Running Head: IS GLOBALISM KILLING NON-WESTERN CULTURE OR ENHANCING IT?

Is globalism killing non-western cultures or is it enhancing them?

Essay Paper 2
Jennifer Ceballos
University of Redlands

Running Head: IS GLOBALISM KILLING NON-WESTERN CULTURE OR ENHANCING IT?

Abstract
Globalization has generated a lot of controversy with regard to the rise of a global
culture. Western norms and practices are gradually being transported across the globe as the
acceptable way of behavior. Is globalism killing non-western cultures or enhancing it? This
paper will explore the above thesis and will provide some history, evidence, and in doing so hope
to provide answers.

Running Head: IS GLOBALISM KILLING NON-WESTERN CULTURE OR ENHANCING IT?

Globalization has become a hot topic over the past several years. Some view
globalization as a good thing. According to Amartya Sen, a Nobel-Prize winning economist,
globalization has enriched the world scientifically and culturally, and benefited many people
economically as well. Some also view the opposite.
Globalization has pros and cons. The supporters of globalization, they argue that it has
the potential to make this world a better place to live in and solve some deep-seated problems
like unemployment and poverty. ( www.independent.org, 2012)
Globalization has been attacked by critics of free market economics, like the economists
Joseph Stiglitz and Ha-Joon Chang, for perpetuating inequality in the world rather than reducing
it. In France, globalization a survey done in 2012 found that only 22% of French people thought
globalization a good thing for their country. (www.independent.org, 2012)
It has been said that globalization has impacted the cultures around the world. As the
transactions between the Western and Non-Western countries increased, the more popular
culture of the West started to replace the native non-Western culture.

Local culture being overshadowed by western popular culture is one of the effects
of globalization. Pop culture is manifested around the world through movies, music, television,
newspapers, fast food among other things. (www.forbes.com, 2010)

I ask the question, Is globalism killing non-western cultures or enhancing it? Before I
can answer that lets look at the definition of globalization. Globalization it reads; is a process of
interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a

Running Head: IS GLOBALISM KILLING NON-WESTERN CULTURE OR ENHANCING IT?

process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology.
(Dictionary.com 2014)
Secondly, defining the word culture; the arts and other manifestations of human
intellectual achievement regarded collectively. (Dictionary.com, 2014)
Language, religion, political and legal systems, and social customs are the legacies of
marketers and reflect the judgment of the marketplace of ideas throughout popular history.
Globalization has impacted the cultures around the world. It is a process that has been
going almost throughout recorded history. It started with the term of Colonialism in classical
history textbooks produced in the days of British Raj or rule, has been replaced today by the
synonym of Globalization. (www.ted.com)
Some critics argue that the dominance of American culture influencing the entire world
will ultimately result in the end of cultural diversity. This process, understood is associated with
the destruction of cultural identities, dominated by a homogenized and westernized, consumer
culture.( www.ted.com)
The global influence of American products, businesses and culture in other countries
around the world has been referred to as Americanization. This influence is represented through
that of American-based television programs which are rebroadcast throughout the world.
Major American companies such as McDonald's and Coca-Cola have played a major role
in the spread of American culture around the globe. Terms such as Coca-colonization have been
coined to refer to the dominance of American products in foreign countries, which some critics
of globalization view as a threat to the cultural identity of these nations.

Running Head: IS GLOBALISM KILLING NON-WESTERN CULTURE OR ENHANCING IT?

Globalization began with the first movement of people out of Africa into other parts of
the world. Traveling various distances, migrants, merchants, and others have always taken their
ideas, customs, and products into new lands. As the transactions between the Western and NonWestern countries increased, the more dominant culture of the West started to replace the native
non-Western culture. (www.britannica.com)
The result was an internal conflict and dilution of the non-Western culture. The extent
and the nature of the change in the cultural practices are interpreted differently by scholars,
political analysis and opinion leaders (Precious, 2010).
Globalization advocates say that free trade and free markets don't dilute or pollute other
cultures, they enhance them. Free trade is a way for countries to exchange goods and resources.
This means countries can specialize in producing goods where they have a comparative
advantage which means producing goods at a lower cost.
Advocates also say trade creates wealth which wealth frees the world's poorest people
from the daily struggles and allows them to celebrate and share the art, music, crafts and
literature that might otherwise have been sacrificed to poverty.
It was also said that trade among nations with the use of comparative advantage promotes
growth, which is attributed to a strong open relationship between the trade flows and the effect
on economic growth and economic performance. Another positive outcome is the trade flow
there is a strong relation between capital flows and their impact on economic growth.
(www.independent.org, 2012)

