Undergraduates' Awareness and Perceptions of Globalization: A Comparison of U.S. and Chinese Students eJournal of Public Affairs

Undergraduates’ Awareness and Perceptions of Globalization: A Comparison of U.S. and Chinese Students

Brett Zollinger

Fort Hays State University

Fu Runfeng

Sias International University

Keith Campbell

Fort Hays State University

Author Note

Brett Zollinger, Department of Sociology and Social Work, Fort Hays State University; Fu Runfeng, Sias International University; Keith Campbell, Department of Sociology and Social Work, Fort Hays State University.

Correspondence regarding this article should be addressed to Brett Zollinger, Chair and Professor, Department of Sociology and Social Work, Fort Hays State University, Rarick Hall 354, Hays, KS 67601-4099. Phone: 785.628.5881. E-mail: bzolling@fhsu.edu

Abstract

Assessing current awareness of and attitudes toward predominant globalization processes among undergraduate students is helpful for future course design, particularly courses about globalization or those with substantial globalization components. Such assessments also provide research opportunities for understanding changing levels of awareness and attitudes among undergraduate students over time. This paper reports research about the knowledge and perceptions of globalization concepts and trends among undergraduate students. The analysis compares findings among U.S. undergraduates at a Midwestern university (Midwest U.) with those among Chinese undergraduates at a university (China U.) in an east-central province of the country. Findings from two years of research (i.e., 2012 and 2013) are reported.

Keywords: Globalization; Undergraduate

Introduction

Assessing current awareness of and attitudes toward predominant globalization processes among undergraduate students is helpful for future course design, particularly courses about globalization or those with substantial globalization components. Such assessments also provide research opportunities for understanding changing levels of awareness and attitudes among undergraduate students through time. In this study, Steger’s (2009) globalization dimensions are used to organize findings. In addition, Scholte’s (2005) concept of deterritorialization as the definitively new characteristic of longstanding conceptualizations about trends and processes commonly grouped as types of globalization is used in presenting findings.¹ In a later work, Scholte (2010) defines his conceptualization of globalization as the growth in transplanetary social connectivity.

Methods

During the spring 2012 and 2013 semesters, face-to-face Introduction to Sociology students at Midwest U. were invited to participate in a voluntary, in- class, self-complete survey. Students in these courses are overwhelmingly traditional-age college students. Response rate to the survey exceeded 90% based on known class enrollment sizes. At Midwest U., 101 students participated in 2012 and 104 in 2013. The cover letter and instrument were translated into Chinese for purposes of self-complete, voluntary participation at Chinese U. At Chinese U., response rates neared 100%, yielding152 Chinese U. students participating in 2012 and 113 participating in 2013. The Chinese student sample comprised traditional-age college students. Administration of the survey to Midwest U. students occurred about five weeks into the spring semester, while administration at Chinese U. occurred during the second week of its spring semester.

Sample Characteristics

While academic majors across the U.S. samples varied significantly (not shown), 25% in 2012 and 15% in 2013 were nursing students, which is higher than the representation of these majors in the total student population at Midwest U. All students in the Chinese sample were in the same major in 2012 (i.e., business English). In 2013, most Chinese U. students (83%) were majoring in finance, with the remaining 17% majoring in international trade. Among Midwest U. students, a notably higher percentage (45%) reported having traveled to a foreign country in 2013 compared to 2012 (26%). Also, at Midwest U., there were notably higher percentages of students in 2013 who would have either considered a job in another country or liked to take a job in another country compared to 2012. There was a notably higher percentage of males in the Chinese sample in 2013 (58%) than in 2012 (20%). Other background characteristics of the two samples in both years are presented in Table 1.

¹ The authors thank fellow 2012 Midwest Sociological Society Annual Meeting workshop presenter Paige Miller for her suggestion to use and her summary of Scholte’s (2005) schema.

