Culture is Globalised - Essay Example

Culture is globalised Introduction Evidence of globalisation is prevalent almost everywhere; from Japanese sushi in London restaurants to Hollywood films in different parts of the world. The internet allows people to communicate face-to-face through Skype or exchange ideas through other online platforms. It is apparent that globalisation has altered people’s lives dramatically, but the desirability of these changes is highly debatable. Some scholars like Gurnah (2003) state that when culture is globalised it widens human experience and wisdom; conversely, others state that it dilutes authentic cultures and does little to preserve novel values. This essay will look at the validity of arguments about the outcomes of a globalised culture after defining key terms. Definition of terms Globalisation has numerous definitions depending on the school of thought from which one originates; sometimes it may be defined from a sociological, political economic or anthropological lens. For purposes of this analysis, it will be defined as “an intensification of world-wide social relationships, which link distant places in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa” (Giddens, 1990, p.4). It is an undeniable fact that globalisation affects almost every single person on the planet irrespective of their class, gender or ethnicity. People’s level of consciousness is changing and many of them have now acquired a global orientation or at least global awareness (Beynon, 2000). This state of affairs has led to certain paradoxes, which had not been imagined before; increased awareness is not unifying the world, as one would expect. It is instead making people more diverse and even disjointed. Human experiences as defined in Gurnah’s phrase refer to things that occur in people’s lives that have the capacity to affect how they act and think. It may also be envisaged as the totality of all the skill and knowledge that people acquire through certain periods of time when they participate in something. Conversely, human wisdom refers to the ability to utilise one’s knowledge and experience in order to make sound decisions (Beynon, 2000). Finally, cultural globalisation refers to a phenomenon in which lives lived by people reflect a standardisation of cultural ideas from different parts of the world. This came about as a result of the proliferation of the internet, international travel, and the rise of popular culture. Homogenisation of cultural influences is apparent in the presence of fast food franchises like McDonald’s all over the world, advertising, consumerism, popular television programs, and preferred genres of music among others. Whether globalised culture widens human experience and wisdom The question one must answer is whether globalised culture expands human experiences and wisdom as it is claimed by renowned scholar A. Gurnah. Supporters of this perspective would claim that globalisation of culture causes more people to become tolerant of one another. They hold that it leads to greater information access that can create lifestyles that are better for societies concerned. For instance, globalised culture causes people to become more liberal, which often lead to stronger gender equality as well as less stigmatisation of people with different traits such as disability. It may also encourage more democracy thus causing more leaders to become accountable to the public. Therefore, the above perspective is a positive view of globalised culture; it focuses mostly on the facets of life that have become better owing to the confluence of culture (James and Manfred, 2010). When looking at this point of view, one must acknowledge the diversity of choices that are prevalent in societies where cultures are highly globalised. In this regard, it may be true that ways of life have become more homogenised across geographies; however, the diversity of choices available to those individuals is much greater. Take for the example the globalisation of music; if one visited a rural village in Botswana, one is likely to find only one type of music. Conversely, a more globalised place like New York has a diversity of music genres like rock and roll, RnB, jazz, rap, country, reggae, swing and several others. If one were to visit another metropolitan part of the world, like London, one would also find similar genres of music. Therefore, globalised culture increases the differences present in a certain geographical location even though those differences may be prevalent in different parts of the world (Kraidy, 2005). What the above condition creates is a situation in which people have more choices, so individuals have more opportunities to curve their identities. Societies that are more primitive have less cultural globalisation because people in those societies only specialise in one kind of consumption (Cato, 2003). Conversely, those in developed areas have more cultural options that they can utilise to distinguish themselves from others; for instance, a person may chose to listen to hard metal while another may go for soul music. All these influences may have been unavailable if fewer social interactions occurred between people or if there was less globalisation. For this reason, a globalised culture enriches people’s choices and even increases difference; it frees diversity from the confines of one’s geographical location (Jones, 2006). A globalised culture often has certain characteristics in common with others; it epitomises modernity, individualism, rationality and free market economics. These values often make sense to individuals from different parts of the world thus explaining why there will always be new allies in the quest for enlightenment. A globalised culture is a modern one in which people value democracy; also, the voices of all concerned are heard. Some nations in the world have fiercely resisted