Globalization and its impact on Culture Introduction Culture is the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects and behavior. It includes the ideas, value, customs and artifacts of a group of people (Schaefer, 2002). Culture is a pattern of human activities and the symbols that give these activities significance. It is what people eat, how they dress, beliefs they hold and activities they engage in. It is the totality of the way of life evolved by a people in their attempts to meet the challenges of living in their environment, which gives order and meaning to their social, political, economic, aesthetic and religious norms and modes of organization thus distinguishing people from their neighbors. Globalization …show more content…
Empowerment of Culture: The technological arena has empowered the indigenous culture as it allows self representation and information sharing on a whole new level. Technology has provided a voice to endangered cultures. Negative Impacts 1. Commercialization of culture: It is very obvious to see the western culture dominated all the other minor cultures by so many means. Fast food culture is wide spread around the globe. Western dressing is considered to be cool and good looking. 2. Our languages: Today English is considered to be the sign of an educated man. There is a strong pressure of English on minor languages which is a threat to other local languages. 3. Loss of group identity and individualism because globalization promotes a western ideal of individualism. This advocate a homogeneous set of values. Conclusion We cannot stop the phenomenon of globalization due to strong interdependence of our lives on those things which are a product of globalization. It has complicated the process of education but has also created many opportunities for countries to break out of the traditional models of education. The idea of global citizen is seen as a person who can act locally but think globally, is a goal that keeps an eye on maintaining cultural diversity while exposing a country’s citizen to the benefits of globalization. Cultural diversity can be strengthened through globalization by providing means and resources to support cultural groups attempting to make a difference in society while maintaining their distinctive set of values and
Culture is a set of beliefs, values and attitudes that a person inherits from a society or a group that they are in and they learn how to view the world and how to behave, these principles can then be passed down from generation to generation so that the culture that has been inherited can live on for
Anthropologists define the term culture in a variety of ways, but there are certain shared features of the definition that virtually all anthropologists agree on. Culture is a shared, socially transmitted knowledge and behavior. The key features of this definition of culture are as follows. 1) Culture is shared among the members of that particular society or group. Thus, people share a common cultural identity, meaning that they recognize themselves and their culture's traditions as distinct from other people and other traditions. 2) Culture is socially transmitted from others while growing up in a certain environment, group, or society. The transmission of cultural knowledge to the next generation by means of social learning is referred to as enculturation or socialization. 3) Culture profoundly affects the knowledge, actions, and feelings of the people in that particular society or group. This concept is often referred to as cultural knowledge that leads to behavior that is meaningful to others and adaptive to the natural and social environment of that particular culture.
Views on how globalization affects our identity range from, good to bad. Globalization is described as the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale. To elaborate, globalization results from the removal of barriers between national economies to encourage the flow of goods, services, capital, and labor. Globalization has both a positive and a negative impact on identity. It can either promote aspects of identity, but it can also diminish them. Language can either be encouraged and promoted, or it can be stopped and destroyed by globalization. The central theme illustrated in sources I, II, and III, is how globalization affects everyone
Globalization is a set a mechanisms that are altering the world order, thus escalating worldwide social relations. There are hundreds, if not thousands of ways in which globalization can be defined since it is altering every aspect of life. Nevertheless, when examining the universal structure of the global order; the world is divided into two categories the core and periphery (Steif). Basically, the world is divided per national development. In the case of inter-group relations, core states could be considered the in-group because they are directly benefiting from globalization and global wealth, hence the world powers (Steif). In contrast, periphery states can be considered the outer-group because these states have not shared in developmental advantages (Steif). The global structure of categorization per development has allowed the inter-group to be determined through capitalist pursuit and resource nationalism. Furthermore, these policies have transformed the social and economic order of the developmental states. For instance, the American culture is known to be considered the culture of consumerism. Basically, social, economic and political policies shape each other; ultimately, influencing social identity of its citizens. Furthermore, on average the core states consist of mostly western nations that share in the same political and economic structure of development. With this said, this paper will define globalization as the process of westernization and modernization and its influence in the inter-group and outer-group conflict.
Culture is the patterns of behavior and thinking that people living in social groups learn, create, and share. Culture distinguishes one human group from others. A people's culture includes their beliefs, rules of behavior, language, rituals, art, technology, styles of dress, ways of producing and cooking food, religion, and political and economic systems. Anthropologists commonly use the term culture to refer to a society or group in which many or all people liv...
