When we were in BFSU, we'd done loads of discussions about the effects of globalizaion on many aspects of life. After hearing the lecture given by Professor Wood about the economic benefits that globalization can bring to human beings, I rethink about this notion and here is my conception of this idea.
First, there is no denying that globlization indeed makes people much wealthier than they were actually before, but I think the gap between rich and poor is at the same time also very much widened because of it. Globalization, on one hand, connects people from certain areas with the new technologies and innovations, but on the other hand, leaves some places in African or Latin America far behind this progress, because not all the countries are able to adapt to it given their different economic, political, geographical, or religious circumstances. The result is, the rich will become much richer, and the poor, because they can't benefit from this trend, become poorer, and therefore the great imbalancement of economic resources occurs. Moreover, it might lead to social instability, and in my opinion, this inequality will do great harm in the long run.
Second, globalization doesn't really leave some minor cultures with the choice of doing what they want. It might be their free will to eat in Macdonald or KFC, but what the truth is, globalization brings in the powerful culture that to a large extent squeezes the space of development of those local cultures, which means people are usually not aware of the loss they might have in the future, but when they really begin to realize the seriousness of this problem, it is always too late for any restoration
Besides, there is also some environmental problems that are considered the side effects of the globalization. For example, it makes the global warming a worldwide issue. On one hand, many countries are so involved in this fierce competition that they may not pay too much attention to the environmental protection mainly due to the problem of costs; on the other hand, some developed countries sometimes move the factories that produce lots of poisoning chemical materials to the less developed countries, and therefore make the global environment so much worse than before.
From my perspective, globalization leads to great harm that may be beyond our imagination. But as it has become a sort of irresistible trend so far, all we can do now is to prevent the bad effects from happening.