Globalisation can be defined as the increasing cross-border interaction and integration of various aspects of human activity. Based on this view of globalisation, identify one problematic area of the phenomenon and discuss its influence on contemporary society. What actual or possible means are there to ameliorate the issue you have highlighted?
“The World Is Flat” (Friedman, 2005) is in response to the effects of globalisation that it promotes flows of goods, labours, investments and services across international boundaries. It stimulates the increasingly interconnected community, on social, cultural and economic levels, which commonly known as the global village. Although the formation of global village has emerged many beneficial outcomes for mankind in terms of economic growth and international humanity cooperation, the highly interconnectedness and interdependency has also been the cause of cultural homogenisation and cultural diminish. Cultural homogenisation occurs when different cultures are brought too closely together and top down domination of world culture by either a single culture of a few dominant cultures. One culture might diminish and loss its significance when it is eroded and weakened with the dissemination of cultures and information around the world.
Americanization is a form of cultural homogenisation. According to Friedman (1995), globalization is the “globalization of America and the American culture”. As evidence, it is found that almost one language dies every 14 days with English emerges as the lingua franca of the world. Languages are considered the roots of most culture which provide ones with identity. Thus, the dying of languages also reflects the loss in culture. To tackle this issue, governments proposed measures to minimize the effect. One example is the compulsory mother tongue education in Singapore from Grade 1 to 12. Similar measure can also be found in Taiwan whereby every student is required to learn native language in Elementary school, such as Hokkien and Hakka. By imposing compulsory education scheme, it allows every citizen to learn and understand his culture and tradition. However, this measure is only effective on a micro level. As most people do not further study or keep in touch with these languages after graduation, the ability to use and practice them reduces drastically. As such, governments should not merely focus on education alone, but create an environment which cultivates the culture. For example, campaigns can be held to raise awareness of the importance of non-English languages and monthly or annual festive celebration of different culture and practices. Thus, a consistent effort is required to continuously remind and educate the locals to prevent any loss of identity or cultural behaviours.
“McDonalization” (Ritzer, 1993) is also another term used to discuss cultural homogenisation. The interconnectedness promotes American fast food culture with whopping 34,000 McDonald’s outlets worldwide (Chalabi & Burn-MurDoch, 2013). The efficient and average pricing is widely accepted in today’s competitive society. In compromise, there is a loss of local cuisine due to its complication making process. Moreover, the Wal-mart culture also caused local grocery shops to loss their competitive edge as big firm has greater comparative advantage over small firms. Examples can be found in developed countries, such as Hong Kong and Singapore whereby there was a drastic decrease in number of grocery shops. With foresight of this problem, countries, like Japan, have already implemented protectionist measures to prevent Multi-National Corporation (MNC) from monopolizing local markets. Protectionist measures include tariffs, import quotas and subsidies, which are normally used to protect local firms and prevent dumping. In Singapore, the government use subsidies, such as SPRING Startup Fund, to protect local firms. Moreover, incentives are also provided for firms to innovate and develop cultural related products. Thus, these measures help to counter the negative effects of MNCs to a certain extent. Nonetheless, the use of protectionism measures needs to be carefully adopted to fully maximize the benefits.
Globalization encourages migration which is further catalysed by advanced technology. The inter-countries migration has resulted in much loss of historical heritages due to overpopulation. In many developed countries, such as Singapore, traditional architecture was demolished to build high-rise housings, like Housing & Development Board (HDB) flats. For example, Kampungs in Yishun and Choa Chu Kang were replaced by numerous flats to deal with the increase of immigrants in Singapore. In Beijing, China, many Si He Yuan, a classical Chinese architecture style, were demolished to build skyscraper. These losses in cultural heritages site therefore cause the vanishing of traditional culture. With the rising awareness of this issue, some measures are taken to reduce the effect. One measure is the gentrified the architecture instead of removal of buildings. Gentrification is a process by which run-down houses in an inner city are redeveloped into higher-end businesses and houses. The architecture’s function is changed without drastically altering its outlook. One example is CHIJMES, which is converted into an entertainment quarter from an old church. The measure is effective as it achieves both goals of creating space for usage and preservation of culture. Nonetheless, the use of gentrification should be used together with city plan to maximize the beneficial outcomes as a whole. Moreover, government can also pass down regulations to prevent private demolishment of cultural heritages and preserve the architecture.
In conclusion, a consistent effort by governments and individuals should be put in to prevent cultural homogenisation and diminishing from globalization. Measures such as education, protectionism and gentrification can be used to minimize the loss of culture due to globalization. Everyone plays a role in preserving our identity and culture. Though globalization might cause some loss of culture, we should still acknowledge the tremendous benefits it brings about.
Reference
- Friedman, T. (2005). The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. United State: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
- Ritzer, G. (1993). The McDonalization of Society. Thousand Oaks, United State: SAGE Publications, Inc.
- Chalabi, M., Burn-Murdoch, J. (2013). McDonald’s 34,492 Restaurants: Where are They? Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jul/17/mcdonalds-restaurants-where-are-they#data
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