cultural globalization

1.    Summary : cultural globalization-John Tomlinson

To understand the meaning of 'Cultural Globalization', article defines globalization first. Globalization is a complex, accelerating, integrating process of global connectivity. And globalization simply describes network of interconnections and interdependencies in social, economic, and cultural life in the world and flows of social things. In other words, globalization is a generalized process of increasing connectedness. Also this article says that there exists some global dominance of economic aspect in globalization. So it requires that we have to probe more into the complicated and elusive concept of culture in globalization. In social meaning, culture is not a power, something to which social events can be causally attributed.

One common speculation about the globalization process is that it will lead to a single global culture. It seems that world being unify through connectivity in other spheres.  And there is an opinion about cultural globalization that it implies a form of cultural imperialism : mainly western  culture dominants other culture. About this opinion there is different perspective : contemporary globalization in the context of a much longer historical context in which societies and cultures have imagined the world as a single place. It has a historical example about religion in Europe.

Karl Marx imagines that future communist society provides imagination of global culture. According to Marx and Angel, nations are unified in the future world, and local aspects like religious belief are disappeared. Communist society uses universal language and integrated cosmopolitan cultural tastes.

 Deterritorialization means that the significance of the geographical location of a culture is eroding. No longer is culture so tied to the constraints of local circumstance. And deterritorializing aspect of globalization is felt in ordinary everyday practices. For example, global foods in local supermarket. Also, phenomenon of deterritorialization arises from a various dimension of economic, political, and technical factors.

 Cosmopolitan cultural politics are related to cultural globalization and global governance. It means the attachments and the values of cultural difference with those of an emergent wider global-human community. Cosmopolitan or the historical, territorial origins of the discourse of human rights, it owes most to its institutional form.

2.     Interesting learned things

According to article, I can know about ‘Deterritorialization’. Territory means environment that has producing function. It is indispensable to producing, but flow of desire is spread to new environment. Deterritorialization is movement that escapes from boundary of territory. And deterritorialization is a term that applied to culture, economic, and politic as well as simply territory. I think most nations do not have only their own traditional culture today because of deterritorialization. It means that most culture in the world has shared with another culture. So as a result, there exists fusion of culture, extinction of culture, and evolution of culture. Deterritorialization is affected to global happening, maybe. And I think deterritorialization happens regardless of case size. For example, culture can spread to other nations even through short communication with a foreigner. Also mission work to other country in large scale can touch off cultural globalization and deterritorialization.

And also I can learn about global dominance in cultural aspect. For many people Western culture has unconsciously become global culture. It is related to difference of economic power between western and other nations. Economic power has huge effects about methods that spreads and convey culture. For example, IT technique is one of really important things of globalization. Countries that have IT technique contribute to cultural globalization through Internet service. But IT technique is related to economic power of country. Indeed, most advanced countries try to develop technique: especially IT. Media is also same. Through media western culture is noted by whole world.

And I am interested in future imagination of Karl Marx. Future communist society of Marx is familiar with current world. I wonder how to predict cultural globalization.

3.    Discussion point

As reading article about global dominance, I think culture is one of global power. Some people have an opinion that global cultural dominance exists because of difference of economic power. So I think cultural dominance is emerged to economic ‘power’, culture also has power. Recently Korea tries to establish cultural globalization in various dimensions like food, music, language, media, especially with western countries. Many countries as well as Korea try to make product that has both tradition and taste of western culture. For example, Korean designers make dress (western culture) grafting Korea traditional dress style. I think that countries make that product for gain cultural power.

I wonder what is a reason of countries’ effort for establish cultural globalization. And if that reason is gaining global cultural power, I wonder that process to gain power.