People often blame the opening of their economies for turning their values upside down. We often hear that things were better on a social and human level, that people looked after each other, human relations were more genuine...However, since the economy took a downturn towards more openness, the rat race started and everyone started chasing money, and with it more of everything. This usually means endless possibilities to have more and do more. Money talks its way into the social values scale and cripples it, almost to a horizontal position, with a spectrum of associated social problems. And we have witnessed this phenomenon in all countries that opened up their economies since the fall of the Berlin wall.
An open economic policy will be a big problem for society if the government does not really set up the condition to be able to anticipate the effects that cause a reshuffle in the values of a society.
So the reshuffle in the values of a society occurs when the ability of the government is not able to determine the conditions (regulation and assistance) in the society to be able to anticipate changes to the open economic policy.
I doubt it's economic openness per se...rather, urbanization is the primary causal agent in changing social behaviors and normative order. Urban society reduces fertility, so families are smaller, and the urban economy typically restricts the the family to a consumption role (rather than a production role as is common in the countryside). This means that people gradually become more individualistic and less communal. Also, people are living at much higher densities, and this is a stressor. As a result, people's customs and behavior in public space change to more guarded and less friendly. As for "chasing money," both cities and their dynamic economies make it possible (often for the first time for many populations) to actually improve their socioeconomic status...they begin to do what people always do when given the opportunity.
I agree: both globalization and urbanization are reshuffling values. Village community had more social orientation and altruism than urban communities where people have less history to build their network an where there might be lack of common space for meetings.
Globalization does it in a different way. Opening country's market ruins some traditional industries if they are not globally competitive and if the government does not favor any protectionism, accepting the principles of fully liberal economy. It may also open a new possibility and many people rush to fill new niche. All this is accompanied with stress: losing jobs, studying new profession, even moving abroad.
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