Glocalization

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that global communications, such as the internet and cable television, are bringing news and culture from around the globe into local neighborhoods around the globe, resulting in the commodification of local relationships. The author points out that new technologies, such as TV phones, allow people to find others with whom to share common experience and social interaction, rather than actually moving to a new place, or trying to recreate common experience among proximate neighbors. Moreover, electronic communities provide a sense of common experience and involvement that seems lacking in much of modern society. The paper relates that the word "McDonaldization" is used to describe the way the entire planet is being wired into music, movies, news, television and other cultural products, most of which originate in the U.S., while local cultures are uprooted and replaced with universal cultural symbols.

From the Paper:

"Komito points out that it is rare, within any group, that social relations are without conflict, hierarchy and inequality, and no matter how strong the commitment to shared values based on family, kinship or ethnicity, there is negotiation based on conflicting individual interests and concerns. Although collective solidarity is often a goal, it is rarely achieved, because communities are composed not only of people who like each other, but also hate each other, and thus, both co-operate and compete with one another."

More papers on Glocalization:

• Book Review # 103309 : "George Ritzer's "The Globalization of Nothing 2"
• Essay # 87309 : "Social Change Reflected in Linguistic Change"
• Term Paper # 93249 : "Marketing Snack Foods Internationally"

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