Table 1

Characteristics of Samples

		Midwest U.		China U.
		Students		Students
		2012	2013	2012	2013
		(N=101)	(N=104)	(n=152)	(N=113)
		%	%	%	%
Ever taken college course	Yes	24.2	16.2	9.7	3.0
discussing rapidly	No	75.8	83.8	90.3	97.0
increased global
connectedness of
countries?
Ever traveled to a foreign	Yes	26.0	44.7	6.6	5.5
country?	No	74.0	55.3	93.4	94.5
Parents or other close	Yes	31.0	35.3	22.4	27.4
family members ever lived	No	69.0	64.7	77.6	72.6
in another country
	I Have No Interest in Taking a Job in Another Country	47.3	30.1	9.6	18.4
Which best describes your own interest in working in another country?	I Would Consider a Job in Another Country	41.9	49.5	35.3	53.1
	I Would Like to Take a Job in Another Country at Some Time in My Career	10.8	20.4	55.1	28.6
Gender	Male	35.6	35.9	19.7	57.5
Gender	Female	64.4	64.1	80.3	42.5

	Freshman	37.6	35.0	3.9	2.7
	Sophomore	38.6	45.6	94.1	93.8
College classification	Junior	17.8	11.7	0	2.7
	Senior	5.9	7.8	2.0	0.9

Note: Differences of 10% or greater in response between survey years are highlighted in yellow.

Awareness of and Attitudes toward Common Conceptions of Globalization Awareness of Common Meanings of the Term

Students were asked to respond to a number of common conceptualizations of globalization on a metric measuring the extent to which they agreed with the introductory statement, “I believe ‘globalization’ includes….”

Table 2

Awareness of Common “Globalization” Meanings

“I believe ‘globalization’ includes:”

Midwest U.

Students

China U.

Students

2012 (N=101)

2013 (N=104)

2012 (N=152)

2013 (N=113)

1a. Increased trade between countries.

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly

Disagree

Not Something I Think Of

36.5

56.7

1.9

1.0

3.8

72.4

26.3

1.3

59.3

38.9

1b. Increased cultural transmissions between countries.

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly

Disagree

Not Something I Think Of

29.8

49.0

8.7

1.0

11.5

59.9

37.5

0.7

54.0

39.8

3.5

1.8

1c. Increased communication

between people

Strongly Agree Agree

Disagree

43.4

48.5

39.4

51.9

3.8

61.2

35.5

49.6

44.2

3.5

and groups across national borders.

Strongly Disagree

Not Something I

Think Of

1.0

3.8

0.7

1.8

1d. Growing networks of people who join organizations for a common purpose (for example, Greenpeace, Amnesty International,

etc.,).

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly

Disagree

Not Something I Think Of

33.7

49.0

3.8

1.0

12.5

45.4

4.6

0.7

1.3

32.7

46.9

10.6

1.8

1e. Increased human-caused change to the environment that is cross-border or not specific to

just one country.

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly

Disagree

Not Something I Think Of

23.1

51.9

8.7

1.9

14.5

34.9

47.4

11.2

0.7

5.9

27.4

39.8

17.7

4.4

10.6

Note: Differences of 10% or greater in response between survey years are highlighted in yellow.

Results reported in Table 2 show that among Midwest U. students, there was high awareness in general when measured by the combined percentages who selected “Strongly agree” or “Agree.” In comparing Midwest U. to Chinese U. students, three patterned differences in responses emerged. With the exception of “I believe globalization includes growing networks of people who join organizations for a common purpose” in the 2013 survey year, higher percentages of Chinese U. students chose “Strongly agree.” Combined strong agreement and agreement was higher among the Chinese U. students. The response “Not something I think of” occurred more frequently among Midwest U. students. However, the gap in awareness between students of the two countries declined from 2012 to 2013 due to lower percentages of Chinese U. students strongly agreeing or agreeing in 2013 compared to 2012.

Steger (2009) argues that globalization is a process. He outlines four dimensions of globalization processes: economic, political, ecological, and cultural. Below, these four dimensions are used to organize the results of this survey (see Tables 3, 4, 5, and 6).

