Global Culture In The Era Of Globalization Analysis
There lies great difficulty in attempting to answer the question of what is happening to culture in the era of globalisation. Even greater complications arise in the question of what a ‘global’ culture constitutes, if it truly exists at all. It may be possible to refer this as a process of the globalisation of culture—“cultural integration and cultural disintegration that transcend the state-society level and occur on a trans-national or trans-societal level” (Featherstone, 1990: 1) if we try to engage a broader definition of culture. This essay will address how cultural identities and practices interweave with aspects of globalisation. Looking beyond theories of cultural homogenisation and polarisation, this essay will focus on various responses
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For Edward Said (1993), ‘differences’ indirectly serve as a basis for cultural domination. This can be linked with cultural homogenisation, Westernisation and Americanisation, but there are significant limits to this thesis. One argument against it states that it is capitalism that is becoming globalised, instead of the culture itself (Holton, 2011).
This argument suggests that the globalisation of capitals effects in “global interchange and partial convergence towards similar types of business organisation and economic culture” (Holton, 2011: 198). This in turn, further leads to the suggestion that the components of this process are not the sole product of one national source, despite certain disproportionate influences in particular markets and sectors, for example, the dominance of the USA or certain American symbols in particular markets such as fast food and youth culture (Holton, 2011). In other words, there is no single dominant centre, only an influential one. Holton also explains that standardised global supply simply cannot manipulate world markets. This view ultimately explains that the global field is multi-centred rather than dominated by a single centre—this can be applied in the cultural domain as well as elsewhere (Holton,
For Edward Said (1993), ‘differences’ indirectly serve as a basis for cultural domination. This can be linked with cultural homogenisation, Westernisation and Americanisation, but there are significant limits to this thesis. One argument against it states that it is capitalism that is becoming globalised, instead of the culture itself (Holton, 2011).
This argument suggests that the globalisation of capitals effects in “global interchange and partial convergence towards similar types of business organisation and economic culture” (Holton, 2011: 198). This in turn, further leads to the suggestion that the components of this process are not the sole product of one national source, despite certain disproportionate influences in particular markets and sectors, for example, the dominance of the USA or certain American symbols in particular markets such as fast food and youth culture (Holton, 2011). In other words, there is no single dominant centre, only an influential one. Holton also explains that standardised global supply simply cannot manipulate world markets. This view ultimately explains that the global field is multi-centred rather than dominated by a single centre—this can be applied in the cultural domain as well as elsewhere (Holton,