Global Culture

This article will focus on global culture. Understanding the characteristics, causes, and issues associated with global culture is vital background for all those interested in the study of cultural change. This article explores global culture in three parts: an overview of the forces that create global culture including economic and political globalization, information technology, mass media, and the global environment; a discussion of the effect that global culture, and globalization in general, has had on the Yanomami of Brazil; and a description of the issues associated with the spread of global culture including ethnocentrism and xenocentrism.

Keywords Ethnocentrism; Global Culture; Global Economy; Global Markets; Globalization; Information Technology; Internet; Mass Media; Mass Society Theory; Nations; Xenocentrism

Global Culture

Overview

The process of globalization is impacting cultures around the world. Globalization is a term that has been used since the 1980s to describe the increasing interdependence and interaction between people, cultures, and the economies of different nations. Globalization has resulted in widespread cultural, social, economic, technological, and political changes. Culture refers to the collection of customs, attitudes, values, and beliefs that characterize one group of people and distinguish them from other groups, along with the material products a group creates. Culture is passed from one generation to another through immaterial culture, which includes values, norms, language, rituals, and symbols; and material culture, which includes objects, art, and institutions.

Forces that combine to create a global culture encompass the increasingly global economy with global markets, the global environment, global politics, ease of global travel, the rise of multinational corporations, the growth of global mass media, and the spread of information technologies. Global culture refers to a common culture shared by people worldwide. Like national cultures, global culture is characterized by shared values, norms, language, and material objects. It may co-exist with or replace national cultures. Critics of global culture find fault with its homogenous nature and fear the creation of a global mass culture. Critics consider global culture to be interchangeable with American, Western, mass, or commercial culture. Supporters celebrate the increased understanding and tolerance that can be produced by shared values, media, and material objects, and a shared language (Stuart, 2001).

Understanding the characteristics, causes, and issues associated with global culture is vital for all those interested in the study of cultural change. This article explores global culture in three parts:

• An overview of the forces that create global culture including mass media, economic and political globalization, information technology, and the global environment;

• A discussion of the effect that global culture, and globalization in general, has had on the Yanomami of Brazil; and,

• A description of the issues associated with the spread of global culture including ethnocentrism and xenocentrism.

Mass Media

The mass media has grown in size and influence to shape global culture. The mass media, in the form of television, movies, publications, music, now crosses national borders with ease. Its images, messages, forms, and ubiquity transform cultural practices. In some instances, local businesses and media outlets even highlight and profile American media products over indigenous media products due to the greater profits associated with American media. For example, researchers have found that Mexican cinemas show Hollywood films significantly more often than locally made films, citing profit as the main reason. Critics of global media culture, both academics and the cultural elites, assert that the American media is engaged in cultural imperialism and cultural colonization. Critics argue that the globalization of media networks is really a process of the Americanization of media networks. Critics of the globalized mass media assert that it reduces the diversity of voices and talents represented in the world media (Wei & Kolko 2005).

Critics of the growth of a global media culture tend to draw theoretical support from mass society theory. Mass society theory is an interdisciplinary critique of the collective identity that results from the mass commodification of culture and mass media's manipulation of society. Mass society theory invokes a vision of society characterized by alienation, absence of individuality, amorality, lack of religion, weak relationships, and political apathy. Mass society theory developed at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century in response to the rise of the media industry and the socio-political changes created by industrialization, urbanization, and the fall of established political regimes. Early mass society theory asserted that the new urban masses, comprising uprooted and isolated individuals, were vulnerable to new forms of demagoguery and manipulation by the media (Hamilton, 2001). While popular media existed in the 19th century, mass media, as a discrete concept, did not develop until the early 20th century with the advent of national media networks and circulation (i.e. nationwide radio and mass-circulation newspapers). For mass society theorists, the media represents and promotes the worst problems of modernity. According to early mass society theorists, mass society is characterized by a collective identity and lowbrow cultural interests. Dictatorships and bureaucracies can easily and quickly manipulate mass societies. Mass societies are thought to be vulnerable to the rise of disenfranchised and extremist politics.

