Effect of Cultural Globalization on National Identities - Case Study Example

EFFECT OF CULTURAL GLOBALIZATION ON NATIONAL IDENTITIES Student’s Name Student No Unit Name Word Count Effect of cultural globalization on National Identities Introduction Cultural globalization is a phenomenon in which the everyday lives of people are affected by the spread of information and products. It reflects a homogenization of cultural values around the globe that is aided by the internet, media, popular culture, and international travel. It is argued that homogeneity will result in the same human experience everywhere. Globalization has weakened national identity and makes national borders irrelevant. With globalization, nationalism is powerless since people of one nation are free to mix with those of others without restrictions. On the cultural level, the globe has drifted from national cultures to fused cultures that have resulted in a standardized global culture and not national identity. The national thinking has been limited by the development of a global community that is linked by new technologies, media productions, and other forms of interdependence. Therefore, countries should only embrace the positive aspects of globalization such as trade and safeguard its citizens from foreign cultural influences that affect national identity. Discussion National identity places an important role in the lives of people. It sutures people into national community and gives them meaning and purpose beyond which they can generate on their own. McCrone and Bechhofer (2015, p. 11) defines national identity as the means through which people solve the need to belong, without which they suffer alienation and atomization. National identity helps people function as social beings and nations need their identification with its symbols and institutions to exist. He claims that national identity is usually shaped by state, political, institutional and media and everyday societal practices. Huntington (2005, p. 4) attributes fading national identity to globalization, multiculturalism, anti-nationalism, immigration, and cosmopolitanism. The threats to national identity started when globalization gathered momentum. Naidoo (2007) expounds that before globalization, people connected their identity to a specific geographical locality. Identity belonged to local communities and their ways of life. However, with the spread globalization, people were displaced as they embraced foreign cultures. It can, therefore, be said that globalization dislocated traditional live hoods and local communities and threatened cultural diversity. What globalization does is eroding cultural identities and replacing them with Westernization or Americanization. An increase in interactions across borders has seen local cultures replaced with foreign ideas, and practices. Cultural homogenization takes place when elites are assimilated embrace the cultures of the Western society. Foreign education is responsible for the global dissemination of Western knowledge and also the creation of standard cultures which then influence international bodies such as the World Bank and multinationals. Arguably, the U.S. has managed to spread its culture to the rest of the world through globalization. Babran (2008) argues that the entire world has been remodeled in the image of Western culture. They argue that the primary agent for the globalization of culture is international mass media that is responsible for the continuous flow of trans border images that link people in the whole world. Without international media, teenagers outside the U.S. would not have adopted a Western lifestyle of jeans, Coca-Cola, and Hip-Hop music. Cultural imperialism theory claims that audiences across the globe are heavily influenced by media messages originating from dominant industrialized countries especially Western ones (Baran, 2017). Countries that control international media have an advantage over those that don’t and can export their culture. Many countries have complained that the global mass media is hurting the culture and traditional values of their citizens. The uneven flow of information supports western agenda and suppresses some countries national identity (Wang, 2008). In other words, it supports cultural imperialism and erodes of the national culture of the receiving nations. Smith and Wistrich (2007, p. 18) confirms that in a globalized world, national identities may become diminished. It is important that governments controls media content. Globalization of culture has led to an identity crisis. The interaction of globalization and the information era new personal and social identities has taken a negative toll on national identity. Nowadays, people are connected to others via virtual communities (Palfrey and Gasser, 2011). Most societies have been rendered unable to strengthen their communication channels and which fail to compete with new communication technology As a result, there have adverse effects on political, economic, and cultural aspects of societies which now face unrepairable damage. Globalization creates winners and losers. Wealthy nations like the U.S. emerge as the winners as they promote their agenda. There are concerns that globalization erodes national sovereignty and local identity. There is the deterioration of endemic cultures which are now being replaced with a universal culture that promotes consumerism and control of the economic and information technology powers of the world. Globalization has eroded some values rooted in the main religions and cultures of the world. Global capitalism has corrupted the values of good and