Economic Dimensions Table 3

Economic Dimensions Awareness and Attitudes

Awareness items		Midwest U. Students		China U. Students
Awareness items		2012 (N=101) %	2013 (N=104) %	2012 (N=152) %	2013 (N=113) %
2. China and India are	Strongly	18.8	23.1	17.1	11.5
widely considered the two	Agree	60.4	59.6	46.7	54.9
developing countries whose	Agree	2.0	3.8	20.4	12.4
national economies have	Disagree	0	0	1.3	2.7
grown the most by	Strongly	18.8	13.5	14.5	18.6
international trade during	Disagree
the last 20 years or so.	Don’t Know
3. In developing countries	Strongly	11.9	15.4	35.5	29.2
(like Brazil and India)	Agree	45.5	47.1	48	49.6
whose economies have	Agree	10.9	9.6	9.2	14.2
grown substantially from	Disagree	0	1.0	0.7	1.8
selling goods to developed	Strongly	31.7	26.9	6.6	5.3
countries (like the U.S.A.	Disagree
and Germany) for the past	Don’t Know
20 or so years, there has also
been dramatic increase in
income inequality among
citizens within these
developing countries.
4. With increased	Strongly	5.9	10.6	19.9	15.9
international trade between	Agree	65.3	60.6	52.3	46.0
countries, the quality of life	Agree	19.8	15.4	19.2	22.1
improves for the majority of	Disagree	1	2.9	5.3	5.3
citizens in the trading	Strongly	7.9	10.6	3.3	10.6
countries. [disagreement	Disagree
shows higher awareness,	Don’t Know
(Steger, 2009, p. 69)]
6a. On a world-wide scale in the 21st Century, increasing income inequality within countries is occurring.	Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly	14 52 13 1 20	16.3 51.0 8.7 0 24	52 44.7 1.3 0 2	48.7 33.6 8.0 .9 8.8

	Disagree Don’t Know

Attitude item
	Strongly	23.9	23.9	61	50.5
6b. [IF STRONGLY	Agree	56.3	57.7	34.9	34.4
AGREE OR AGREE ON	Agree	14.1	11.3	3.4	6.5
6a.] Increases in economic	Disagree	2.8	1.4	0	1.1
inequality within countries	Strongly	2.8	5.6	0.7	7.5
is a major social problem.	Disagree
	Don’t Know

Note: Differences of 10% or greater in response between survey years are highlighted in yellow.

The first item in Table 3 suggests that Chinese U. students are less aware that their own country and India are widely considered the two developing countries whose national economies have grown the most as a result of international trade (see Steger, 2009, p. 135) during the last 20 years; however, a higher percentage of Midwest U. students answered “Don’t know.” Chinese U. students expressed more agreement with every other item in the table. Notably lower percentages of Midwest U. students realized that developing countries whose economies have grown substantially over the past 20 years have also experienced dramatic increases in internal income inequality (see Steger, 2009, pp.135-138); however, among the Midwest U. students, 12% more in 2013 strongly agreed or agreed that this has occurred. Chinese U. students were more aware of the increasing inequality on a worldwide scale in the 21^st century. Further, Chinese students who strongly agreed or agreed that this is occurring tended to express higher agreement that this increasing income inequality is a major social problem; yet, 10% fewer Chinese U. students strongly agreed with this in 2013 compared to 2012. There was a tendency across the awareness items in Table 3 for a higher percentage of “Don’t know” response among Midwest U. students compared to Chinese U. students, but the percentage of Chinese students who answered “Don’t know” in 2013 was higher on every item compared to 2012.

Political Dimensions

Table 4

Political Dimensions Beliefs and Attitudes

Belief items		Midwest U. Students		China U. Students
Belief items		2012 (N=101) %	2013 (N=104) %	2012 (N=152) %	2013 (N=113) %
14. In producing goods and	Strongly	3	4.8	4	4.4
services businesses have	Agree	34.7	51.0	9.9	32.7
come to rely so much on the	Agree	29.7	14.4	63.6	39.8
ability to obtain resources	Disagree	3	4.8	13.2	15.0
from around the world that	Strongly	29.7	25	9.3	8
governments are unable to	Disagree
implement policy that will	Don’t Know
hamper international
business dealings.
	Strongly	6.9	13.5	26.3	16.8
17. In my lifetime, being a world citizen will become more important than being a citizen of a country.	Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree	18.8 44.6 14.9 14.9	33.7 21.2 10.6 21.2	38.2 22.4 7.9 5.3	25.7 26.5 18.6 12.4
	Don’t Know

