Identity Formation and Globalization - Essay Example

Identity Formation and Globalization Identity Formation and Globalization Ever since man started to exist, the start of a new century has always brought about a symbolic turning point in their lives. The 21st century is no exemption. A noteworthy feature of the present stage is the sweeping social, economic, political and cultural changes regularly termed as globalisation (Cunningham, 2001). The term "globalisation", in essence, refers to the change of spatial and temporal limitations, which is the reduction of distance because of the remarkable reduction in the time required to bridge spatial differences which has, in turn, caused the slow integration of economic, social and political space across state borders. Even though, globalisation is often solely related to the financial field, which is with processes of distribution, production and consumption along with financial services and growing global trade, financial globalisation is intractably interwoven with changes in the cultural, social and political fields. In addition, globalisation is an extremely multifaceted and complex occurrence. There is, on the one hand, the tendency towards synchronisation, homogeneity, unity, integration and universalism. Also, there is the tendency for localisation, differentiation, heterogeneity, particularism and variety. These procedures are intricately intertwined. They represent, in reality, two sides of the same coin. Hence, the phrase "globalisations" is at times used to show that globalisation is not an ever-present or standardised process, but involves a variety of manifests, terrains differently in diverse contexts. The term – "globalisation" – is used to show that globalisation has different effects for individuals in diverse contexts (Cunningham, 2001). In this rapid globalising planet with all its challenges, struggles for identity have come out as one of the most outstanding traits of the cultural, social and political field. One of the most significant elements of the identity discourse is the relative recency of its surfacing and propagation. A prominent British cultural scientist referred to as Stuart Hall, in 1996, argued that there was a genuine discursive outburst in recent years around the theory of "identity". According to the cultural scientist, this outburst has since 1996 prompted an avalanche. A few other features of modern life have succeeded in drawing the same amount of awareness. "Identity studies" has not only turned into a thriving industry, but the concept of identity has also turned into the prism through which a majority other features of modern life are premeditated. Even traditional issues of social analysis are reformulated and refurbished to fit into the identity dialogue (Cunningham, 2001). Hence, discussions on "equality" and "justice" are discussed in terms of acknowledgment of the right to a separate identity. Culture also is studied in terms of categorical, individual and/or group differences and thoughts such as "hybridity" and "creolisation". In addition, political dialogues often centre on group or individual rights. Talks about identity are, nevertheless, not limited to the ivory towers of academic circles. Also, struggles of identity have become an essential element of intra-individual procedures, as well as of the political, and social scene. As such, struggles and discourses of identity have significant and extensive implications for policymaking on every level. Also, in an endeavor to develop national, local and global people-centered rules, with regard to information and communication technologies, as well as the media, cognizance will have to be taken of these struggles and discourses. Given the importance and prominence of these struggles and discourses and their far-reaching effects, this paper will look at a number of definitions of identity. In addition, it will give attention to the complicated relationship between processes related to globalisation on a variety of levels and struggles for identity. In echoing on identity discourses on different levels, concentration will also be offered to the role of international communication in the processes related to globalisation and attendant identity issues. This is mainly the role of information and communication technologies and the media. The Dialogue on Identity The phrase "identity" first gained prominence through the works of Erikson (1968), a renowned psychologist. While Erikson explains identity as a personhood with sameness or permanence of the self across space and time, other scholars also emphasise individuality, which is those traits that distinguish a person from another or the whole of humankind, as well. Erikson also uses the phrase "identity crisis" to refer to people who have lost a sense of permanence or sameness. While he considers an identity crisis as an ordinary and passing stage in the adolescent stage, he argues that it should be considered as pathological in grownups. He characterises a healthy state of identity growth as a bracing subjective alertness of continuity and sameness. Even though, Erikson (1968) hypothesises on individuality from a psychoanalytic view point, he also stresses on the responsibility of the environment, and principally the social environment in the growth of identity. Erikson uses the phrase "psychosocial identity" in this view. Psychosocial identity is the consciousness of who an individual is as a person, a member of a household, a particular society and different societal groups. The significant role of social groups in identity development has, in addition, been explained by the social Mustafa. Mustafa (2006) argues that association of social groups is internalised as an element of the self-concept, which, in reality, forms an essential fraction of the identity of a person. The shifting nature of identity is also emphasised by Barth (1969) who describes identity in terms of limits. Boundaries can be culturally, psychologically, politically or socially defined. Indentify, according to Barth (1969), includes some individuals as members of a cluster, while others are concurrently expelled. According to this