Globalization Threatens Culture!

The integration of national economies has changed the way things work. Globalization describes this type of world change as a result of new world economic, political and cultural order. Globalization, (blessing or curse) makes the understanding of international cultural factors crucial to survival.

Globalization is nothing new. For years people have been doing business internationally, and had to deal with different cultures. The globalization craze doesn't seem to involve much of its intended two way flow as with its academic definition. This top-down, north-south diffusion of culture can only serve to stifle and diffuse local cultures of poor countries.

We hate it and we love it almost equally. For some, globalization entails the Westernization of the world, while for others it involves a cover for the ascendancy of capitalism. Some see globalization as generating increasing homogeneity, while others see it producing diversity and heterogeneity through increased hybridization. For business, globalization is a strategy for increasing corporate profits and power, for government it is often deployed to promote an increase in state power, while non-government social organizations see globalization as a lever to produce positive social goods like environmental action, democratization, or humanization.

Globalization suggests a new means of international communication and information flow which has brought about a dominance of global players. The emergence of global concepts of movie scripts, television shows and series as well as the emergence of a global audience of a concentrated media ownership, with its impact on programming, is a concept without precedence. The programming of most media these days is directed, dominated and dictated by economic interest.

Globalization has dramatically changed the media industry. The change in global business environment, technology and political arrangements have facilitated the growth of global communication businesses and trans-national corporations and the emergence of a global audience.

Media content now also present itself as a global form of entertainment. Game shows, soap operas, talk shows and soaps are sold across borders by the large television networks especially from the US. American made shows such as "Dallas", "Young and the Restless", "Oprah", "The Simpsons" are distributed universally laced with its fair share of Americanism, consumerism and other western attitudes. To make things worst, oftentimes when local stations decide to produce their own programmes, they end up being replicas of the western programmes reflecting foreign values.

Called either international culture, global culture or mono culture, this new concept threatens to redefine the word culture. There is nothing local about its composition or context. This phenomenon appears in our Caribbean music (listen to the new beat reggae), the way we speak (with acquired American accents all over the region) and how we dress (US designers all the way). The promotion of this "global culture" is equally being promoted by the local media. When given the chance, local media produce 'local programmes' with international themes and formats and only lock itself in the same culture they seek to escape from.

So as cultures integrate there is the challenge for nations to make extra effort in preserving their own local culture. A well rooted culture should not feel threatened by any outside force such as globalization.