Today, when visiting a country on the opposite end of the globe, it is not hard to find someone that speaks English. English has turned into the world’s first language. It is required in schools around Europe to take English as a language to become fluent. Yet in the United States, students are not required to take one specific language, they have the ability to choose between various languages from all parts of the globe and for however long they want. This is a result of the globalization of culture, communication, business, and people.
Globalization, according to Noam Chomsky, is “one specific modality of international integration,” in simpler words; it is a period or sequence of large social and economical change throughout the world for decades. Rapid technological developments, which have been occurring today and over the past 10 years, are also associated with globalization. When a country opens up their borders to free imports, they have accepted the notion of business with highly subsidized countries, also allowing people of these countries into their borders [1]. By doing this, the spread or globalization of culture begins.
Globalization of people and economy/business created the need for people from trading companies to learn the language, and sometimes customs, of the people they are trading with outside their own country’s borders (previously stated). This spread of language and exchange of customs led to the notion of a global culture. This concept is actually seen as a negative and close to impossible one. In order for a global culture to exist, the formation of a world state would need to occur, which is a highly unlikely task [3]. Curran and Park state that, “globalization is opening up new lines of communication… and constructing new spaces for the building of mutuality, without suggesting that the world is shrinking to a single [culture]” [2]. Globalization selects elements of cultures and changes them in various ways for the global public [2]. The spread of communications and availability it has per region is a more modern way of globalization.
New media in countries provides access to information and ideas from a completely separate society on the opposite end of the globe. Many companies now have bases in different countries all around the world with people from different ethnicity's and speaking different languages. Different regions of the world have more access than others to communication tools like the internet, telephone, or television. The regions that do have a higher degree of communication means than those that do not have any access to communication tools tend to be more modernized and prosperous [3]. Globalization is a never-ending aspect of change in the world due to developments in modern technology, economy, and politics.
[1] Chomsky, Noam. "What Is Globalization?" YouTube. 26 Mar. 2007. Web. 06 Jan. 2011.
[2] Curran, J., & Park, M.-J. (2000). Beyond Globalization. In De-Westernizing Media Studies (pp. 3-18). New York: Routledge.
[3] Featherstone, Mike. Global Culture: Nationalism, Globalization and Modernity. London: Sage in Association with Theory, Culture & Society, 1990. Print.
This idea of a global culture is interesting. I wonder what people think of it. America is supposedly a melting pot. Starting in the late 1800's, millions of people immigrated to this country from all over the world. There probably aren't many of us that aren't a mixture of races, cultures and religions. I love that I'm a "mixed bag" and have different heritages but I'm also sad that I don't have a rich, cultural, more singular heritage and the traditions and language that go with it.
ReplyDeleteI liked your points where you touched upon different countries learning different languages. Why is it that in Europe many students grow up to be fluent in many different languages while in the United States that is not something that can be boasted. I myself took Spanish classes for five years and in no way come close to be considered fluent. Is it the United States mentality of superiority that finds the concept of globalization to be Americanizing the world rather than the world imposing on American ideaologies?
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Daniel stated. It's very sad that the United States can't compete with other countries in education. It seems to me that here in the US, we like to think of ourself as a mix of cultures, as Cindy said. But rarely do Americans actually embrace other cultures. For example, there is Chinese food or Italian food in the US, but not the real type that is served in those countries. In addition, it's upsetting to think about the fact that when other countries think about American culture, they think of the McDonalds down the block. So globalization may be a good thing, but I think that it hurts the image of the United States.
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