GLOBALIZATION: TAKING TOLLS ON RELATIONSHIPS?

GLOBALIZATION: TAKING TOLLS ON RELATIONSHIPS?

While globalization has turned this present world into a ‘la la land’ where the ‘la las’ lie in the sweep of our bourgeoist ideals, it would also be quite safe to say that globalization also has its deterrences. Globalization has pushed the indigenous and the aboriginal businesses into a quagmire of varied problems and have made the ‘happy’ countries even more happier. And the ‘happy ’people living in those ’happy’ countries almost beatific. But at large, it also resonates its so called unhealthy vibrations in our family and community life.

Globalization does not beget global citizenship instinctually. While education is the driving tool for promoting global citizenship for all, one should not ignore the weak and the poor whose lives have basically been tarnished by a series of impediments in their work culture, brought about by this newly found enchantment of the privileged to now feed themselves what they want, rather than what they actually and should need. The economy should not only lie within the purview of being catered by global citizens, but also should be a facet which is within the embrace of every future child.

According to a report, the following are one of the most contentious changes that are affecting family and community life, typically in the Asian countries:

1.   There has been an augmentation in the size of migrant workers and are now estimated to occupy now more that 3% of the world’s population. Many of these have been forced to migrate because of an economic compulsion. They often have fewer rights, lower standards of medical care and less legal protection and sometimes are objected to such social prejudices that are outright breaches of the International Human Rights Law. Family members who are separated for seeking work in the outside cities and towns, often have inevitable strained relationships.

2.   There has been a shoot up in the figures of International and cross-border marriages. And globalization has expedited the rise in the ‘bride trade’ followed by its associated abuses.

3.   In many countries, there is a capacious gap between the rich and the poor.

Global powers such as the United States of America have exacerbated the plunder, underemployment and poverty of poorer countries in Asia and Africa, by vitiating the importance of goods produced by local businessmen and initiating this quotidian shtick of people cribbing over not being able to buy an attire which has an ‘Armani’ label stitched to it. Sad, really.

People who are forced to migrate so as to look for new jobs and opportunities, are also forced to separate from their loved ones, friends and families. They are never able to seek succour in those times and this further leads to broken families and homes. The new atmosphere which they are confronted to often leads to them conforming to those ethics, manners, cultures and lifestyle. For people, especially who belong from the antediluvian lands of their countries, when exposed to such avaricious and brand conscious culture,” take their compatriots as of ‘lower standing.’”

Children who are left by their parents, in their home countries are the most susceptible to an adverse social impact as since they do not really live and grow up their parents, their family values and sense of belonging are usually evanesced. They start believing as there is nobody who is truly theirs, and separation from their parents often breeds low grades in school and social vices such as alcohol consumption, drug abuse, etc. at a very young age.

Japan is the concourse of foreign trainees. Although the Japanese government realizes that  they need foreign trainees for economic development, they fail to implement laws for their security and protection. In fact, many male and female migrants in Japan are working in places associate with debauchery, which are shunned by the Japanese people, typically the younger generation. Nevertheless, “as more and more migrants are residing in Japan and forming relationships (with people from their own country), it has been seen that undocumented workers’ children, and those who are not legitimized by their fathers, have to face problems in being registered with the local government because of their parents’ fear of deportation. Thus, these children are regarded as illegal residents and live under constant stress and many have nowhere to stay or go to school.”

In Singapore, many people, especially men are moving overseas without their families. The sole responsibility of parenting is stressed upon the spouse- in most cases, the wife. Even though now many women have been employed in high paying jobs in Singapore, the immutable ideology that men should be the one to work abroad and their wives to be working full-time at their respective jobs, taking care after the their children and the aged parents. The frequent absence of the father results in children not being able to bond well with their father and an inevitable feeling of not even having a father figure in their lives in the first place. The same principle could be implied to cross-border marriages proliferating in the Hong-Kong and China region, where the children live with one parent in Hong-Kong and one parent has to work in mainland China. In a worst case scenario, both the parents stay in Mainland, and the child would be taken care of by the grandparents.” The absence of parent in the family presents an insecure environment for the children, who consequently suffer because of inadequate care. In 2007, there had been a number of incidents where children of Mainland/Hong Kong cross-border marriages were lost or injured through accidents when they were left alone.”

Even families who maintain communication, due to absence of quality time and family transition, lose important contacts over time.

Adding to the aforementioned, many youngsters are getting married at a later age or deciding to remain bachelors or spinsters for a protracted time period. And the stress from the high cost of living, coupled with stress at work are factors which reason out why many married couples do not want to have children at an earlier stage of their marriage.

Globalisation has also emanated a trend of spendthrift youth, in contrast to their parsimonious ancestors.

To cite one of the most prevalent family issues relating to globalization is that many children today are denigrating their families’ cultural values at the cost of new trends that have been propagating in the society today through the internet and social media websites. Youngsters find subsuming themselves in video gaming for hours and hours, posting their snapchat stories sporadically, ‘celebrating’ “Mothers’/Fathers’ Day” with their mother or father just for the sake of taking one good picture and writing that one huge post Facebook boasting their broadened lexicon of English indicating the synonyms they know of love, watching YouTube videos for a long time, going out to party just to take a hit of that hukkah, being dogmatic in their approach when it comes to prevailing social issues but denouncing every aspect of their own religion, is at pareil of spending quality time with the ones who brought them into this world, for them. All love, internet. Seriously. All love.

Thus it is of cardinal importance to promote a global consciousness about families that involves public and personal concern about the effects of globalization on relationships.

Till then,

Happy family time!