Internet Creating a Homogeneous Culture - Essay Example

?Internet Creating an Homogenous Culture This paper is an essay based on the growth of internet and the impacts it has on various cultures. The essaymainly aims to evaluate as well as test the accuracy of the claim that ‘the growth in internet use has affected cultures around the world, leading to a westernised, homogenous culture.’ It does so by making this analysis through two major fields, that is, business and language. The paper finds evidence to support this claim with the help of existing literature and data relating to the said topic. Introduction: In the modern world, with the advent of technology, it is seen that media has a great significance in the life of the people and the way they perceive things. This is so especially in the case of internet, which is a rapidly growing service almost available and accessible in all parts of the world. The internet, thus is known to have a major influence in people’s lives, their values, traditions as well as culture. This influence is steering the minds of the users into a westernised path of life. However, on the other hand, people are also seen to work towards the uplifting their own culture, as more and more languages are added to the internet in the present time, in order to increase the number of local users. Therefore, growth in the use of internet brings the whole world together into one large westernised homogenous culture while people also follow their own local cultures. Since the ancient times, the superior cultures have almost always had their influence on other cultures. This can be seen by taking the example of the British rule over India, Africa and such other countries or even when the Germans gained control over France. The dominating country always tried to imbibe their way of living as well as culture on the suppressed. This has both benefited the oppressed country as well as had negative influences too. But basically, taking the case of India, the country is in a much better position in terms of intellectuality and has been able to grasp modernity more because it was once under the rule to the British government, which was the driving force back in those days. Now with the advent in technology as well as with the creation of the mass communication computer network called ‘Internet,’ it is easier for the leading countries to promote their own culture. Now the difference here is that, in the olden times people were forced to accept the culture of the dominators, whereas now they have a choice, where they can choose whether to accept this culture or not. In the present world, globalisation aims at “interdependence” between different countries “rather than dominance” of developed nations over the developing or underdeveloped ones (Samovar et al. 2009, p.296). Internet is like an exchange forum, where people communicate and they come to understand the cultures of other people and also share their own cultures in this process of interaction. Internet is growing and now possessing its own culture, it is known by different terms such as “super-medium, meta-medium or a hybrid-medium” (Elm, n.d., p.85). It is this medium that enables the formation of various “virtual communities” throughout the world, resulting in a global coming together of people belonging to different nations (Hongladarom, n.d., p.2). Now the main people behind the development of such a medium are obviously the Westerners, who have always remained a superpower, and it becomes clear that the United States as well as UK has major “cultural and commercial influences” on countries all over the world (Chapter 4, p.49-http://wlxt.whut.edu.cn/new/wlyx/Resource/PaperAnswer/chap04im.pdf). As mentioned earlier, this paper aims to evaluate the influence of internet use in bringing together different cultures into a more homogenised one through the fields of business and language. Both these fields are interconnected and it is possible that when one aspect is taken into consideration, the other may be a prevalent affecting factor there. In order to know what influences and changes have actually taken place, one needs to make an in depth analysis of both the fields. Influence of Internet on Culture in the Case of Business: Business is the act of exchanging goods and services produced in return for money. There have been emerging trends in the filed of technological innovations and this has led to rapid increase in the “overall production capacity and efficiency” of countries (Chapter 4, p.39-http://wlxt.whut.edu.cn/new/wlyx/Resource/PaperAnswer/chap04im.pdf). However, various studies and researches have shown that the development and increased application of information technology is what helps countries to engage in “new, exciting, global markets” (Chapter 4, p.39-http://wlxt.whut.edu.cn/new/wlyx/Resource/PaperAnswer/chap04im.pdf). This is so because of the “unique business environment” that the Internet facilitates, through the “borderless nature” in which business transactions take place through internet (Samii, 2004, p.22). Therefore, it becomes quite clear that in the world of business, internet is one among the “most influential forces of globalisation” (Samovar et al. 2009, p.294). Since time immemorial, trade has taken place in various settlements of civilization in terms of barter system and years later trade evolved and also the goods and services gained monetary values. The exploration and discovery of the Silk Road facilitated trade between different countries, especially those of Europe and Asia. Colonization of different economies by the British government can be perceived as the “first phase of globalisation” (Samovar et al. 2009, p.295). Then later on with the emergence of Industrial Revolution, globalisation reached the next phase and this “accelerated cross-cultural trade” (Samovar et al. 2009, p.295). Therefore, business kept evolving and is still engaged in that process, unifying countries, integrating different cultures of world economies together. Internet plays a very significant role in this integration and it has facilitated “international joint ventures, mergers, licensing agreements, foreign capital investments” etc (Samovar et al. 2009, p.295). This has been possible through the ‘hybrid medium,’ which is more effective than other media as it is widely used among MNCs and international organisations, who constitute the corporate world. In