1 / 56

Empowered Communities ? Role of the Internet and the New Media

This article explores the impact of the internet and new media on empowering communities for social development in a globalized world. It discusses the role of globalization, labor mobility, and the challenges faced by disadvantaged groups.

talley
Download Presentation

Empowered Communities ? Role of the Internet and the New Media

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Empowered Communities?Role of the Internet and the New Media People’s Strategic New MediaEngagementsfor Social Developmentin aGlocalizing World On-Kwok Lai Professor, Graduate School of Policy Studies, Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan Honorary Professorship (Social Administration), The University of Hong Kong

  2. 21st Century: Civilized Globalization?Emerging New Communities • Employ–Exploitability – Migrant Workers? • Employment Security  Nomadic Production • Winners and Losers in Globalization? • Promoting (Anti-) Which Version of Globalization? • Global Ageing with Hyper-Modernization • Globalization with Benevolence-Decent Work? • What Left for the Least Advantaged Groups? • Managing (Promoting Good) Work–Family Life

  3. Asian Societies  Globalization? • Globalization  Welfare State Restructuring: Fine-Tuning, Nominal Downsizing, Liberalization of Welfare Market, Selective Targeting – Mean Test • Differential Exposure to Globalization: Compresses Modernization minus Welfare = Asian Miracle? • Competitive Capital / Commodity / Labor Global Market in Post 1997 Asian Financial Crisis • Reducing the State’s Role in the Social (e.g., Education is considered as ‘Investment’ • Dilemma: Economic Competitiveness (Selective Targeting vs. Universal Social Protection

  4. New CommunitiesSocial Citizenshipvs. Labor Mobility • Territorial Bound Social Citizenship NOT Compatible with High Mobility of Labor • Migrants/Migrant Workers – functional necessity for Globalization Versus Social Costing (Welfare?) for Mobility • Heterogeneity – Mixed Migrants Problematic for Differentiated Social Welfare

  5. Foreign Home/Domestic Helper : 21st Century Care by Migrant Workers?

  6. Asian (Migrant) Societies  Globalization & Diversity? • Differential Migration Regimes & Labor Market: Exceptionalism: Japan & S.Korea • China: >30%Rural  Urban Migration:Social Citizenship for Migrant-Workers? • Hong Kong: >250K Migrant Workers • Taiwan: >110K Migrant Nursing Workers • Labor Mobilities in SE Asia (Exporting / Host Localities) & Labor-Skills Matching

  7. Japan 22% Hong Kong 12% Taiwan 11% South Korea 10% Singapore 9% China 8% Italy 20% Sweden 19% Germany 18% Norway 17% Spain 17% Austria 16% France 16% Swiss 16% U.K. 15% Netherlands 14% USA 13% Australia 13% Canada 13% Global Ageing (=>65, mid-2008)

  8. Hyper-Modernization driven Ageing

  9. TWO VIEWS ON GLOBALIZATION • Globalization: problematic & contradictory  life chance of people? • Globalization: a benign and automatic force  better economic benefits for everyone, even the poorest group can be better off. • Political Extreme Left: unbridled capitalism does produce effects of exploitation of the weak and socio-ecological degradation • Political Extreme Right: the malignant forces of globalization engender xenophobia, the demising local people’s jobs, culture, language and hence identity

  10. Global or Local – Others’ or Self?Globalization  reinforces  Polarization? • Productivity Increase-Job Mobility Social Insecurity? • Winners and Losers in Globalization? • Promoting (Anti-)Globalization? • Which Versions of (Benevolent) Globalization? • What Left for the Least Advantaged Groups? • Advocacies for/with/by Disadvantaged Groups • Proxy Advocacies = Self-Control / Self-Determination?

  11. Global-Flexibility Driven Crises • Lost of Social Contract? • Demising Occupational-Welfare Model? • ALMP Fail to meet moving Targets • Knowledge (Class)? • Emergence of ‘In-exploitable Class’? • Crises of Asian Firms-Families (the State)? • Myths of Asian Economic Miracle? • High-Cost f. ‘Equitable’ Life Chance (Who Pay for it)?

