Cultural Change in an Era of Globalization

Michael Jordan Geography Major at UNC

Culture shapes globalization and is shaped by globalization

Picasso’s Guernica (NOT!)

Folk Culture

• Clothing styles of Guatemala

• Kufiyah-capped Bedouin shepherds in the desert of northeast Jordan.

Amish are the best example in US

• Pictures to come…

Popular Culture

Factors influencing the decline of distance decay in innovation

diffusion:• Colonization and political integration

• Technological innovation (automobiles, airplanes, satellites, PCs, the Internet…

You can use your American Express card for an acupuncture session in

China.

An automatic teller machine (ATM)

disbursing cash in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Are there glazed pigs hanging next to your

local ATM?

This has created a shift in our cultural identification. We are now part of many different groups that

may be separated by some distance.

Always Elvis Fan Club

Example of Muslims in Europe

• The forces of globalization are being used to maintain ties with home…

Impacts of Globalization of culture:

• Dominance of American culture in music, television, and film.

• Concerns over cultural homogenization

Commodification;something that previously had

not been regarded as something to be bought or sold and turning

it into something to be traded in a market economy.

Landscape convergence

• Architectural forms and planning ideals

Singapore Frankfurt

New York City

Landscape convergence

• Individual businesses and products

Judging by the various products being

advertised, this scene could have come from

a typical American city. This is actually the main shopping

district of downtown Guatemala City,

Guatemala

Landscape convergence

• Borrowing of idealized landscapes--postmodern landscapes

Reactions to Cultural Globalization

• Problem of how to accept some aspects of globalization without entirely subverting traditional practices.

• Concern over loss of local distinctiveness and identity (in the core and in the periphery).