WORLD ISSUES: VIEWS ON ISSUES AND GLOBAL MEDIA

Characteristics of Issues - Issue: subject that is multi-faced, involves some debate, concerns many - Issues are: o Complex No simple answers Cause+ effect relationships Myths/conceptions surround issue o Interrelated Causes are interrelated Implications are wide-spread o Controversial Many differences in opinion on how these problems started, how to solve Grouping Countries of the World - Old core: o Contributed signifigantly and benefited greatly from globalization o Relatively wealthy o High degree of freedom o Secure environement - New core o Not as wealthy, governments not as good o With time, they are catching up to old core countries - Near core periphery countries o With continued economic, social, political growth, these countries have the potential to join the core within the new few years - Far periphery countries o Countries that have not signifigantly benefited from globalization o Poorer+ lack social progress o Less personal securities/freedoms How we see things - Fact: unbiased information about reality; objective and unarguable - Opinion: judgemental view about reality; subjective and arguable - Bias: representation on an issue from a single point of view either in the form of prejudice/support for a particular view - Paradigms: psychological rules and conditions we use to understand things we perceive o Depending on paradigms, people view things in different ways Ethnocentrism: regard ones ethnic group as superior to others and judging the activities of members of others ethnic groups by the standards of ones own ethnic group Holistic view: emphasizes the importance of the relationship between the elements that make up the whole issues; considering the well-being of everyone Types of Globalization - Financial o Interconnected financial markets - Economic o World wide economic system, easy shipping of goods, movement to free trade - Technological o Growth of communication and tech worldwide - Political o Government adopts more uniform policies, increased intl cooperation, less nationalism - Cultural o Gradual harmonization of the worlds cultures+ integration of values at expense of local culture - Sociological o Belief that we are all members of a world society; some attitudes should exist everywhere - Ecological

WORLD ISSUES: VIEWS ON ISSUES AND GLOBAL MEDIA

o Planet must be treated as a single ecosystem instead of as a collection of ecosystems Geographical o Dominated more by world ecological concerns than concerns by individual nations