What is the relation between culture and globalization? / JeongYoon Oh

Summary

Today, we live in the world's most connected world. The level of global interdependence is the highest. Culture maximized connectivity by using communication technologies such as mobile phones, computers and the Internet. Maximized connectivity allows people to select and share a lot of information in real time. Culture created in that way will spread to globalization. In other words, in modern society, culture and globalization coexist and grow together. The followings are the issues that emerge from the relationship between culture and globalization.

One of the general speculations about cultural globalization is that it can lead to a single world culture, not to create a variety of cultures. Some aspects of the global market really have uniformity. However, increasing global connectivity does not mean that the world is "unifying.“

There is also speculation that cultural globalization is taking a form of cultural imperialism. If the culture of Western capitalist countries such as the United States spreads around the world, the traditions of other countries can be destroyed. For example, there are iconic brands such as Disney, Coca-Cola, Marlboro, Microsoft, Google, McDonald's, CNN, Nike, and Starbucks. But this part is not exactly proof that traditions have succumbed to Western culture. Globalization does not mean an inevitable clash of civilizations. It is to inform what a decent life is, broaden your choices, and bring you close contact with a heterogeneous culture.

We are confronted with the future world that Clifford Gertz called "pressured-together desimilitaries variously arranged, other than all-of-a-piece countries group into blocs and superblocs." We need to think about globalization and cultural concepts more flexibly than we know.

Interesting Point

 It was interesting to read that the development of the Internet and telecommunications can make people nervous. “Connectivity pretty much defines our use of communications technologies – mobile phones, computers, e-mail, the Internet – but it is also characteristic of the urban environments most of us inhabit and it increasingly influences the way we earn our living, the styles of food we eat, the music, cinema and television that forms our entertainment, and our experience of mobility and travel. It also forms the backdrop to all manner of social and material anxieties and perplexities that characterize everyday modern life: from the shadow cast by terrorist attacks to worries over global warming, influenza security, our taxes or the interest payments on our home loans.” The underlined part is what I read interestingly. It is said that rapid handling when problems arise, and discussion of social phenomena that need to be noted, make people anxious and perplexed, but my opinion is a little different. The concerns gained through the development of telecommunications are appreciated. Problems such as global warming can also be recognized by individuals through rapid communication so that we can practice more correct behavior quickly. To sum up, you can solve the problem at the same time that you know the worries and anxieties about the newly created problem. For example, no one can complain about making him nervous quickly when a friend tells him through his cell phone that his house is burning while he is shopping. Everyone knows that burning just one room is much better than burning the whole house.

Discussion

 Consumer activities constitute an overall complex network of global market connections.(Employment of workers, natural resources, extinction, etc.) Ever since we recognized this fact, will there be any change in our consumption? For example, if we find that hamburgers are not good from an environmental perspective, do we have to consider this when choosing a meal menu?