UNIT 1 REVIEW
SOCIAL STUDIES 10
GLOBALIZATION AND IDENTITY
• Globalization influences who you are and shapes your community in ways you may not have noticed.
• Consider some of the factors that shape who you are:
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Family
Heritage
History
Language
Traditions
Wealth
Religion
Peers
Etc.
GLOBALIZATION HAS AN IMPACT ON ALL
OF THESE THINGS!
GLOBALIZATION AND IDENTITY
• Technology has become an important part of our personal
identities. Technology helps us connect with people at any time
which is an important part of personal identity. At the same time
technology connects us to a wider community making it a part of
collective identity
• The technology we use is produced and marketed by major
transnational corporations (Apple). Production of our devices takes
place all over the world, making us dependent on raw materials
and labor forces in places we will likely never visit.
WHAT ARE SOME FORCES OF
GLOBALIZATION?
• Trade
• Transportation
• Communication
• Media
TRADE AS A GLOBALIZING FORCE
• Trade is not a new phenomenon.
• No human society has ever had everything that it needed, forcing them to
search for other sources of goods.
The Silk Road connected
Europe to Asia during
the Middle Ages. The
routes were long and
treacherous making
trade very expensive.
TRADE AS A GLOBALIZING FORCE
• Trade motivates contact between societies and cultures.
• Typically the fist level of contact between cultures is for trade.
• There is a common human desire to fulfill our wants and needs and
therefore a common desire to trade.
• As a result of this contact culture and ideas were exchanged, as well as
goods (Classical ideas spread to Europe via trade with the Islamic empires.
TRADE AS A GLOBALIZING FORCE
• Today international trade is dominated by Transnational (multinational)
corporations.
• A transnational corporation is any company that is based in one country while developing
and manufacturing its products, goods, and services in more than one country.
TRADE AS A GLOBALIZING FORCE
• Transnational Corporations are often seen to be driving the process of
globalization.
• The vast majority of products and capital that moves around the world everyday is done
through transnational corporations.
• There are benefits to this system.
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Many jobs are created around the world
We have easy access to a wide variety of goods and services.
TRADE AS A GLOBALIZING FORCE
• There are also many disadvantages
• “McJobs” - A low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little
opportunity for advancement
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Outsourcing- Jobs leaving to go to other countries
Exploitation of the poor
Exploitation of the environment
Lack of accountability (little government regulation)
FREE TRADE AND GLOBALIZATION
FREE TRADE AND GLOBALIZATION
FAIR TRADE AND GLOBALIZATION
TRANSPORTATION AS A GLOBALIZING FORCE
• Transportation of people, goods, materials, and services is dependent on
technology.
• The silk road required the domestication of camels and the use of carts to be effective.
• Modern trade routes require sophisticated technology like rail systems, container ships,
and aircraft.
SHIPPING AND GLOBALIZATION
COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AS A
GLOBALIZING FORCE
• The faster, and cheaper communication gets the more interdependent the
world becomes
• Revolutions in communication include discoveries such as writing, printing press,
mail systems, telegraph, shortwave radio, telephone, satellites, computers, and
internet.
• Notice that each new discovery made global communication easier, cheaper,
and faster, allowing people around the world to interact on a more regular
basis.
THE MEDIA AS A GLOBALIZING FORCE
• The last 20 years have seen a revolution in the media called “convergence”.
Radio
Newspapers
Music
INTERNET
Books
Television
THE MEDIA AS A GLOBALIZING FORCE
• Most media forms can now be funneled through the internet, giving us near
instant access to information around the world.
• An issue now is who controls the content?
Publically accessible
and collaboratively
produced content
There are two opposing forces.
INTERNET
Privately produced
and copy written
content
MEDIA CONCENTRATION
Note the dropping number of corporations that control a majority of
the media in the United States.
MEDIA CONCENTRATION
Media concentration is an issue of ownership. If most of our media is
owned by a few powerful corporations do they then have significant
control over how we think?
THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
• It is a fact that most people in the world do not have access to a
phone, let alone an internet connection.
• This digital divide can have a huge impact on group and
individual identity. How?
• “Globalization, as defined by rich people like us, is a very nice
thing…you are talking about the internet, you are talking about
cell phones, you are talking about computers. This doesn’t effect
two-thirds of the people of the world.” Jimmy Carter.
THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
• Statistics for 2012
• North America- 78.6%
• Australia/Oceania- 67.6%
• Europe- 63%
• Latin America and Caribbean- 42.9%
• Middle East- 40%
• World Avg (based on world population)- 34.3%
• Asia- 27.5%
• Africa- 15.6%
DIVERSITY AND GLOBAL MEDIA
CONCENTRATION
• The media has the power to reach billions of people.
• On one hand it provides us with glimpses of cultures and ideas we don’t
normally come into contact with, increasing and supporting diversity.
• On the other hand media concentration means these cultures and ideas are
being interpreted through fewer and fewer lenses, limiting our ability to
consider multiple perspectives and hindering diversity.
TECHNO-ISOLATION
• Some believe that technology increases our connections online but actually
decreases our connections in real-life, often turning us into “high-tech hermits”.
• This often leads to a reduced sense of local community.
IDENTITY AND MEDIA COVERAGE
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If most of the important information we receive about the world comes through the
media then we can say that the media has a substantial impact on your identity.
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An example
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After 9/11 there were large demonstrations in Muslim nations denouncing the attacks, in other
nations there were demonstrations celebrating them. Some media sources focused on the
denouncements whole others focused on the celebrations, a few tried to show both. The media
source consumed by people often determined their response to Muslim people after the
attack.
IDENTITY AND MEDIA COVERAGE
IDENTITY AND MEDIA COVERAGE
DIVERSITY AND THE DOMINANCE OF AMERICAN
MEDIA
• The dominance of the American pop culture industry has generated discussion
around the nature of globalization.
• Some consider it to be a global movement that promotes diversity and can be called
Universalization.
• Others consider it a homogenizing force (making everyone the same) that can actually be
called Americanization.
DIVERSITY AND THE DOMINANCE OF AMERICAN
MEDIA
Rank
Title
Company
Gross (U.S. $)
1
The Avengers
Buena Vista
$623,357,910
2
Dark Night Rises
Lionsgate
$448,139,099
3
The Hunger Games
20th Century Fox
$408,010,692
4
Skyfall
Sony
$303,460,116
5
The Hobbit
Warner Brothers
$298,481,792
6
Twilight: Breaking Dawn Pt. 2
Summit
$291,437,864
7
Amazing Spider-Man
Sony
$262,030,663
8
Brave
Buena Vista
$237,283,207
9
Ted
Universal
$218,815,487
10
Madagascar 3
Paramount
$216,391,482
GLOBALIZATION’S CHALLENGE TO IDENTITY
• Globalization does present some challenges to cultural identity.
• Homogenization: A process where the differences between peoples and cultures are,
over time, erased, making people increasingly similar.
• Acculturation: Is when two different cultures come into contact and changes occur in one
or both of the cultures. These changes can be positive or negative.
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Accommodation: involves accepting and creating space for one another. This can often lead
to cultural change as the two cultures mix. This can also be called hybridization.
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Assimilation: Involves the erasure of one culture by another more dominant culture. This can
happen accidently or it can be done on purpose.
GLOBALIZATION’S CHALLENGE TO IDENTITY
• In order to prevent these types of
challenges from occurring many
companies try to be culturally
sensitive by bringing various cultural
perspectives into their programming.
This process is called hybridization.
GLOBALIZATION AND CULTURAL REVITALIZATION
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Despite the challenges to cultural diversity globalization does provide some
opportunities to cultural groups to revitalize themselves in the face of pressures to
conform.
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For example modern communications technology makes it easier for small cultural
groups to educate the world about who they are. It also allows them to publicize
ways in which they are being marginalized in society.
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This process of Cultural Revitalization can be seen most clearly on the internet
where groups are able to bypass mainstream media and publish ideas from their
perspectives.
AFFIRMING IDENTITY: LANGUAGE
• English is quickly becoming the common language of the world and is
replacing traditional languages at a rapid pace. Why is this?
• During the age of imperialism (next unit) Britain dominated the planet, seeding English in
many places around the world. This also accounts for why French and Spanish are spoken
all over the world.
• In the present day the richest and most powerful nations and companies on the planet are
English speaking. As a result English dominates the internet, media, pop culture,
diplomacy, and business. Can this be more evidence for Americanization?
AFFIRMING IDENTITY: GOVERNMENT’S ROLE
• How has the Canadian government attempted to protect cultural and linguistic
identity?
• Multiculturalism Act, 1971
• Official Languages Act (Bilingualism), 1969
• Teaching aboriginal languages in schools
• Cultural Content Laws