Attitude items
11. International	Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don’t Know	19.8 49.5 5 3 22.8	19.2 48.1 5.8 2.9 24	26.3 59.9 8.6 0.7 4.6	26.5 49.6 12.4 2.7 8.8
cooperation through
organizations like the
United Nations is something
that I hope increases during
my lifetime.
12. It is good to have	Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Don’t Know	29.7 53.5 3 3 10.9	34.6 50.0 3.8 1.9 9.6	48.7 38.2 7.9 0 5.3	39.8 38.1 14.2 .9 7.1
worldwide nonprofit
organizations aimed at
meeting needs of citizens
regardless of country
borders.
13. In producing goods and	Strongly	5	3.8	8.6	13.3

services businesses have	Agree	49.5	34.6	24.3	19.5
come to rely so much on the	Agree	14.9	25.0	51.3	45.1
ability to obtain resources	Disagree	3	3.8	11.2	13.3
from around the world that	Strongly	27.7	32.7	4.6	8.8
governments should not	Disagree
implement policy that will	Don’t Know
hamper international
business dealings.
16. Citizens in developing	Strongly	16	16.3	9.9	10.6
countries have a right to	Agree	52	51.0	40.4	39.8
expect improved quality of	Agree	15	16.3	30.5	29.2
life for the majority of	Disagree	1	1.9	4	3.5
citizens the more their	Strongly	16	14.4	15.2	16.8
government allows foreign	Disagree
companies to do business in	Don’t Know
the country.

Note: Differences of 10% or greater in response between survey years are highlighted in yellow.

Among both Midwest U. and Chinese U. students, majorities agreed that they would like to see international cooperation increase during their lifetimes and that it is good to have worldwide nonprofit organizations aimed at meeting the needs of citizens regardless of country borders.

In 2012 a majority and a much larger percentage of Chinese U. students expressed agreement that in their lifetimes, being a world citizen will become more important than being a citizen of a country. This changed in 2013, with fewer than half (43%) of the Chinese U. students strongly agreeing or agreeing, and nearly half (47%) of Midwest U. students strongly agreeing or agreeing with this statement. This is a marked change among students in each country when compared to 2012 results, suggesting a convergence between Midwest U. and Chinese U. students in this belief.

Compared to Midwest U. students, Chinese U. students expressed much less agreement with the belief that “businesses have come to rely so much on the ability to obtain resources from around the world that governments are unable to implement policy that will hamper international business dealings.” Interestingly, the percentage of both Midwest U. and Chinese U. students who agreed with this statement increased and the percentage who disagreed decreased between 2012 and 2013. Compared to Chinese U. students, Midwest U. students

in 2013 still expressed slightly more agreement with the belief that “governments should not implement” such policy, but the distribution among Midwest U. students on this item moved more toward the Chinese U. students between 2012 and 2013.

In both 2012 and 2013, a majority of and a larger percentage of Midwest

U. students expressed agreement that “citizens in developing countries have a right to expect improved quality of life for the majority of citizens the more the citizens’ governments allows foreign companies to do business in their country.”

Across these political dimensions of globalization items in Table 4, there is a higher percentage of “Don’t know” responses among Midwest U. students.

