Many hailed the 2004 opening of Bashundhara City, a world-class shopping mall located in Bangladesh's capital city of Dhaka, as yet another indicator of the country's consistently expanding economy. This was the first Western-style mall to open in the country and accordingly it has created quite a buzz. Many excited citizens still visit the mall solely to gaze at its staggering twenty-one stories, fully-equipped gym, and multiplex movie theater. Anywhere from 25,000 to 40,000 people reportedly visit the complex on weekends and holidays. The construction cost is over 100 million dollars (Buerk). The advent of the Western mall, an entirely novel institution in Bangladesh, implies much about current economic trends: according to most citizens, the opening of the mall can only be attributed to the rise of a newly powerful private sector recently strengthened by the steady expansion of Bangladesh's service sector (Bajaj and Manik).This paper will argue that the increased buying power of the middle and upper classes has developed out of increased industrialization in Bangladesh and has improved exchange across borders. Although the nation is witnessing some important signs of progress, abject poverty still afflicts nearly half of Bangladeshi citizens and modernization has only just begun to produce tangible social change in the region.
[...] Modernization in this way is now an agent for positive change in Bangladesh and economic trends currently in motion can prove it. On the other hand, though poorer citizens also view the evolving economic climate as indicative ofconcrete progress in the country, relatively few Bangladeshi citizens share in this new-found disposable income. Pervasive poverty still limits the better part of the nation. Bangladesh is becoming a more modern society with each passing year. Table 24-2 from a class handout packet titled “Traditional and Modern Societies: The Big Picture” mentions some of the exact trends taking place in Bangladesh today. [...]
[...] 11 Oct 2010. < http:>. Habbu, Vishwaji. "Evolution of Service Sector in Bangladesh: An Overview." Cuts International(2008): 1-5. Web. 14 Oct 2010. < http: evolution_of_service_sector_in_bangladesh.pdf>. Rhodhe, David. "A Lot of Cash in a Very Poor Nation: Welcome to the Mall." New York Times (2005): n. pag. Web. 11 Oct 2010. < http: bangladesh>. "Rising Middle Class Reshapes Politics." Bangladesh Weekly Market Review 8.29 (2006): 1. Web. 11 Oct 2010. < http: bangladesh.com>. Ritzer, George, and ZeynepAtley. Readings in Gloablization: Key Concepts and Major Debates. 1st. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. 13-15. Print. [...]
[...] For this reason and in light of this case study, modernization cannot completely push globalization into motion alone. It is true that certain aspects of modernization increase trade with other nations (especially in the retail sector in the region discussed here), and these economic changes can lay the foundation for broader exchange, but it is easy to see that modernization in Bangladesh is just taking hold and its long-lasting effects cannot yet be determined. The first fruits of industrialization have brought unfamiliar (often Western) economic results to Bangladesh, but with two thirds of workers still involved in agriculture (Bajaj and Manik), it is clear that the region has much more modernization to experience before the results of globalization penetrate other significant aspects of society. [...]
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