Positives and Negatives of Globalization

In How Soccer Explains the World, Franklin Foer connects the culture of soccer to globalization. In the third chapter, Foer focuses on how soccer explains the Jewish question. While in this chapter Foer extensively analyzes Jewish soccer groups in Europe, I think that an extremely interesting point he makes is that “Zionism and modern European anti-Semitism dripped out of the same fin-de-siècle intellectual spout” (70). Foer’s entire focus of this book is globalization, but it is easy to conclude that globalization is either entirely positive or entirely negative for the world. In this chapter, Foer juxtaposes Zionism and anti-Semitism to prove how globalization has both positive and negative aspects.

In the chapter, Foer talks about how the soccer teams, specifically Hakoah, didn’t just play the sport, but they also spread Zionism. It is because of globalization that these teams were able to travel around Europe and the entire world. On a surface level globalization led to the spread of soccer culture throughout the world, but if you look deeper it is clear that with the spread of soccer came additional political and ideological influences. If you think about it in the context of the 21^st century, soccer has become such a huge part of everyday life in much of the world. Not only do people watch the games on TV, but they also follow teams very closely and build friendships and enemies based on their love for soccer.

Many of the contributions of globalization, like sports, are very positive for the world. However, globalization has also been accompanied by negative ideologies, such as anti-Semitism. Foer compares anti-Semitism towards Jews in Europe to discrimination towards Native Americans in America.  Specifically the use of both cultures as mascots and the similar use of cartoons to represent stereotypes were used as points of comparison. I think it is extremely interesting that not only did globalization lead to the spread of anti-Semitism in Europe, but it also may have led to the similar treatment of Native Americans in a completely different continent. Both of these issues have continued into the 21^st century; there is a constant debate regarding the use of Native American symbols and names for sports teams or clothing, and in addition there is still a prominent issue of anti-Semitism in Europe. I think that while globalization does lead to many positive exchanges between people of different cultures, it can also lead to sharing negative ideologies like discrimination against minorities.

While Foer uses Zionism and anti-Semitism in Europe to portray the positive and negative affects of globalization, I think that it is the spread of these ideologies to other continents like the United States that actually reflects the extent to which globalization has impacted the world today. For example, when there are acts of anti-Semitism in Europe, people in America hear about it and react to it. In addition, the arguments about the cultural appropriation of Native Americans are not only confined to the US, but they are also discussed in other parts of the world. It is very clear that there are both positive and negative aspects to globalization, but I think that the greatest contribution of globalization to the world is the fact that these discussions and arguments are not confined to one country. If there is a conflict or ideology that one region is struggling with, people all over the world are also struggling with the same conflict. Some people may understand this to be a bad contribution (because countries are getting involved in conflicts of other countries which they really don’t understand), but I think that the interconnectedness between countries is ultimately a positive thing for the world.