Globalization and The Rush to 'Preserve' Culture?

What people don't realize is that culture is constantly changing. There is this stigma that culture is this long carried out set of rules, and ideologies, set up by societies to be forever left untouched. Well, think again.

Culture is simply how we make sense of the world. Culture is carried out through art, language, religion, music, and food;  and through these manifestations of life, a meaning is created. Ideologies and morals are created alongside the way of life that is produced by a society, and hence a culture is made.

But what people don't readily recognize is that time, technology, invention, discovery, and creativity all shift the way we think, and therefore shift the ways of our cultures. Some shifts are slow, and some are fast; but, in the end they are inevitable. Because, without creativity and new ways of thinking, culture in itself would not exist. Culture is how we make sense of the world; and without a constant re-evaluation of how we perceive our ever changing world, especially in this day-in-age, society, creativity, and innovation would come to a stand-still.

So amidst the mad rush of globalization there is this global panic within nearly every culture to 'preserve' their ways. Granted, there are parts of culture that are passed down from centuries and centuries of living within a specific geographical area, and with a specific group of people. As I wrote about in my previous post, there are aspects of culture which have seemed to stick, like gossiping in coffee shops! But there are also things many cultures have moved on from, like: multiple wives, torturing prisoners in public, or slavery. They were things that at the time worked, but were eventually moved away from.


And so today, in the hay-day of globalization we see many people and cultures crying out in fear of loosing their culture. A somewhat extreme, but fitting example of what a global citizen might say in relation to their culture might be:


'Woah, All my clothes are made in China, my food is shipped from all corners of the globe, multinational companies are shipping out and setting up, globalization is among us and taking over! Soon we will all watch the same movies and eat the same food and like the same things! Oh no....'

I'll tell you what I think, complete global homogenization will never happen! Why, or how, could it ever, if we see such a strong recognition of self within culture? A global culture at this point in time is not feasible, and I can't see it being something that would be readily, or ever accepted. Culture is not something to preserve, its something to build off of. Yeah, globalization is happening fast and it sure is kind of scary at some points, but its inevitable. Globalization is bringing parts of so many different cultures together; and they are mixing, and mingling, and creating and innovating like never before!

Globalization has opened so many new doors because it has allowed so many people to see the world through a different lens, a different culture ( or aspects of one at least ). Cultures around the world will be changing in ways never seen before as we go through this process of globalization, but culture itself has never stayed the same. Maybe we just need to think of it as culture happening faster than ever before. And I don't think that is a bad thing, do you?


PHOTO CREDIT, PICTURE 1
PHOTO CREDIT, PICTURE 2
PHOTO CREDIT, PICTURE 3

IS GLOBALIZATION SIMPLY WESTERNIZATION?

There is no doubt that globalization is changing and influencing other cultures and societies. But to say that globalization is simply a synonym to westernization and therefore homogenizing culture is not to asses the entire situation critically. Lets look at this from a western media perspective.

Ok, so first, what is westernization exactly? Well its the assimilation of Western culture (Europe and the USA). Its the social process of becoming familiar with, or converting to the customs and practices of Western civilization. And many believe that globalization is simply westernization. That through media, politics, transportation, logistics, and the economy, the western world is converting the rest of the world to its cultural values.

Tomlinson, who writes on globalization extensively in his book: Globalization and Culture, makes a significant point on the globalization of media and technology which relates to the question at hand. One, he says that we can't just assume that because we have the technology to connect ourselves with the world that we do, and we can't assume that the way we ( the western world ) connects with the rest of the world is in an equally give and take, symbiotic way.

By this he means that, the way we broadcast our culture to other cultures and societies is not the same in the way that their cultures are broadcast to us. In conjunction with this, Tomlinson says that the western media--Hollywood for example, produces and the rest of the world watches. And often what is shown in western media is not only the way we view ourselves, but the other cultures and people who we broadcast to in unflattering and stereotypical ways. Western media makes fun of other cultures, religions, and ethnicities, and exploits its own fears for the world to see.

So to claim that globalization is homogenizing culture through media is to claim that those people being foreign-ly exposed to western media, who see themselves being portrayed in unflattering light, are passive and un-critical! This is simply  not the case, as Tomlinson and other scholars have explored and determined people at home an abroad interpret, react, and use mass cultural products in unexpected ways.

Now, with this background information in the near future I will be expanding,questioning, and continuing the conversation on globalization in the light of westernization. I will be looking to other authors and scholars for jumping off points and probably continue to reference Tomlinson.

PHOTO CREDIT HERE