Resistance to the spread of global mass culture is occurring throughout the world. For example, groups committed to cultural preservation and resistance use the Internet as a way to virtually gather and share their language and culture. The Internet differs from film and television in its low cost of digital production and in its availability and openness. People in Uzbekistan, for example, are involved in cultural resistance through the Internet. Uzbeks have adopted, possibly co-opted, a the medium to strengthen their own language, identity and culture through the creation of Uzbeck-only language websites. Researchers consider this minority language content on the Internet to be a form of resistance to media globalization (Wei & Kolko, 2005).

Economic & Political Globalization

Economic and political environments around the world are changing due to the forces of globalization. Globalization creates a turbulent global socio-political environment characterized by competing political actors, shifting power relations, and politically driven changes in national economies around the world. New economic opportunities, including international investments and joint ventures in the global economy, are increasingly tied to trade pacts between nations. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Canada, and Mexico; the Mercosur trade pact between Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and Paraguay; and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade zone have all impacted the global economy. In addition, economic opportunities are arising from worldwide privatization. Nations are privatizing many state-owned industries and allowing foreign investors to purchase pieces of these industries through joint ventures and local operations.

The global economy is also characterized by growth, in populations and in output and consumption per capita; the interdependence of nations; and international management efforts. Economic globalization has shifted economic, political, and environmental power from local, national, and regional bodies to international governing institutions. Indicators of global growth and interdependence include the huge increases in communication links, world output, international trade, and international investment since the 1970s. The global economy is built on the global interdependence of economic flows linking the economies of the world.

Additionally, the global economy is characterized by economic sensitivity. National economic events in one region often have profound impacts on other regional and national economies. National economies exist not in isolation, but in relationship with other economies worldwide. The global economy includes numerous economic phenomena and financial tools that are shared among all countries. Examples include the price of gold, the price of oil, and the related worldwide movement of interest rates.

The new global economy is characterized and controlled through global management or governance efforts. International organizations, both public and private, work to establish norms, standards, and requirements for international financial governance. These international organizations - including the G-20, the Financial Stability Forum, the International Organization of Securities Commissions Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision - develop and encourage the implementation of standards, principles, best practices, and economic architecture (Preston, 1996).

The new global economy is a product of economic globalization. Global markets are characterized by an increased mobility in capital, research and design processes, production facilities, customers, and regulators. Global markets, created through socio-economic changes, political revolutions, and new Internet and communication technology, have no national borders. The modern trend of globalization, and the resulting shifts from centralized to market economies in much of the world, has created opportunities for increased trade, investment, business partnerships, and access to once closed global markets (Sites, 1995).

Information Technology

Information technology also shapes and facilitates global culture. Culture is characterized and shaped, in large part, by the relationship of society and technology. Historically, technology has changed the experience of transportation, communication, nutrition, sanitation, health care, and entertainment in daily life. Technology and society are interrelated, too. Technology simultaneously creates social, political, and economic changes and is influenced by social needs, attitudes, values, and beliefs. Forces that affect technological development in today's information and technology-driven societies include business variables such as economic growth, worker productivity, and research and development. In the information economy, the modes of production rely on information technologies, telecommunications, and automation.

The electronic transfer of news, data, and information facilitates the creation and growth of multinational, transnational, and global corporations. These corporations have spread manufacturing facilities around the globe to take advantage of inexpensive labor, lenient government regulation, and new markets for products and services. The current information society encompasses nearly all parts of the world through its global market and communication networks. Information society refers to a society in which the creation, distribution, and manipulation of information through computers and telecommunications becomes the most important economic and cultural activity.

New technologies such as the Internet and telecommunications have altered cultures in significant ways. E-commerce has changed how businesses interact with suppliers, vendors, and customers. E-commerce and online stores reduce the overhead of operating a business, and online sales have grown faster than comparable onsite sales ("New Information Technologies," 2004). In an information society, rapid and personalized information storage, processing, and retrieval have become ubiquitous in nearly all industries and all parts of human life. The increase in broadband access and speed has facilitated the adoption of Internet in most areas of the world. Emerging information technologies - such as virtual environments, personal digital assistants, and voice recognition software - are altering social relationships. Personal communication devices and wireless communication have also altered how people interact and experience areas of life such as education and medicine. For example, online education and computer-assisted learning are now commonplace.

