Culture vs. Unity?

Over the last few weeks, my colleagues have pointed out certain aspects of the globalization language issue. If we are as one, should we not speak as one? Should there not be some language that all will know and communicate with? However, there is a certain concern hinted at in these posts – the future of culture. All humans live differently – it is a fact. On the global scale, will we continue to do the same or be crushed with a forced conformity? Will we become a supreme version of the “nicely tossed salad” like the community I came from almost was, or will we be a large“melting pot” like America seems to be? Plainly stated, the question is this – will globalization assist or destroy cultural diversity?

In my hunt for an answer, I came across a site titled “The Globalization Website” (how awfully convenient!) with an entire SECTION on the matter. Clearly, I was not alone in my concern. They had various concerns listed in neat little bullet-point style, simplifying what was too complex for me to explain (at 11:30 on a Monday Night after a concert). For simplicity, I shall repost this chart. Hooray for sources!

There are many reasons to think that globalization might undermine cultural diversity:

* multinational corporations promote a certain kind of consumerist culture, in which standard commodities, promoted by global marketing campaigns exploiting basic material desires, create similar lifestyles–”Coca-Colanization”
* backed by the power of certain states, Western ideals are falsely established as universal, overriding local traditions–”cultural imperialism”
* modern institutions have an inherently rationalizing thrust, making all human practices more efficient, controllable, and predictable, as exemplified by the spread of fast food–”McDonaldization”
* the United States exerts hegemonic influence in promoting its values and habits through popular culture and the news media–”Americanization”

But there are also good reasons to think that globalization will foster diversity:

* interaction across boundaries leads to the mixing of cultures in particular places and practice–pluralization
* cultural flows occur differently in different spheres and may originate in many places–differentiation
* integration and the spread of ideas and images provoke reactions and resistance–contestation
* global norms or practices are interpreted differently according to local tradition; the universal must take particular forms–glocalization
* diversity has itself become a global value, promoted through international organizations and movements, not to mention nation-states–institutionalization

Okay, there ends the stolen work. But it makes you think about the question a little more thoroughly. In reality, it really depends who is running the entire globalization train. One nation should not be above others and established as a leader in this eventual merger, but I am afraid it is the only way this can happen. Financially, one nation will be the richest and take the reigns to “help the rest of the world,” therefore imprinting it’s face on the world as the creators of this “great union.” Hopefully, a number of nations will all contribute equally to create a semi-demonationalocracy.

How do we prevent one nation from ruling the world? Everybody’s going to want a higher say in things. We can look at the UN as an example. It is the “town meeting hall” of the world, but at the beginning of the Cold War, it – the PEACE KEEPING BODY – became a battleground for the Soviets and the Americans. What happens if we find ourselves in another power struggle? What happens if the world polarizes and we become two vast forces, both wanting to destroy the other?

…but enough doomsday talk. Perhaps we’ll work it out fine, and perhaps this will open cultural boundaries instead of crushing them. Perhaps we will all learn to respect differences on a global scale at some point, but in our current state, we have a lot of issues to work out before we can create any sort of Utopia.

More? Take a peek at…
- http://www.sociology.emory.edu/globalization/issues05.html
- http://www.hrw.org/advocacy/index.htm

You’ll find more links on those two sites, if you want to explore.