Ecological Dimensions

Table 5

Ecological Awareness and Attitudes

Awareness item		Midwest U. Students		China U. Students
Awareness item		2012 (N=101) %	2013 (N=104) %	2012 (N=152) %	2013 (N=113) %
	Strongly	15.0	18.3	62.7	64.6
5a. On a world-wide scale	Agree	57.0	56.7	34.7	28.3
in the 21st Century, global	Agree	13.0	10.6	2	3.5
climate change from	Disagree	2.0	1.0	0	0
human activities is	Strongly	13.0	13.5	0.7	3.5
occurring.	Disagree
	Don’t Know

Attitude item
	Strongly	14.9	18.5	82.4	72.4
5b [IF STRONGLY	Agree	47.3	54.3	16.9	20.0
AGREE OR AGREE ON	Agree	25.7	22.2	0	5.7
5a.] Such world-wide	Disagree	4.1	1.2	0	1.0
global climate change is a	Strongly	8.1	3.7	0.7	1.0
major social problem.	Disagree
	Don’t Know

Note: Differences of 10% or greater in response between survey years are highlighted in yellow.

Results reported in Table 5 show that Chinese U. students expressed extremely high levels of awareness that “global climate change from human activities is occurring,” with combined percentages who “Strongly agree” or “Agree” nearing 100% in both 2012 and 2013. A majority of Midwest U. students also at least agreed with the statement in 2012 (72%) and in 2013 (75%); however, the percentage of Midwest U. students that strongly agreed was far lower in both years than among the Chinese U. students. Attitudes about whether “such … climate change is a major social problem” were also markedly different, with nearly 100% of Chinese U. students at least agreeing in 2012 and 92% in 2013, compared to only 62% of Midwest U. students at least agreeing in 2012 and 73% in 2013.

Cultural Dimensions

Table 6

Cultural Attitudes

Attitude item		Midwest U. Students		China U. Students
Attitude item		2012 (N=101) %	2013 (N=104) %	2012 (N=152) %	2013 (N=113) %
	Strongly	11.9	10.6	28.5	20.4
8. I would prefer to see	Agree	22.8	26.9	31.1	30.1
cultural boundaries between countries (which limit flows of values, beliefs, ideas, and	Agree Disagree	38.6 14.9	44.2 8.7	30.5 7.3	33.6 11.5
preferences) reduced in my lifetime.	Strongly Disagree	11.9	9.6	2.6	4.5
	Don’t Know

Chinese U. students were more interested in seeing cultural boundaries between countries reduced in their lifetimes, with a majority (60%) agreeing with the statement, while only 35% of Midwest U. students agreed. However, the percentage of Chinese U. students at least agreeing declined by approximately 9% from 2012 to 2013.

Deterritorialization

Scholte (2005) suggests that deterritorialization or supraterritorialization is the distinctive defining characteristic of modern globalization (also see footnote 1). Several items on the survey are reasonable measures of this concept. All of the items are reported in various tables above: 1c, 1d, 1e, 11, 12, and 17. Items 1c, 1d, and 1e show very high agreement among both types of students in meanings of “globalization,” suggesting that the concept at least has a supraterritorial aspect. Chinese U. students consistently demonstrated higher “Strongly agree” levels, though the difference between Chinese U. students and Midwest U. students declined from 2012 to 2013. Responses to items 11 and 12 suggest that strong majorities of both types of students hope to see increased international cooperation and appreciate the presence of worldwide nonprofits that address social needs. In 2012, Chinese U. students expressed far higher agreement (65%) than Midwest U. students with the belief that being a world citizen will become more important than being a citizen of a particular country during their lifetimes; only 26% of Midwest U. students in 2012 agreed with this belief. This changed in 2013, with less than half (43%) of the Chinese U. students strongly agreeing or agreeing, and close to half (47%) of Midwest U. students strongly agreeing or agreeing with this statement. Again, this is a marked change among students in each sample, suggesting a potential convergence in belief between Midwest U. and Chinese U. students.