The Internet allows its users to meet new people and communicate via computer-mediated-communication (CMC). The Internet is now meeting needs that were previously met through activities like self-help programs, library research, personal diary keeping, prayer, art projects, and phone calls with family and friends. The Internet and telecommunications are changing life and business practices, too. For example, telephone and online reservation systems allow customers to purchase flights, arrange seating, choose meals, select hotels, reserve rooms, and rent cars. Stock traders use automatic computer programs to buy and sell stock. Mail-order catalog services accept orders using computers and toll-free telephone numbers. The Internet has also facilitated telecommuting, or the practice of working from home with the aid of computers. Telecommuters replace or supplement physical travel to an office with modern telecommunications equipment that brings office resources to their homes.

The rapid communication facilitated by the Internet has created rapid cultural and social change. Critics of global culture argue that the ubiquitous use of information technologies worldwide has lead to a homogenized global culture. More concerning still, the pattern of Internet use worldwide suggests that there is a significant gap in access to technology and information based on education, class, race, and resources (Tan, 1999).

The Global Environment

National boundaries are being erased and replaced with a heightened global culture and global environment. The term "global environment" encompasses the global climate, the human use of environmental resources, and cross-border environmental effects (Preston, 1996). Environmental problems entered public and political consciousness in the 1970s. In 1972, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm, established a connection between economic growth and environmental degradation. Since then, the relationship between economic development, poverty, and environmental degradation has been researched in depth. In 1992, the United Nation's Earth Summit brought environmentally sustainable growth into the global public's consciousness. As traditional notions of sustainable development are being challenged by economic globalization, sustainable development has been championed by many environmental organizations that recognize the importance or inevitability of worldwide economic growth.

Global environment stakeholders debate how best to protect the global environment in the context of cultural, economic, and political globalization. Globalization, which challenges traditional regulatory approaches to environmental protection, requires new environmental governance approaches. Globalization empowers international economic and environmental organizations to create environmental policy in place of local governments, where environmental efforts traditionally have traditionally been developed (Conca, 2001). In the global economy, the global environment is managed and protected in three main ways: voluntary corporate environmental protection, national environmental regulation, and international governance by global policy regimes.

Globalization, consumer culture, and environmental recycling initiatives are linked. This interconnectedness can be seen in the life cycle of a t-shirt. Clothes are produced at such low prices that many Americans discard clothing, such as t-shirts, before the clothing has been worn out. Recycling programs and businesses gather up clothing in the US and distribute it in impoverished countries such as Tanzania. For example, the Trans American Trading Company processes approximately 12 million pounds of post-consumer textiles each year. This clothing cycle is called "quick fashion." This constant production, consumption, and disposal of clothing simultaneously results in the over-use of natural resources, such as cotton and bamboo, and transmits a Westernized fashion ideal to impoverished developing countries. Researchers predict that the trend in exporting used clothing to developing countries will continue. The related environmental and cultural impacts of quick fashion will likely increase in the years to come (Claudio, 2007).

Applications

The Yanomani

The Yanomani, an indigenous tribe of people living in the Amazon rainforest, offer a recent example of the effects of globalization and cultural expansion on indigenous cultures (Vincent, 2006). During the 1960s, at the same time that the Brazilian government was encouraging its citizens in the overcrowded cities to move into the rainforest, gold was discovered on Yanomami land. Newcomers to the Yanomami territory brought disease, deforestation, and modern cultural artifacts such as tools, utensils, clothing, medicine, and foods. And when some of the Yanomami emigrated to towns and cities in search of money and work, they lost large parts of traditional Yanomami culture.

