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Cosmopolitanism and Global Civil Society and their Role as Possible Positives of Globalization

Discuss and Assess the Possible Gains from Globalisation

Introduction

There are many aspects of globalisation which are generally divided into political, cultural and economic. Ulrich Beck discredits the word globalisation as the aspect of transnational movement which deals with issues primarily from an economic point of view. To him cosmopolitanism is the cultural and civil society aspects of what a lot of people refer to as globalisation (2006: 11). In an essay of this length it is impossible to cover all areas and so the focus within this one will be on the areas of Cosmopolitanism and Global Civil Society (GCS).  These elements regard politics and culture, economic aspects will not be explored as in the current financial crisis the World Bank and International Monetary Fund would require a large amount of discussion by themselves. There is a plethora of discussion on the negatives of globalisation but a minimal amount of positivity. This essay will aim to highlight positive empirical examples of GCS and potential gain through cosmopolitan movements. Read More »

The War on Meat

nice horseThis post is wrongly titled, purely for effect as there is no war on meat because the government aren’t even pretending to care anymore. The current UK meat crisis has spread throughout Europe. For those who don’t know it basically consists of a large amount of meat in UK supermarkets being not quite what they say they are, it began with them having traces of horse DNA in beef mince then some items such as packaged lasagne have been found to be 100% horse meat and a later revelation that in a posh middle class supermarket (Waitrose) their beef meatballs were partly pork, bad for religious reasons in particular, and they knew about it for two weeks before being caught out.

Now some peoples response to this has been ‘what’s wrong with horse, thebad horse French eat it?’ or that they don’t see much difference between horse and cow in processed meat. Which is a fair point if the horses used weren’t from the newly named ‘meat mafia’ sneaking decrepit old diseased horses into the meat supply, these unfortunately are not the same standard as eating a race horse. They are probably more akin to the horses used in dog food. To add to this the horses are treated with a hormone which is potentially harmful when consumed by humans, though that doesn’t seem to have done much yet. Read More »

The Routine of Christmas

ImageJust to set my agenda, I love Christmas, I know many people don’t and others are indifferent but I sure do. This year I took part in The Curiosity Box Project, which is hosted by a UK craft and design blog. The rules are you submit your name and a brief description of the things you like/ your style and someone else gets your details and makes you a Secret Santa box with items around the value of £20 with an emphasis on handmade and quirky stuff. If you received a box with a CD and DVD in somebody probably didn’t understand very well. And that why it’s so great. Read More »

Liberal Arts, Take this Waltz and the end of the Slacker

I love the genre of film loosely termed ‘American Indie’ From Mumblecore to Rom Com these low budget, dialogue driven films regularly portray the lives of slightly lost 30 something creative. These remind me of my life and those of many I know, people not sure what they want in life but sure they don’t want an office job and so for now have social jobs in bars, cafés and cinemas; working on something creative on the side and never fully committing to a future goal or the idea of being a grown up. People who are really decent and intelligent but just a little lost. This is me at 25. Read More »

Fenghuang; A Magical Town

One of my favourite places so far is the ancient town of Fenghuang, away from anywhere else of tourist interest in China. Being small enough to not have a train station is quite an achievement in China to begin with resulting in an eventful journey however you travel. I chose to arrive via Huaihua which has hotels by the station or taxi drivers ever at the ready or a standard Chinese town which looks upon a white face with interest and friendliness.

When mentioning Fenghuang to any of the Chinese people we met they would always attempt to discourage our journey, saying it was extremely touristy and that we wouldn’t like it. It was indeed very touristy but mainly among Chinese students with not another white face in sight. I like to compare Fenghuang to somewhere like Newquay for English people. The old town area was sizeable and completely unique to anywhere else I had been. Street sellers all had different goods, there were people selling communist memorabilia and there wasn’t a sit toilet to be found. Read More »

Mount Huangshan, Not for the Budget Conscious

In the ten months of travel I recently completed there was only one place which I would skip in hindsight. There are hundreds of extra places and different places I would go, including Myanmar, but Huangshan was the only place that was an ill informed choice for our budget and time constraint.

