Globalization
What is
Globalization?
• Global industrialism or
globalization is a
process of a forging
of international
political, economic,
and socio-cultural
interconnections
7-11 Beijing
KFC Kuwait
“The best definition of globalization”
Princess Diana's death
An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend
crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a
Dutch engine, driven by a Belgian who was drunk on
Scottish whisky, followed closely by Italian Paparazzi, on
Japanese motorcycles; treated by an American doctor, using
Brazilian medicines.
This is sent to you by an American, using Bill Gates's
technology, and you're probably reading this on your
computer, that uses Taiwanese chips, and a Korean monitor,
assembled by Bangladeshi workers in a Singapore plant,
transported by Indian lorry-drivers, hijacked by
Indonesians, unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen, and
trucked to you by Mexican illegals..... (from the web)
What kinds of things cross international borders?
• Trade – goods and services.
– You can buy a TV from China, car from Japan, clothes from Indonesia or
Italy.
– You can hire someone from India to write software or answer your
telephone
• Capital – money, investment
– You can put your savings into a bank in Zurich.
– You can buy stock in SONY, a Japanese company
• People – immigrants, refugees, tourists
– Immigrants come to Calgary from Asia, Africa, S. America, Europe
– You can easily travel to Europe, Asia, S. America
• Communication
– You can easily call or email people around the world
• Culture (art, music, cuisine)
– You can hear music from Brazil, South Africa, India
– Nearby restaurants: Chinese, Thai, Ethiopian, Indian
Marginal Product Revenue Theory
 Equilibrium is achieved


where supply and demand
meet in a competitive
market.
The business world does
not like equilibrium
because it limits profits.
The more unique the
offering the more the
company can charge in
excess of their costs.
Call Center India
Marginal Product Revenue Theory
 The Result: business will always seek
new markets and new products to offer.
When did Globalization begin?
Obsidian Trade in the Neolithic (6000-3000 BC)
 Economic globalization is as
old as history, a reflection of
the human drive to seek new
horizons
 It was Marco Polo and
Christopher Columbus’s
occupation
Marco Polo 1271-1295
The Silk Road
 massive globalization
during the 19th & and early
20th century (declining
transport costs, major new
inventions, e.g. steam
engine, reduction of
barriers to trade between
countries, massive flows
of capital and people
This process was severely interrupted
from World War I through the
depression of the 1930s and World War
II until it restarted again, but slowly, in
the 1950s.
The pace seems to have picked up in
recent decades, thanks to three driving
forces:
1. improvements in information
technology
2. Trade liberalization
3. capital flows
4. Cheap travel
5. Less rigorous immigration policies
6. Marketing
Cost of a 3-Minute Telephone Call,
New York to London
(Constant 1990, U.S. $)
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
$0.30
0
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
The Global Village
• We live in a world in which all
regions are in contact with one
another through the mass media,
instantaneous communication,
intercontinental travel, and highly
integrated economic and political
networks.
Mobile phone tower Tanzania
Is Globalization Good or Bad?
a banner the protestors carried in
front of the IMF building in
Washington April 2000 read:
"worldwide coalition against
globalization".
McDonald’s has
become a symbol
of globalization
Globalization’s impact has, generally, been viewed pessimistically
When Cultures Collide
 Cultural diffusion –the spreading of a cultural trait
from one society to another
 Acculturation – cultural diffusion where a
subordinate culture adopts many of the cultural traits
of the more powerful culture
 Cultural imperialism – active promotion of one’s
cultural system over another
 Cultural syncretism or hybridization – the blending
of forces to form a new culture
 Cultural nationalism – the process of protecting and
defending a certain cultural system against dilution or
offensive cultural expression while at the same time
actively promoting the indigenous culture
Global Feminization of the Workforce
 Globalization of the last two decades has led to increasing
participation of women in the workforce
Reasons
declining male participation
 labour deregulation
need for non-skilled
temporary/part time workers
Rising divorce rates
Lower fertility rates
Infant formula
Periodic economic downturns
Rising cost of living
Globalization – lower wages
Woman working in textile
Mill Slovakia
Impact on Women’s Status
Growing importance of women’s contribution to the household
economy
 women less dependent on men’s wages greater economic
responsibility in the household
 Eroded male authority - have gained more negotiating power
in the household
 women redefine their domestic role and challenge the myth of
male breadwinner
taking over as breadwinner adds a burden to women’s
household roles
Women work in fish
processing plant in Morocco
Globalization: the paradox
• creates economic conditions attractive to many
peoples seeking a better life
• contributes to undermining of local cultures and to
the breakdown of local societies
Tibet
Watching T.V. has become the most
popular form of entertainment in many
Kashmiri villages, wiping out the desire to
play games that were intrinsic to rural life.
There are two main theses concerning the relation
between globalization and culture:
 The cultural homogenization thesis holds that
Western domination of global mass culture
threatens to wash away distinct national cultures.
 The hybridization thesis focuses on the
fragmentation and diversification of cultural
expression. It holds that globalization engenders
choice as much as sameness.
Global Culture:Homogenization





