Culture Globalization

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorUniversity, Bachelor's February 2008

download word file, 4 pages 1.0

The quickening pace of globalization has brought sweeping changes in almost every aspect of people?s life, one of which is a growing trend of culture merger, in which people from different cultural backgrounds can enjoy the same movies, fashions and television shows. This global movement involves both benefits and risks in terms of culture, economy, individual creativity and national identity. The core issue, as the debate between Tyler Cowen and Benjamin Barber focused, is that how globalization affects culture. Debates about whether globalization enriches the cultural diversity or makes this diversity uniform, still become hot topics in discussion about cultural globalization. In this essay, I will draw support from Benjamin Barber?s argument to contend that the impact of globalization has mostly negative effects on distinctive cultures.

Arguing in support of the merits of international trade, which is one major factor driving the globalization, Cowen argued in his book that international trade triggers some Third World artists? inspiration on composing their special local music.

He states that global markets provide freedom of choice and support diversity that is necessary for successful artistic creativity, because artists have greater opportunity to create different genres of music using different ideas and inspiration from other cultures. For instance, Cowen believes that globalization provide the potential for cultural heterogeneity, which is defined as cultural difference and plurality, from other cultures. In contrast, Barber argues that globalization reduces the authentic differences of each culture and creates ?a theme park of world cultures?, in which diversity becomes increasingly simulated and the authenticity disappears (9). Take Oscar for example, as movie stories mirror the real life in every corner of the world, the annual Oscar ritual offers a unique opportunity for people of different cultures to appreciate the thoughts, feelings, attitudes and philosophies of each other. However, in...