Globalization eliminates important cultural differences.

Globalization eliminates important cultural differences.

10:35-11:05

Globalization is an omnipresent phenomenon that has been associated with humans from ancient times. It is a process where ideas, culture and in some cases religious beliefs are spread from group of people to another. Nowadays, globalization has taken the form of Americanization, in which western ideas and culture have been taken primarily from the United States and incorporated into another country’s social manifest.  The pace of globalization has risen drastically over the past decade due to new communication technology such as satellite/cable television, internet, radio and other forms of multimedia. While globalization has profound impacts on business and consumers, some are concerned about the impacts on culture. Some countries people have readily accepted globalization thus eliminating cultural differences whereas others have taken a defensive stance against globalization, trying to preserve their own culture.

Firstly consider a situation in which globalization does not eliminate important cultural differences. When a nation is suffering from an economic crisis or times of hardship from a natural disaster, people tend to be self centered and place their own country as first priority. For example, the United States in the recent 2009 recession many Americans were outraged to see their jobs being outsourced overseas by American companies in an effort to reduce costs and avoid bankruptcy through cheap labor. In these times of hardship, Americans tend to scapegoat outsiders such as immigrants and Muslims for their misery and woes as a way to alleviate their tensions. The United States in general, tends to encourage national supremacy in the education system and tends to discourage students from learning about other cultures and countries. Thus in times like these, countries can choose to block globalization by rejecting others ideas and preserve their own culture. Likewise, in Middle Eastern nations such as Iraq, Pakistan and Iran tend to shun and take a stand against globalization especially Americanization, to preserve ethnic beliefs and to prevent the erosion of Islam. Hence many people react to Americanization via protests to defend Islamic culture and encourage an “us vs them” attitude. Thus it is evident that people can choose not to be influenced by globalization due to national hardships or preservation of national culture.

In contrast, consider a situation in which globalization can eliminate important cultural differences. When a nation is experiencing times of economic stability and prosperity, globalization is easily embraced and adopted into society. For example, in India, over the past decade many US jobs from the Information technology sector have been outsourced along with  American culture and values. American culture has diffused to India not only via the booming IT sector but also the expansion of multimedia and drastic advances in communication technology. Despite national identity and culture, majority of youth in India readily embraced globalization especially of western ideals because they wanted some change to way of life. For example, movies from Hollywood have been a major means of transmitting American values and culture. Thus many Indians tend to delineate and don appearance and mannerism of renowned movie stars and pop icons such as Britney Spears and Sean Connery. Women tend to bleach their hair skin,  along with tattoos and body piercing to fit into this new social norm in India. Another instance of American infiltration is of fast food joints and ready availability of food. More people tend to choose fast food over home cooked meals in India now because of wealth for the middle class from the IT sector and lack of time to cook at home. Thus it is evident that globalization can eliminate important differences.

All in all, whether a nation will readily embrace globalization is circumstantial. When a nation is suffering from a crisis or when nation such as, Iran, wants to preserve national culture and religion, globalization is rejected. However, in the case of India where people are experiencing a booming economy and seek change, then globalization of western ideas are readily accepted and thus eliminate cultural differences by encouraging cultural homogeneity. Overall acceptance of globalization is up to the people to accept it or reject it.