Globalization & Culture

This report presents the findings from two interviews conducted on two subjects namely; Kyu Yong (Eric) Kim and another one known as Brian (Choi). The interview used semi-structured method to interview the two subjects. The aim of the interview was to investigate the effects globalisation has had on them. This was done with an aim of determining how cultural orientations are shaped or determined by globalization. Also the interview aimed at analyzing as well as presenting views on the topics from literature review available. The reason for settling on the two as suitable candidates for the problem under investigation was due to two reasons: First of all, the fact that both subjects have interacted with people from two or more cultures different from theirs. Secondly, both subjects have been subjected to different cultures mainly for reasons related to globalization in one way or the other. Finally, the interviewees were selected because of their accessibility to the interviewer as well as their willingness to participate in the interview. The findings of the interview are discussed below and effort is put in order to generalize the findings to the bigger population. Definations. Globalisation is the process of improved interactions of people from cultural countries, economic as well as social orientations afforded by the rapid growth of ICT transportation and advancement in technology such as ECD, internet, mobile phones and satellite communication. Culture can be defined as the way of life of a people mainly on how people relate and interact with the environment, their beliefs, their nutrition, their religion, their traditions as well as their aspirations. Culture is affected and shaped by many factors but of all of them, it is globalization that has had the greatest impact on culture. Results/findings for Brian Choi Brian represents two cultures, American culture and Korean culture. He is a represents blended culture. From the interview, when asked about what culture was and represented, his response was, â€Å"I believe culture is what shapes you and influences the way you act and think. Culture according to me represents beliefs which are so much intertwined in a person that it becomes very hard to change cultures or to forfeit ones culture†. From the above verbatim, Brian raises a critical point that culture is embedded in ones belief. According to(Robertson, 1992)belief plays an important role in shaping culture in that cultural practices such as songs, dances, worship, marriage as well as political systems are all unique to different cultures. As far as songs are concerned, songs from a particular group or community may reflect the beliefs of the particular community or group. This factor is necessary in order to understand why people believe in what they believe in. In the traditional Korean set up, songs were used in ceremonies as landmarks for special events. Up to date, there has been little influence on the Korean music/songs from other cultures such as western culture. This can be proved by the following comments made by Brain in the interview process. Asked about the role of songs in the Korean culture Brian replied that â€Å"in Korea songs are sacred, when a group of people and possibly any gathering is commenced with a song. In terms of cultural beliefs, is useful as a tool of communication and therefore handling down the treasured values of the Koreans. The fact that culture is fast being eroded by modernization and globalization was of central importance to the interview. According to Brian, globalization has affected the Korean culture in a number of ways including; ) Globalisation has led to penetration of foreign cultural practices in Korea. Specifically globalization through enhanced communication through mobile as well as internet has contributed to communication with various people in different parts of the world. This has in turn led to the contamination of the Korean culture in that more people than ever before are as a direct result of modern technology of communication, getting married to people outside their own c ultures. This has had impact on the Korean culture in that, whenever marriages outside cultural boundaries occur. The culture is assimilated fully in some cases while in others it is changed due to the integration. In cases where the two cultures may be incompatible total abandonment results and therefore one is forced to adopt a new culture. According to Brian, the leading cause on cultural deviation is marriage, in that more than ever before, more people are getting to interact and intermingle with different cultures and therefore becoming more open to change. This is supported by (Robertson, 1992) who notes that marriage is a powerful tool of taking people out of their ethnical tribal racial or religions cocoons. The claim is further supported by who notes that apart from the effect marriage has on culture, it too does affect peoples view and perception, of others and these is one of the self means of easing tensions between diverse groups communities or races historically penetration of discrimination or segregation of various forms of way perfected by proponents of such, discouraging and in some cases criminalizing, inter-tribal, or interracial marriages. A good case is in the apartheid Era, South Africa where Boers were not permitted to marry Africans and a move in contradiction to the above was punishable. This served best interests of apartheid supporters. Therefore globalization in the sense that it leads to more advances of cultural marriages has contributed to easing tensions in many groups or societies. Culture any conflict According to (Thomas, & Wilkin, 1997) culture difference, which in turn depends on myths, religion or history of a people is often a cause of personal