Globalization, Europe and Great Britain

Paper Summary:

This paper argues that globalization has had some striking consequences for the people of Great Britain, for the people of Europe (principally Western Europe) and for the social policies geared towards assisting them. The paper suggests that globalization has been a negative force in the lives of working-class people and that, even if it has not quite led to the contraction of social welfare policies in Europe and in the UK, it has certainly served as the external impetus keeping governments from doing all they might on behalf of the less-fortunate. As a final point, the final part of this paper asserts that France has been relatively more resistant to the de-centralizing forces of globalization than either Britain and Germany, but there is simply no evidence that any of these three major countries have been able to escape the neo-liberal pressures of the global marketplace.

From the Paper:

"At the same time as the United Kingdom finds itself burdened with a society that is more polarized than ever before, it must also be borne in mind that the state - courtesy globalization - is seen by many has having less control over internal matters than ever before. Furthermore, countries like Great Britain have been forced to acknowledge that the new logic of globalization splits apart the traditional coupling of economic growth with an increase in social standards; in other words, a country can grow more economically powerful without necessarily seeing the living standards of many of its working-class families increase (Mishra, 1998)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Coltham, Stephen. (1967). The British working-class press in 1867. Bulletin: Society for the Study of Labor History, 15: 4-6.
• Estes, R. (1998). "Trends in Social Development, 1970-1995: Development Prospects For a New Century." Journal of Developing Societies, 14(1): 11-39.
• Fielding, Steven. (1995). The second world war and popular radicalism: the significance of the movement away from party. History, 80(258): 38-58.
• Guest, David E., and Dewe, Philip. (1988). Why do workers belong to a trade union? A Social-psychological study in the UK electronics industry. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 26(2): 178-194.
• Herring, Harriet L. (1927). The beginnings of industrial social work. Social Forces, 5(3): 502-507.

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