Chapter 1:

DEFINING
GLOBALIZATION
Globalization
• is a process of world shrinkage, of distances
getting shorter, things moving closer.
(Larsson,2001)
• some see it as occuring through and with
regression, colonialism, and with
destabilization.
THE TASK OF DEFINING GLOBALIZATION
could be classified as either:
 Broad and Inclusive
 Narrow and Exclusive
1. The perspective of a person who defines
globalization shapes its definition.
Globalization is a world of things that have
different speeds, axes, points of origin, termination,
and varied relationship to institutional structures in
different regions, nations, or societies.
2. Globalization is the debate and the debate is
globalization
3. Globalization is a reality. Changing as human
society develops.
METAPHORS OF GLOBALIZATION
Solid and Liquid
Solidity- refers to barriers that prevent or make
difficult the movement of things. It is either natural or
man-made.
Liquid- refers to the increasing ease of movement of
people, things, information and places in the
contemporary world.
Flows- are the movement of people, things, places,
and information brought by the growing “porosity”
of global limitations.
Ex: Foreign Cuisines that are patronized and consumed by
Filipinos like sushi, ramen, hamburger, and french fries
Ex: Global Financial Crises (In global financial system,
national borders are porous)
-the spread of the effects of American financial crises
on Europe in 2008.
Other kind of flows that can be observed today:

 poor illegal migrants flooding many parts of the world

 virtual flow of legal and illegal information such as blogs
and child pornography
 immigrants recreating ethnic enclaves in host countries

The concrete example is the Filipino communities

abroad and the chinese in the Philippines.
GLOBALIZATION THEORIES
 Homogeneity - increasing sameness in the world as
cultural inputs, economic factors, and political orientation
of societies expand to create common practices, same
economics, and similar forms of government.
 Homogeneity in culture -often links in cultural
emperialism.
Ex: The dominant religion in our country is Christianity,
which was brought to us by the spaniards.
 In terms of the economy, there is recognition of the
spread of neoliberalism, capitalism, and the market
economy in the world (Antonio,2007)
 Global economic crises are also product of homogeinety
in economic globalization
 Media Imperialism- undermines the existence of
alternative global media originating from developing
countries, such as the Al Jazeera and the Bollywood, as
well as the influence of the local and regional media.
 Cultural Imperialism denies the agency of viewers, but
people around the world often interpret the same medium
in significantly different ways.
 Global media are dominated by a small number of large
corporations. As McChesney (1999) put it, this is being
"extended from old media to new media".
 Ritzer (2008) claimed that, in general, the contemporary
world is undergoing the process of McDonaldization.
 McDonalization-it is the process by which Western
societies are dominated by the principles of fast food
restaurants.
-it involves the global spread of rational systems, such
as efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control.
 Grobalization, in contrast to glocalization, is a process
wherein nations, corporation, etc. impose themselves on
geographic areas in order to gain profits, power and so
on…
Heterogeneity
-pertains to the creation of various cultural practices,
new economies, and political groups because of the
interaction of elements from different societies in the world.
 Contrary to cultural imperialism, heterogeneity in culture
is associated with cultural hybridization.
 A more specific concept is "glocalization" coined by
Roland Robertson in 1992. To him, global forces interact
with local factors or a specific geographic area the
"glocal" is being produced.
 Barber (1995) also provided the alternate of "Mcworld"
- the "Jihad". As Ritzer (2008) mentioned, it refers to the
political group that are engage in an "intensification of
nationalism and that leads to greater political
heterogeneity throughout the world."
DYNAMICS OF LOCAL AND GLOBAL
CULTURE
3 Perspective on Global Cultural Flows:
 Cultural Differentialism
 Cultural Hybridization
 Cultural Convergence
Cultural Differentialism
- cultural diversity is a form of cultural
differentialism
- emphasizes the fact that cultures are
essentially different and are only superficially
affected by global flows
Ex: French culture or Chinese culture each is
distinct from one another.
Cultural Hybridization
-refers to the convergence of the different
elements of various cultures. These elements such
as food, language, fashion or music.
-emphasizes the integration of local and global
cultures.
Ex: Louisiana Creole which is a combination of African,
French, and English languages.
Global restaurant chains like Kentucky Fried
Chicken or McDonalds, KFC modifying their menus to suit
the tastes or moves of different cultures.
Cultural Convergence
- is the theory that two cultures will be more and more
like each other as their interactons increase. Basically, the
more that cultures interact, the more that their values,
ideologies, behaviors, arts, and custom will start to reflect
each other.
Ex: The English language is a prime example of cultural
convergence on a global scale.
 Deterritorialization
-means that it is much more difficult to tie culture
to a specific geographic point of origin.
THE GLOBALIZATION OF RELIGION
“Accelerated globalization of recent times has enabled
co-religionists across the planet to have greater direct
contact with one another.” (Scholte, 2005)
These are the important means on which religionists rely on
the dissemination of their religious ideas:
 information technologies
 transportation means
media
As Turner (2001) explained:
“Globalization transforms the generic “religion”
into a world-system of competing and conflicting
religions. This process of institutional speacialization
has transformed local, diverse, and fragmental cultural
practices into recognizable systems of religion.
Globalization has, therefore, had the paradoxical
effect of making religions more self-conscious of
themeselves as being “world religions”.
 - Religion confirms a failure to globalization hybridizing
effect.
- Religion is considered to be anti-rationalist.
-Globalization associated with Westernization and
Americanization put religion into a defensive measure thus
forming the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).