W3. What is Globalization?

What is Globalization?
Information sociology / 2015048913 / Chaehyeon Lee

1) Summary

According to the definition of the dictionary, globalization is a process in which individuals and social groups are increasingly living in a single world by doing exchanges with other countries in various fields of society such as politics, economy, and culture. Globalization can be described as the collapse of the border barrier. As the barriers between nations collapsed, exchanges among countries became more active. In other words, the range of exchanges among countries has expanded. Beyond the border, the interdependence of the whole world is increasing. Globalization is no longer a choice. It is not easy to live in isolation from other countries while living in a global village. Maybe it is impossible.

 

The world has become more and more connected, helping each other and acquiring good things from other countries. Globalization has expanded from simple exchanges and can now be seen as everything in the world. People around the world interact and communicate. This is easily seen on the Internet or SNS. If you think about social networks like Facebook and Twitter which are big part of your daily life, you can easily contact people living on the opposite side of earth. Even if you are not facing them, you can contact them in real time. We can become friends with someone you have never seen, and you can immediately hear what is happening on the opposite side of earth. All of this is accomplished through globalization.

 

The processes of globalization include Westernization, Americanization, and Orientalism etc. Westernization is a process whereby societies come under or adopt western culture. Americanization is a process whereby societies come under or adopt american culture. Orientalism is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Asian culture. Globalization takes place in various directions, not in one direction.

 

Globalization is generally divided into three parts. Globalization appears to be cultural, political, and economic. Political globalization refers to the development of a political infrastructure of global governance. Economic globalization has the increasing economic interdependence of national economies across the world through a rapid increase in cross-border movement of goods, service, technology, and capital. In cultural globalization, there are three results of cultural acculturation. They are Culture adoption, coexistence of culture, and fusion of culture. Cultural assimilation appears when a culture is absorbed into another culture. It is to force their cultures into another culture. Culture coexistence is a case that different cultural elements coexist within a society. For example, KoreaTown in Los Angeles, Chinatown in Incheon, Seorae Village in Banpo, and Itaewon. They can coexist while accepting other culture without forcing them to accept their culture. Cultural fusion is a case that two cultures are combined. So, a new culture appears. Fusion cuisine (rice burger, Bulgogi pizza) and jazz music belong here. Fusion dishes can be interesting beyond traditional food. It is an example of cultural fusion that Ondol(Korean floor heating system) culture of Korea and Western bed culture met. Consequently, Ondol bed was made.

 

2) Mention of any new, interesting, or unusual items learned

Among the contents I learned, I was interested in cultural globalization. Cultural globalization is not essential beside political and economic globalization. But it is an important factor. In Korea, we make an effort to globalize Korean food culture such as globalization of Kimchi and globalization of Bibimbap. Our culture does not have to be known to other countries, but there are many benefits that can be gained by the spread of culture. The national image also shows a positive effect through K-pop which is popular in the world. Although K-pop is only music in Korea, it becomes our culture that represents Korea through globalization. Through this culture, it becomes an opportunity to introduce Korea to a foreign country. Regardless of acceptance or not, I think that it becomes a big plus factor.

 

There is also a difference in accepting culture. It is an attitude of cultural understanding. Ethnocentrism tends to generalize its culture. In other words, they do not accept foreign culture while sticking to unique traditional culture. Next, Cultural toadyism is easy to accommodate other cultures. However, it is easy to spread from one culture to another, but the existing culture can be relatively weakened. Cultural relativism recognizes the unique meaning and value of the culture that each society has. It contributies to preserving cultural diversity. This is the most ideal understanding attitude. They accept their own culture while accepting other cultures. In this part, I think I can see the attitude of cultural understanding through multicultural society. We think that we have a cultural relativistic attitude toward multicultural society. But it may not be in the position of multicultural people. Because we have made subjective judgments, they can not be sure of this attitude.

 

Globalization will lead to changes about a multicultural society. A positive aspect of a multicultural society is the increase in cultural diversity. Increasing opportunities to interact with new cultures that are different from existing cultures can alleviate prejudice against other cultures. And we are in a multicultural society, but it is not perfect.The change in the situation that is not ready to accept the culture is likely to lead to conflicts due to discrimination against cultural minorities. This may lead to the fear of deteriorating social integration.

 

3) Discussion

Globalization already takes up everything in our lives. It is difficult to define globalization in one word. But we can see that globalization exists deeply in our lives. I talked about focusing on cultural globalization because of the change about a multicultural society as mentioned above. The transition to a multicultural society has already begun and will continue in the future. In this situation, we think that we should make preparations and measures for multicultural society. In Korea, I think we are not ready to accept a multicultural society. We lack in the cognitive part, not the policy part. Of course, the policy part is not perfect, but it is acceptable for multiculturalism. On the other hand, we have still a prejudice in recognition. How can you break your prejudice? Is not it the first obligation of our acceptance of a multicultural society?