Global Flows of Capital and Technologies - Essay Example

Proliferation of the internet has changed the way people communicate and behave with each other. The internet has blurred national boundaries; ‘supercultures’ have been constructed in the global age of communication. These supercultures assume various forms, are definitely in favor of change and have led to the formation of new communities such as using the digital networks (Sznaider and Winter 2003). Internet is used by groups across the world that differs across language and culture. However, the communicative power that it encompasses enables limitless cultural possibilities. Despite enormous possibilities the idea of a global homogeneous culture does not appear to be a reality. Globalization and localization have to be dealt together because culture is pervasive and deeply embedded in to the lives of people. This paper argues that the internet has enabled global flows of capital and technologies but it does not lead to a homogenous culture despite various forms of exchange and interactions and a ‘cultural and social interconnectedness’. Globalization is often referred to as the blending of cultures in the global marketplace and in the transnational media including the growth of transnational politics (Ritzer and Stillman 2003). Globalization has created cultural possibilities that may not have been otherwise possible. Globalization has created new organizational forms that increase options rather than replace traditional forms. Thus global culture is in addition to the local culture and does not replace local culture. This has only led to cultural complexity because the world effectively becomes bi- or poly- cultural. This can be seen in varied fields such as business, politics and even in the use of language where language is an important identity marker in the age of information. The internet masks other identity markers such as race, gender and class but the language and the dialect used is immediately noticed. In 1992, 82 percent of the web pages in the cyber space were in English (Warschauer, 2001). This caused great consternation for many people around the world but there reasons for early dominance for English on the Internet. Since the product started from North America and the early users were mostly from North America, the program was coded in English which made computing in other alphabets impossible. However, soon with advanced technological development, websites in languages other than English have been made. In fact several newly active internet groups use their national language. This change of direction shows a shift from globalization to relocalization. Initially globalization had brought in vertical control from international centers, evident from the rise of media giants like CNN. However, the trends changed and corporations recognized that to maximize their market share they would have to adapt to local conditions. Similarly, even in the field of internet, while English continues to be the medium of communication and information exchange at the global level, the fast growth of internet in developing nations such as China and India, witnessed further changes (Warschauer, 2001). Today web browsers are being adapted for several languages and character sets. Thus, users now turn to their own language to reach websites or join discussions in their own country or region. This suggests that while initially English appeared to be the language for global communication, now marketers and educationists, including the social networking sites have accepted local adaptation. In fact, the internet is now used as a tool to preserve, promote and revitalize one’s language. Possibly this is what Castells (1997) means when he says that powerful expressions of collective identity have challenged globalization (cited in Tomlinson, 2003). Tomlinson asserts that identity is seen as the upsurging power of local culture that offers resistance to the centrifugal force of capitalist globalization. However, even if people try to retain their cultural identity they cannot escape the influence of other cultures, asserts Hongladarom (2000). Development of various movements such as the “Green Movement” in Iran in 2009 and the Egyptian social movement in 2011 (Olorunnisola and Martin 2013) are evidence enough of how the internet and the social media have contributed towards strengthening such movements. In fact no country or region has been able to remain immune to the impact of this media on social and political movements (Stepanova 2011). Such impact is not confined to the region where action occurs but it impacts nations across the globe. Based on a survey conducted by Pew Internet and American Life Project, in 2012, 39 percent of all Americans have participated in some form of political activity through the social media (Susskind 2013). The fact that regional political issues involve people across the globe through the social media is evident from the events that unfolded during the Egyptian social movement in 2011. The web censorship imposed by the government to curb information flow proved to be very costly as the youth resorted to streets. What was even more striking was citizen journalism emerged as people were inspired by other such protests in Iran and Tunisia. When access was denied in Egypt people called up their friends in other countries to post tweets and raw videos of police brutality were also uploaded on the YouTube (Khamis and Vaughn 2011). A Google executive from Dubai exploited the networking capabilities of Facebook and started a campaign on the social media following the death of Khalid Saeed, a victim of the Egyptian Revolution (Storck 2011). All these incidences demonstrate that the potential of the social media is immense but it has enabled individuals located in the Diaspora to form new social and political relationships (Olorunnisola and Martin 2013). This marginalized group is now able to influence the traditional media to cover their