Globalisation

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Integrated Humanities Core - Practice HWA CHONG INSTITUTION High School Section

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Class: 3

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Study the sources carefully, and then answer all the questions. (a)

Study Source A. What is the message in this source?

(b)

[5]

Study Sources B and C. How similar are Sources B and C in what they say about globalisation? Explain your answer. [6]

(c)

Study Source D. To what extent is this source reliable? Explain your answer.

(d)

Study Source E. How useful is this source in telling us about the impacts of globalisation?

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION Read this carefully. It may help you to answer some of the questions. Globalisation can be summarized as the global circulation of goods, services and capital, and also of information, ideas and people. Although there are many factors that have spurred and in turn have been reinforced by globalisation, technical progress and shift in governments’ policy orientation have played a particularly important role in contributing to accelerated globalisation in the 1980s and 1990s. Economic theories suggest that free trade leads to a more efficient allocation of resources, with all countries involved in the trade benefiting. In general, this leads to lower prices, more employment, higher output and a higher standard of living for those in developing countries. While this is true, in reality, globalization tends to benefit the developed countries more. Globalisation brings about negative consequences on weaker nations who are unable to compete effectively against powerful, industrialised nations.

Source A : A political cartoon on USA and globalisation

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Source B : An adapted extract of a report by John Pilger, a well-known journalist, which appeared in Guardian Weekend on 4 July 2001. Jakarta is ringed by vast compounds, known as economic processing zones. These enclose hundreds of factories that make products for foreign companies: the clothes you buy on the high street, from the cool khakis of Gap to the Nike, Adidas and Reebok trainers that sell in the UK for up to 100 pounds a pair. In these factories are thousands of mostly young women working for the equivalent of *72 pence per day. Nike workers get about 4% of the retail price of the shoes they make - not enough to buy the laces. Still, they count themselves lucky: they have jobs. Globalisation has left more than 36 million without work.

* 72 pence – equivalent to S$1.00

Source C : An extract of a newspaper article which appears in China Daily. Last year, more than 20 workers at a factory in Wuxi, Jiangsu province that produces nickel-cadmium batteries for electronic products giant Panasonic was found to be suffering from high levels of cadmium, a toxic and cancer causing chemical. Such poisoning is said to be able to cause kidney failure, lung cancer and bone disease. The cadmium poisoning in Wuxi is one example of how China and its factory workers are faced with health and environmental challenges from industries transferred from developed countries, that in turn help fuel the country’s economic growth amid increasing globalization.

Source D : An extract from World Bank report, 2000, on Globalisation and Inequality There is compelling evidence that increased globalisation has played an important facilitating role in accelerating growth and poverty reduction in an increasing number of developing countries, and hence in reducing overall global inequality. Conversely, lack of openness increases inequality between countries since closed developing economies have performed much more poorly than more open ones. The poor performance of these countries is not, therefore, the result of integrating with the world economy, but on the contrary it is due to their inability to achieve greater integration.

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Source E :

A cartoonist’s impression of the effects of globalisation

* MBA – Master of Business Administration (Postgraduate Degree)

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Source F : An article extracted from Third World Network, an On-line newspaper Despite unprecedented levels of wealth in the world, poverty and hunger are increasing. The gap between rich and poor nations has widened, as have inequalities within countries, between social classes, between men and women and between young and old. A large proportion of the world’s population still lacks access to food, education, safe drinking water, sanitation, shelter, land and its resources, employment and health care services. In addition, the planet resources are being depleted at an alarming rate. The resulting degradation of the environment threatens everyone’s health, especially the health of the poor. The world’s resources are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few who strive to maximise their private profit.

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a) Study Source A.

L1

What is the message in this source?

[5]

Describes source

[1]

e.g. This source shows a man representing USA eating what looks like the world L2

Makes inference, without supporting evidence

[2-3]

Award 2m for making one inference, 3m for 2 inferences e.g. USA is using world’s resources for its own benefit. USA dominates the world’s economy L3

Makes supported inference

[4-5]

Award 4m for 1 supported inference to a maximum of 5m e.g. From this source, I can infer that USA is using the world’s resources for its own benefit. This is evident in the source where it shows a man representing America, getting ready to eat the world. This source also tells me that globalization has allowed USA to dominate the world’s economy as can be seen from the source itself, the American flag being planted on the globe, signifying USA’s control of world’s resources and market b)

L1

Study Sources B and C. How similar are Sources B and C in what they say about globalisation? Explain your answer.

