Glocalization and the New Indian Middle Class by Andrews - Literature review Example

Literature Review Part One Literature Review Cho, Younghan, Charles Leary and Steven J. Jackson. Glocalization and Sports in Asia. Sociology of Sport Journal 29.4 (2012): 421-32 Andrews, David L., Callie Batts and Michael Silk. Sport, Glocalization and the New Indian Middle Class. International Journal of Cultural Studies 17.3 (2014): 259-76. Glocalization is a relatively new concept coined to name the process of two-side influence of global and local cultures in different parts of the world. This process is complicated as it is presented differently in various aspects of life like fashion, media and sports. This literature review will focus on the impact of glocalization of sports in Asian region. The articles “Glocalization and Sports in Asia” by Cho, Leary and Jackson and “Sport, Glocalization and the New Indian Middle Class” by Andrews, Batts & Silk complexly address the issue of glocalization as they choose different perspectives for their studies. Based on these two articles, it will be possible to have a clear understanding of complex changes caused by glocalization in Asia and India in particular. The article “Glocalization and Spots in Asia” takes a theoretical perspective on the term glocalization and explains it in the diverse context of Asian countries. The authors argue that glocalization is always a two side influence of global and local cultural aspects and it is neither good or bad. At the same time, many researchers who claim to study glocalization in Asia fail to represent diversity of the region. Every Asian country is different in terms of glocalization due to its unique history, local culture and even politics. There are more globalized countries like South Korea and there are isolated countries like North Korea which makes it impossible and unreasonable to generalise information about each country with regards to glocalization and sport. This regional complexity forces authors to provide examples from all Asian countries of their interest to point out how different they are in their experiences of global sports. Cho, Leary & Jackson use literature review method to show that their argument makes sense. They discuss articles of other writers with a purpose to show that they do not cover the issue of glocalization in Asia fully. The article dwells on numerous studies and gathers their results and conclusions in one place to show the differences between effects of glocalization in different Asian countries. For instance, Cho, Leary & Jackson show several examples how Korean and Chinese governments use world sports for modernization of their countries. Popularization of international sports brings many advantages to each country, so local governments negotiate with professional Western leagues to attract them to new locations or recruit local athletes. When Korean and Chinese athletes were accepted to major basketball league Unlike Cho, Leary & Jackson, who talk about general effect of glocalization on Asia, Andrews, Batts & Silk choose a narrower research area and focus on glocalization of sports in India and the role of newly-formed Indian middle class on it. Authors express the aim of their article in a way that they “explicate the interpenetration of global universalisms and local particularisms within, and through, Indian sporting structures and experiences, the specificities of India’s protuberant new middle class” (260). In this way the authors manage to present a great number of details about Indian culture and its changes caused by globalization not only in sports but in lifestyle and culture as well. Also, the authors embrace a lot of political and economic changes in India to add a clear background of their study and make it clear for the reader. Andrews, Batts & Silk state that new middle class is the main target of marketers because they are comparatively well-salaried, professional and open-minded. After a number of political and economic reforms which were aimed at boosting Indian economic miracle, India became better integrated in global cultural community. Western corporation that outsourced to India brought not only financial resources and employment but new cultural elements with them. Growing financial capacity and increase in general life quality of new Indian middle class families made it possible to follow consumerists life style in India. Moreover, technological advancements made India more subjected to Western cultural influences including sports. People get better internet coverage and they can find any information of their interest on the web. Cho, Leary & Jackson also support the idea that technologies play a vital role in glocalization. They argue that “assisted by advanced technologies in telecommunication and transportation, processes of globalization have contributed to the movement of people, products and ideas with extreme rapidity ” (422). It is true for the rest of the world as well; developing internet technologies make it extremely easy to exchange information and access it form any place using mobile devices. They also state that fan internet communities in Asia are very important for sport popularization among local communities. Online activity, new connections, access to world news and live streaming keep online communities engaged and stable. They become target groups for marketers who promote international sports and want to make sure that local population better integrated in world sports community. For instance, Andrews, Batts & Silk show how this scheme works in India. All changes in lifestyle cause by globalization are supported by the Indian government with the hope that new Indian middle class will lead the country to a new level of economic growth. The government tries to keep the middle class engaged by different favoring policies and events including the Delhi Commonwealth Games. While the middle class was the major beneficiary of the event, the poor had to cope with numerous unwanted actions of government like relocation, cleaning of slums with the purpose to remove poor populations from Delhi at least for some time. Delhi government constructed the “Village” which was a complex for hosting athletes and promised that t would be used as a dormitory for students after the end of the event. However, it was later transformed into luxury apartments for the rich. Beautification of Delhi for CWG resulted in $76 million spent, 200 000 families relocated from their homes, advancement in city infrastructure designed to support consumerist life style of Indian middle class