What is culture? Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving
Western countries have been suspected of using their position and power to cultivate cultures around the world through the use of media. These cultures are inspired by western cultures and are a powerful way to gain and maintain dominance especially in third world countries. This essay is aimed at arguing a case against global cultural imperialism. Key areas taken into cognizance in this work are, firstly the definition of key terms used in this essay. Secondly, this essay focusses on the demerits of global cultural imperialism though media use namely, erosion of the youth’s indigenous cultures, the use of media to portray western cultures as superior relative to other cultures, contamination of indigenous cultures through the unruly content found in western media productions, western cultures and living standards as shown though the media promotes brain drain in less developed countries, western produced products promoted on global media present unfair competition to local products and how global cultural imperialism is being used to spread western propaganda hence misleading the youth. Lastly this essay concludes with a conclusion.
Explain the concept of culture. Why is it important to avoid ethnocentricity and gain cultural literacy?
"Globalization represents different realities, norms, values, and meanings that not only legitimate and advance neoliberal interests, but also seek to cultivate consumerist cultural identities in billions of people around the world." (Feidman, Thomas. The World is Flat. P 52).
There is a constant promotion of this American dream by this saturation of commercial and ideological logos, images and symbols as part of the everyday lives of people across the world. Due to this, the moral and political values of our consumer societies have ensured the overlap between the world of life and the world of culture (Zhang, 34), which has placed the importance on the idea of culture and its values. These larger social forces are promoting homogeneity and are playing their endgame on a global scale, with a clearly obvious outcome (Brosius and Hitchner, 144). The emphasis on culture has given social forces and the western world the ability to gain global control by the control of culture and because of the economic power that large American companies hold.
The term entered common vocabulary in the 1980’s and it grew so popular that the economic, political and cultural background of today is now described as “The Era of Globalization.” However, this term needs to be thoroughly clarified as it means different things to different people. To some, it is a natural phenomenon of wide-spreading economic, social, and political activities of different countries beyond their physical borders. In these people’s view, the increase in free trade and international exchange of information, labor and technology represents a beneficial process of economic development. Yet, there are others who believe globalization can damage the level of employment, the social progress and the cultural identity of a country. As a result of these divergent views on the matter, the term “globalization” and the phenomenon it names are the subject of a very strong debate.
Globalization is the continued interaction between nations, regional economies, cultures and societies. The invention of better transport and communication has brought individuals and communities closer. Also, globalization has made international trade and human interactions easy, meaning that people from different areas can be neighbors. There is no country that is self-sufficient in all aspects. However, nations can obtain resources from other areas where they are available. This concept is what gave rise to globalization. Globalization is associated with negative and positive effects on all aspects of life. This research paper defines globalization, explores
...there is an increase in the competition amongst nations. Globalization provides opportunities not only to nations but also to all the members of the global village to acquire new skills, research and develop new things and grow individual personality and contribute to the development of their respective nation as well as the world as a whole.
The report identified that globalization empowered the Chinese culture into acting and living like the westerners. Globalization is the background for economic empowerment and development, and lead to the development of a global village. Globalization can mobilize and empower individuals in a community and support collective identity through the provision of work opportunities and socialization. Culture globalization could misrepresent a people’s mandate and create colonization into the culture. The globalization could lead to the loss of group and self-identity and loss of individualism. The paper’s focus is solely dependent on the Chinese culture which became transformed thanks to the globalization that’s happening to the entire
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s Bureau of Strategic Planning (2004) reported that globalization has not only contributed to the greater exchanges of ideas and awareness of the uniqueness of individual cultures and societies, but has highlighted the fundamental differences that result from these unique characteristics. There are many advantages for societies and cultures as they become increasingly interconnected (Heimonen, 2012) through the process of globalization. Interconnectedness allows for the sharing of assets and information that can aid in the development of nation-states and communities and can promote the acceptance of cultural diversity and encouragement of “multicultural contributions at different levels among countries” (Bakhtiari, 2011, p. 97). On the other hand, increased contact among developing nations with so called “advanced countries” (Bakjtiari, 2011, p. 97) has illustrated the ever increasing inequality among nations and has contributed to the promotion of the values of dominant cultures which has led to increased “inequalities and conflicts between areas and cultures” (Bakhtiari, 2011, p. 98).