Running Head: IS GLOBALISM KILLING NON-WESTERN CULTURE OR ENHANCING IT?

Globalization also allows goods to be produced in different parts of the world. This
greater specialization enables lower average costs and lower prices for consumers. Walmart is a
great example. Their slogan live better, everyday low price.
Discovering through research economic growth in the last fifty years has been faster than
it was in earlier centuries. It was also said that globalization promotes global economic growth,
makes companies more competitive, and lowers prices for consumers.
It also provides poor countries, through infusions of foreign capital and technology, with
the chance to develop economically and by spreading prosperity creates the conditions in which
democracy and respect for human rights may flourish. (www.britannica.com)
With the combining and sharing among nations of medical and scientific advances, has
transformed life in many parts of the developing world. Infant mortality has declined from 180
per 1000 births in 1950 to 60 per 1000 births. The ability for people to read and write has risen
from an average of 40 percent in the 1950s to over 70 percent today. (www.britannica.com)
World poverty has declined, despite the high growth population in the developing world.
Since 1980, the number of people in poverty, living on less than a dollar a day, has fallen by
about 200 million, much of it due to the rapid growth of China and India.
There is a worldwide market for companies and consumers to access products from
different countries. There is a world power that is being created gradually, instead of
compartmentalized power sectors.( www.independent.org, 2012)

Running Head: IS GLOBALISM KILLING NON-WESTERN CULTURE OR ENHANCING IT?

Politics are merging and decisions that are being made are actually beneficial for people
all over the world. There is more invasion of information between two countries. There is
cultural intermingling; each country is learning more about other.
Since we share financial interests, corporations and governments are trying to sort out
ecological problems for each other. Socially we have become more open and tolerant towards
each other, and people who live in the other part of the world are not considered aliens.
(www.britannica.com)
Most people consider speedy travel, mass communications and quick dissemination of
information through the internet as benefits of globalization. Workers can move from country to
country with relative ease and market their skills, goods and services to the highest worldwide
bidder.
Countries no longer have to suffer with gaps in their labor structures. A nation that is
struggling to produce doctors can simply import them from another country. There is not much
of a shortages of labor on a local level. Thanks to the increased ease of communication and the
reliability of the internet, a person can be trained to work at a job in a foreign country without
actually being present which in turn saves on expenses to fly, travel, and other out of country
duties.(www.apecsec.org/globalization)
Another argument is that globalization has undesirable moral consequences. By
preventing it, we deprive ourselves of new cultures as well as exposure to what the rest of the
world has to offer. (www.apecsec.org/globalization)
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Running Head: IS GLOBALISM KILLING NON-WESTERN CULTURE OR ENHANCING IT?

On the opposing side critics of globalization say that it weakens national sovereignty and
allows rich nations to ship domestic jobs overseas, where labor is much cheaper. For Presidents
of companies as well as CEOs and members of the economic elite, globalization is good.
Cheaper labor overseas enables them to build production facilities in locations where labor and
healthcare costs are low, and then sell the finished goods in locations where wages are high.
Globalization has its own dominant culture, which is why it tends to be homogenizing or
to make everything the same or very similar. Culturally speaking, globalization is largely, though
not entirely, the spread of Americanization; from Big Macs to Mickey Mouse.
(www.stateofnature.org)
In 1971 the first McDonalds opened in Japan and began a slow, steady change in the
culture of the Japanese. Traditional Japanese culture was centered on food and the long standing
rituals that go along with the culture. (www.britannica.com)
Before the fast food entities arrived to Japan, one of the most recognized practices of this
culture was that of Obentos. This is a process from which food is prepared and arranged by
mothers for their school aged children with this being more than just a boxed lunch, it was
significant due to its symbolism.(www.apecsec.org/globalization)
With this example cultures are being forced to change with new and different ideas and
beliefs, which can drastically alter peoples lives. With globalization, today the world is different
place. Lives continue to be lived in local realities, these realities are increasingly being challenged
and integrated into larger global networks of relationships. (www.independent.org, 2012)

