Institutionalizing Globalization

Globalization is such a complex phenomenon and can be analyzed from different perspectives; culture being one of them. To begin with, culture can be defined as a set of norms or beliefs shared by a certain group. Further more, norms are standards of acceptable behavior, rituals and traditions. It is often argued that culture is preserved by being institutionalized, but what does it mean to institutionalize? Basically, it means to set up an institution to provide for the needs or interests of the community as a whole. By cultural institution, it is meant that culture is reflected in the state institutions.

Examples of such institutionalizations would be the preservation of culture in the governmental and educational institutions. In doing so, not only is culture being reinforced and strengthened, but the “cultural identity” is also being preserved and strengthened. So what is this so called cultural identity? Basically it is an identity one acquires by living in a certain place or interacting with certain

people or having certain beliefs and practices. It is believed that cultural identity is a product of cultural identity. In other words, institutionalizing culture gives rise to cultural identity which in return produces more and stronger cultural identities. One can also make the argument that globalization meets strong resistance in the form of cultural identity; cultural identity already exists but is strong enough to resist globalization. For some, cultural identity is often seen as a fragile resisting force or a victim of globalization, but in reality it is the complete opposite.

Mobility of people, ideas, thought etc has become a common concept in the emerging global world. As a result, global encounters and interactions have increased and are fabricating new and unique cultural forms. The experience of globalization differs from one individual to the next; for some it may be a positive experience and for some it may be negative. From the positive aspect, there is the existence of “intercontinental cross over culture”, where globalization is seen as a process of innovative hybridization. This is when people put together and follow two or more cultures they experienced together without having any difficulties or clashes.  Take myself for example: I was born in Pakistan but moved to Saudi when i was hardly two month old. I have lived here ever since but managed to soak up both cultures (though most of my Saudi friends see me more as saudi that pakistani :p). Having said that, the negative aspect of cultural encounters as seen by some is the clashes of culture. For example, due to a difference in culture between the West and Islamic nations, a negative ripple effect arises which leads to numerous conflicts between the two and may even result in war .... as you all know there is no shortage of examples there.

Cultural globalization can be defined as the intensification of worldwide connectivity and interdependence in the cultural sphere. When talking about cultural globalization, one might have three views on the subject. The first one is that with cultural globalization there can be a homogenization of culture; s common example would be the establishment of the age old Mc Donaldization theory. This basically tries to show that Mc Donald’s is widely accepted by people from any culture across the globe that it has become a symbol of homogenization of culture since by definition culture is a set of common beliefs, values or practices shared by groups. One might also believe that globalization promotes culture as mentioned earlier. Finally, one might also like to keep in mind that globalization is the resurgence or revival of heterogenization of culture. Out of these three points, the last one is a cause for concern since it may lead to cultural nationalists and fundamentalists to voice their opinion or disapproval of globalization. This in return may lead to various conflicts or disagreements. Nationalists prefer to be defined by a certain culture that distinguishes them and gives them a cultural identity. Fundamentalists strictly adhere to a certain culture and do no usually acknowledge any changes made to the culture. The notion of institutionalization of culture is relevant here since we are talking about how globalization leads to the homogenization of culture and to institutionalize means to up an institution to provide for the needs or interests of the community as a whole.  

The globalization of communication is the intensification of networks of communications. Globalization of communication has been driven by the actions of large-scale communications conglomerates and these include media companies that own TV cable networks, radio networks, newspapers and/or website etc. There are also entertainment companies that further include distribution companies as well. The concept of cultural globalization is very closely linked to the globalization of communication. This is because with cultural globalization, it was established that it leads to cultural encounters. It is because of these global networks (available worldwide) that media and entertainment companies are able to communicate and help promote the cultural encounters.

Although at first sight, the globalization of communications appears to have a positive effect; in reality there are three reasons as to why some people criticize this dimension of globalization. To begin with, if due to some religious, political or cultural reason certain mediated contents are banned or blocked on radios and TVs in a certain country, those contents can be views in illegally or underground. This is possible since the available sources of media are numerous in number, anyone can use the web and view those contents without anyone from the public knowing. Secondly, the appropriation of globalized media products will interact with localized practices; this may in fact consolidate relations of power or create new forms of dependency. People are easily influenced by what they see and will try their best to follow and practice what they see or hear. Finally, the last concern people often have is that localization of globalized media products is also a source of tension and conflicts. This is because these media products often convey messages with may be going against the local culture and thus led to a clash of cultures and view points leading to conflicts and tensions.

Ok I have gone on and bored you long enough, time to bring my 2:00am rambling to an end. Personally I feel that there is nothing to be concerned about with regard to the globalization of culture or communication. This is because we cannot blame our faults on influence or the mere fact that there are clashes of culture that can lead to conflicts. We do not live in a Utopia and so therefore can not have everything perfect the way we want, however we can find ways to resolve any issues that come in our way. For example, we can try to make our will stronger so as not to be easily influenced by others and we must try not to be so violent that we have conflicts over simple disagreements on certain ideas.