and greater inequality between the rich and the poor. Obviously, Delhi Commonwealth Games grew into something bigger than a sport competition. They served as a turning point for choosing economic and political direction for state development. As far as sport is a part of lifestyle, Andrews, Batts & Silk pay more attention to fitness activities in daily lives of Indian people rather than their preferences in sports media consumption. Indian middle class becomes the main adopters of Western lifestyle with its fitness culture. There are 765 fitness clubs that serve for 1.3 billion people in the Indian fitness business. Previously, Indian fitness centers were serving exclusive for elite, but with growing population of middle class such services become available for new social groups as well. New Western culture brings new body ideals to India and replaces “well-fed” images of wealth with strong muscled bodies. The obsession with Western culture goes further when multinational fitness centers recruit foreign fitness instructors for exotic experiences they bring to local population. Compared to daily life approach used by Andrews, Batts & Silk, Cho, Leary & Jackson focus on the perception of Western sports and major leagues in Asia countries. They state that for popularization of global sport in Asia there needs to be an ethnic element in it. For instance, NBA became very popular in Asia in 1990-s when several athletes were recruited to premier league from different Asian regions including Japan. Asian fans who are engaged in international sport community are more worried about the fate of Asian players than American players of the success of their teams. Cho, Leary & Jackson recall several examples how Asian fans celebrate small victories of their local athletes who play in international leagues. Generally, the article by Andrews, Batts & Silk presents more details because it focuses on one territory and gathers enough data to spot various changes caused by Western fitness culture in India. The authors even pay attention to gender differences in adoption of fitness practices. The image of Indian middle-class women is also influenced by glocalisation. On the one hand, Indian beauty queens who serve as role models for Indian female population are expected to represent their heritage and cultural traditions. On the other hand, they embody western lifestyle, wear fashion brands and try to look alike women from the west with their smaller and toned bodies. New Western beauty standards are accepted by middle class females who start attending gyms and watch fashion show to be aware of world fashion trends. Andrews, Batts & Silk closer tie glocalization to social and political changes that happen in Indian society compared to the second article. Even though Cho, Leary & Jackson mention that multinational sport leagues have a great influence on local political powers as they force negotiations between countries which are not in friendly relationships like the USE and the North Korea, but this theme is not central to their argument. Andrews, Batts & Silk pay more attention to connections between sport and politics showing how they both can transform society. Such presentation of the issue gives better understanding of glocalization as a complex process that causes a number of positive and negative consequences in any community where it takes place. At the same time, the authors do not mention exactly what kinds of Western sports are favored in India and how they integrate into Indian fan community. The meaning of sport as a term is differently understood in these two articles and this fact results in significant differences between two articles. Despite relatively similar starting points, both articles end up with two totally different conclusions. Cho, Leary and Jackson summarize existing scope of research and state that “many studies about local consumption of global products not only regard globalization as the final outcome but also assume the local as the final frontier for resisting globalization” (429). In fact, glocalization is “neither a positive nor negative force, nor should it be treated as either unprecedented or totally new” (429). By saying this the authors mean that such forces existed long before and they always had two-side effect on global and local cultures. Also, the authors conclude that glocalization is a solid term for analysis of Asia because every Asian country has a unique history that creates particular cultural frameworks that regulate local acceptance or resistance when it comes to cultural influences. Andrews, Batts & Silk conclude that Indian sport culture is undergoing mutations under powerful influences of politics, economy and new arising middle class. It definitely brings a number of novelties to highly traditional Indian society. It does not only impacts Indian middle class, but it gives a call for action to people with lower social status who become victims of new changes. In summary, the articles by Cho, Leary and Jackson and Andrews, Batts & Silk approach the term glocalization from different sides, so they greatly contribute to each others meaning. Cho, Leary and Jackson give a greater generalized perspective on glocalization; also, they pay more attention to China, Japan and Malaysia. The authors present enough examples to show how local and global elements mix together and spread within fan communities in Asia. Andrews, Batts & Silk talk only about India and show how Western influences lead to significant changes in lifestyle, politics, economy and culture. The choice of one country allows researchers giving enough details for seeing a full picture, but it also serves as a limitation because the complexity of given conditions does not give researchers enough space to focus on sport and glocalization only. The authors jump from one social issue to the other to embrace as much information as possible but the volume of this information is so big that they need to generalize everything. Both articles contain enough vivid example to show how glocalization really works in different cultures and societies. Of course, both articles are not ideal because they have certain limitations, but they perfectly work together covering weak places of each other by different perspectives chosen by their authors. Despite all differences between these two articles, it is clear that both of them communicate the idea that glocalization is not easy; it is impossible to say whether it is good or bad. It leads to a great number of changes and they relate to all aspects of culture, economy and politics. Read More