Globalization and Culture - Essay Example

Globalization and Culture Globalization refers the rising worldwide dealings between economic activities, cultures, and people (Fu and Chiu 636). Globalization is also described as the combination of cultural, economic, and political systems all over the globe. Globalization is usually used to denote the rising interdependence and connectivity of businesses and markets of the world. This is in terms of increased division of the creation of services and goods. In regard to local, regional, or ethnic cultures and traditions, globalization can either be viewed as an opportunity or a threat.

In my opinion, globalization is a modernizing force than can nurture local cultures and allow them to spread across the world. Globalization is not a destroyer of local cultures and traditions. It is an opportunity for local, regional, and ethnic cultures and traditions to spread and grow. Owing to cultural globalization, cross-cultural contacts have significantly increased. These interactions have shaped the world to be what it is today. For example, religion may be considered a cultural practice.

On that note, religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam all began in specific places of the world (Fu and Chiu 637). Today, thanks to globalization, these religions are practiced in almost every corner of the world. These common religions have been embraced and accepted by different people from all over the world because of globalization. Globalization has enabled the crossing of international boundaries, therefore, allowing cross-cultural contacts that have led to the spread of these religions.

This shows that globalization is not a destroyer of cultures and traditions. It is, in fact, a promoter of cultures and traditions (Fu and Chiu 638). Other cultural practices such as traditional music from Africa, for example, have been able to reach the Western world because of globalization. Globalization has allowed locally recorded music to reach audiences from all over the world (Fu and Chiu 639). Also, Anglo-American pop music has been able to spread everywhere through mediums such as MTV.

These cultural practices have not been destroyed. In fact, globalization has helped to spread them all over the globe, and they are constantly being accepted by more and more people. Traditional recreational practices such as sports, games, and other leisure activities have also gained popularity in regions that they never used to be practiced before. Football is a good example (Fu and Chiu 640). Language, being part of culture, has also benefitted from globalization. Globalization has led to the promotion of certain languages to lingua francas.

These languages are commonly used to enable easier communication involving persons who do not have a common mother tongue. Globalization is a modernizing force than can nurture local cultures and allow them to spread across the world since it leads to international migrations (Fu and Chiu 641). When people of certain cultures migrate across international borders, they take many aspects of their culture there. These aspects include foods, economic activities, music, languages, religions, modes of dressing, architecture, technology, and design among others.

These cultural aspects get to be shared with the people who originally inhabited those areas being migrated to. Those people inhabiting these areas also share the same aspects of their cultures with the immigrants. In this way, these cultures and traditions get assimilated and promoted in regions that they were not common before (Fu and Chiu 642). In conclusion, it is important to note that globalization may contribute to the destruction of local cultures and traditions if it is allowed to. This is because people can forget their traditional cultures and adapt new ways of life, thus making their cultures and traditions extinct.

However, if people are keen on protecting their traditions and cultures, globalization can be used as a way of spreading different cultures to different regions of the world, thus spreading and promoting them.Work CitedFu, J. H., and Chiu, C. “Local Cultures Responses to Globalization: Exemplary Persons and Their Attendant Values.” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 38.5 (2007): 636-653. Print.