[6]

Similarity or Difference in provenance

[1]

e.g. The 2 sources are different in terms of provenance. Source B is by John Pilger, a well-known journalist while Source C is an article which appears in a Chinese newspaper. L2

Similarity or Difference in content

[2-3]

Award 2m for 1 similarity or difference and 3 marks for a well-explained difference/similarity e.g. Both sources are similar as it deals with how globalization has affected the countries. Both are talking about the negative impacts of globalization. In Source B, it mentions that “Globalisation has left more than 36 million without work” and in Source C, it mentions that the workers were faced with “health 09/06/2009 Nancy Tay

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and environmental challenges” and that 20 workers was found to be suffering from “cancer-causing chemical” as a result of working in factories which have been relocated from other developed nations. .

e.g. The 2 sources are different as Source B is on the situation in Jakarta Indonesia while Source C is on the situation in China. Source B is different from Source C in terms of the effects of globalization on them. Source B is on the negative impacts of globalisation as it mentions that “globalization has left more than 36 million without work” – thus implying that globalization has resulted in loss of jobs whereas Source C is on the benefits of globalisation as the source mentions that globalisation “ help fuel the country’s economic growth”, thus implying that the country has prospered with globalisation. L3

Similarity AND Difference

[4-5]

Both parts of L2. One similarity or difference + tone awarded 5m Award 4m for 1 similarity and 1 difference to a maximum of 5m.

L4

L3 + difference in tone

[6]

e.g. Source B is more negative compared to Source C. Source B implies that globalisation only makes use of the workers in the developing country as it mentioned that “Nike workers get about 4% of the retail price of the shoes they make – not enough to buy the laces.” The source also mentioned that globalisation has caused many people to lose their jobs. On the other hand, Source B is more neutral – it highlights the negative impacts such as having to suffer from poisoning emitted by the products they’re producing as well as the positive impact, that globalisation “ fuel the country’s economic growth”.

c)

Study Source D. To what extent is this source reliable? Explain your answer.

L1

Describes source

[1-2]

Award 1m for description and 2m for inferences made 09/06/2009 Nancy Tay

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e.g. Source D is comparing the advantages of globalisation and disadvantages of practicing a closed economy or protectionism L2

Assess reliability based on provenance

[2-3]

Award 2m for assertion of reliability and 3m for showing the extent of reliability based on provenance. e.g. This source is reliable as it is an extract from World Bank Report. Since it is an official report from a well-established organization, what it says would likely be true. L3

Makes assertion based on cross-reference to other sources OR contextual knowledge [4-5] Award 4m for an attempt to do cross-reference and 5m for a well-explained answer e.g. The source is reliable as it mentions that globalisation has brought about benefits evident from the phrase “played an important role in accelerating growth and poverty reduction.” This claim is supported by Source C which also says that globalisation “help fuel the country’s economic growth.”

OR This source claims that globalisation has brought about growth, poverty reduction in developing countries and reduce overall global inequality but this claim is not supported by the background knowledge which mentions that “globalisation tends to benefit the developed countries more” and that globalisation “brings about negative consequences on weaker nations who are unable to compete effectively against powerful, industrialised nations.” Source F also contradicts what Source D says. In Source F, it mentions that “despite unprecedented levels of wealth in the world, poverty and hunger are increasing” and that “the gap between rich and poor nations has widened.” This goes to prove that the claims made by Source D are untrue and therefore not reliable.

L4

Both parts of L3

[6-7]

Award 6m for an attempt to do cross-reference and 7m for a well-explained answer.

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d)

Study Source E. How useful is this source in telling us about the impacts of globalisation? [7]

L1

Describes source

[1]

e.g. This source describes the negative impacts of globalisation L2

Useful or Not useful, not supported

[2-3]

Award 2m for one usefulness, unsupported to a maximum of 3m e.g. This source is useful as it tells me that globalisation led to job losses in different sectors. This source is useful as it tells me that globalisation impacted the workers negatively OR e.g. This source is not useful as it does not tell me about the other negative impacts of globalisation as well its positive impacts. L3

Useful OR not useful, supported

[4-5]

Award 4m for one supported usefulness/limitation to a maximum of 5m e.g. This source is useful as it tells me that globalisation led to job losses in different sectors. This is evident in the source where it shows the lowly-skilled workers, white-collar workers and the professional workers being eaten up by the “globalizing gorilla.” This source is useful as it tells me that globalisation impacted the workersnegatively. This can be seen in the source where the remaining workers who had jobs had to work longer hours and at lower pay. OR e.g. This source is not useful as it does not tell me about the other negative impacts of globalisation. When I cross-refer to Source F, I know that part of the negative impact includes the widening gap between rich and poor. In addition, it also mentions the negative environmental impact such as depletion of earth’s resources and the possible threat to health that such environmental degradation would cause. The given source is also limited in its usefulness as it does not make any mention of the positive effects of globalisation. When I cross-refer to Source D, I know that “increased globalisation has played an important facilitating role in accelerating growth and poverty reduction….of developing countries.” L4

Makes inference on Usefulness using source content AND makes inference on imitation of source by cross-referencing to either other source or contextual knowledge [6-7]

Award 6m for both one example of usefulness and limitation and 7 m for any other examples 09/06/2009 Nancy Tay

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Both parts of L3

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