bad, right and wrong, individualism and pluralism, and individual interaction with the community (Babran, 2008, p. 214). Even more, some local dialects and valuable practices are now endangered. Global consumerism has resulted in a homogenous global culture that has led to the erosion of the cultures of the Southern countries. The languages of dominant cultures have quickly spread via the media and the web and are adopted as the universal means of communication. It has become a must for people to learn English to communicate with other nationals as they do businesses or communicate via the internet (Schneider, 2011). Similarly, the traditional native fairy tales, songs, celebrations, and stories are being replaced with computer games which are now part of the global culture. There is need to safeguard cultural identity and diversity. Kraidy (2002) says that the different dialects, class, sex, religion and race are essential for the world. Further, it has taken years to create the pattern of cultural identities of societies, and it is bad that globalization is negating it. The author adds that in as much as globalization challenges the authority of states, and modifies the awareness of people; it is very hard to change the roots of identities of societies and cultures. Most people would choose to maintain their cultural ties rather than be citizens of the world. Globalization has disrupted peaceful co-existence among communities. It carries with it a sense of opening up and defining cultural identity. When people who have lived together peacefully for years adopt different foreign values, they are likely to clash (Turner and Holton, 2015). Also, there is a high chance that different camps may emerge for those who support globalization and those who are against it. For example, in the Middle East, there has emerged a strong group of terrorists who are against the spread of Western influence in their countries. Former Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was on record saying that the battle between the terrorism and the U.S. was a fight of Muslims against global crusaders. Most countries are now abandoning their cultures and embracing foreign values due to globalization. Some societies have been alienated from their tradition as its members have adopted modern ways of life that have no relationship to their national identity (Babran, 2008, p. 215). Thus, globalization makes traditions and values of local cultures weak for the sake of standardization and control of a dominant culture that is transmitted through international media. The global market has adverse effects on nationalist thinking. People can purchase brands or products from other countries, and this contributes to a change in their national cultures. For example, the buying of foodstuffs imported from other nations and the electrical cooking equipment can modify a country’s culture in the long run. The proliferation of internet games and TV shows that are imported from different countries erodes the nationalist ideology. The internet has even made things worse for national identity as people from different countries can interact via social media and other platforms. Most of these forums use languages spoken by the majority of the world’s population like English. Additionally, the internet allows people to learn the culture of others which reduces their negative perceptions or xenophobic tendencies. Individuals can now join online communities that are is not restricted to national boundaries, history or culture. This poses a significant threat and undermines nationalist thinking. Increased migration of people weakens national identities. It is easier to travel to other countries quickly. Nowadays, people prefer to visit other countries for leisure or site seeing (Reisinger, 2012). There is also an increased number that travel for economic purposes and some flee their countries for security reasons. As a result, there is a high mixture of people from different regions which leads to the exchange of cultures. When migrating, identity people change their identity because they have to adopt to their new environments. Migration thus redefine alters the cultural values and beliefs of a person who moves into a new environment and impacts him or her with new codes for survival. Singapore is one of the nations that has experienced the adverse effects of globalization. It is regarded as one of the world’s most globalized countries. Globalization has made the country face several political and economic crises that have made its leaders to come up with new measures to safeguard Singapore’s national identity (Kluver and Weber, 2003). Notably, Australia’s founding leaders opted to globalize its economy, its culture, and its population to cover for the lack of factors of production such as land and manpower. A series of strategies to globalize the country were initiated such as making English be the official political language, education, and business, cooperating with multinationals, and importing popular culture from first world countries, and encourage immigration of a large number of foreigners into the country. While the strategies paid off, it created problems for the country affected national identity among its native citizens. The problem has been manifested through various forms including the weakening of social cohesion and the weakening of desirable values such as collective good and sacrifice. The effects of globalization on Singapore have alarmed the government. Notably, issues of national identity have featured prominently in political viewpoints in the recent years. The government has been forced