Yanomami who left the jungle joined the lowest social classes in towns and cities. Their egalitarian lifestyle did not transfer to the commercialistic and classist culture of Brazilian mining towns. Many Yanomami became addicted to alcohol while living in mining towns and engaging in prostitution to earn money. The Yanomami who successfully settled in Brazilian towns and cities were considered acculturated. Some Yanomami found success in cutting rattan, which they sold to Belgium. Others used monetary wages to buy four-horsepower motors for dugout canoes, guns, machetes, agricultural tools, pots and pans, enamel basins and plastic bowls, radios, and commercial hammocks. Researchers found that the Yanomami, fastidious when living in the forest, when in towns tended to live in cluttered and chaotic huts. Acculturated Yanomami no longer baked bread with farinha flour, but ate food readily available in towns and cities (Engelbert, 2004). The changes that the Yanomami culture experienced as a result of the global forces of expansion, resettlement, and commercialism are representative of the cultural changes that occur worldwide as cultures come in contact with one another.

Issues

Ethnocentricism

There are numerous strong reactions to the spread of global culture. In particular, individuals and groups may take an ethnocentric or xenocentric position when faced with the norms, values, language, or cultural objects of a global culture or foreign culture. Ethnocentrism is the tendency of people to judge other cultures by the standards of their own. Ethnocentrism is common when cultures come into contact for the first time. Members of disparate modern societies may also experience xenocentrism, the belief that other cultures are superior to one's own. For instance, many people in developing nations wish to emulate Western styles, fashions, and tastes. Xenocentrism can be seen in the Indonesian musical preferences and marketing. In Indonesia, mall music stores work to make themselves rather anonymous spots of global consumer culture. Western music, culture, and language are showcased while Indonesian music and language are marginalized (Wallach, 2002).

The Global Economy

Ultimately, global culture is closely tied to the global economy and global consumerism. The new global economy is characterized by growth, in populations and in output and consumption per capita; interdependence of nations; and international management efforts. Economic globalization has shifted economic, political, and environmental power from local, national, and regional bodies to international governing institutions. Indicators of global growth and interdependence include the huge increases in communication links, world output, international trade, and international investment since the 1970s. Globalization is characterized by the permeability of traditional boundaries of nation, culture, and economic market. The fundamental economic forces and events influencing globalization around the world include the end of communism; the shift from an economy based on natural resources to one based on knowledge industries; demographic shifts; the development of a global economy; increased trade liberalization; advances in communication technology; and the increased threat of global terrorism (Thurow, 1995).

The processes of cultural, political, environmental and economic globalization are interrelated. Critics of cultural, political, environmental and economic globalization cite issues including the loss of local cultures, economies, and environments; unequal access to the resources and benefits of globalization; undemocratic trade policies; and inequalities between nations in which developing countries provide cheap resources and labor for the benefit of the developed nations.

Terms & Concepts

Ethnocentrism: The tendency to judge other cultures by the standards of one's own culture.

Global Culture: The shared culture that results from the process of globalization.

Global Economy: A model of economy characterized by the growth of nations, both in populations and in output and consumption per capita; the interdependence of nations; and international management efforts.

Global Markets: The economic markets of countries and regions open to foreign trade and investment.

Globalization: The process of economic and cultural integration around the world caused by changes in technology, commerce, and politics.

Information Technology: The design, development, installation, and implementation of systems and applications that take in, process, and supply information, especially in digital forms.

Internet: A global network of computers that facilitates communication throughout the world.

Mass Media: A sector of the media dedicated to reaching large audiences.

Mass Society Theory: An interdisciplinary critique of mass media's effects on society.

Nations: Large aggregations of people sharing rules of law and an identity based on a common racial, linguistic, historical, or cultural heritage. Nations rarely act unilaterally.

Xenocentrism: The belief that other cultures are superior and preferable to one's own.