democratic principles, and this has only led to a stifled and underdeveloped state. Censorship is common in these societies, and many demographic groups are not allowed to have their say. Globalised cultures tend to have residents who believe in human progress and encourage many people to value advancement; for this reason, it encourages more people to have wider experiences. A culture of modernity is still synonymous with globalised culture, and this is the place where liberty thrives; such an environment often expands experiences and hence people’s choices (Ghosh, 2011). On the flipside, it may be stated that globalisation sometimes undermines human experiences and wisdom if perceived from a different dimension. Most global cultures depend on some sort of authentic culture that is used as a template for a diversity of offerings. For instance, the McDonald’s burger is derived from Southern versions of the beef burger; with greater globalisation, mass-produced products overcrowd the market (WHO, 2012). This makes it economically unfeasible to create the original burger in restaurants, as most businesses cannot compete with such large franchises. Eventually, this may lead to the disappearance of the original Southern burger; the authenticity of experiences in this regard may minimise dramatically because local cultures may no longer be competitive. In this case, globalised culture neutralises and even leads to disappearance of certain authentic experiences; people who live in standardised culture tend to experience the same things as others in the world, but rarely get to enjoy authentic experiences (Pagel, 2012). If the culture under consideration happens to be the one that initiated the original cultural idea, then its collective experience may be undermined due to competition from external bodies. Aside from the disappearance of authentic cultural experiences, a globalised culture also eliminates certain values that were not even related to the idea under analysis. For instance, the reason why many people oppose the proliferation of McDonalds is that it leads to the spread of fast living. In places like the Mediterranean as well as Europe, food was a primary component of culture; it was a time when parents and children would sit down together and exchange ideas (James, 2006). Sometimes this would take a relatively long period, and foreign businesspersons often complained about such cultural norms. However, the introduction of fast food chains in these locations has dramatically reduced the amount of time people spend on their meals. They have now become a highly consumerist and individualist society that favours businesspersons but impedes cultural encounters. In this sense, globalised culture undermines religious values and familial values when a consumerist, highly productive culture becomes the norm. Probably this fast culture explains why certain parts of the world are becoming less religious or less family-centric. When perceived from this light, then certain sources of wisdom and experience are lost after globalised culture purveys different parts of the world (Hays, 2009). Conclusion It appears that the evidence is stacked in favour of a globalised culture and its relation to human experiences and wisdom. An analysis of this phenomenon shows that when culture is globalised, it increases the diversity of choices available to individuals and thus causes their experiences to become richer. Furthermore, it leads to the proliferation of enlightenment principles, which create greater liberty, equality and democracy. These conditions create wider knowledge access and hence greater experiences among people involved. Even though globalised culture can undermine authentic cultures by outcompeting businesses that produce these cultural ideas, it may be argued that all cultures are blended. Additionally, global culture often reduces other unrelated facets of life that had greater value in and of themselves; a typical case is the replacement of lengthy family meals with fast foods from McDonalds or other franchises. What one must ask is whether those former cultural values led to greater wisdom and experiences than the globalised one that replaced them. Clearly, this is a matter that will elicit different reactions depending on the groups under consideration. However, if one analyses it from a quantitative perspective, then a globalised culture supersedes other local cultures because they appear to be narrowly defined while globalised culture is more far-ranging. References Beynon, J. (2000), ‘General Introduction’ in J. Beynon and D. Dunkerkey (eds.), Globalization: The reader, New York: Routledge. Cato, 2003. Globalization. [online] Available at: http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/policy-report/2003/5/globalization.pdf [Accessed 29 May 2014] Ghosh, B., 2011. Cultural changes in the era of globalisation. Journal of Developing Societies, 27(2), pp. 153–175. Giddens, A., 1990. The consequences of modernity. Stanford: SUP. Gurnah, A., 2003. The limits of globalisation. London: Routledge. Hays, J., 2009. Globalization, domestic institutions, and the new politics of embedded liberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. James, P., 2006. Globalism, nationalism, tribalism. London: Sage Publications. James, P. and Manfred, S., 2010. Globalization and culture. Sage Publications Jones, A., 2006. The dictionary of globalization. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. Kraidy, M., 2005. Hybridity, or the cultural logic of globalization. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Pagel, M., 2012. Does globalization mean we will become one culture? [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120522-one-world-order [Accessed 29 May 2014] WHO, 2012. Cultural dimensions. [online] Available at: http://www.who.int/trade/glossary/story012/en/ [Accessed 29 May 2014] Read More