conflict, religious conflict as well as political on that this culture has become a major force in many conflicts taking place in the modern times. Brian in this case is not affected by political conflict, but by a more subtle form of conflict, personal conflict which in turn translates into identity crisis. Identity crisis in relation to culture refers to a situation whereby an individual as a result of belonging to different cultures either naturally or by environmental related factors gets into a situation whereby he or she is face with unique challenges of which they must negotiate in order to progress peacefully in their cultures. In the case of Brian, his primary culture is Korea while his secondary culture is America. The fact that he likes identifying himself as American points to the fact that he is happy to belong to America. However, he likes travelling back to Korea for visits once or twice every fortnight. This connotes another attraction to Korea. Actually he is connected to the people of Korea and the visits cannot be dismissed as holidays but have a cultural bearing. On the other hand, the fact hat Brian does not deny belonging to any of the cultures points to the fact that he could easily pass for a person exhibiting and practising two cultures. Although Brian was silent on how religious practices in the two cultures, Korean and American have affected him, religion is known to play a crucial role in culture. There is evidence that most of the conflicts happening in the 21st century are directly caused by cultural differences rooted in diversity of religious beliefs (Teeple, 1995). For instance in Ireland, Catholics and Protestants have been known to regularly clash over cultural differences. Elsewhere, Muslims and Christians have on numerous occasions been involved in armed and prolonged conflicts all resulting to cultural differences. While as globalization is supposed to bring a solution to this dilemma, that has not been the case and globalization has to be utilized positively if much of the cultural tensions being experienced today are to be diluted. However, Brian owns up to being a victim of ideologized cultural conflict. To him, this has been manifested in the way he has to adapt to capitalistic tendencies commonly upheld by majority of the American while at the same reserving the more socialistic values learnt in Korean, and which is so much embedded in peoples’ everyday life activities. The other culture shock which Brian admits to having come face to face with is, the value attached to work in America is high compared to Korea, as far as work ethics is concerned, Brian equates the average American worker as very hard working and dedicated compared to an average worker, in Korea. According to him globalization has had an impact on work ethics in Korea in that, many American multinationals are opening up plants in Korea, employing local for semi skilled and unskilled labor. This in turn is inculcating American culture into the locals something which is shaping Koreans and in a way changing the status-quo. From his individual standpoint, Brian alluded to the fact in US, he is faced with many challenges especially when it comes to adjusting to organizational culture. The wide cultural differences are hard to adjust to and according him, many are the days that he experiences face-to face confrontations with his supervisor due to what he termed as irreconcilable cultural differences. Asked on his final word on globalization and culture he noted that, that people should share information, share resources, exchange goods and services in what is referred to as trade. All this can be achieved only through dissecting cultures and taking out the impediments to prosperity but retaining all the positives that enhance every human being’s fundamental rights and freedom. Eric Kyu Yong Eric though not as enthusiastic about the issue as Brian, yielded into very insightful information which clearly points to the roles importance, advantages, disadvantages as well as the shortcomings of globalization and the way it has been conceptualised in relation to cultural orientations. Eric points the fact that he has experienced directly both â€Å"worlds† that is, Korea and America. He confided this as something that has shaped his understating of the problem of globalization and culture. Having spent his childhood and part of his early teenage years in Korea and then proceeded to live in America. The fact that Eric was of age by the time he left Korea for the US made him a suitable subject for the interview in that he could yield to great insights on the problem. Asked about the merits and demerits of globalization on culture. Eric pointed to the following as the merits of globalization on culture. First of all, globalization has created an opening to cultural exposure. This has been occasioned by the booming tourism business which almost always undertakes to promote indigenous cultures, in places where it exists. According to Eric, when tourists from various parts of the world undertake foreign trips to different destinations, a cultural interaction results and two or multiple cultures almost always yield into great cultural impacts. This is made possible by globalization through efficient and reliable transport system. Although Eric was quick to point to the fact that his cultural experiences are not tourism related, he observed that what first hit his mind on arrival to America was his belief that people are culturally the same and the way they do things is the same no matter the origin. To his shock, Eric soon learnt that cultural orientation were very significant contributor to the way of life of a people. While in Korea people valued foods cooked traditionally and served in traditional cook-ware, in the US the society is very busy compared to