a close connection between global capitalism and citizens’ daily lives.
  5. Since the impact of these variables- democracy or GDP- is indeterminate, neither democracy nor GDP per capita seems to be a crucial determinant of citizens’ perceptions of global capitalism.
  6. Re. the analyses of core states, economic globalization and socio-technical globalization indicate a significant impact on the dependent variable(Citizens’ Perceptions of Global Capitalism). … the results suggest deepening levels of integration tend to boost citizens’ positive perceptions of global capitalism. While globalization variables show a positive result in core states, in the analyses of semi-periphery states the results in the tables are not significant on the impact of globalization
  7. Economic globalization and cultural globalization show a negative impact on the dependent variable, suggesting that deepening levels of integration tend to undermine citizens’ support

15. Are the results of the study consistent with or divergent from the arguments of the WST?

The findings from the statistical analyses are generally consistent with the proposition of world-systems theory.

  • In core states, increasing levels of globalization tend to boost citizens’ support for global capitalism. Since powerful states can greatly benefit in the global economy, more integration into the global economy tends to foster citizens’ positive attitudes toward global capitalism.
  • Global integration of people in the periphery states affects citizens in the opposite manner. The integration into the world-economy results in their negative perceptions of global capitalism… citizens in the periphery are more likely to withdraw their support for global capitalism as they accumulate their actual experiences with global capitalism.
  • As world-systems theory predicts, these findings may reflect the dim situation that periphery states face. In this way, the unequal structure of the world-economy establishes critical contexts in which citizens experience the substantive impact of globalization. World-systems theory provides an important framework through which we can effectively examine the relationship between globalization and citizens.
  • While some people gain tremendously in the world-economy, a large number of people remain impoverished without a sufficient social safety net.
  • Consistent with the implications from world-systems theory, deepening levels of globalization entail significant elements of inequality in various fields. A series of anti-globalization movements around the world embody the frustrations among citizens against neo-liberal globalization

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