Bibliography

Allon, F., & Redden, G. (2012). THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS AND THE CULTURE OF CONTINUAL GROWTH. Journal Of Cultural Economy, 5, 375-390. doi:10.1080/17530350.2012.703143 Retrieved October 25, 2013 from EBSCO online database SocINDEX with Full Text:http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=79343375&site=ehost-live

Claudio, L. (2007). Waste couture: Environmental impact of the clothing industry. Environmental Health Perspectives, 115 , 448-454. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=26996779&site=ehost-live

Conca, K. (2001). Consumption and environment in a global economy. Global Environmental Politics, 1 , 53-71. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=5389580&site=ehost-live

Demont-Heinrich, C. (2011). Cultural Imperialism Versus Globalization of Culture: Riding the Structure-Agency Dialectic in Global Communication and Media Studies. Sociology Compass, 5, 666-678. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9020.2011.00401.x Retrieved October 25, 2013 from EBSCO online database SocINDEX with Full Text:http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=66588547&site=ehost-live

Engelbert, V. (2004). A once hidden people. The World & I, 19 , 186-195.

Hamilton, R. (2001). Mass society, pluralism, and bureaucracy: Explication, assessment, and commentary. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Hurwitz, H., & Taylor, V. (2012). Women's Cultures and Social Movements in Global Contexts. Sociology Compass, 6, 808-822. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9020.2012.00502.x Retrieved October 25, 2013 from EBSCO online database SocINDEX with Full Text:http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=79956695&site=ehost-live

Kehily, M., & Nayak, A. (2008). Global femininities: consumption, culture and the significance of place. Discourse: Studies In The Cultural Politics Of Education, 29, 325-342. doi:10.1080/01596300802259103 Retrieved October 25, 2013 from EBSCO online database SocINDEX with Full Text:http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=33725642&site=ehost-live

New information technologies and the destinies of rationality in modern culture: A transcript of roundtable discussions.(2004). Social Sciences, 35 , 116-134. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=13832389&site=ehost-live

Preston, L. (1996). Global economy/global environment: Relationships and regimes. EarthWorks . Retrieved July 2, 2008 from: http://www.utexas.edu/depts/grg/eworks/proceedings/engeo/preston/preston.html

Sites, J. (1995). Going forward with global investments. Risk Management. 42 , 12-17.

Stuart, R. (2001). Death of the nation-state? Global mass culture in the twenty-first century: A roundtable discussion. American Review of Canadian Studies, 31 , 427-441. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=5785755&site=ehost-live.

Tan, M. (1999). Electronic information: Promise and peril. Development in Practice, 9 , 614-616. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=3807112&site=ehost-live

The United Nations. (2006). The United Nations Regional Commissions. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from: http://www.un.org/issues/reg-comm.html#africa.

Thurow, L. (1995). Surviving in a turbulent environment. Planning Review, 23 , 24.

Vincent, J. (2006). Review of Yanomami: The fierce controversy and what we can learn from it. American Anthropologist, 108 , 405-406.

Wallach, J. (2002). Exploring class, nation, and xenocentrism in Indonesian cassette retail outlets. Indonesia, 74, 79-102.

Wei, C. & Kolko, B. (2005). Resistance to globalization: Language and Internet diffusion patterns in Uzbekistan. New Review of Hypermedia & Multimedia, 11 , 205-220. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=19063481&site=ehost-live

Suggested Reading

Checa, N., Maguire, J., & Barney, J. (2003). The new world disorder. Harvard Business Review, 81 , 70-79. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=10256891&site=ehost-live.

Eskeland, G., & Xie, J. (1998). Acting globally while thinking locally: Is the global environment protected by transport emission control programs? Journal of Applied Economics, 1 , 385. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=10022699&site=ehost-live

Joseph, C., & Lundström, C. (2013). Gender, culture and work in global cities: Researching 'transnational' women. Women's Studies International Forum, 36, 1-4. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2012.10.009 Retrieved October 25, 2013 from EBSCO online database SocINDEX with Full Text:http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=85225666&site=ehost-live

Lagerkvist, J. (2009). Global Media for Global Citizenship in India and China. Peace Review, 21, 367-375. doi:10.1080/10402650903099450 Retrieved October 25, 2013 from EBSCO online database SocINDEX with Full Text:http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=43681027&site=ehost-live

Houlihan, B.(1994). Homogenization, Americanization, and Creolization of sport: Varieties of globalization. Sociology of Sport Journal, 11 , 356-375. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Premier: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=16683062&site=ehost-live