Concept of Globalization on Self Identity - Essay Example

Self Identity Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Concept of Globalization on Self Identity xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Institution xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lecturer xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date The concept of self image and identity can be approach from various perspectives; here the approach will be in connection to globalization. Globalization is defined as the phenomena whereby there is increase and intensification of economy interaction among individuals, government identities, organizations and business. In today’s world, globalization has been considered to accelerate and enhance one’s self image and identity. This has been notable especially among young children more than ever when attaining their maturity age that is during adolescent and teenage period (Galanidou 2007). Globalization has impacted on our cultural practices and activities whereby our children have adapted new technology as part to educate them on past experiences and gather self identity. It is evident that self image work hand in hand with one cultural background, but with the era of globalization what was considered as tangible has become very difficult to quantify especially on the basis of self image (Galanidou 2007). Today, this era has witnessed an increase impact especially on self and identity. Social scientists today are trying to understand the theory of globalization in connection to self identity. As a result of increase of population, political and ecology on global scale is becoming an everyday life activity. Although globalization widens the scope and open new horizons, it has led to an increase in the need for one to find and identify new identities within their inner feeling (Appadurai 1996). Without uncertainty, the progression of globalization opens new vistas and widening our horizons. It is assumed that globalization offers the possibility of fostering certain cultural aspects especially as children approaches to their maturity. However, this same globalization has been accused to resists and closes various chances as part of counteraction to what is currently been experienced across the globe which main influences the well being of our future generation (Appadurai 1999). Although identity is mainly related to adulthood it is evident that children too posses identities which normally connect to their parents and guardian experiences. Self image or self identity refers to the general subjective awareness of oneself image, including ones impressions, capabilities and personalities. Self image is further described as one mental picture that encompasses physical appearance which assists in the integration experiences and desire within an individual. Globalization has made individuals to find their own self identities which normally consist of feelings and beliefs. Self identity or the word I is considered as a cognitive appraisal which is brought out by globalization, social and physical competence being displayed by an individual (Appadurai 1999). The building or commencement of identity began right from childhood and later shapes up during adulthood by way of conceptualizing of past and present experiences. Globalization has made self identity and self image to be a complex issue among children especially during adolescent. This is because they become more firmly held and greatly associate themselves in what is telecast in media and internet. Globalization through way of increase internet usage gives false impression of irrelevancy of understanding one’s own identity among children (Annese 2004). Globalization has been with time but it keeps on changing in intensity and velocity. Its linkages with political, social, cultural and environment have become bigger and greater by each day. The world has become smaller in size as we witness the little time we have in the performance of tasks and obligations. Global events have an effect on our activities and life like the effect of the Iraq invasion has had implications on all people as evident by the increase of prices of oil products. The changes in political situations and lineage in Australia will have an impact in the relations of its allies. The picture in Appendix B shows jigger infected feet as a result of poor health conditions. It is easy to identify from the pictures that the person is from a poor economic status and is not able to access protective accessories like shoes to be able to guard him/her against the jigger infestations. This has been created by the emergence of new leaders and ideologies as people hope for change and a better tomorrow that will create a sense of certainty. To this point globalization has had an effect in our lives by creating dual economies and industrial divides in the community. Globalization has had an effect on the movements and the trading processes in addition it has had an effect on the cultures of the different communities that exist in the globe. Globalization has had an effect in the way transactions and changes in the composition, timing and demand of goods and services. More stringent measures are put in place in replacing the business transaction methodologies to ensure the financial institutions reap more benefits at the expense of the poor in the society who are their customers (Hurrell & Woods 1999). Privatization has been the order of the day as businesses come up with new innovative ways in the improvement of their products and services to meet the ever changing needs of the dynamic world. Most state run entities like the telecommunication and health are being privatized thus undermining the image of the government as the welfare provider and the source of certainty. It is impossible to identify the girl in appendix B to be from the afghan community. Her dressing is different from the community norms and culture and it is evident that she is not certain of her future as there is a danger of attacks by the Islam extremists on the country due to the different ideologies. In addition, the effects of war and terrorism has made the persons in the society to live in fear and are geographical confined as persons and religions from certain regions of the world are viewed as perpetrators of terrorism. It has for example become hard for persons from the Arab world and communities to be given access to certain regions of the world are treated with suspicion and fear. Most movies relate them with terrorist acts as their religion is mostly and widely misunderstood to be fronting for war and revenge as a route for pursuing social justice. Most of their social groups and organizations have been linked with terrorist and criminal activities. Many organizations that have been viewed as terrorist groups like the Hamas utilize a variety of technological methodologies in concealing their activities and ensure confidentiality and increase the