Culture and Society
Culture is a significant element in defining society. Culture refers to the shared or a form of refinement to which a group of people draws their behaviors and beliefs bringing people together with a common characteristic, and belief makes up a society. Over time the globe has been known to have multiple cultures and societies with different populations embracing different attitudes, values and beliefs in their daily lifestyles. An economy is the aftermath of the larger societal groups with cultural variables being the defining spark for the economic characteristics. The economy is embedded in social relations with Culture being the major influence on the social relations, a subject that this paper seeks to explore by critically drawing the grounds for the correlation.
Culture entails beliefs, values, family structure and social trust systems in which all the lifestyle activities are pegged. In this case, the beliefs and values define what right and what is wrong, a great influence in the decision is making the process of all individuals belonging to a certain society. With the individual decision-making process altered, their social actions are determined by what the society considers right and in conformity to the societal culture. This nature of being showcases the intrinsic feature of the society equipped with the utmost power to influence the social actions of its members of the community. Individual desire and will are thereby defined by the cultural framework held in their society of origin or existence.
The formed societies constitute the nation and states that govern the economic structure at large. These communities largely depend on each other for physical and cultural resources which become the new base for the relation at the state level. Both the micro-phenomenological and realists affirm to the existence of a tightly related structure in the society and the nation at large, an aspect responsible for the adoption of standard policies and cultural framework across the globe. Adoption of standard policies and modern cultural beliefs produces an interdependent and connected global economy that makes use common economic policies, laws, procedures and technology. This connectedness is referred to as globalization of the economy. The enterprise activities have converged into a common unit whereby the organizations are forced to adopt common systems of operation in order to survive and grow in the highly transitive market.
The world embraces globalization and becomes a stateless global society getting away from the differentiated cultural segments into one world society having shared beliefs and values. This transition modifies the balance of power within the state and the society at large. The sessions define this kind of connectedness as participatory democracy, power in the societal end that gives them the will and desire to participate fully in the economic activities. Their participation occurs across ethnic, cultural and gender lines driven to meet the common societal interest. Explaining the Jihad vs. McWorld argument, Benjamin Barber explains insists that democracy gets only exercised when collective participation is allowed by a state with capitalism being exercised when power is centralized to the state management. The relationship between the states and their structure portray the effects of the shared power between the societies with different cultural backgrounds coming together to meet the common interest on economic growth.
The implication of globalization is that the one world society gets characterized by convergence and connectedness of the economic systems across the globe. Among these common practices of the economic systems, includes transportation, security, communication, and standardization of organization management practices. With focus to this change, What is the rationale for the change into a globalized economy? Does a social relation stand to be the major cause of the economic connectedness, an ‘embedment’ of the economy based on the social relations? Elwood (2010) in his research publication outlines more than six centuries ago when there existed no electricity, communication lines, the internet, automobiles and the present nuclear weapons where the term globalization stood as a myth and a term that did not make any sense.
The sessions contradict with such intuition that bases its explanation for the stateless world pegging the definition of the economy on social relations. The sessions opine that the roots of economic structures derive their existence from the social relations and choose to ignore the technological forces behind the existence of a common world society. For a fact technology also exists as a force behind the connectedness of the global societies into a globalized sphere with a common economy. The sessions, on the other hand, stand out in explaining the roots of economic embedment whose future is determined by different cultural lines. Benjamin his session thereby concludes that connecting the state power and the societal power creates a substantive force that leads to the formation of a stronger economy. The relation also defines individual’s actions that may in a way support the economic growth.
It has been argued that the set of the modern era is the cause of the fading cultural beliefs with individuals embracing the modern cultures. The existence of many societies with shared resources creates nationalism under which the members of the society seek to establish common social and political struggles that would provide value for all. It is thus clear the set of the modern world does not make the cultural lines vanish but instead stand as the force supporting high social relations that build up the pillars of the economy. Democracy, the buildup of nationalism, relationship bonds and shared beliefs are the primary lines of social relations with the nation and world society integrating into economic development. Agreeing with the session arguments, culture determines social actions as they are the major influence in decision making, social relations and the source of economic embedment.
References
Alesina, A., & Giuliano, P. (2013). Culture and Institution. Journal of Economic Literature.
Barber, B. R. (1995). Jihad vs. McWorld. New York: Ballantine Books.
Elwood, W. (2010). The No-nonsense Guide to Globalization. New York: New Internationalist.
Held, D. (1995). Democracy and the Global Order: From the Modern state to Cosmopolitan Governance. John Willey and Sons.
