Globalization VS. culture: can we consider the Cultural Homogenization as a sustainable future for our society?

Thèmes abordés

Globalization, culture, Cultural Homogenization, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Facebook, McDonald's, westernization, cultural diversification

Résumé du document

"The current era of globalization, with its unprecedented acceleration and intensification in the global flows of capital, labour, and information, is having a homogenizing influence on local culture." (UNESCO, s.d.)
As previously said, our society has evolved at a tremendous speed since we discovered fast-travel transport and most importantly: the internet. These tools have heavily increased the world's economic globalization and has become (and still working on it) culturally homogenized.

But what does this mean? There is no existing formal definition for this term, although people have already gave a thought about it and here's what they have come up with: "The Cultural Homogenization is an aspect of cultural globalization (Smith, 2008), listed as one of its main characteristics (Jennings, 2010) and refers to the reduction in cultural diversity (Barker, 2011) through the popularization and diffusion of a wide array of cultural symbols - not only physical objects but customs, ideas and values." (Jennings, 2010).

Extraits

[...] Thus, we need to debate this topic as this process is being part of our future worldwide movement toward economic, financial, trade, and communications integration.” Business Dictionary - Full definition of Globalization 2 “Conversion to or adoption of western traditions or techniques.” (MerriamWebster Dictionary, first known use of the word: 1873) PAGE 2 Can we consider the Cultural Homogenization as a sustainable future for our society? PAGE 3 Why do I think this is happening? As the “World Commission on Culture and Development (WCCD) noted, a society's culture is neither static nor unchanging but rather is in a constant state of flux, influencing and being influenced by other world-views and expressive forms.” (UNESCO, s.d.). [...]

[...] On an economical, educational & technological point of view, the Cultural Homogenization helps us without doubt to harmonize and facilitates trades and communication between students & foreign employees or companies with foreign supplies/buyers. However, in my opinion, we need to control this phenomenon as we would risk eventually a loss of identity throughout the world and ending up having the same habits, the same trends, the same beliefs or the same language. History has forged so many different civilization and now contribute to the economy of each via tourism (e.g.: France is still the most visited countries in the world4 and it represents of its national GDP and two million direct and indirect jobs5). [...]

[...] [Online] Available at: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/timevalueofmoney.asp [Accessed 30 October 2016]. Jennings, J Hallmark 5 - cultural homogenization. In: Globalizations and the Ancient World. s.l.:s.n., p Lainé, L Dossier de l'été 2016 : les chiffres clés du tourisme. [Online] Available at: http://www.lechotouristique.com/article/dossier-de-l-ete-2016les-chiffres-cles-du-tourisme,83771 [Accessed 30 October 2016]. Merriam-Webster, n.d. westernization. [Online] Available at: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/westernization [Accessed 30 October 2016]. MORIN, R The most (and least) culturally diverse countries in the world. [Online] Available at: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/07/18/the-mostand-least-culturally-diverse-countries-in-the-world/ [Accessed 30 October 2016]. [...]

[...] Pagel, M Does globalization mean we will become one culture?. [Online] Available at: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120522-one-world-order [Accessed 30 October 2016]. Reich, R., n.d. Globalization. s.l.:brainyquote.com. PAGE 7 Ryan, T 1s and 0s: The History of The Coca-Cola Company's Website. [Online] Available at: http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/1s-and-0s-thehistory-of-the-coca-cola-companys-website [Accessed 30 October 2016]. Smith, J. E. Z. [...]

[...] What could be the ultimate consequences of this process? Within their report, UNESCO has perfectly summarized the ultimate consequences of this process: “While this phenomenon promotes the integration of societies and has provided millions of people with new opportunities, it may also bring with it a loss of uniqueness of local culture, which in turn can lead to loss of identity, exclusion and even conflict. This is especially true for traditional societies and communities, which are exposed to rapid ‘modernization' based on models imported from outside and not adapted to their context.” (UNESCO, s.d.). [...]