fear of the unpredictability of their terrorism attack as they can choose to attack any part of the world given the wide network coverage (Nacos 2002). This kind of organization is aimed at creating of uncertainty through by reducing the stability of the global security. Persons have learnt to adapt to the changes in the society and culture. The adolescents for instance have developed a bicultural identity to counter the effects brought to the society by globalization. The adolescents in the picture in Appendix C of the Egyptian who are muslim. It is hard to identify their Muslim culture as the girls are dressed in trousers and not their traditional regalia. The picture typically shows the ages of the children as they have different interests in the activities that are transpiring in the area. In the picture it is hard to identify the young boy seated at the back while playing with the young girl supposedly her sister. It is evident from the picture that they come from a cotton region. They are also not uniformly dressed and this can also reveal the dressing it is easy to tell the peer influence on dressing code. It is therefore evident have the uncertainty as they have part of their identity is embedded in their local culture while the other is embedded in the other is inclined with the global situation. Their local culture is challenged and possibly faces the uncertainty to evolve due to globalization (Arnett 2002). Their culture faces complexity as a result of the interactions and relations with their peers who play a large role in the shaping of their adolescent lives. They face ambiguity as they as part of their culture is treated with suspicion due to the variation in its parts that have been eroded in the past lives by globalization. As they are still in the process of growth, they lack the super ordinate knowledge that is to help them resolve the existing contradictions in their culture. They also lack of predictability as they are unable to control the dynamic future that lies ahead of them. The complexity of the situation is also worsened by the interaction of various people and ideologies through the mass media, education and interactions as they travel to and through the various parts of the country (Grant 2005). This posse’s great danger of uncertainty as their existence and the continuity of culture are at great risk. This gives us the identification of complexity, unpredictability, ambiguity and knowledge deficit as the aspects of identity. Global and local relations necessitate dialogical commencement of the self and the identity because of the increasing array of the self distinctiveness, the need of budding a dialogical capability and the need to conceptualize the alternativeness of other persons with whom persons enter into interactions with. In a global setting, persons do not exist in one single culture but are in direct influence with the different borders of cultures (Raggat 2000). The effect of such interactions is not evident at an early age of the young people. For example the child in appendix D from Belarus is not aware of the cultures that exist in her environment but will grow up being influenced by them. It is hard to identify her culture from the picture as the mode of dressing is different from the known Belarus culture. It is evident that the globalization effect has had an impact to his culture based on the glasses that she has put on as it is realistically true that the Belarus community did not in the past include the glasses in the dressing culture. The increase in the interconnections of nations and the people in her environment not only have an effect on her dressing culture but and in that of the groups she interacts with. The different cultures that interact will have an effect in her life and result in the birth of manifold identities. The intercultural process leads to the development of different cultural situations in the month of the child (Pieterse 1995). This may cause agreement, contradictions and disagreements in her self thus giving rise to positive and negative meaning in the interpretation and creation of dialogical relationships thus resulting to uncertainty. This implies that the globalization is not only a reality outside the personage but is integrated as a component of a dialogical identity action (Wolf 1982). The global society has strong cultural disparities and oppositions. Cultures and different nations are always in competition trying to outdo one another for survival in the ever dynamic trade market (Marsella 1998). This calls for the molding of nations and the self to deal with the fundamental indifferences and tensions that exist in the interconnected world. When the differences exist in the self the result would be the dominance of some of the differences over the others. This requires a well balanced dialogical capacity to be able to identify the problems and arrive at a just and fair resolution after a workable evaluation of the evaluation process on the problems and disputes that are precipitated by the globalization process. The process should incorporate a self evaluation through an answer and agreement search of the self and making of meaningful negotiations between the different parts of the self (Bertau 2004). The participants in a conversation within the global situation may include the views of the other participants and a repetition of their own views without realization. It is only through an innovative dialogue that two parties can arrive at a meaningful conclusion. Meaning full conclusion is only attained after the other parties ideas are taken into account. Social supremacy plays a significant role in the inclusion of other persons and institutions views into account. In this case there are two types of dialogue that take place in a given setting. These are the question and answer and the agreement and disagreement. In such instances the dominance of one party over the other is minimized. This can be evident in the conversation that can occur between the individual children in appendix E from the Dominican Republic. They all identify with each other with their dressing and you can easily identify that they are boys of the same age group, similar economic status and they live near the coastal shores. From the picture it is evident that they identify to one another as having the same economic state, age and relations as a result of globalization. Language to them is a common factor as it maintains their interactions. There must be a mutual agreement between the three to be able to form good and sustainable friendship. References Annese, S. 2004, Mediated identity in the parasocial interaction of TV. Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, 4, 371–388. Appadurai, A, 1999, Dead certainty: Ethnic violence in the era of globalization. Globalization and identity: Dialectics of flow and closure Oxford, England: Blackwell. Appadurai, A. 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