to come up to establish and sustain a stronger sense of identity and nationalism to counter the challenges. The strategy focuses on addressing the impacts of earlier policies (Kluver and Weber, 2003). It places weight on local languages and values, appeals to Singaporeans who have migrated to foreign countries to return to home. Also, the plan focuses on building national businesses and organizations that would inspire national pride. The globalization issues that Singapore has to deal with represents what may behalf many countries in the future. Whereas countries may benefit economically from globalization, it weakens national identity and the ability of states to chart independent courses and spur a sense of nationalism among their citizens. Globalization can offer both opportunities and challenges to countries. For example, it enabled Singapore to move from the process of nation building to being a global city in the last decade of the twentieth century (Amaldas, 2009). However, if not checked, globalization can bring about the decline of a country. Globalization undermines national boundaries, sovereignty, and the traditions and cultures of communities. The government of Singapore had hoped that by promoting globalization, the country would forge a unique identity (Koh, 2011). However, it later turned out that its citizens were becoming too “Westernized” and losing their national identity. Thus, it began advancing Confucian/Asian values to counter the spread of Western ideas of modernity. The country’s government now encourages economic globalization but protects the Asian conservative culture by restricting pornographic magazines, and other unwholesome global commodities. The actions of the governments are informed by the need to protect the country’s culture from foreign influences. It is important that people preserve their cultures for the subsequent generations. Similarly, the other country whose national identity is being threatened by globalization is Australia. Pickering (2001) argues that in recent decades, globalization has dug deep trenches across the Australia’s cultural landscape. The author attributes the leading cause of erosion of Australian culture to developments in communication and transportation technologies that resulted in increased flow of cultural goods in and out of the country. There are concerns that leisure time in Australia has become over commodified and are characterized with multinational logos. Arguably, the popularity of the U.S. cultural products in the country is evidence of the death of Australian culture. Imported cultural products have always influenced the country's culture. Australia has classified globalization as a threat to its political culture. There are claims that international organizations are a threat to national sovereignty. Similarly, the effects of large-scale migration on social cohesion have are seen as preventing Australia from upholding its values which determine collective identity (Pickering, 2001). The country’s Indigenous cultures have suffered greatly from the effects of the eighteenth-century as they had their traditional way of living repressed (Anheier and Isar, 2012, p. 223). There are fears that complex interdependencies between international trade and international organizations may change the role of Australia. Groups such as Citizen Electoral Council of Australia have raised concern about political and social effects of globalization (Worthington, 2001). The most serious concerns raised by Australians on the effect of globalization are that it erodes the country’s independence and the ability of the government to represent national interest. However, Pickering (2001) counter-argues the fear that globalization undermines national culture. He says that globalization and national culture have a supportive relationship where one frequently reinforces the other. This occurs through hybridization of modern culture or the promotion of human rights. Equally, there are characteristics of national culture that will be intact despite global pressures as they offer a unique sense of collective identity. In other words, local culture is strong enough to counter global capitalism, and people become aware of the need to preserve their culture. Skipper (2016, p. 13) claims that cultural characteristics are less mutable and cannot be easily compromised. However, this is not true since people are known to discard their cultures for others that they consider appropriate. Conclusion In general, governments should safeguard their citizens from foreign cultural influences that are brought about by globalization. Globalization affects people’s traditional values as they embrace cultures from powerful foreign nations of the West and the U.S. Most countries are now abandoning their habits and embracing foreign values due to globalization which has alienated them from their national identities. People acquire these foreign values when they are taught in schools using the western education system and language, buy foreign products, and become audiences of foreign media. Some countries have borne the full brunt of the adverse effects of globalization on national identities. These include Singapore and Australia. Singaporeans have become too “Westernized” that the country’s government have come up with a strategy to re-educate its people on the Asian values. Australia government has become more stringent in the media and events that are not in line with the country’s traditions. Equally, concerns have been raised about the effects of globalization of Australia culture. 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