viewpoint, cultural or social identity cannot be comprehended in terms of fixed groups or monotonous phenotypical or other traits and traditional practices. Barth considers identity as a dynamic process wherein the traits, symbols, cultural practices and traditions of a cluster might modify due to communication with the social, physical, cultural, political and economic environment. What is imperative is not the content of a certain identity, but instead the presence of limits between a particular group and other groups. However, as earlier stated, the dialogue on identity is not limited to academia (Mustafa, 2006). From educational circles, identity has spread to the centre of political and social events where it is increasingly related to the social struggles of different repressed or dominated groups such as people of ethnic, colour, racial and spiritual minorities or feminist groups. The dialogue of identity has, hence, become the main medium for not only explaining and comprehending the relationship between the social and the personal, but also for dialogues on the relationship between the group and the individual, the political and the cultural, as well as the state and the group (Mustafa, 2006). Struggles for Identity and Globalisation According to Barth (1969), the impressive rise of the dialogue on identity in the last part of the 20th century ought to be considered as a sign of human experience in the era of globalisation. He argues that the fascination with the "identity dialogue" per se echoes more of the present state of human civilization than all the hypothesising and logical results of "identity studies" do. Truthfully, Barth (1969) states, something is wrong with the shape of identity in this modern age. While past generations apparently dealt with identity formation and related problems and issues in an unemotional manner, fresh dimensions have been added to previous problems. Conditions in the modern world have not only distorted the processes of identity construction, but have added fresh dimensions to both collective and personal identity. In addition, whereas the phrase "identity" implies permanence, that is a solid beginning in which individuals secure themselves, the fast modifications that characterises the era of globalisation, battered most of the grounds on which individuals used to secure their identity. The ancient "problem of identity" has, therefore, altered its content and shape. In a similar manner that matters often go unseen until they vanish or stop behaving as uneventfully as they did earlier, Barth (1969) argues that the fresh centrality of the identity dialogue is a mirror of the fact that identity matters are not as straightforward and simple as they used to be. In reality, the attaining of identity is extremely difficult. Attaining identity is both a task and a struggle. These struggles and tasks are waged on a number of levels from the private to the societal to the global. Nevertheless, the struggles on different levels are directly interconnected and often symbolize different aspects of the different homogenising and expanding processes related to globalisation. The Global level A number of analysts argue that the globalisation of labour markets and capital, communication, production and consumption, information, cultural and technological flows are posing problems, which cannot be determined by means of interstate agreement or within the limits of personal nation states. While followers of globalisation sponsor unqualified subordination of the nation along with other power blocs to the imperatives of the worldwide market, a sociologist, Meyrowitc (1985), argues that there are proper reasons to fear that the world might be faced by cultural alienation on a mass scale, the exhaustion of non-renewable resources and social outbursts unless people succeed in implementing some kind of political control over globnal market forces. These issues are furthermore provoked by the drop in the powers of the nation state, as well as the fight of supranational units such as the European Union in finding suitable forms for cultural and political integration. The likelihood of one or other type of global governing unit or international government are thus suggested more and more as a likely solution for the issues associated with globalisation. However, Morley (2000) voices the judgment that - alike to supranational units - a worldwide political amalgamation needs a political background shared by every world citizen so as to act successfully in the new global environment. A significant question is, therefore, whether worldwide nationhood or a world identity is at all achievable (Mustafa, 2006). There are numerous reasons to foresee that the notions of a widespread world identity and a worldwide cultural integration are not at all improbable (Mustafa, 2006). The forces related to globalisation have already resulted in extensive global modifications within the cultural, social and political spheres. Among the forces are the global marketing and production of consumer goods, global information flows dispersed through liberalised media along with telecommunication networks and the spread of "global English". The social field is characterised by the surfacing of a global culture, which is referred to as the global village. It is characterised by distance-less, place-less and border-less communications that disclose in the globe as a single space. The result is that both societies and individuals conceptualise themselves to an outsized extent as part of a world community or a world system. Globalisation is, thus, more than meager cosmopolitanism as it entails a competence for global self-reflection and thus for recognition with global citizenship or total humankind (Mustafa, 2006). The cultural environment, on the other hand, is illustrated by homogenisation, that is cultural union. The expansion of consumer capitalism has led to a convergence in cultural behaviours and the diffusion of hegemonic lifestyles, ideas, popular symbols, as well as other mass cultural products that are promoted by means of advanced technology, hence creating a claim for them all across the globe. Phrases