Culture in the era of globalization

Globalization is the much-mooted leitmotif of the modern age, however there aren‟t strict parameters that can categorically define the phenomenon. It is however very much linked to the notion that the predominant economic system underlined by capitalism is the driving force behind an increasingly homogenous international society. Sparks suggests a definition of globalization by stating that:

“If globalization means anything, it means the incorporation of societies into a capitalist modernity, with all the implications of the latter-economic, social, political and cultural”

(Sparks, 2007:126).

This iterates the centrality of the economic system as the motor of globalization, which in turn affects the social, political and cultural spheres. This process of so-called

Globalisation, whatever the effects it has will be, is an unavoidable reality of the modern age. Culture has also been subject to the forces of globalisation in the form of an

unprecedented level of intercultural penetration, and the term „McWorld‟ has been coined to describe the creation of a more homogenous trans-national, or supranational, culture (Baylis and Smith, 2001). In the sphere of areas such as intercultural communication and branding, globalisation is part of a process that‟s leading to borderless communication, while the collapse of time and space due to technological developments allows for this communication to occur instantaneously. Therefore marketing communication is not only required to be responsive to changes in culture pattern and ever increasing intercultural penetration, but it also has to keep pace with changes that are accelerated by the

proliferation of technology that facilitates instantaneous, borderless communication. The possible effect of this on communications is that it‟s leading to a convergence of cultures and the creation of a new hybrid globalised culture. The globalization process is linked to

the economic development of mankind, and that in turn relates to how people interact with each other. A table has been designed showing what traits are required in order to participate effectively in modern society. People must possess core psychological characteristics.

Table 7: Characteristic for effective participation in modern society (Kahl, 1968) Pre-industrial life: Game against forces of nature.

Industrial life: Game against fabricated nature.

Post-industrial (services): Game between people (Bell 1973).

Interacting with people and symbols: A growing emphasis on self-expression, autonomous decision making.

(Cited in Thomas, 2008:37)

This model illustrates the post-industrial situation of the western world in particular and how the service economy has become increasingly central to mankind‟s economic activity. Arising from this is a culture, which spans the globe. Baylis and Smith have identified features of this emerging global culture, which are as follows:

1/ The intensification of cross border interactions and interdependence between countries.

2/ Removal of government imposed restrictions on movements between countries in order to create „open‟ „integrated‟ world economy.

3/ Spread of various objects and experiences to people from all corners of the world (mentions cultural imperialism).

4/ Very much associated with the US.

5/ Shift in geography whereby territorial places, territorial distances, territorial borders lose some of their previously overriding influence.

(Baylis and Smith, 2001:14).

Global economic ties and trade, underlined by the possibilities for instantaneous communication are some of the driving forces behind this process. The significance of symbols and signs has grown within the global economic system, as generating

universally appealing and decipherable codes becomes an economic imperative for brands. Therefore the interaction between consumers and symbols has come to the fore within this context. Baudrillard claims that the shift from usage value to symbolic value has arisen as a result of 20^th century mass consumerism and the consumption process (Tomlinson, 1990). The post-modern, post-industrial reality of the developed world has lead to a fundamental shift in value orientations whereby the material goals of societies in less prosperous times are increasingly replaced with expressive (psychological) goals (Hofstede, 2001), which is indicative of the marketing of brands as symbolic, value laden entities. This is a universal feature of the prosperous, developed world, and an indication of how a cultural commonality maybe arising in the form of a homogenous, global culture. Jenny Cook-Gumperz has provided 4 features of contemporary societies in the developed world:

Table 8: 4 features of contemporary societies in the developed world -Contemporary Western society. Societies becoming multicultural, pluralistic.

-Multiculturalism: A permanent condition of contemporary life.

-Work becoming pleasurable exercise, not painful expenditure of labour/energy.

-New personal experiences and possibilities come with risk, anxiety and uncertainty.

(Cited in Di Luzio, 2001:117)

As societies become more multicultural, there is an inevitable increase in the influence cultures exert on each other. This process facilitates or promotes a global convergence in terms of generating a homogenous transnational culture as societies become more

pluralistic and multicultural through immigration and also through more internationalized economic activity. An area that this change is reflected in is advertising, as people may move from a narrow, parochial focus, to a more international, multicultural perspective.

Due to the influence exerted by international capitalism on the way people live has been crystallized in Thomas’s profile of the modern person:

“Sense of personal efficacy, low social integration with relatives, egalitarian attitude, openness to innovation and change, gender equality, high achievement motivation, independence or self reliance, active participation in social organizations,

tolerance/respect for others, cognitive/behavioural flexibility, strong future orientation, empathetic capacity, a high need for information, risk taking, secular, urban preference, individualistic, psychological differentiation, a nonlocal orientation.” (Thomas, 2008:37) If this is the case across the cultural spectrum of the developed world at least, then this profile provides an indication of values in marketing at the cultural values and indeed brand values level. This profile also indicates how people have been influenced psychologically by processes of urbanization, democratization, the increased access to education, the decline of organized religion in the West and greater tolerance for other ethnic/cultural/religious groups within the societies of nation states. This also serves to reiterate the point that this leads to the emergence of cultural norms that are universal in character internationally, across regions that have experienced to a greater or lesser extent the aforementioned processes in contemporary society. This apparent emerging global culture seems to be determined by values that are more secular in character, safeguarding personal freedoms and well-being, rather than with spirituality and religious/political belief systems, which dominated previously and would have been the hall marks of traditional, pre-industrial societies. Leoussi and Crosby have noted the moral and spiritual vacuum that a culture based on predominantly materialist values can lead to. As they see it:

“Modern materialist society seems to lack the cohesiveness and value systems that so many of the people of the world crave” (Leoussi and Crosby, 2007:39).

The combination of new forms of economic activity, increasing cross border migrations and the internationalization of economic activity, and the resulting emergence of similar psychological traits across the Western world culminating in the profile of the „modern person‟ are evidence of forces of globalization. Thus the net effect of these processes is the development of an increasingly integrated, supranational, globalised culture,

specifically within developed societies and modeled on the lifestyles emanating from the Anglo-Saxon-European world. As Thomas suggests the processes of globalization has a homogenizing effect on culture. He has identified three crucial factors in this regard:

-Nations not static, they develop education, occupational diversity, and urban intensification.

-Convergence towards common society where ideological differences cease to exist.

-As wealth increases so do post-materialistic values.

(Thomas, 2008:36)

The effect of processes associated with globalization on culture is a homogenizing one, insofar as nation states follow similar patterns of development. In the era of the emerging

„one world economy‟, to borrow a phrase from Barack Obama, having a homogenization of culture is advantageous to economic expansion and penetration throughout the global economy. The focal point of the process is economic as it is the forces of economics and trade that acts as the engine of globalization. There is an ensuing impact on culture resulting from this process also, according to Gannon: “The world globalizes and interactions across cultures become more frequent, they influence one another, and as a result symbolic meanings tend to change” (Gannon, 2008:89).

Due particularly to technological advancements, this era is particularly prone to interactions between cultures and the interpenetration of cultures. The process of

globalization is therefore influencing, shaping and raising questions about cultural values, while the economic imperatives of the modern age are driving the engine of globalization forward.