Technology has now created the possibility and even the
likelihood of a global culture.
The Internet, fax machines, satellites, and cable TV are
sweeping away cultural boundaries
Global entertainment companies shape the perceptions
and dreams of ordinary citizens, wherever they live.
This spread of values, norms, and culture tends to promote
Western ideals of capitalism.
Resulting in the disappearance of local cultures replaced
by a single commodity/single identity world – the
Westernization of culture
Michael Jordan in China
Typically associated with the destruction of cultural
identities and differences- victims of the accelerating
encroachment of a homogenized, western consumer culture.
Globalism as a euphemism for –
western cultural imperialism
Japan
Israel
India
Global Culture as a Source of Universality – a
Global Monoculture
creating a universal culture in
which particular characteristics of
national and local cultures are no
longer relevant
Where all national cultures become
incorporated into a global capitalist
economic system - With a
universal culture of capitalism.
Penetration of multinational
companies into national cultures
creates not only a uniform process
of production but uniformity of
consumer tastes, choices and
habits.
Asymmetry in Power Relations and Flows
 Coca-colonization: Coke, McDonald’s, Levi’s, MTV,
Disney, computer games, American (or American style) TV
shows, look-alike shopping malls with look-alike goods
 the meaning of good, appropriate, success changes
 Banana Republicanization
Move from the dominant to the
weaker
Destroy indigenous culture
Decline of tradition, e.g.
sexual liberation propagated
by Hollywood movies and
decline of the family
Distortion of local culture, e.g.
the case of “ethnic tourism”
On the main street of Chennai, Tamil
Nadu, © Dick Waghorne
250 million Chinese have learned
English as a second language
Culture becomes more homogeneous - Not in the sense
that all cultures are incorporated equally, but biased
towards Western culture and those presented in English
Elements of Universalization
Globalization of Media



Increasing concentration of ownership
Shift from private to public ownership
Transnational corporations taking control of local
media companies.


Foreign Movie Distribution : The UK : 90%, France : 65%,
The EU : 70%
Share of American TV products in Latin America : 75%
the export of popular
culture from the U. S.,
Japan, and Europe.
Popular culture portrays
images of a good life 
consumption
Big Bird does
China
Standardization
The overwhelming dominance of multinational
companies in the production of cultural goods
creates a “convergence effect”.
From clothes to food to
music to film and
television to architecture,
we encounter similar
styles, brands and tastes
anywhere in the world.
Deterritorialization:



Historically culture has been produced in
physical places.
The way identities are defined and societies
are imagined are very much embedded in
physical places in which people live their
lives and interact with each other.
Culturally thick places provide individuals
with a sense of identity and memory and
bind the inhabitants to the history of the
locale through repeated social interactions.
Beijing
 Gradual unification of culture replaces culturally thick
places with “non-places” that are impossible to
differentiate that are the same anywhere in the world.
Examples of non-places: malls, airport lounges,
motorways, service stations, chain hotels, fast-food
restaurants
Brazzaville (Congo)
Beijing
 Will local cultures inevitably fall victim to this
global consumer culture?
 Will English eradicate all other languages?
 Will consumer values overwhelm peoples’ sense
of community and social solidarity?
 Will a common
culture lead the way
to greater shared
values and political
unity?
Or will cultures
select elements to
incorporate
Korea
Shortcomings of “Globalization as a Source
of Universality argument”

It reduces culture to material goods and consumption
patterns

It underestimates the persistence of national and other
local cultures

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It assumes the dominance of global forces

Globalization and its associated cultural forms are
constantly reinterpreted and reproduced in the process,
finally giving way to new hybrid social, economic and
cultural forms.

cultural identity, properly understood, is the product of
globalization
It fails to understand the complex relationship between
global and local forces.
Global Culture?
 Identity has intense
emotional ties
 Cultural attachment is
bound in tradition
 Mass marketing & pop
culture is no threat!
 No common pool of
memories
 No common global way of
thinking
 Blurs boundaries
Thailand
Glocalization
globalization + localization
Enaotai Island, West PNG
Hybridization
 Hybridization: mix and match from different
sources, old & new, local and global - music,
popular culture, restaurants, home decoration ....
 Hybrids help negotiate change and continuity
while helping individuals to establishing identity
and difference in local structures, social
hierarchies
 Hybridity involves integration of the global into
the practice of local life strategies
Food provides an good example of hybridization
 Mexican food is hybridized in the U.S. to create
Mexican-American food.
 Along with Italian-American, Chinese-American, and
other hybridized cuisines
 These new combinations may be unrecognizable and
even unpalatable in the originating society.
But they are highly
appreciated in the
hybridizing society by
both the immigrant
groups that seek to assert
their local identity and
the dominant culture
When Mexican food goes to Spain, it becomes
Mexican-Spanish food, different from both MexicanAmerican and its Mexican parent.
Thus, although the
local may reassert itself,
it is inevitably changed
by the new contexts in
which it arises.
no beef burger in India
A Russian/Uzbek drinking Coke from a
traditional Uzbek tea cup - Coca-Colonization?
Global Culture:Hybridization
Glocal
• Blend of foreign and local, exotic and
indigenous
– Fusion cuisine, Paul Simon and Graceland
– Ethnic communities and schools
– Chop Suey (in China it is often called "American
chop suey”)
Graceland released in 1986
by Paul Simon.
The album featured South
African musicians including
the band
Global Consumer Cultures
 Unique and authentic hybridizations: not emulation nor a mere
spread, emulation & adoption of Western/American consumer
culture
Jointly shaped: global & local (glocal)

