Economist Robert Reich has experienced the effects of globalization at many levels, but especially in his hips.

“I was getting my hips replaced when I started thinking about where my hips are from. I found out that my hips were fabricated in Germany and designed in France – I have French designer hips,” he said in a lecture Tuesday in Campbell Hall. “The reality is almost every company doing business and producing is doing it all over the world.”

In “Globalization and Its Discontents,” Reich, the former United States secretary of labor, spoke about the growing presence and advantages of globalization and the concerns affiliated with this economic and social movement.

Reich, who is currently a professor of social and economic policy at Brandeis University, said globalization is a concept rarely understood that often causes political and social stir.

“Globalization is a concept that has moved directly from obscurity to meaninglessness without any period of coherence,” he said. “When some people hear the word ‘globalization,’ what they see is international competitiveness or exploitation.”

Reich identified three major “discontents” of globalization in his lecture, including concerns over wage instability, exploitation of foreign workers and a lack of cultural sovereignty. Acknowledgment of these concerns, Reich said, would lessen fears of globalization.

“The government needs to take seriously the case of wage instability and expand unemployment insurance and create wage insurance. We also need to create different labor standards for developing countries,” he said. “Developing countries’ standards cannot be expected to be high when a country is poor, but the standards will rise as the country gains economic stability.”

Production of consumer items globally has blurred national boundary lines and diminished the importance of company identity, Reich said.

“Who is ‘us’? What do we mean by an American company? A Boeing with a Rolls-Royce engine made in Britain and a nose made in Canada does not necessarily have an American identity,” he said. “The standard of our living depends less and less on the identity and location of a company’s headquarters, and more and more on the value they add to the global economy.”

As globalization enhances the resources of a free market, Reich said he believes a working and consuming member of society will face new circumstances in a new economy.

“You as a consumer have more choices than ever before and can get better deals than ever before,” he said. “But as workers in this global economy, if we put on the hat of a producer, we have to hustle harder to attract that consumer.”

“As a culture, we cannot hold back McDonald’s and Nike [from selling in different countries], but what we can do is respect the values of other countries that say we want to limit the amount by which America’s dominant culture breaks through,” Reich said.

There are two different philosophical parties usually represented regarding globalization, the “preserve and protect,” supporters who aim to keep walls up against globalization and the “let ‘er rip,” supporters who place the free market as the highest priority.

“The problem with these [philosophies] is that they are both wrong,” he said. “We need to respond to the fears and insecurities associated with globalization.”

Despite student concerns about finding a job after graduation, Reich said UCSB seniors should not be worried about entering the labor market.

“This is a good market. Not as good as it was a year ago, but a good market. Graduates should know that their first job is only likely to last a year or so,” he said. “As they step into the job market, they also need to remember that this is a global market and that technology and globalization are binding the world together.”