Running Head: IS GLOBALISM KILLING NON-WESTERN CULTURE OR ENHANCING IT?

The forces of globalization are taxing the youth, families, and cultural systems worldwide.
All social systems are polluted by the need to borrow values, morals, skills, and competencies from
the next regions or nations. The process of globalization and its associated consequences will be
leading to the process of ripping away of culture identity.

While there are a variety of benefits, countries have struggled with certain globalization
concepts. Certain nations benefit greatly from the current scene, as others suffer. Smaller, less
developed countries do not typically benefit from the level that globalization provides.

Opponents also say globalization makes it easier for rich companies to act with less
accountability. They also claim that countries individual cultures are becoming overpowered by
Americanization. (www.independent.org)

A lot of citizens from developed countries are losing their jobs and which is posing an
issue since the agencies are outsourcing job to other nation since the expense of labor is lower
and gains the agency a higher amount.

We want the world to follow our lead and become democratic and capitalistic, with a
Coke and a smile on every mouth, Microsoft Windows on every laptop and with everyone,
pumping their own gas. (www.imf.org, 2001)

Anti-globalists also claim that globalization is not working for the majority of the world.
During the most recent period of rapid growth in global trade and investment, 1960 to 1998,
inequality worsened both internationally and within countries.

Running Head: IS GLOBALISM KILLING NON-WESTERN CULTURE OR ENHANCING IT?

The United Nations Development Program reports that the richest, 20 percent of the
world's population, consume 86 percent of the world's resources, while the poorest, which is 14
percent, consume 80 percent. (www.forbes.com, 2010)

Globalization has made jobs very unsecure. It has greatly negatively affected the
working class. Before globalization took off, people had stable, permanent jobs. Now people live
in constant fear of losing their jobs to competition. With job competition increasing this has led
to lowering wages and in turn lowering the standards of living. (www.independent.org, 2012)

Developed nations contract out manufacturing jobs. That means fewer jobs for their
people. This has happened because manufacturing work is looked for elsewhere to nations like
China and Japan where the cost of goods and wages are lower.

The free movement of labor has other downfalls. When workers can move easily from
one nation to the next, countries then develop a lack of jobs and often struggle. Since
globalization allows workers to move from one country to country, this makes it limited job
opportunities it becomes difficult to encourage skilled workers to stay in their countries.
(www.stateofnature.org, 2011)

So, the question I asked in the beginning of the paper; Is Globalism killing non-western
cultures or enhancing it? I dont believe it can be given in one simple answer.

In conclusion, I believe that globalization has globalized. Therefore, I believe that

globalization is overall good for the globe. There are both positive and negative impacts of

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Running Head: IS GLOBALISM KILLING NON-WESTERN CULTURE OR ENHANCING IT?

globalization. I believe with the use of the positive impacts they can be used to defeat the
negative side. Since the global is all connected together, the countries have the ability to share
ideas to work on conquering the negative effects of globalism.

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Running Head: IS GLOBALISM KILLING NON-WESTERN CULTURE OR ENHANCING IT?

References

www.independent.org, 2012
www.Dictionary.com 2014
www.ted.com
www.manufacturing.net/articles/2010
www.imf.org/2001
www.stateofnature.org
Economic Globalization and Culture: A Discussion with Dr. Francis Fukuyama
www.ml.com
www.stateofnature.org, 2011
www.apecsec.org/globalization
www.forbes.com
www.britannica.com
www.forbes.com, 2010

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