causes through citizen journalism. It has become fairly simple to instigate a transnational audience as dissidents can now frame their movements and mobilize citizens in any location of their choice. Internet has facilitated a new age of political transformation. Where the westerners use the social media and blogs to reflect their personal daily experiences, the Arab world uses the social media extensively for political purposes (Al-Kandari and Hasanen 2012). The new communication technologies have greatly influenced modern Arab politics. All these events and movements through the social media would suggest that the internet has been able to shake up traditional distinctions between local, foreign and international news. However, many news institutions in the cyberspace still retain their character of the traditional media with regard to three features – focus continues to be on local and national news, news about other countries is published and it reflects imbalanced flows between First and Third World Countries (Berger, 2009). While the internet enables users to experience the extent and excitement of knowledge of a wider world, Third World countries have become competitive as they are able to target their own consumers in the cyberspace, thereby challenging the forces of globalization. The effects of globalization is divided between people who are in a position to partake of that experience (the ones who line in core urban areas and work in new economy) and those who are either ignored or exploited (Ritzer and Stillman 2003). This division is visible even among people within the same region who share the same cultural values and beliefs. Thus, even to use internet for political purposes, it requires not just the internet connection but also specific skills and training. In the developing countries poor infrastructure poses challenges to internet use and diffusion. Thus the Kluver and Banerjee (2005) find that the greatest political impact of internet has been in nations that are already developed or developing at a fast pace but there is no regulation of political content. Internet has been extensively deployed for economic development but here too it can be seen that globalization has not been able to homogenize cultures. The internet and globalization has impacted the way people conduct business and this has given rise to e-commerce. International trade has increased with the use of technologies. Highly global firms have adopted ecommerce aggressively than less global firms. However, the impact of ecommerce differs across various stages of an industry’s value chain. It has also been found that the purchase of business inputs (B2B) is becoming globalized while purchase of end services by consumers (B2C) remains localized (Totonchi and Kakamanshadi 2011). Consumers continue to be heterogeneous in the needs, tastes and preferences due to which retail ecommerce is relatively unaffected by globalization. Internet, ecommerce and globalization were expected to remove the barriers of language, culture, values, legal and national boundaries (Elbeltagi 2007) but these have not been able to facilitate a homogeneous world culture. There are differences even in online shopping habits between Korean and American internet users. Researchers have even found differences in what is perceived as a common western culture. American companies such as Microsoft and ORACLE are experiencing cultural differences in their operations in Egypt. This is because of the differences in online shopping habits and payment methods. Seventy percent of Americans use credit card while shopping online whereas in Egypt people prefer to pay cash on delivery. The reasons could include factors such as differences in values and infrastructure, payment and logistics system, or laws and taxation. All these differences only conform that while ecommerce is meant to target global customers, there is no one single homogeneous global culture. As such, marketers have to consider cultural differences when adopting and applying marketing strategy. As countries are becoming more and more involved in global trade, decisions made by one culture does have some impact on other cultures. This can only lead to complexity in cultures and people struggle to retain their own cultural identity while also being influenced to adopt the western or American culture. Computer-mediated communication technologies have not been able to bring about one homogenized but at the same time one culture is not entirely separated from another. Local cultures find ways to resist and remain independent of the impact of other cultures mediated by the forces of internet technologies. This can has been seen in the way people have been trying to retain their language identity and in fact even use internet as a tool to revitalize their native language. The American influence of adopting English as the only language on the internet has not been acceptable. Ecommerce also has witnessed how local adaptation is critical to success. Even in the field of politics internet has not been able to shake up traditional distinctions between local, foreign and international news. People have become more connected, more involved, but internet has not led to a homogenous culture despite various forms of exchange and interactions. Works Cited Al-Kandari, Ali, and Hasanen Mohammed. The impact of the Internet on political attitudes in Kuwait and Egypt. Telematics and Informatics 29 (2012): 245–253 Berger, Guy. HOW THE INTERNET IMPACTS ON NTERNATIONAL NEWS. The International Communication Gazette 71.5 (2009): 355-371 Elbeltagi Ibrahim. E-commerce and globalization: an exploratory study of Egypt. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal 14.3 (2007): 196-201 Hongladarom Soraj. Negotiating the Global and the Local" How the Thai Culture Co-opts the Internet. First Monday 5.8 (2000). August 2000. Web. March 7, 2014. Khamis, Sahar, and Vaughn, Katherine. 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