1.1: The Hidden Infrastructure of Everyday Life

No One Lives in Isolation

If we slow down and look more closely, everyday objects begin to tell stories that stretch across continents and reveal the infrastructures of globalization. Manuel Castells (2010) describes a network society organized through flows of information, capital, labor, and power. These flows are not purely digital. They depend on mines, factories, ports, cables, warehouses, energy systems, laws, and workers whose contributions often remain invisible. Castells (2010) describes our era as the network society, where flows of information, capital, and labor operate across interconnected nodes rather than within isolated boundaries. Yet these flows are not purely digital, they are anchored in material realities that often remain obscured.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Global submarine telecommunication cables, 2007. The map makes visible a physical layer of the network society: digital communication depends on material infrastructure laid across oceans. Because the map dates to 2007, it should be read as a historical snapshot rather than a current inventory. (Public Domain; via Wikimedia Commons).

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\) is a global map with maritime telecommunication lines connecting all continents except Antarctica. 

The internet often appears weightless, but this map shows that global connectivity relies on cables, landing stations, energy, maintenance labor, territorial permissions, and vulnerable maritime routes. As illustrated in the map above, ask which regions appear densely connected, which appear peripheral, and how an infrastructure map can reveal power while still obscuring ownership, capacity, and control.

Lets return to the smartphone which begins its journey deep underground. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, cobalt is mined under conditions that frequently involve informal labor systems, minimal regulation, and significant human rights concerns. Reports have documented child labor and unsafe working environments, raising urgent ethical questions about the foundations of modern technology (Amnesty International, 2016; Zuboff, 2019). From there, raw materials move through global supply chains involving multiple intermediaries, manufacturers, and regulatory regimes. Components are assembled in large-scale industrial facilities where efficiency is prioritized, often at the expense of labor protections. Finished devices are then transported through global shipping networks: systems that are themselves vulnerable to geopolitical tensions, environmental disruptions, and economic instability. Each step in this process represents a node in a larger system of interdependence. Yet interdependence does not imply equality. Interdependence describes connection; it does not describe the fairness of the connection. A systems analysis therefore asks who sets the terms, who can refuse them, who receives the largest share of value, who absorbs risk, and who has the authority to change the arrangement.

Scholars have increasingly argued that contemporary globalization reflects patterns reminiscent of earlier forms of colonialism. Nick Couldry and Ulises Mejias (2019) introduce the concept of data colonialism, in which human experiences are appropriated as raw material for digital economies. In this model, data becomes the new resource, extracted, processed, and monetized by powerful corporations.

Similarly, Walter Mignolo (2011) situates globalization within a broader history of colonial power structures, emphasizing how knowledge, culture, and economic systems continue to reflect historical hierarchies. Seen through this lens, the smartphone is not just a technological device. It is a convergence point where histories of extraction, labor, and innovation intersect. Globalization, then, is not merely about connection. It is about systems of production, circulation, and power that shape how that connection unfolds.

Take a moment to think about your morning. Before you even leave your home, you may check your phone, scroll through social media, respond to messages, or look up directions. It feels routine and local. But in reality, you have already interacted with the world. The city you live in, especially in places like the Bay Area, is part of what sociologist Saskia Sassen calls a global city.  A hub where finance, technology, and decision-making connect across borders. These spaces help organize and manage a global economy that stretches far beyond any one country. When you use your smartphone, you are participating in what Manuel Castells describes as a network society, where information, communication, and power flow through global digital systems.

More on Data Colonialism

Your phone may seem like a simple, everyday object, but it tells a much larger story. Start with what is inside it. The battery likely contains cobalt, a mineral that is essential for storing energy. Around 70 percent of the world’s cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo. In some mining areas, workers including children dig by hand, often without protective equipment, for very low wages. This reminds us that the convenience of our digital lives is connected to difficult and unequal labor conditions in other parts of the world. Every tap, search, location signal, and interaction can become data. Couldry and Mejias (2019) call the large-scale appropriation of human life through data “data colonialism.” This framework is related to, but distinct from, Zuboff’s surveillance capitalism and Mignolo’s coloniality. Surveillance capitalism identifies a business model based on prediction and behavioral influence; data colonialism emphasizes appropriation at planetary scale; coloniality explains the persistence of racialized and geopolitical hierarchies after formal empire. Keep the concepts separate so that each explains a different mechanism.

The Global Assembly Line

The journey of your phone also reflects a global assembly process. It may be designed in California, rely on microchips produced in Taiwan, assembled in large factories in China, and shipped across oceans before reaching you. Each step connects different regions, workers, and industries. This system allows products to be made efficiently, but it also means that disruptions such as political conflict, pandemics, or climate events can affect supply chains worldwide.

All of this shows a key idea in global studies: the world is already deeply connected. These connections are not only digital or economic. They are also human and environmental. The materials we use, the data we generate, and the goods we consume all move through complex global systems. At the same time, these systems are not equal. Some regions benefit more than others. Some workers have more protections than others. Understanding globalization means recognizing both the connections and the inequalities that shape them. Finally, it is important to remember that these global networks did not appear overnight. They are the result of long historical processes centuries of trade, migration, colonization, and technological change. What we experience today is just the most recent phase of a much longer story of global connection.

Points to Ponder

As you move through this course, keep this question in mind:

• How are the things you use every day connected to people, places, and systems around the world?