Culture Globalization Concerning Cosmopolitan Culture - Essay Example

Culture globalization in relation to cosmopolitan culture Introduction Cultural activities undergo a transformation through globalization in a multidimensional process a phenomenon employed to describe the whole event as extremely diverse. Certain cultural diversities express a prevailing sentiment influenced by the forces that transcend beyond the borders. Such cultural activities remain practiced all over the world, and the current globalization promotes the activities across borders in interesting events in order to engender a cosmopolitan culture. As such, intensification of the worldwide social relations links the distance localities with the local activities that occur in many miles. To realize this globalization, local happenings move in a diverse direction from much-distanced relations that shape them to make it a dialectical process. In support of this assertion, this paper presents an argument using several theories learned in the globalization of culture and other sources. Body Some theorists like Kroeber on the study of culture believe that globalization has a historical chronology conceived as a human integration and hybridization, arguing the possibility of detecting cultural mixing across the continents (Kroeber, 1976). These ideas may refer to the religious practices, linguistics, and the culture. However, other sociologists trace the origin of globalization as free enterprise and modernity that remains facilitated through the technology adaptation. Another perspective involves the transfiguration of worldwide multiplicity into a pandemic westernized consumer culture. The influence of American products in the whole world results into a system that most of the people refer to as the Americanization. This remains diversified by the speed of the new media channels spread around the web. Hybridization transforms the cultural practices into new cultural forms. These cultures keep on varying as part of the constant process of globalization. However, cultures overlap to draw other traditions from the external forces indicating that it is not homogenous, discrete, or bounded by entity (Mayer, 2007:3). Culture poses a great impact on the global media articulating all the activities practiced locally and internationally. Several theories on culture by Tylor show the importance of cultural practices considering the cultural activities to the phenomenon of globalization. This globalization spreads modernity and craps time distance, referring to the way in which immediate electronic contact erodes the constraints related to distance and time on the social association and interface. This requires processes in which people from different locations or world merge to a single world society to interact. This global society implies on homogenization by bringing a heated debate on transformation of the global society. Other theories like the actor- network theory contrast that globalizing cultural forces of media and contact produces complex communication disjunctures amid different cultures. To realize this diversity, different scopes contribute much in the cultural domination. This diversity of change compares with how chameleon changes its colors in a different environment. Chameleon adapts in all changes of the environment regardless of color and thus can be used as a good example of culture globalization. This is all about the diversity in the cultural activities depict a movement that referring to the tourists and immigrants. Improvement in the technology contributes much to the tourist’s attraction through stemming up various sceneries in the whole world. The focus mainly remains disbursed by the media through photos shared all over the world in the social media and other media devices (Papastergiadis, 2003:162). Advertisement through the television and the newly introduced channels that access all kinds of people in the world make the conveyance of the information easily accessible all over the world. People who get interested move to enjoy these activities in the world regardless the different cultural activities practices in that community. Others opt to travel and spend all their lives in a foreign country. This may result from modernization or improvement of the social culture, living standards, and other general activities. In this sector, education and job availability are the main features for the diversity. Some countries have more improved facilities in the education sector than others do hence engendering immigration that airs the interaction beyond the racial discrimination. This method to adapt foreign cultures is no longer an issue to the foreigners. The interaction bears extra currencies especially the tourists who learn about the cultural activities. In other words, globalization of the cultural activities engenders improvement to the cultural scenes. Building museum and other scenes that require artwork remain highly influenced by the globalization of these cultural activities. Another aspect that contributes much in the global mobility of culture is artwork practiced by many countries. Different countries believe in the power behind the artwork and this attracts much through improving the performing areas and enhancing the diversity of culture to the cosmopolitan culture. This is a divergent culture merging the artists and audience from all over the world for the purpose of learning and entertainment. By the intermingling of people from different areas, performance hence becomes interesting and attractive to the audience. Through the help of the media, a lot of improvement remains subject to the prospective society to acquire means in which the event remains attractive to the society. Media plays a prominent role in this globalization through displaying different cultural activities from different countries or the society. Some art remains displayed through the media by use of soap operas, dancing and singing that acts as the main contribution to the culture. Pilkington, a theorist agree that there is no globalization without the media because it all constitutes communication and interaction across the boundaries (Pilkington, 2002:8). The interaction all refers to the transmission of ideas, meanings, and values across the national borders that are marked by utilization of cultures diffused via the internet, popular culture, and international tour. The cultural globalization involves the configuration of shared norms and awareness with which people relate their entity and communal identities raising the interconnections among different inhabitants and cultures. This globalization remain manifested in many areas like in sports- soccer has its roots in Britain back in the in the nineteenth century. This event becomes favorite game on the television and the local soccer fields. Here, the dispersion denotes the indulgent of shared policies for the game, and the cultural interconnections that participant’s and fans form with their common interests and values. The players in this field not only come from one society, but also meet others from different communities and bring value in that society. This does not mean that those people with different cultures remain singled out from the cultural practices of the society, but become part of society prevailing as their norms and practices. This attracts million of people from different societies together to cheer up the soccer. An example is World Cup that brings million of cheers all over the world only to cheer their footballers. Another example is the Boston Olympic Marathon that had millions of fans cheering the participants. Another