this modern era, international interdependency is felt significantly to a large extent as almost all countries possess “at least one asset within their borders which is needed by another country” (Samovar et al. 2009, p.296). The strength of this interdependency was tested and proved through the “ripple effect of the falling US stock market” in the year 2008, which caused destruction of wealth for numerous individuals as well as companies all around the world (Samovar et al. 2009, p.295). The evolution of business as well as globalisation has resulted in a trend called outsourcing, where certain activities of a firm are outsourced and contracted to individuals belonging to other firms in other countries. Outsourcing is basically done through the internet and it is not an oblivious fact that people come to know the details about other efficient companies through the internet. Increased use of internet thus, brings to surface information about even the remotest companies that might be useful to the companies as compared to those present in their home country. Thus, when engaged in this process, the individuals of the home country need to analyse the culture of other countries in order to be able to do the work assigned to them in maximum possible perfection. An example which supports the direction of local cultures into a westernised one can be seen through “offshore service centres” that provide “accent neutralisation classes” to their employees so that their local slang and accent is changed to a great extent (Samovar et al. 2009, p.296). They are trained to speak according to the regional dialects of the place for which they work. Often so is also the case with call centre companies as well as other companies that outsource work to different countries, from where the local employees are required to sell products to the US citizens. Influence of Internet on Culture in the Case of Language: In the modern world, the global language that holds dominance over all other local languages is English. Being hailed as the global language, English is greatly significant for transactions or any communication that takes place between two non-native English speaking countries. For globalisation to actually work out there needs to be a common language followed by the parties involved so that exchange of ideas and thoughts takes place in a way in which both parties understand the other. Therefore, the use of English language does to a large extent bring together various people from around the world whose mother tongue is not English. This in turn leads to westernisation of various cultures and unification of them to a more homogenous one. The internet is seen to be “predominantly American,” however, this is challenged by “more and more host machines” added by other countries that join the computer networking system every day (Hongladarom, n.d., p.2). It is believed that the internet technology will “accelerate cultural homogenisation,” thus linking together different cultures of the world, especially through the use of the English language (Ess, C. & Sudweeks, F, 2001). However, in the past most countries feared loss of their own cultural identity through the use of internet and thus, they banned its use. Nevertheless, this is gradually changing and people have now understood that people can accept the western culture only through their choice and not by the mere use of internet. Thus, it is this thought that has changed the thinking and principles of even authoritarian ruling countries like China. Now in the internet itself the IT specialists have realized that the number of non-native English speakers exceeds the number of natives, thus, they need to propagate information on the internet based on the other languages so that people understand what is written. When they bring in their own language to the multi faceted hybrid medium, they are promoting a highly significant part of their culture, that is, their mother tongue. This has encouraged local people to also extensively use the internet and this is one of the reasons that the growth in internet use does not seem to cease. This factor is also perceived by superpowers such as the UK as well as the US, and, therefore, they try to make the content they publish to be available in as many different languages as possible. This effort taken by the superpowers gives the other countries a feeling of respect and dignity that their language is being honoured and taken so seriously. They start to feel a sense of mutual understanding and then they promote the learning of English language in their own country due to its growing significance. This in turn again increases the total number of users of the internet, which ultimately brings focus on the main theory that the growth is use of internet is in fact bringing together different cultures to a homogenised more western one. Conclusion: The paper focuses to show whether the growth in internet use has affected different cultures and transformed them into a unified homogenised one mainly by throwing light in the field of business and language. As far as I am concerned I believe that the internet usage in itself cannot fully homogenise different cultures, homogenisation also depends upon the choice of the individuals. What transpires in today’s world is that people are open to the western ideals and their cultures and would accept them to a certain extent without “displacing” their own “local culture” (Human Development Report, 2004. p85). Thus, the growth in use of internet affects non-western cultures in a good way, giving them the free will to accept the western ideals without really uprooting their own cultural ideals and traditional values. Reference List ELM, M.S. (n.d.) Understanding and Studying Internet Culture(s) Hybridity and Interdisciplinarity. HONGLADAROM, S. (n.d.) Global Culture, Local Cultures, and the Internet. Thailand: Chulalongkorn University. Chapter 4:Global Markets. (n.d.) SAMII, M. and KARUSH, G. (2004) International Business and Information Technology. New York: Routledge. SAMOVAR, L.A. et, al. (2009) Communication between Cultures. Canada: Cengage Learning Inc. ESS, C. and SUDWEEKS, F. (2001) Culture, Technology, Communication: Towards an Intercultural Global Village. New York: State University of New York Press. Chapter 5: Globalization and cultural choice. (2004) Read More

 

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