CULTURAL GLOBALIZATION
CULTURAL
GLOBALIZATION
According to Wikipedia
it refers to the transmission of ideas, meanings and values around the world in
such away as to extend and intensify social relations. Cultural globalization
also refers to the rapid movement of ideas, attitudes, meanings, values and
cultural products across national borders. It refers specifically to idea that
there is now a global and common mono-culture transmitted and reinforced by the internet, popular entertainment
transnational marketing of particular brands and international tourism that
transcends local cultural traditions and life styles, and that shapes the
perceptions, aspirations, tastes and every day activities of people wherever
they may live in the world. This process is marked by the common consumptions
of cultures that have been diffused by internet, popular culture media and
international travel. This has added the process of commodity exchange and colonization
which have a longer history of carrying cultural meaning around the globe.
Cultural globalization
is also a phenomenon by which the experience of everyday life, influenced by
the diffusion of commodities and ideas, reflects a standardization of cultural
expressions around the world. Propelled by the effiency or appeal of wireless
communication, electronic commerce, popular culture and international travel.
Cultural globalization is influenced by the number of factors. These factors
are centered on discussion as follows:
i.
New technology and forms of
communication around the world help to integrate different cultures into each
other. For example the invention of communication accessories such as
computers, phones with social network such as face book, twitter and internet
has influence the people’s culture to integrate around the world.
ii.
Growth
of transportation technologies and services along the world with the mass
migration and individual travel contribute to this form of globalization
allowing for cross-cultural exchanges.
iii.
Infrastructure and institutionalization
embedded change example teaching language such as English across the world
through education systems and training of teachers. This has lead to the
adoption of western culture to the other parts of the world through reading of
the western stories and novels in the learning process. It may include the
adoption of language, ideology and beliefs.
iv.
Migration is the important aspect of
cultural globalization, in the sense that, this process has been going on for
several centuries, with languages, religious beliefs, and values being spread
by military conquest, missionary works and trade. However, in the last 30
years, the process of cultural globalization has dramatically intensified due
to technological advancement in both transportation and communication
technology.
v.
Converging global consumption pattern,
this is the process of making a homogeneous environment which mainly appear
much in the major city in the world that made the customers to share the
similar consumption experience. For example the shopping malls and leisure
parks which provide a homogenous cultural experience in different regions
across the world.
Importance
of cultural globalization.
i.It allows for profit
to companies and nations. There are many cultures in the world, but the influential
one dominates all others. In that sense the European culture dominate the world.
They made a lot of profit as they sell their product to the rest part of the
world example products like clothes brands from western, food products and so
forth to mention.
ii.Offers opportunities
for development and advancement in economics, technology and information
transformation and this usually benefits the developed countries. The large
manufactures of technology accessories benefit the market of the third world
counties especially in Africa and Asia.
iii.Creates a more
homogeneous world. Since the ideas and values from the different parts of the
world are integrated and create some similarities among the globe. This act as
importance because there are slightly differences among the people around the
globe as the communication are made easy through internet.
iv. It generates
interdependent companies among the company. These are the small companies that
are produce the same product as that produced by the company for example the
coca cola companies, Pepsi companies .These interdependent companies has increased
the profit since it had reduced the cost of production.
Phases
of cultural globalization.
The phases of globalization
are grouped into three;
1)
Pre modern phase of globalization or the early civilization, this
was influenced by
i. Early human migration
facilitated by trade and creation of social networks amongst other nations.
This was the first stages of globalization which integrated the peoples
culture, during the trade people have to create the trading language that will
facilitate trade activities, in that sense the integration among the people was
inevitable.
ii. Emergence of world
religions, the spread of the religion especially Islam and Christianity has
influenced the world faith to be homogeneous, since the new faith has the same
way of belief example in Christianity they believe on the one God, living in
the heaven
iii. Development of
trans-regional trade networks example long distance trade many centered in
china and India. Early forms of globalization especially with the silk route
which linked the Roman Empire and the Chinese Han Empire.