such as “Americanisation”, “Coca-Colanisation” or “cultural imperialism” are used in referring to the diffusion of a hegemonic Western-American consumer culture, which is supposed by many to steadily succeed and even wipe out local cultures (Mustafa, 2006). Nevertheless, Canclini (1995) (in Hybrid Cultures Minneapolis) challenges the idea that the cultural errors of globalisation are bringing about cultural homogeneity. The author argues that the cultural changes related to globalisation are regularly superfluous. Conclusions concerning rising cultural homogenisation are frequently made on the international appeal of particular consumer products that Canclini regards as an apparent aspect of culture. The deeper cultural levels of ethnic and cultural identities such as religion, race and language are much more significant and transform at a much slower rate. These fundamentals of culture, in fact, are not easily deserted (Cunningham, 2001). Other analysts argue that global pressures do not track the "hypodermic needle" replica. Instead of suppressing home traditions from the top down, global pressures give rise to a complex and constant interaction between local and foreign cultural elements where foreign goods may be taken over in toto, but can also be transformed into the local idiom, change, or mix with local constituents. This process is referred to as localization, creolisation or hybridisation (Cunningham, 2001). On the other hand, Canclini (1995) (in Hybrid Cultures Minneapolis) agrees that individuals are becoming more harmonized in terms of large political and economic set ups and value systems. Morley (2000) also states that globalisation has resulted in world-scale convergence of ethical and legal principles, the universalisation of the dialogue on human rights and the diffusion of democracy as a leading type of political organisation. It has also led to the surfacing of a worldwide civil society in the form of different groups, which mobilise on the grounds of alleged "global issues" like nature conservation, feminism, human rights and consumer matters. Worldwide mobilisation with the support of technology is derived from the trust that these matters concern everyone receding in this world and must thus be dealt with on a global level. Barth (1969) furthermore argues that, similar to the duty that public broadcasters and the national media have had in the forging of the "anticipated" communities of nations states, the international media flow - and in particular the global television - are also spreading globalism. The signs are, therefore, all over that the principles of a worldwide society and a worldwide identity could by now have taken root (Cunningham, 2001). In comparison to these globalising trends, the universal spread of information and communication technologies seems to strengthen cultural, ethnic, as well as other local identities. It has by now been stated that these technologies are strengthening local communities and cultural groups in mobilising against the constrictions of the governments of nation states. The revitalisation of cultural, as well as other local identities, is demonstrated by rising tendencies in the contents of the very representation of the worldwide media, the Internet. Against universal prospects, the contents of the Internet are becoming increasingly diverse. Even though, the English language content still dictates the Internet, this is swiftly changing. Morley (2000) quotes prophecies that by 2005 non-English material will cater for more than half of the materials of the Internet, which was true. It is also believed that internet users who reside in the United States will cater for less than one third of the global population of internet users by 2003. The Internet, in reality, is on its way to develop into the most lingually assorted medium in the world. Technology, and in particular the Internet, has in addition created a variety of other alternatives for identity formation (Meyrowitc, 1985). On a personal level, cyberspace has become for a lot of people a type of a global lean-to of their intra telepathic world and an intermediary space between others and themselves. This space – cyberspace – opens the opportunity for all kinds of fantasies. Individuals can use this creation for the exploration of their own characteristics. They can, in addition, assume various identities by altering their history, age, physical, personality appearance or even their sex (Cunningham, 2001). The Internet also gives people the chance to join virtual societies, which transcend spatial and time constraints and allows both groups and individuals to mobilise and interact worldwide on the grounds of common interests, as well as life experiences. A majority of the virtual collectivities, in addition, fulfill the requirements for individual freedom of liberal individuality. People can keep their alternatives open. They have an option concerning how much, if any, private information they want to disclose. At time, groups encourage or even necessitate that members presume an imaginary character (Cunningham, 2001). There are usually no strings attached to these clusters. Individuals can join or leave at will. Membership is frequently completely secondary to the needs and whims of the person. Nevertheless, the influential nature of virtual societies does not grant continuity, as well as security to identity development. Virtual identities might, in the end, intensify the anxiety and fear of individuals in an always-changing universe. Also, the globalising universe has given rise to a fresh kind of individual identity, explicitly that of the “cosmopolitan” or multinational. Cosmopolitans are regularly members of a business or professional elite, which travel lengthily all over the globe in the course of their job. Cosmopolitans are, in essence, world citizens, frequently with no stable address apart from the mobile and telephone number or the e-mail. These people are not restricted to any area (Meyrowitc, 1985). They are entirely exterritorial. Societal ties and national boundaries are gradually becoming inappropriate to cosmopolitans. Wherever their movements lead them, they