GS101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Joint-Stock Company
Document Summary
Some argue that globalization represents continuation and extension of complex processes that began with emergence of modernity and the capitalist world system in the 1500s. The definition of globalization from previous chapter stresses the dynamic nature of the phenomenon. Global expansion of social relations and the rise of the global imaginary are gradual processes with deep historical roots. Globalization is an ancient process that has crossed distinct qualitative thresholds. Roving bands of nomads lost out to settled tribes, chiefdoms, and powerful states based on agricultural food production. Decentralized, egalitarian nature of hunter and gatherer groups were replaced by centralized and highly stratified patriarchal social structures headed by chiefs and priests who were exempted from hard manual labour. Best way of characterizing dynamic of this earliest phase of globalization = Divergence : people and social connections stemming from single origin but moving and diversifying greatly over time and space. The pre-modern period (3500 bce 1500 ce)