  12. (De-)Coupling the Globalization? • Regional/Global Divisions of Labors –cum- Competitiveness & New Policy Discourse • Informational Society  Time+Space Compression • Hyper-Flexible Production Regime: Borrowed Time+Space Compression –/ Job–Life Course? • De-Skilling  Derived Job / Life-Chance: Redundancy, Early Retirement, Downsizing • Anti-Globalization Protests & Processes?

  13. Globalization – Driven Social Dualism • widespread poverty in affluent societies / localities, rural-urban divided • deregulatory policy initiatives favour commodification / privatization of social services  social dualism • China: Economic Miracle: >7% GDP Growth since 1978 • per capita income of city dwellers in China increased by 8%, compared to rural residents of 2% (2000-08) • Working in cities accounted 70% of the total annual increase

  14. Modernization-driven Divides

  15. G22 & BRICs Agenda (2003) for Fair Globalization? • Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Venezuela + BRICs • Ethical, Fair & Equitable Trading Regime? • “Rich Countries Should Make Bigger Efforts to Enable (bio-eco-human) Ethical Trade” • Anti- GM Regime of Food Production?

  16. NGOs Questing for Alternative Development!

  17. NGOs’ Anti-Globalization Communicative Actions & ProcessPolitics for the Under-Dog? • Fair Trade for All? (G22 Agenda) • 1st May, ‘1999 Battle-in-Seattle’, other Protests • Global Peace Movement(15. Feb. 2003) • ‘Anti-G‘ information and ideas in/beyond cyberspace, bypassing the mass media, turn into global real time social actions

  18. Differential LOGICSof Globalization • Global Civil Society: Mobile Communicative Actions by NGOs – articulating their human, bio-eco ethical demands through non-institutional politics of protest movements • WTO though sticks to its multi-lateral summit (protected by strong police force), yet it has to deal with human (eco-cultural) rights & animal rights! • Socio-Cultural Diversity: Ethics of Development • Extent / Mode of Self-Control – Self Determination? • ICT: a crucial factor to empower the (presumably) powerless NGOs; global civil society has learned quick, adopting wire and wireless communication set up to champion their project, in cyber and mass media

  19. Digital-Ubiquitous Capitalism‘e’-Strategy – Embryo for Anti-Pro-Growth • Post-financial crisis: pro-growth development model for e-commerce, e-government, e-technopolis, cyber-corridor… • E-Singapore • ‘e-‘ project: Ubiquitous-Japan • South Korea tops cable connection • China is catching up its mobile communications networking, • Taiwan is becoming a silicon island • Malaysia’s (e-)Vision 2020: Multi-Media Super Corridorper se? • Embryo for e-mobilization / Anti-Pro-Growth Development Movements?

  20. Status of Diffusion of Mobile Phones - Japan

  21. Total Internet User Population &Internet Diffusion Rate

  22. Current Status of Household Ownership of ICT Devices

  23. TRANSNATIONAL ACTIVISMGlobal Local • ICT’s shaping of individual’s identity & actions that transcend territorial borders & socio-ecological issues (Katz, Ed. 2008; Woolgar, Ed., 2002, Lai 20041/b,2008) • Transnational Advocacy Networks Margarett E. Keck & Kathryn Sikkink (1998, 1999), Lai (2004) • ‘Globalized Space’ thesis James N. Rosenau (1997, 1998)

  24. CYBER-ACTIVISM & EMPOWERMENT • Participatory politics at global/local scale is possible with all forms of communications: one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one and many-to-many. • Internet (cable, wireless and satellite) multi-modal of communications, representing both micro as well as mass media functioning.

  25. Dynamics of CyberspaceMultiple Differentiated Engagements • Individualistic, Profit-Seeking, Self-Promotion and Greedy Encounters • Enlightened Individual driven e-Mobilization for ESC Rights to Glocal Sustainability • Wired and Wireless Communication to develop Size, Power Base and Influence of Critical Mass for Alternative Politicking, Empowerment!