would rather interrelate with other globalisers. They exist in a socio-cultural circle, which protects them from the harsher truths of the societies in the nations where they reside. Their daily life celebrates one of the unique elements of globalisation, which is the insignificance of place (Cunningham, 2001). In terms of the impact of communication technologies and the media, Morley (2000) describes globalisation as the connection of absence and presence, the connecting of social relations and social events with local contextualities. Morley’s description offers a fundamental point for considering globalisation in line with identity formation since individuals’ relations with absent people can form their experiences. Globalisation creates a feeling of being disembedded from places or, in other words, a deteriorating of association to localities. Meyrowitc (1985) argues that the craving for mobility, built into the formation of modern life, prevents the stimulation of strong fondness for any of the places. Therefore, the places that people occupy are no more than impermanent stations. Also, people, through actions with the facilitation of computer and information technologies, might go beyond their physical interface and community, and form numerous identities by means of relations with various behaviours and cultural beliefs on a worldwide scale. Morley (2000) argues that engagement with the fresh technology confronts what numerous people have by tradition referred to as identity, which is a sense of personality recast in multiple windows, as well as parallel lives. The virtual interactive spaces arbitrated through the asynchronous and synchronous communication tools such as chat rooms, bulletin boards, mailing lists and instant messaging transforms customary notions of identity – sameness, stable and fixed – into the notions of multiplicity, variability, as well as difference. Morley explains this by integrating Canclini (1995) idea of the “saturated self” where communication technologies permit individuals to inhabit each other’s brains through nonstop construction, negotiation and reconstruction of their identities with the capability to have relationships all across the world and the facts of other cultures. Now, a person can quarrel that the speedy developments in the communication technologies field accelerating and catalysing the distribution of values, beliefs, information, and the spread of international culture have extensive effects on the maturity of identities and societies. Some of them might be positive while others might be harmful (Cunningham, 2001). The reduction of energy and time for the information, and the improved interactions between cultures of different ethnic and physical areas backgrounds might be deemed positive and thus enviable. Nevertheless, the disintegrative and disruptive effects of global culture on the altering patterns of socio-cultural institutions and identities, such as families, youth, languages, religions and educational settings, might be considered undesirable and negative (Meyrowitc, 1985). This significant and controversial worry in globalization dialogue is seen in the mutual interaction between local and global that is frequently interpreted as resulting in either cultural heterogenisation or homogenisation. Homogenisation refers to the creation of global culture in the region of late capitalism and ensued strongly by such a variety of aspect of life as film industries, fashion, language, music and media, which are globally consumed. The international culture here means that the cultural apparatuses and elements, which shape the widespread lifestyle of people through the process of globalisation. Hence, it is considered as an expression of sweeping and overwhelming endeavour, which weakens local cultures (Cunningham, 2001). The first one, heterogenisation, refers to diversity and variation of culture. Through homogenisation of traditions, cultural values and local beliefs may become universalised besides destroying the uniqueness of local identity. This cultural raid becomes intimidating and causes stern problems for some traditional states by virtue of the truth that such openness to unfamiliar content might erode the customary values and native cultural identity. In the name of storing regional and local cultural heritage, governmental, social, as well as religious institutions take a variety of actions including regulations and quotas as fortifications against global sameness. Canclini (1995) regards this as a worry between the "Self", which are local communal cultures and the "Net", which are global cultural flows. This worry demonstrates how "difference" and "sameness" in this framework manifest themselves as constitutive restrictions for the building of identity as explained at the beginning of this article. Canclini (1995) argues that such resistances might result in the formation of "opposition identity" which he typifies as the barring of excluders by the barred such as sacred fundamentalism, nationalist self-affirmation and territorial communities. The conclusion can be said that identity struggles on a worldwide level is largely an echo of and complexly interconnected with those on the other levels. As globalisation changes the power relationships on various levels, it also has extensive consequences for identity formation on both individual and collective levels. References Barth, F 1969, Ethnic groups and boundaries: The social organization of cultural difference, George Allen & Unwin, London. Canclini, N 1995, Hybrid cultures, University of Minnesota press, Minneapolis. Cunningham, S 2001, Popular media as public sphericles for diasporic communications International Journal of Cultural Studies Vol. 4 No. 2 pp 131-147. Erikson, E 1968, Identity: Youth and crisis, Norton, New York. Meyrowitc, J 1985, No sense of place: the impact of electronic media in social behavior, Oxford University Press, New York. Morley, D 2000, Home territories, media, mobilty and identity, Rutledge, London. Mustafa, K 2006, Cultural identity crisis in the age of globalization and technology, retrieved from http://www.tojet.net/articles/v5i1/515.pdf Read More