Globalisation explores the relationship between globalisation and the - PDF document

Globalisation explores the relationship between globalisation and the processes and patterns that determine the quality of life of communities in the UK; discusses how globalisation a examines how governments and policy-makers should respond to the The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) commissioned this paper as part on, which explores and promotes awareness of the impactcommunities and people in poverty.ISBN 978 1 85935 774 3 Rowntree Foundation as part of its programme on Globalisation, which explores the impacts of globalisation on the programme of research and innovative development projects, which it hopes will be of value to policy-makers, practitioners and service users. The facts presented necessarily those of JRF. 40 Water End First published 2010 by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise without the prior Page Patterns and processes of marginalisation The Globalisation debate The changing priorities of government The race to the bottom in taxation The shift towards the high-skill economy The domestic trends and drivers of change Civic capacity and political participation References There are significant challenges and dilemmas become a fairer and more equal society. any of the advanced capitalist economies will not be easy. Inevitably, attention has increasingly turned to the role of the state in mitigating rising inequalities. Toverall level of equity and fairness. Bumust take into account in framing policy. marginalisation among individuals and coexclusionary practices and processes teconomic, political and cultural life. Befoal and economic change and its wider impact UK are changing rapidly; areas that 20 years ago were relatively homogenous when observed through the class have become considerably more alongside the demands of a regionally segmented service-orientated economy, of Britain that were ethnically homogenous 30 years ago. As a result, it is no longer plausible to make a simple There is significant variation in life cthem, and the composition and distributidimensions of opportunity and disadvantage tpatterns of marginalisation and exclusion inequality generate an increasingly al need. The traditional concern with as measured by the consumption of a communities. The human rights model is not in itself a panacea, but it does strive 3 dimensional, encompassing not only low respect (Donald a different frame through which to understand how globalisatnalisation we are referring to a complex out of income poverty over the course of their lives, though low income is not the household formation, basic literacy and numeracy, cultural preferences, and so on (Saggar, 2008). Some analysts have argued that we should not be too less problematic if they are largely transitory (Esping-Andersen, 2007). Nonetheless, social mobility is negativelprevent social and economic exclusioFinally, greater reflection needs to be given to the discourse of social policy itself, The welfare state historically has been a on state from the late 19th century. The how marginalisation and inclusion are influenced by structural forces that cut l boundaries of the ‘international’ in this context may be increasingly obsolete. The globalisation ations for the concepts and theories e associated with lisation is a disruptive and destabilizing force, simultaneously opening up and narrowing down opportunity t of globalisation it is will examine evidence about the ces of inequality and disadvantage, and important pressures, challenges ahead, 4 Throughout, it is assumed that national governments actively participate in disappeared. If national governments work in tandem at the global level, they can entially negative impact of globalisation. This is progress, implementing policy solutionsgreater emphasis to common human needs and collective transnational interests relationship between social justice and global justice (Miller, 2009). This is not onomic development on the capacity of British governments to pursue social justicand increasingly morally indefensible in any contemporary account of social 5 marginalisation are changing, both those associated with globalisation and those also strong continuities within families, both of joblessness and deprivation more Nonetheless, the overall picture of marginalisation is arguably more complex – trends. Increased mobility and fluidity combined with global economic, social and political integration is creating additional variance and transience in the patterns and processes of marginalisation. ManyOur focus is the social and economic impacoups within the UK population togeography and dispersal of power. This is important because where people live ant determinant of subsequent life chances, and should be central to any credible account of the dynamics of social inclusion. But individuals and groups have access to core t. This entails a shift from the ticular how the globalisation of labour not the only factor in economic integration, and there are otclimate change and rising commodity prices Nonetheless, the evidence suggests that the labour market is a key driver of marginalisation and inclusion, and serves 6 category, and to focus on policies thatminorities. Today, such approaches look increasingly outdated, and the real have quickly overtaken the white majority and earnings, particularly Chinese and IMany others are falling behind, however, particularly among Pakistani, Afro-e there is significant variation: for example, median total household wealth for black-African households is £14,000 eholds (Hills, 2010). Gender further continuing discrimination, more complex patterns are slowly emerging. Some groups are relatively privileged while otherexclusion, not least the Muslim community, increasingly cast as the ‘pariah’ population of western sosses associated with globalisation. There have certainly prompted partly by increasing political and civil instability in East Africa and ons of Britain's open and flexible labour entering permanent social and economic excl, 2001). Migrant experiences are more polarised than for the population at large, with larger concextremes, particularly when measured in 7 anding the dynamics of exclusion and marginalisation since migration is an important example of globalising trends. market: some migrants are highly successful, but others have been unemployed than the native population. Migrants are of cent (Shields and Price, 1999). Migration has also been a significant factor in the globalisation debate since it is perceived to erode the real wages and find any significant effect on the wagesthe number of immigry, leaving the wages and emworkforce largely unchanged. There is no denyiment among 18–24 year olds looking for relates to geographical polarisation: changed markedly since the early 1980s. It inequalities have increasingly opened up between different regions and cities