Summary

In this study, Chinese U. students had a higher preference for and expectation to live and work in a foreign country. They demonstrated high awareness of the common conceptualizations of globalization, and their awareness was higher than Midwest U. student awareness. Chinese U. students were more aware of economic processes of globalization, particularly patterns of increased wealth inequality in developing countries that have experienced substantial economic growth in the past 20 years. They were also much more likely than Midwest U. student to strongly agree that increasing inequality is a major social problem. Chinese U. students were more likely to see government intervention in international business dealings as feasible, and they were much more likely to disagree that such intervention is inappropriate. Chinese U. students were far more aware that global climate change from human activities is occurring, and among those who agreed or strongly agreed compared to Midwest U. students who agreed or strongly agreed, Chinese U. students expressed much higher agreement that such climate change is a major social problem. Finally, majorities of both Chinese U. and Midwest U. students expressed a preference that cultural boundaries between countries be reduced during their lifetimes and that it is good to have worldwide nonprofit organizations aimed at meeting needs of citizens regardless of country borders. The differences between Chinese U. students and Midwest U. students on most of these items narrowed between 2012 and 2013. Most often this was due to a tendency for less agreement among Chinese U. students in 2013 compared to 2012. However, on some items the narrowing gap is due also to Midwest U. student response distribution moving toward Chinese U. distributions. On one item (6a shown in Table 4) the narrowing is only due to the Midwest U. student distribution moving toward the Chinese U. student distribution.

Limitations

This study relies primarily on convenience samples at only two universities, one in the United States and one in China. Drawing generalizations from either sample to larger categories of similar students at a nation level would be inappropriate. With respect to college major and classification, these samples are not even representative of the university student populations from which they are drawn. The Midwest U. student sample is more representative with respect to the distribution of majors among its university’s student population, as the questionnaire was administered anonymously in a popular general education course, Introduction to Sociology. Yet, because it was administered in this way at Midwest U., the sample has higher preponderance of freshman and sophomores than in the full population of students. The Chinese U. students are tracked into particular course sections by declared major, which explains the non-variance in college major within the Chinese U. sample. The Chinese students’ major in 2012, business English, is one with a transnational application, which is likely a product (at least in part) of a preexisting orientation among these students toward transnational working and living situations. In 2013, most Chinese U. students (83%) were majoring in finance, with the remaining 17% majoring in international trade. This may explain the lower levels of agreement in the Chinese U. students in 2013, as compared to 2012. The 2013 Chinese U. sample may be somewhat less transnationally oriented to the extent that self-selection into the finance major occurred. Chinese U. students are also matriculated through curricula in a more regimented fashion as a cohort, which explains why the vast majority of them are classified as sophomores.

References

Scholte, J. A. (2005). Globalization: A critical introduction. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.

Scholte, J. A. (2010). Governing a more global world. Corporate Governance, 10(4), 459-475.

Steger, M. B. (2009). Globalization: A brief insight. New York: Sterling.

Author Biographies

Dr. Brett Zollinger is Professor of Sociology and Chair of Sociology and Social Work at Fort Hays State University. He also serves the Docking Institute of Public Affairs at FHSU as a Senior Policy Fellow, and is the past Director of the Institute. He teaches Sociological Theory, Methods of Social Research, Survey and Field Research, Applied Sociology, and Introduction to Sociology. Brett’s work has been nationally recognized. He received the Rural Sociological Society’s Dissertation Award in 1997. He has published in the journals: Rural Sociology, Journal of the Community Development Society, Research in Community Sociology, Economic Development Quarterly, Complimentary Health Practice Review, and the Online Journal of Rural Research and Policy. He also has a book chapter in the edited book, Mad about Wildlife.

Mr. Fu Runfeng is an instructor at SIAS International University located in Henan province China. He earned his Master’s degree with a concentration in Social Entrepreneurship at Fort Hays State University. FHSU has a partnership with Sias International University in China, and Fu Runfeng teaches in that international program. With the support of Dr. Keith Campbell from the Department of Sociology and Social Work at FHSU, Fu introduced the course “Social Entrepreneurship” to Chinese students at Sias in 2011, and he became one of the first teachers of social entrepreneurship in China. He believes that the third sector or grass-root NPOs will boom in China shortly, and NGOs will become a driving force for the social development of China. He teaches other courses at SIAS, which include Cultural Anthropology, Global Forces in a Changing World, and Sustainability and the Future.

Dr. Keith Campbell is Professor of Sociology at Fort Hays State University. He has traveled to China 22 times since 1999, when he began assisting with course delivery at SIAS University in Xinzheng, China. Keith’s primary areas of study are global change, cultural diversity, and social entrepreneurship.