Critically discuss the concept of Globalisation. What is meant by cultural globalisation?

Essay by mcd.jamieUniversity, Bachelor'sA-, February 2004

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Critically discuss the concept of Globalisation. What is meant by cultural globalisation?

The concept of Globalisation focuses mainly on the idea of all of the individual states, cultures, religions and especially economies coming together, or networking, to form one single entity. It is widely disputed as to whether or not Globalisation has started to occur, or has already occurred or whether or not Globalisation is simply a myth. In this essay I plan to look at the key features of Globalisation and investigate its key factors, but also to investigate the relevance of culture as a main factor in the development of Globalisation.

Firstly, the importance of communications within the process of globalisation cannot be underestimated. "The most important shrinking of the world occurred......in the 1860's with the laying of cables.....taking news of ships and markets, with politics and rebellions all over the world." (1) (James Curran&Jean Seaton, Power without Responsibility.)

It is the mechanism through which all the other globalising factors flow; the enabling agent central to the whole process. Communications acts as the catalyst needed for Globalisation to occur. The role of the media has been critical to the perpetuation of the globalisation phenomenon. The advance in communications technology has led to the development and improvement of various types of tools such as; the television, the radio, the telephone/mobile telephone, and more recently the internet and e-mail. This sort of rapid development of many forms of communication has become commonly known as the mass-media.

The historical course of mass-media development has seen large parts of it falling under commercial control. Its original role of information provision quickly became secondary to that of the self-perpetuating evolution of industrial, then post-industrial, capitalism through advertising. The dissemination of news and information advanced rapidly in the later part of the nineteenth century...