NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
... history of conflicts shows that very often conflicts erupt precisely where the cultural fault lines are. Cultural differences are sanctified by their links to mystical and historical roots. Consequently, a threat to one's culture becomes a threat to one's core of identity. We can show many examples showing that this formula has been used many times to justify a humanity's worst acts. How we should think of culture in relation to globalization.
In my opinion the best answer is to see it as a one of the dimension of this multidimensional process. Culture matters for globalization in the obvious way- it is the core of whole idea of complex connectivity. We can even try to consider it as a constitutive aspects of it. The argument, justifying so priority to culture, that symbolic exchanges are now not limited because of the 'stretching' relations and the world uni city, is only scarcely convincing. The real problem lies in the way we conceive of culture as having consequences. People do not produce meaning by themselves.
It is the cultural signification and interpretation that constantly orientates them, as well in the individual as in the collective aspect. Because of the connectivity local lifestyles have become global consequential. Moreover, local individual actions are connected with the 'global social world'. And why globalization matters for culture? First of all, it promotes physical mobility stronger than ever before. In addition, brought changes, a deterritorialization, increase in very significant way the horizon and possibilities for spreading cultural values, cultural exchange and for emerging the 'global culture'.
Societies do not passively give in to foreign and global influences. Various strategies of dealing with them have been identified. The most important one are resistance and appropriation. The example for the first one is that the states often try to prohibit foreign influences to enter their territory: France attempt to protect in different ways French language from being anglicized.
Extreme case is for instance Iran, which does not allow its citizens to own satellite-dishes. But more often than resistance we can observe the process of appropriation with the consequence in incorporating foreign influence into peoples' lives. It can be demonstrated in various spheres, from media technology to human rights, norms and values. This shows that the society is affected in very deep ways by 'imports'. "As a result of increasing cultural contact a number of traditional practices disappear.
But at the same time the globalization of culture leads to emergence of new cultural forms." Pointing this out, everywhere the cultural diffusion creates new practices, worldviews, expressions. In the shadow of this, new transnational communities come into being. "They are more bound together by common interest, social and cultural similarities than by geographical closeness" (J. Breidenbach/I. Zukrigl). Both processes confirm conceiving of the culture as not static unit but rather as a 'flow' which allowed to acknowledge cultural similarities and differences irrespective of origin and geographical place. The emerging global culture mainly consists of universal categories and standards.
On the one hand societies all over the world become more similar to one another, on the other hand get more and more different. Global structure organizes cultural diversity worldwide. Cultures continue to be distinct and varied but they are different in very uniform ways. What is more very many people develop a 'comparative consciousness' because of availability of certain ideas, information, institutions and goods to an increasing number of people. There are two scenarios that dominate the public discourse about the cultural globalization.
One, a common claim of the opponents, is that the globalization will degrade the quality and diversity of world cultures with the result in homogeneity. The second is that intercultural interaction is likely to lead to new mixtures of cultures and connected with that cultural fragmentation. To better understand the relation between globalization and culture we need to study the mechanisms and forces that might be in play in. These are the key issues investigated by Tyler Cowen (the professor of economics at George Mason University) in his last publication: "Creative Destruction: How globalization is changing the World's Cultures" (2002).
He began by asking the fundamental questions: Does trade in cultural products support the artistic diversity pf the world or destroy it? What will happen to cultural creativity as freedom of economic choice across the globe? Despite the triumphs of synthetic culture we should always remember about the costs of cross-cultural exchange. "Globalized culture illustrates Joseph Schumpeter's metaphor of capitalist production as a gale of 'creative destruction'. Cultural growth, like economic development, rarely as a steady on all fronts at once. While some sectors expand extreme rapidly, others shrink and wither away" (T. Cowen, 2002) Many writers address cross-cultural exchange from the 'critical theory' perspective.
In contrast, Cowen use a 'gain from trade' model. Individuals who engage in the exchange expect those transactions to enrich their cultural lives, increase their menu of choice, will make them better off. A good starting point in this discussion is to notice that it is misleading speak of the diversity as a single concept. There is a need to recognize that it is of several types. The first one distinguished by the author is the cultural diversity within society. It refers to the richness of menu of choice in that society.
The second one is called a diversity across the societies. This concept, on which many critics of globalization focus on, refers to whether each societies becoming more similar to each other. It is very often situation that these two kind of diversity move in opposite directions. "Cross-cultural exchange tends to favor diversity within society, but to disfavor across societies." (T. Cowen, 2002).
Cowen's argument, however, is that the trade of cultural products and influences will increase diversity within societies, even reducing the one across them. It means that for him societies become more alike in offering the same reach menu of choices to their people. "Different regions may look more similar than in times past, but the individuals in those locales will have a greater scope to pursue a different paths for their lives, and will have more diverse menu of choice for their cultural consumption" (T. Cowen, 2002). Diversity across the time and operative diversity are another types distinguished in "Creative Destruction... " The first refers to trade, which trends to increase it by accelerating the pace of change and bringing new cultural goods with each generation. Most cultures are in...
Free research essays on topics related to: world cultures, cultural diversity, diversity, cross cultural, first one
Research essay sample on Globalization Of Culture Diversity Or