in Britain, including far greater differences within particular cities and regions, as t regional policy looks increasingly anachronistic. While some UK towns and cities have powered ahead in recent 8 locality – economic activity is clustered, generating a spatially uneven pattern and well-being on the other (Perrons, 2009). This unevenness or clustering is increasingly seen as an s of marginalisation and inclusion in the UK create new opportunities for some groups, while reinforcing the exclusion and hers. Globalisation has helped a protective factor enabling these while strengthening upward social mobility, leading to higher real incomes across market competencies, however, may expose individuals to the growing risk of polarisation and exclusion. Educational achichanging process of marginalisation. Educgroups as the pathway to a decent job, aditionally failed in the This also translates into widespread and growing fear of globalisation: nearly half lieve that the gap between rich and poor is meritocracy, the erosion of traditional jperceived threat of globalisation to wages and living standards combine to increase social pessimism. There is somealready disadvantaged groups 9 lf is highly contested, partly because there is no widely acceptamounts to. In the mid-1990s, globalisatiin academic sociology and social theory. political, social, military, cultural, and so on. There are advocates of the on of the global economy, boundaries and between cultural groups. greater cultural heterogeneity and the nationalism. It is striking, fo British citizenship survey marginalisation in the UK labour market. One influential view propounded by a rparticular is increasingly mobile. As competition increases due to the openness impact of globalisation: activist fiscal inequality and exclusion that globalisation is often thought to accentuate. These d its reach significantly. 10 pursued by national governments are as strategies domestically does not appear rve to limit the policy opti retained operational control over ank of England, for example, in large parts of the world power has been passed to central banks in order to secure low inflation still has a crucial role to play, particularly in equipping people with the skills and remain internationally competitive. has increased significantly over the last 30 their regional neighbours rather than as was once feared (Hay, 2000). That saidthis paper do create significant challengesng actors in civil society. 11 There is a substantial evidence base which jobs and living standards. This is particularlny other advanced economies. That marginalised groups. Several analysts have highlighted the risks attached to this levels of poverty particularly in families where no-one is in work – impairing the are far more amenable to public policy intervention than might be supposed. to globalisation. The demand for skills is primarily driven by new technologies. At the same time, changing patterns of dem richer, and affluent consumers ascend technological advances, for example, the numbers employed in production in the workers have struggled to find jobs that offer comparable remuneration, and may There also appears to be a significant regional and gender dimension, hitting working-class men particularly hard in the 12 he labour market, stifling employment. The second concerns the amoIt is likely that further technological cyears. But to emphasise the point, glworklessness in the UK increased dramatically, while becoming increasingly into casualised, low-paid work, as dertaken by the Warwick Institute for demography. We cannot understand the impact of globalisation without also realities: how the shape of families continues projected 7.9 million by 2016. Other prgenerational clash between demands for the funding of pension systems, and the c political choices. While globalisation far from invalidates discretionary action by national goverhigh-quality healthcare and education riseservices exponentially. The overall effect available for redistribution to those who are losing out from the combined effects 13 future: labour markets will become even moreof high-skilled employment; the combinatfemale labour-force participation will lead to a sizeable growth in low-skill service lise vertically, and off-shore many jobs 14 zens’ broader integration into economic, social and political life. These are exclusionary processes and practices: foelections are closely correlated. In relaresidential segregation, inward-looking community norms, grievance narratives The analysis of General Household Survconcept of marginalisation enables us 15 clear that the pressures and challenges ahead will be even more complex and many public sector organisations in the traditionally informed social policy thincreation of full employment, to prevent permanent exclusion from in and out of poverty and exclusion over tfocusing on protective factors such as the acquisition of high-value skills and access to particular social networks that prevent poverty from becoming There can be little doubt that the labour market position of the low-skilled is acquire new skills and manage labour jobs and unemployment (Esping-Andersn alongside domestic obalisation precludes the adoption of policies designed to improve the life chances of the most marginalised groups. It opportunity throughout the life-course, including better transitions through the to social policy that tackd disadvantage. This remains the enge, and the emphasis on child-centred equality of opportunity. It is im 16 ereotypes of the marginalised as discourses that are punitive and igms that are able to shape public Globalisation is still a widel-defined concept. It may, ientation. This should examine how the rly within the European Union,the discriminatory and exclusionary pr 17 market institutions and the effect The Economic Card, D. (2001) ‘Immigrant Inflows, NatiJournal of Labor Economicsemployees, migrants and low paid families’, Joseph Rowntree Research Paper provision’, Equality and Human Rights on: The Progressive MomentPalgrave Macmillan Civic capacity, social exclusion and political participatEvidence from the 1999 Poverty and So (2001) ‘Migration: an economic and social analysis’, RDS Occasional Paper No. 67, London: Home Office Polarisation of Work in Britain’, The Reeconomy’, London: City of London Corporation. the Household Level’, Journal of the 18 Demystifying Globalisation, London: Palgrave Macmillan. Equalities Office and Conflict, Vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 247–265 Political Economy, Vol. 99, No. 3 in Regional Labour Markets: A Meta-Analysis’, IZA Discussion Paper No. 2044 Miller, D. (2009) ‘Social Justice Vers, Cambridge: Polity Press ern Radical Islam and what to , Oxford: Oxford University Press , London: Methuen Politicos nglish language fluency and occupational English Metropolitan areas’, Population Economics, Vol. 15, No. 1 19 Patrick Diamond ffield College, Oxford