Globalisation refers to the political, economic, social and cultural transformation of the world that has speed up the advanced technologies, diminishing of national boundaries and movement of goods, services, labour and capital.
Globalisation can be described as complicated and comprehensive phenomenon. The international incorporation has brought a change in views, ideas, products and various other facets of culture. The changes has undergone a process and occurred in series where exchange of cultural resources takes place. The growth in technology and advancements has led to globalisation mainly in communication and transportation. Globalisation has different meaning for everyone. Few think it is a process for creating positivity in politics, technology and economic areas. For some it is hegemonic and antagonist to home and nationalized economies. Situations have changed due to globalisation as the influence of state is well known by the influence of organisations. The space for identity is lost in the process of globalisation as the exchange of goods, labour, services, thoughts in later stage would make the world standardized. It has nothing to do with the concept of convergence; rather it is a process that can integrate along with champions and losers.
Since 1980, the term globalization was referred to the economic dealings and expansion of the nation in literature. Later it took place in politics and social cultures. The different cultural aspects are widely discussed as a whole (globalisation). This has influenced different realms of life and it is difficult to present what actually formed globalisation as it is understood differently at different point of time by different school of thought. All schools of thought mentioned one point that globalisation has a profound influence on the modern world. Many could not differentiate as it is a civilized force or destructive force.
It refers to the process of the extension and strengthening bond of human connections; their activities; their relations; and their networks across the globe. Though, globalisation still is in a progress and so the outcome at the end is unknown, it has a profound influence on society across the globe.
Globalization - Cultural Impacts
Although the aspects in terms of politics and economics have been discussed in a wider context by many schools of thought, the cultural aspect also achieved attention by many.
Roland Robertson, a sociologist, explains that an attention in globalization arises with a separation amid sociology that deals with societies relatively, and global relationships and political science that deals with societies interactively (Anderson, 2005). According to Arjun Appadurai, globalization has formed multifaceted connections among different cultures. His theory mentions the five ‘scapes’ that profoundly impact the culture and states that these factors make certain diversity in culture and not the domination. The five scapes are as follows:
- Ethnoscape - flow of people like tourists and immigrants.
- Technoscape - it is a technology that crosses borders.
- Financescapes - flow of currency markets.
- Mediascapes - mass media skill and images.
- Ideoscapes - images related to the political and ideological features.
He also states that the act of consuming goods also shows a union of cultural processes globally. He explained that at this point of time we are beyond the revolution of consumption. At present we have all types of products and services everywhere around the globe in terms of films, foodstuff, song, literature, accessories, clothing, etc. Western culture has impacted and diffused across the globe and affected to the world at a high degree. Moreover it cannot be regarded as a one way process. Globalisation has become a big challenge to the culture all around. According to political scientist Samuel P Huntington, the conflict is not ideological or political but the vast divisions between humans and their cultural differences, as stated in his book ‘The Clash of Civilizations and Remaking of the World Order’. He also mentioned that the nation states will be the strong aspects in world situations but the major conflict of politics around the globe will be due to the different cultures. The clash will be dominating the politics globally. The issues between different cultures will arose battles in the future, as stated by him.
The role of media and communication plays a great role in globalisation among the cultures. They are intensely twisted. According to the scholars there could be no globalisation with them. They play a central role due to the following reasons:
- Operations of Media organisations have been increased across the globe.
- The flow of information has also increased with the communication globally.
- It plays the key role in perceiving events globally and creates a shared system.
The media has surpassed the time and space and interacted globally in spite of the differences. The modern way of communicating is changed with the new trend of journalism, online groups, and transnational activism facilitated online (Hill and Jain, 2007). It has given a new meaning to the society and a positive impact to social relations. This has been playing an influential role in changing the mindset and brains of the people through social network, blogs, films, online open debate groups, etc. The media is playing a influential role in diversified cultures rather than in standardization of cultures. The unified consumption behaviour of people and their tastes with the American form acts as a scheme for influencing global culture. The English language being dominant in languages in business dealings, academic works also plays an influential role across the globe.
The positive impacts of globalisation of cultures will promote diversity when an interaction takes place between cross-borders leading to mix of cultures and forms pluralisation. With the advance of globalisation beings so popular, help in improvising living standards without destroying the localised culture. Diversity in itself is now globally recognised, valued, and promoted by various global organisations and engagements. Hence, globalisation has influenced cultural sphere strongly. The ubiquitous, homogenous and hegemonic forms are widely spread in day-to-day life. There lie significant types of reproductive, inter-connected, and time-space features among these cultures.
Conclusion
Globalisation is a process that is ongoing and will continue in future. Globalisation does not only play locally, regionally, nationally or globally, it is regarding the inter-connection that flows for the development of the world. The most important features that paced the expansion are multinational corporations, technological change, governments, etc. It has brought various advantages to the globe by enhancing the standard of living through imports of various products. It also has played a significant role upon the socio-political- economic and cultural realms of life. Globalisation has changed the culture of the society and brought diversity globally.
References
Anderson, S., Cavanagh, J. and Lee, T. 2005 Field Guide to the Global Economy, 2nd edition, Institute for Policy Studies, Washington DC.
Hill, C. W., & Jain, A. K. 2007. International business: Competing in the global marketplace (Vol. 6). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