Korea. People tended to work for long hours and lacked time for social life. Eric’s first time experience led him to believe for a very long time that his society back in Korea was simply no match for his new society. This was to change soon as he developed keen interest into understanding modern factors which influenced culture. According to him, over the past decade, he has observed so many similarities in the two cultures that he has begun to actually doubt whether any significant differences actually occur between the two cultures. This he attributes to globalization which he refers to have enabled instant communication, hence sharing and exchange of information. With the advent of telecommunication, people are able to communicate via satellite, consult over important international matters, as well as agitate for common stance on key issues. As far as culture is concerned, people have as a result of globalization been able to inter-marry and therefore aid minimizing the cultural gap that exist between different cultures. Eric confidently asserted that he had as a foregone conclusion decided to marry an American. This he said was aimed to allow him to further understand better the American culture, for which as he admitted, marks the epitome of cultural variations, co-existence and collaboration. According to him, these developments were unheard of in the 60’s but have been occasioned by the relatively rapid speed with which globalization has contributed to cultural changes. Eric noted that the greatest culture shock he experienced was as a result of noticing how the value attached to marriages so much differed in the two countries, that is Korea and America. According to him, the high divorce rates in America, and the de-emphasis on extended family was so much in contravention to the culture in Korea whereby the value-system is embedded in the extended families. According to him, this is evidenced by the way generations after generations share same names in what is believed as to be respect to the dead. This, Eric noted, has of late changed and more nuclear families are sprouting up. Eric added that this can be attributed to globalisation as this practice is highly attributable to the influence foreign cultures and especially western culture has had on the contemporary Korea society- specifically ICT and internet, were identified to have contributed to this development in that, these enables people to interact online through emails, on-line chatting, online friendships and in some cases, marriage. All the above have changed people and made them open up to change including accepting and borrowing some aspects of foreign cultures as on example, Eric pointed to the fact that, in Korea it was traditionally a taboo to divorce unless for some specific and well known reasons. Even under the above mentioned conditions, the situation involved a long and rigorous process which had to be sanctioned by some designated members of the society such as traditional elders. The other key contribution of globalization to culture according to Eric was clothing. In Korea, Eric noted that traditionally clothing is regulated. For women, the conditions and requirements are stringent and are supposed to be adhered to strictly unless one is ready to be termed as an ‘outcast’. Earning the term has its own negative effects in that one is virtually locked out into the benefits enjoyed by other members such as getting a bride or bridegroom, inheriting as well as education. However Eric pointed out that, globalization has significantly changed these perceptions. He noted that when his siblings including the sisters visit America, they enthusiastically shop and dress American and it is no longer a big issue. This he attributes also to globalization, according to him, upon coming to America he considered some dressing codes as totally unacceptable. His level of cultural tolerance was totally ‘amiss’ in his own words. However, he later learnt to accept and live with it especially on campus as members of the university were youngsters who were outgoing and hardly conservative. His experiences at the university contributed positively to his changed perceptions on cultures and he got to appreciate diversity and dynamism that so strongly shape culture. According to Eric though, no culture is superior to another but some culture so strongly influence others to the point of absorbing them completely. Although he down played the effect globalization has had on him particularly, he specifically mentioned that, his interaction with the America culture, largely occasioned by globalization has changed his life. Conclusion Globalisation has had major influence on culture, and it is not surprising that the cultures in two different countries that is America and Korea, as evidenced in the interview represent globalization influence on culture. From the evidence gathered from the interview with Brian and Eric, culture and globalization are intertwined and therefore influence each other. From the two interviewees, it was possible to deduce the factors which shape cultures. From the report, it can be recommended that, more research need to be carried out in order to determine how globalization can be shaped to avoid taking away from the achievements so far realized in integrating different cultures. On the same note, there is a need for efforts from governments and other key stakeholders to come up with policies which protect indigenous cultures from negative effects of globalization. This should be done with an aim of preventing erosion of positive aspects of cultures however small. Finally globalization should be encouraged in as far as it promotes development of cultural issues such as integrating of cultures which helps solve numerous challenges such as racial, tribal or ethnic tensions.