W6. Cultural globalization/ Dong-June, Yoo

Information Sociology

2012047886 Dong-June, Yoo

1. Summarize

We learned about ‘what is globalization?; and we will learn more about cultural globalization today.
To understand the meanings and characteristics of the cultural globalization, we must start by understanding the characteristics of two interrelated terms. First, there is globalization.  Today, many scholars define globalization as taking place simultaneously within the spheres of the economy, of politics, of technological developments –particularly media and communications technologies – of environmental change and of culture. The easiest way to define globalization is to say that it is a complex, fast and comprehensive process of connectivity worldwide.
At its most basic, globalization is quite simply a description of these networks and of their implications: of the ‘flows’ around them of virtually everything that characterizes modern life. Increasing connectivity is a clear part of our lives. Communication technologies are representative examples of connectivity. (mobile phones ,computers, e-mail, the Internet) We are more connected now than in the past, both positive and negative. So understanding globalization as a generalized process of increasing connectedness helps us to keep in mind the multidimensional complexity of the process. We must resist the temptation to attribute dominance of capital and culture with causal primacy in the globalization process. There are two reasons. First, because we are not dealing with straightforward empirical judgments about what specific practices drive everything else, but also with questions of the constitution of analytical categories. The first reason to resist the temptation to economic reductionism is that it operates on an unrealistically narrow conception of the economy. The second reason is that it distorts our understanding of the sphere of culture. One major reason why it seems natural to speak of globalization’s ‘impact’ on culture is that global market processes are relatively easy to understand as having a potential influence on people’s cultural experience. In spite of such efforts, the idea of culture as being intrinsically constitutive of globalization remains relatively obscure. To clarify this, we have to probe a little more into the peculiarly complicated and often elusive concepts of culture. If we were to ask the stark functional question, ‘what is culture for?’, the most satisfying answer is that it is to generate meaning in life. The need for ‘meaning’ is at the deep center of the human condition. One useful way to think about the consequentiality of culture for globalization is to grasp how culturally informed ‘local’ actions can have globalizing consequences. To borrow a term from Anthony Giddens, cultural globalization involves the increasing ‘reflexivity’ of modern life: the systemic integration of myriad small individual actions into the workings of the social
institutions which appear autonomously to govern our lives.
Then we need to ask: what sort of shape is emerging?
There is one way of approaching cultural globalization. Globalization is rapidly changing our experience of our ‘locality’ and one way of grasping this change is in the idea of ‘deterritorialization’. No longer is culture so ‘tied’ to the constraints of local circumstances. Deterritorialization refers to the integration of distant events, processes and relationships into our everyday lives.
What we can call the ‘telemediatization’ of culture is a key distinction in twenty first century life. Telemediatized practices (watching television or typing, scrolling, clicking and browsing at the computer screen or talking, texting or sending and receiving pictures on a mobile phone) should be regarded as unique modes of cultural activity and perception. Our use of media and communications technologies thus helps to define what it is to exist as a social being in the modern world. Finally, the author says that we urgently need to come up with much more nimble and flexible cultural concepts than we so far possess.

2. New, interesting or unusual items I learned

Before reading the article, it was thought that many multinational companies spread Western culture through cultural globalization. However, after reading this article, my thought has changed. Multinational companies like McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and Starbucks have been thought to be overwhelmed by theU.S. and Western culture, but they are trying to respect the cultural identity of the country. An example is Starbucks entering to China. I read that there is a fairly high barrier for multinational companies to move into China, which has a strong cultural identity. But Starbucks was the only successful example. Starbucks has succeeded in harmonizing China's culture with the American culture in respect of Chinese culture.

Starbucks in China
https://news.kotra.or.kr/user/globalBbs/kotranews/4/globalBbsDataView.do?setIdx=243&dataIdx=155205

3. Discuss point

Not only news but also movies, television programs, popular music, telegraph and communication programs are sold in the global market for people around the world. The global system of production, distribution and consumption of these cultures has a negative effect on the deepening of modern cultures, while deepening cultural dependence on advanced nations.
Today, the influence of American pop culture and lifestyle, represented by Hollywood movies, pop music, and Disney Land, has grown steadily. These cultural recognition of terrestrial reaffirmation has accelerated the globalization in the sense that it has a greater influence and cultural life. I wonder what you think of this idea.