Our general time constraint was quite liberal but more specifically we needed to get to Hong Kong due to having a dual entry Chinese visa and the first half nearly being used up. We had intended to stay five days in Huangshan, or Tunxi as the actual area was called and in this time we ended up doing very little. One thing to be aware of is that the only train to Shenzen comes from Shanghai and so is a very busy route in which you are unlikely to be able to get a bed as they prioritise people doing the entire route and only open the leftover a couple of days before, if there are any. In a town with no English spoken we managed to get around the ‘No’ situation at the train station by getting a quieter train to Guangzhou which then has regular bullets to Shenzen. After doing a few hard seat journeys already I didn’t fancy one for 20 hours. Read More »

The Truth about Saving Money

I seem to always be saving money, either for travel or something else like a Masters degree and apart from making me a bit grumpy and down every now and again I don’t find it too tough a challenge. I’ve realised that because of this I am quite an outcast and that a large percentage of people genuinely lack the ability to save money. Here are my theories.

After recently reading the book ‘Age of Absurdity’ by Michael Foley I have begun to spot all around me signs of instant gratification. People may be saving with intention but when their bank balance reaches a certain level it will suddenly spell out ‘iphone’ or ‘weekend away in a nice hotel’ or ‘shiny expensive shoes’ and all of these things provide you not only with the instant gratification of owning them but, what I think is more important, attention and compliments. Ultimately being careful with money wins you no friends and no attention, you don’t look cool. At what makes it worse is after all the hard work of saving, when you can afford your target, the response is always ‘you’re so lucky’. Luck has nothing to do with hard work and sacrifice. Read More »

The Importance of Goals

Travel is amazing at the time but I can’t help but think the come down of it is disproportionately difficult, but maybe that is only so in the case of being confused about your future and having very little monies to your name. Basically when your only option is to knuckle right down and forego any luxury.

I’m working back in my previous customer service job. It’s not bad, the staff are the best part, the lack of ability to use your mind is the worst. I’ve realised recently that a lot of people don’t seem to have goals of any sort, no ambition and no aims. If you consider what their life will be in five years time quite a few people would be content to be doing the exact same thing but with a few more wrinkles. But these same people are the ones who get frustrated at the job, at the management and at the customers but make no effort to change. Read More »

A Rainy day in Whitby

In the thralls of unemployment and getting used to being back in England I am making an effort to see any nearby places that are nice to visit for the day. To be honest, most of them near me are natural places and that really is unfortunate considering this disgraceful spring weather we have been having.

When you are used to British weather you realise you can’t really use the usual tactic of staying in on the rainy day and then making the most of the next, this doesn’t work because every day is a rainy day. The only option is to put your hood up and get a good umbrella that won’t fold back on itself in a gust of wind. A good cosy winter coat will become your best friend. Read More »

Miss Travel and Equality

I often hear friends ranting about equality and feminism and all those very important things that we ignore on a daily basis but Miss Travel reminded me of something I often think. It often seems to be perceived that sexual inequality is something created solely by these big powerful, sleazy men with no respect for women, who believe they are nothing more than objects and act like ‘Hey girl, wash my dishes’. But in reality I think that women are probably as big a hindrance to sexual equality as men are.

Some women seem to be little more than objects, they literally will do anything for the man knowing a shiny shone will be the reward. Of course none of the women I know are like this but the steeply inclined slope to equality is being littered with obstacles just as much by our own kind and this often gets looked over. Many feminists will comment on the shallowness of gossip magazines and the pressures on women to look perfect and the ‘ring of truth/ring of fat’ that circles nasty body parts in a trashy magazine. It is most definitely trashy and degrading but, unfortunately, is probably made by women and women LOVE to read it and go ‘look at the weight on her elbow’ because women love to gossip. And that is generally all women and not just the shallow diamond loving kind. Read More »

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