aspect of the cultural globalization is the diffusion of cuisines the Americans fast food chains. The theory of culture diffusion features MacDonald as the largest global food service corporation with thousands of chains serving more than seventy million people in 120 countries. Regardless of the location, consumers get a variety of these foodstuffs almost all over the world. The big Mac index remains acknowledged as the informal control of purity among world currencies, the same experience, and knowledge of MacDonald’s. Sociologist George Ritzer in his book explains that McDonaldization occurs when culture possesses the features of a fast-food restaurant. This is the process of moving from conventional to the rational of thoughts and the scientific management. As such, he continues to donate much in culture society as worldwide homogenization. As a result, the ideology of the first fast-food restaurant will dominate many sectors of the American society and the rest of the world. Through efficiency, his customers shift from being famished to being full. This helps us to understand how globalization of culture moves to a cosmopolitan culture through adoption of the new technology. Coca Cola is another example that funds almost all the World Cup games, and through its products, it reaches all kinds of consumers by crossing the boundaries. All this remains anchored through the media as the medium of the culture globalization (Werbner, 2008:16). Other materials that extent globalization of culture to a cosmopolitan culture are the social networks like the face book and twitter. This deprives a lot of change from the antiquity view of culture to a more communal relationship and breaks the extent of racial discrimination. Here, a single update in face book like, ‘our culture is more influential’ may have millions of people from different areas and a country whose prospective individual might not even know their location. This shows how the globalization of culture develops extending its boundaries beyond mere relations. Others have a million followers in the twitter and comment on almost every single update. From these social networks, people learn more of cultural practices from their friends who appear from diverse areas of the world. As the global popular culture contains products and symbols that penetrate most local markets, it encompasses ideology of the economic freedom. Here, the consumer selection encourages the diverse uses and interpretations of the consistent patterns. Consumers obtain goods from different societies or countries and do not deny the powers of multinational corporations that promote the consumption of their products and logos. A research shows that popular cultures usually produces global tastes, but also creates consumers who keep the culture from becoming uniform. An example is the dominant American culture that produces new products and is used all over the world. However, the world culture engenders a conflict in the world society through the process that turns the west against itself. This is the domination on the economic and culture by the western countries that now continues to penetrate other countries through the United Nation bodies. This integration and mixing make the poor countries without the resources to trade with other countries to improve the economy. The former colonies started invoking world cultural practices of equality and growth as a basic human right. Further tension increased from the global human rights turning the inspection on the new states, decrying their shrewd championing of certain universals while ignoring and brutally violating others. This act is associated with those having integrity and political contribution of citizens. Thus, the moral legitimacy that attributed to national and ethnic units, and the insistence that all abide by basic principles, and ethics yield forms of incongruity and conflict that would emerge in a less globalized world (Rovisco, 2011:35). When non-cultures and regions become more prominent in the world policy, it makes increasingly sensible to speak of the world cultures rather than singular culture. However, dominant western model penetrates intensely in most places selling their culture and promoting their lifestyles. Others remain to evoke resistant as well as hard work to revive and globalize alternative models. As such, many Muslims leaders and organizations promote societal copy that infuses the state with sacred precepts and recasts the association among the state and the citizens. Theory of culture materialization argues that the merging of Asians and Africans will result into axes rather than the nation-state violence that dominate in the recent centuries. Since antiquity of the European expansion, many of the organizing institutions and the fundamental assumptions that constitute the world culture all have the religion origin. This is through the conquest evangelism, and migration. European makes Christianity much safe by giving the world a distinctive Christian cast despite that all the people in the world did not become Christians. This gives a diverse extend in which people from different cultures adopt new ways of worship. By now, the Christianity might have diminished, but different individuals give a way out through giving divergent worldviews that the trend prominent. Religious globalization remains important in constructing world culture, and contributing to its heterogeneity that produces a new form of conflict. Religious culture also contributes to the foundations of the contemporary world culture. The outset of communal progress that prevails almost everywhere stems some sections in the Christian legitimization of the rational world mystery. Missionaries not only spread their faith but also their teaching in order to make definite that all acquires the basic requirement (Cohen 2002:25). Conclusion Globalization of culture thus features on different diverse application worldwide attributing not only to the growth of different cultures but also bringing conflict among other areas. Media plays a principal role in this field to make sure that different diverse culture remain in many different countries across the globe. This globalization makes other business owners like the McDonald business more diverse, sports, and other economic activities across the globe well known across the globe. The spread of products to the consumers becomes easy regardless of the culture, ethnicity, or the language spoken. The globalization of the religious culture also becomes relevant in order to educate people on faith and other important things in terms of the cultural activities. Bibliography Kroeber, A. L. 1976. Handbook of the Indians of California. New York: Dover Publications. Mayer, F. 2007. To what extent can it be argued that cultural globalisation has led to a homogenisation of national and local cultures? München, GRIN Verlag GmbH. Available from: Http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:101:1-2010081212800. [accessed on May 09 2013] Papastergiadis, N. 2003. Complex entanglement art, globalisation and cultural difference. London, Rivers Oram. 162 Pilkington, H. 2002. Looking West?: cultural globalization and Russian youth cultures. University Park, Pa, Pennsylvania State University Press. 8 Rovisco, M., & Nowicka, M. 2011. The Ashgate research companion to cosmopolitanism. Burlington, VT, Ashgate. 35 Vertovec, S., & Cohen, R. 2002. Conceiving cosmopolitanism: theory, context and practice. New York [u.a.], Oxford Univ. Press. 25 Werbner, P. 2008. Anthropology and the new cosmopolitanism: rooted, feminist and vernacular perspectives. Oxford, Berg. I6 Read More