  26. Challenging the Hegemony of Flexibility & Efficiency • New Political / Policy / Social Discourse on the Market – Pricing be challenged • Ethno-Cultural Specificity of Life Chance at Locality Level be Emphasized • Making Meaningful Engagements for the Emerging ‘Nonstate’ Agencies • Empower Local/Global Communities - Networks • Re-regulated the Market: Profits vs. Social Benefits • Global Citizenship, Corporate Citizenship – Socio-Eco Responsibility

  27. Cyber-Advocacy (for ESC) Rights • Amnesty International • Human Rights Watch • Association of Progressive Communications • Opendemocracy.net • South Korean Jinbo.net • Greenpeace International • Local Groups, Communities & Networks…

  28. iNGOs Growth

  29. NGOs’Advocacies:Voices of Empowered Communities • e-Focal point, platform and network for information gathering and researchrequired to challenge, as well as creating new policy debate. • Foundation for articulating particular local/community issue • Mobilizing agencies for articulating various forms and modes of confrontational protests and demonstrations, targeting to IGOs and against their allies of Transnational Corporations (TNCs). • Facilitating agency for transnational advocacies and communication networks in pushing local, regional and international government bodies to react critical development issues. • With good local supports, iNGO activities can reshape the contours (for the benefits of local development) for national policy or constitutionaldomain, which are more likely to promote a shift in the worldview towards global society.

  30. New Social e-Movement forGlobal Norms & Local Rights • Questioning Socio-Cultural Rights • Advocating Human Rights for All! • Against TNCs’ Labor Standards? • Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of TNCs? • Against Un-Ethical Trade! • ESC Rights – Biodiversity? • Profits vs. Ethics – Human Rights: CSR? • Local Community & Ecology vs. Global TNCs

  31. Advocacies & Appeals New Ethics-Norms for ESC Rights • Choreographed - Visualized Reality • Sensational Advocacies & Appeals • Dramatized Clear Role for Victims - Predators • Binary Code for Winner / Loser • Ethical & Moral Appeal – Support for Victims • Back to Humanity (Fundamentalist) Appeals • Appeal for Personal / Individual Actions

  32. Globalized Space Internet, the World Wide Web and the other electronic technologies that are shrinking the world offers considerable potential as a source of democracy... by facilitating the continued proliferation of networks that know no boundaries, these technologies have introduced a horizontal dimension to the politics of Globalized Space. They enable like-minded people in distant places to converge, share perspectives, protest abuses, provide information and mobilize resources – dynamics that seem bound to constrain vertical structures that sustain governments, corporation and any other hierarchical organizations (Rosenau 1998: 46).

  33. Communicative Praxis Action + Identity@ Time+Space • cyberspace (for novices as well as veteran activists) is a learning-by-doing, action-oriented media at both individual and collective levels • Communicative Praxis: Creation of new political activism of NGOs in global civil society, with the praxis of broad access avenues of civic participation at national, regional, international levels. • e-platforms for exchanges of information, in-house action-strategies, and recruitment of volunteers for e-mobilization • just a few clicks, sending support and appeal letters or animated e-cards to the targets • Global Citizen (Guardian for Humanity?)

  34. Glocal Communicative ActivismBoomeranging with ESC Rights! • Transnational Advocacies Networks (TAN) for people empowerment - the global civil society: Boomerang Strategies: Local  Global Local • ICT (mobile communicative actions in a progressive mode) in enabling Global Communicative Activism • ICT - the leverage for the resource-poor and/or under-privileged groups in articulating their justifiable demand for a fair / equitable life chance.

  35. Outsiders -as- InsidersOthers’ ESC Rights versus Self- Determination? • ICT enhanced social mobilization extends the territorial (ir)relevance of ESC Rights • Individual makes a Difference! • Co-Determination as Self-Determination? • enables “outsiders”, non-reference-persons, to have influence in and beyond the locally and regionally specific, territorially defined, ESC struggles • extending to numerous individuals who used to be passive observers (of the mass media) and call upon their participation in a less militant, yet supportive, role for the protest movements.

  36. BARRIERS AGAINST GLOBAL ECO-(CYBER-)ACTIVISM • Digital Divides & Regional/Local Differences • Censorship + Control the Internet • Cyber-Imperialism & Ideologies • Geo-Comparative (Dis-)Advantage of (i)NGOs • Differential State-Society Conflicts

  37. Age-Specific Digital Divide: Mobile Phone Users by Age (Japan, 2007)

More Related