Note: This chapter is not part of the CBSE Class 12 Sociology syllabus for 2026-27 (CBSE has deleted it). Students of other boards should check their board’s latest syllabus.
A quick summary of Globalisation and Social Change (Book 2, Chapter 6) for revision right before the exam: every definition, named fact and key figure. Read the full notes separately for detailed explanations and examples.
1 Core Definitions
2 Global Interconnections: Not New
The Early Years
Silk Route (India-China-Persia-Egypt-Rome); Panini (Afghan origin, 4th c. BCE); Yi Jing (7th c., learned Sanskrit in Java)
Colonialism
Modern capitalism’s global dimension from its inception; European migration to Americas/Australia; indentured labour; slave trade
Independent India
Kept a global outlook from the nationalist movement; migration, export-import, foreign firms all ongoing since Independence
3 Economic Dimensions: The Key Numbers
| Figure | Value (the book’s own) |
|---|---|
| Internet users worldwide, 1998 | 70 million (USA+Canada 62%, Asia 12%) |
| Internet users worldwide, 2000 | 325 million; India: 3 million subscribers, 15 million users |
| India’s internet users now | 700 million |
| 2017-18 study | 1 in 10 households has a computer; ~1/4 have mobile internet |
| India’s telephone lines, 1947 | 84,000, for a population of 350 million |
| India’s telecom rank, 1999 | 9th largest in the world (25M+ lines, 300 cities, 4,869 towns, 310,897 villages) |
| PCOs by 2000 | ~650,000 |
| Cell phone usage rank, 2006 | 4th largest in the world |
4 Globalisation and Labour: Nike’s Journey
Fordism
- Mass production
- One centralised location
Post-Fordism
- Flexible production
- Dispersed locations
GM’s Pontiac Le Mans: of its US$20,000 price, only US$7,600 goes to Americans. South Korea 48%, Japan 28%, Germany 12%, Taiwan+Singapore 7%, UK 4%, Barbados/Ireland ~1% (Reich, 1991).
5 Political Dimension
| Term | Named examples |
|---|---|
| Regional/international mechanisms | EU, ASEAN, SAARC |
| IGO | WTO (trade-rule authority) |
| INGO | Greenpeace, Red Cross, Amnesty International, Medecins Sans Frontieres |
Collapse of the socialist world hastened globalisation’s neo-liberal turn; “inclusive globalisation” is the book’s counter-concept, including all sections of society.
6 Culture and Globalisation
Glocalisation examples
Star/MTV/Channel V/Cartoon Network in Indian languages; McDonald’s vegetarian+chicken only, fully vegetarian in Navaratri; Bhangra pop, Indi pop, fusion, remixes
Gender and culture
Globalisation wrongly used as a “bogey” to defend unjust practices (e.g. sati) as “cultural identity”
Consumption and corporate culture
Malls/multiplexes/water parks now shape cities (not manufacturing, as before 1970s); Miss World/Universe, Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen, KBC; corporate culture = management theory on productivity via organisational culture
7 Threat to Indigenous Traditions
| Named example | What happened |
|---|---|
| Parel, Girgaum (Mumbai) | ~30 theatre groups became defunct |
| Sircilla (Karimnagar), Dubakka (Medak), AP | Weaver suicides reported |
| Tulsi, Haldi, Rudraksha, Basmati rice | MNC patent attempts |
| Dombari community | TV/radio “snatched away” acrobat livelihood (Box 6.6) |
- Sociological imagination: micro-macro, local-global; compression of space and time
- Silk Route, Panini, Yi Jing, kupamanduka: global links are not new
- Liberalisation (1991) ≠ globalisation; 5 economic dimensions: TNCs, electronic/weightless/knowledge economy, finance
- Nike: Japan → South Korea → Thailand/Indonesia → India; Fordism vs post-Fordism
- EU/ASEAN/SAARC; IGO (WTO) vs INGO (Greenpeace etc.)
- Homogenisation vs glocalisation; gender as a bogey; culture of consumption; corporate culture
- Threats: Parel-Girgaum, Sircilla-Dubakka weavers, Tulsi/Haldi/Rudraksha/Basmati patents, Dombari testimony