2)
Modern phase of globalization
At this phase the contributing
factor include
i. European imperialism
(rise of the west European expansionism especially with the discover of new
world by Columbus which allowed goods and people to cross the Atlantic)
ii. Emerging
international economy
iii. International migration
and developments outside of the west.
iv. Spread of
modernity.
v. Rise of nation-state
or a development of freedom of movement and cultural diffusion.
vi. Industrialization
which increased the demand of raw materials to supply in industries. Science
grew immensely with modernized shipping, railways and new forms of
communication such as internet technology.
3)
Contemporary phase of globalization
It started from the
year 1945 up to present. It influenced by the number of factors as explained
below.
i. Struggle after cold
war led to a slow but steady increase in cultural flows with the immigration of
peoples, ideas , symbols and image. It was soon after the Second World War when
the third world countries were needed to allow the external investments in
their countries, this increased the flow of the Europeans towards the African
resources under the umbrella of free market policy.
ii. Represented global
cultural inter-connectedness, which eventually led to the developments in
transport and transport infrastructures such as jet airlines, construction of
roads and railways networks. This allowed for more tourism and shifting
patterns of global migrations
IMPACTS
OF CULTURE GLOBALIZATION ON AFRICA
i. Culture
globalization affected us socially on the wider scale. For example for issues
such as race, ethnic and class systems that socially inequalities plays a part
within those categories. The past half-century has witnessed the trend towards
globalization with in media and population culture. It has shaped the
individuals to have certain attitudes that involve race issues thus leading to stereotypes.
ii. Cultural
globalization brings together urbanization and migration and how it has
affected today’s trend ,before the urban centers had developed the idea of
globalization after the second world war was that globalization took place due
to the shifting of state restrictions by different nations. There mere national
boundary for the flow of goods and services.
iii. Cultural globalization
affected much over political aspect especial when we are made to adopt the
western way of ruling our people and dismantle our ethnic ruling which once
upon a time was used and everyone in the society involved in running
government, also these metropole countries use some ruling elites to dominate
dominate different parts of the world for their interests. For example the
issue of the Middle East, issue of Libya and the Congo crisis, this is the some
examples that show how Africans have been affected by cultural globalization.
iv. Cultural
globalization affect the Africans negatively at the economy due to the fact
that even after independence the
Africans have remain the main producers of the raw materials for export, and
made to be the market of the European manufactured goods. That is to say that
we Africans produce what we don’t consume and we consume what we don’t produce,
in that sense we are exploited without our awareness since we contribute much
on the growing of these metropolitan countries and they contribute much on our
under development.
v. Positively, cultural
globalization has lead to the improvement of the health and health services, due
to the fact that it lead to the flow of ideas and techniques on solving
different matters especially those concerning with the human health. In that
sense it has reduced the rate of death that were once caused by lacking of skills
and knowledge about diseases and how they can be managed, as they undergoes
through different researches they come out with the facts which come to be more
applicable.
vi. Cultural
globalization has also increased the market for the Africans goods especially
the internal market, and hence increase the income for the African entrepreneurs.
Today’s world has changed the market are now expanded people can buy products
and goods in the internet, this has played a role for the Africans to expand
their market also the Africans have learned the new ways of running bossiness’s
since people can learn through other achieved entrepreneurs’ and hence to run
their business smoothly.
CONLUSIVELY,
although the cultural globalization has increased the inter connectedness among
the peoples in the world. It has benefited more the developed countries rather
than developing one, that is to say that it has played the great role on the
under development of the third world countries without their own consciousness.
References,
J.Paul (.2006). Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism.
London. Sage Publication.
Crane, D. (2011)
Cultural Globalization.University of Pennsylvania. Available
From; Sociopedia. Isa (6
November 2016 )
Steger, Manfred.
Globalization. New York: Sterling Publishing 2009.
Kluver, R., &Fu, F.(2004)
. The Cultural Globalization Index. In Foreign Magazine. Available
Salvatore Baones (15
April 2008) Studying Globalization: Methodological Issues. The Blackwell
Companion To Globalization. John Willey
&Sons.
Comments
Post a Comment