 Specific local meanings and experiences
– meaning of goods and symbols are locally constituted
– using global and local ideas and ideologies
– to serve consumers in their daily lives:
– in dealing with the contradictions, changes, uncertainties of
their lives, with multiple social distinctions: gender, age, class,
religion, ethnicity
The Local Experience of Globalization
 Rapid change: alluring and anxiety-provoking
uncertainty
 Desired and feared
– Seductive globalism & authentic localism
– “West” as the bearer of innovation & style and
a moral threat
 Two-sided desire: to be part of the modern world
but also a search for authenticity/roots
 “From duty to desire” - with the market
economy’s focus on the individual, individual
interests become more important than family in
daily discourse: major shift in values
Elements of
Hybridization
Interaction between the
local and the global
 Even though global
economic and political
forces enter into every
corner of the world,
local cultures reinterpret
these forces and create
local forms of global
forces to produce
complex hybrid forms of
culture.
McDonaldization
“the process by which a society
takes on the characteristics of a
fast-food restaurant”
(1) efficiency: ”fast”, method of
production scientifically proven
(2) predictability: ”a world of no
surprise” – standard menu, taste,
décor, service
(3) calculability: quantity rather than
quality
(4) Control: standardized employees,
non-human technology
McDonald’s /China
• McDonald’s opened its first store in Beijing in 1992
• McDonald’s enjoyed tremendous success
• Chinese attempts to imitate McDonald’s, but failed
McDonald’s /Hong Kong
(1) Standardization: food, interior design,
layout etc.
(2) Initially presented itself as uncompromising
American food
- no Chinese name at first
- transliteration later
- no Chinese food
(3) Standard of cleanliness: clean washrooms
in restaurants
(4) Customer discipline: line up for food
(5) Idea of a regular meal: (a) exotic to ordinary;
(b) snacks versus meals [customers:
middle-class, like exotic American culture 
all ages, all social classes, look for a simple
meal]
Local?
(1) Resistance of McDonald’s? Involve in community
activities – hard to attack
(2) Local choice of food: fish burger and plain
hamburgers rather than Big Mac as favorite, other
local favorites e.g. shogan burger, chicken wings …
(3) Consumer discipline: service w/ a smile, busing own
tables, hovering, napkin wars
(4) Fast food restaurant? US: customers stay no more
11 minutes on average; HK average 26 minutes: study
room for high school students, gathering place for
senior people
Who go to McDonald’s and why?
(1) Young professionals: a mark of “middle-class” status (in
1992), feeling of connection to the world …
(2) “Single” women: morally suspect in traditional
restaurants. Greater equality in McDonald’s : order own
food, no fear of being dominated in conversations
(3) Young couples: clean, soft music, romantic, a place for
courtship
(4) Parents with young children: children’s choice of
restaurants
Shortcomings of “Global Culture as a
source of Hybridization” argument
 It ignores the inherent power structures that
exist in human societies and assumes that
people happily mix and voluntarily create new
identities.
 It fails to acknowledge the influence of
dominant economic and political forces.
 It fails to recognize that hybridization takes
place in urban settings and many parts of the
world is excluded from this process.
Elements of Conflict
Persistence of national and ethnic identities:
 Since the mid 1980s, there is a gradual increase in
nationalist movements and ethnic conflicts. As global
forces penetrate into national and local cultures,
individuals turn inward and redefine their ethnic and local
identities as a reaction to globalization.
Resistance to global economy:
As the global economy diminishes the autonomy of local
economies, groups develop strategies to counter global
economic forces. Growing resistance to economic
globalization both in industrialized and industrializing
countries proves that global capitalism is far from being a
unifying force.
Global Culture as a Source of Conflict
Jihad Versus McWorld
Global Culture would be defined
by the conflict between the
universalizing force of capitalism
and the particular force of local
cultures. (Benjamin Barber)
This argument assumes that the
gradual Westernization of the
world will create strong
reactionary movements in local
cultures.
In August 1999, Jose Bove
was arrested for ransacking a
McDonald’s restaurant in
Millau, France
He was seen as a hero fighting
against the pollution of French
culture by the Big Mac
Fear of an impending
McWorld and the globalization
it represents has unleashed an
increasingly strong backlash
against the possibility of
cultural homogenization.
Ethnic Trends - Ethnonationalism
• People don’t think government cares
about individuals
• secessionist developments
• Ethnonationalism as a reaction to
global processes (Québécois, Scots)
• Arose in European-colonized areas,
in eastern Europe after the collapse
of the Soviet Union
• Ethnic group is a refuge from
globalization
Beijing