Cultural identity and globalization

116 Global Studies Encyclopedic Dictionary Cultural heritage is passed via these objective forms and specific deep psychological mechanisms connected to specific behavioral and psychical stereotypes, spiritual identification, and collective human images. M. M. Mchedlova Cultural Identity and Globalization: At the end of the twentieth century, the cultural factor has occupied an unprecedented interest within international contemporary relations. This interest dates back to early globalization and to confirmed predictions that there would be many conflicts between the West and the others civilizations, namely Islamic ones. If globalization has political, social, economic, and cultural dimensions, we find that the cultural dimension is the first and most important for researchers of third world countries, because this is the dimension that has a relation with the identity and aims at nationalism. This cultural dimension, by talking about the world citizen who affiliates with world identity, seeks a merger that leaves aside other separating identities. Although globalization aims at unifying human societies and putting them into one small village, we see that the philosophy of cultural conflicts has tried to create new factors for international conflicts after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Although globalization has economic roots and political consequences, it has shown cultural superiority in the global environment; so many researchers see that the effect of culture on globalization and the effect of globalization on culture is a matter of concern. Some Arab researchers see that the results of globalization are most dangerous for the developing countries. The dangers occur when a culture is merged with a new economic and trading process. When a culture comes to be spread all over the world, and at a large scale, globalization presents itself as a global culture that leads to eradicating and deforming the identities of other nations and changing the national personality, in addition to the effect of global information and media communications, which constitutes threats to the diversity of culture. Many think that globalization is not only a means for commodity movement or closing distances and removing borders, but also believe it to aim for having one common and comprehensive culture as well, through which the economy and information can be supported. In this way, priority would be given to culture, regarding it as the decisive factor; so economic factors would be secondary. Many views, opinions, and proposals have been given about the effect of globalization on identity. One large a group of people (in Islamic and Arab countries and some of third world countries) have seen that globalization is a plan or a strategy aiming at invading other parts of the world and threatening domestic cultures, while many others have concluded that globalization does not threaten identities or the eradication of cultures. Instead, globalization can be adapted since humans live with various identities. So, conflict the between globalization and culture is not necessary. Various identities can co-exist; positive interactions and creativity are compatible Capitalism – Cyberculture 117 with globalization. Nevertheless, some still fear that identity will collapse if globalization functions as a cultural invasion. Within the framework of talking about the effect of globalization on identity, some note the role of the media in helping globalization to impose western culture, eliminating domestic and national identities. Researchers have different points of view on the ability of the media to influence culture. Some contend that mass media information has formed identities at the domestic, regional, and continental levels or at least reconstituted them. Others say that the mass media has played a less influential role. We conclude that information technology has closed distances and removed territorial barriers that were basic factors of identity and affiliation for groups living in a specific land, making it easy to separate place from identity and rapidly crossing political and culture borders that had previously separated peoples. New global societies have emerged, weakening domestic identities. Some add that western advertisements and media contents widened the global expansion of consumer culture and created links among people, regardless the place or area. Still, others see that mass media information has had marvelous effects in gathering people separated by geography, language, religion, race, and literacy. Mass media information also lessens the diversity among people and populations who live inside countries’ borders. For these analysts, media information is the most powerful and decisive force. In this way, communication technology is the most effective power. Identities are formed and constituted by this technology. Contemporary researchers of culture colonialism agree that technology affected the formation of national and international identities as it made it easy for people to have culture awareness that crystallized national, and external, identities. Contemporary researchers say that it is not clear that traversing nationality (cornering information economies) leads to cultural harmony that rises above domestic and national differences. This analysis proposes that the relation between media information (and information media) and culture identities is very complicated. Media information alone cannot achieve united solidarity or forge a national identity that transcends other nationalities or forms of similarity or resemblance. Perplexity and deformation arises from merging awareness with identity. The problem is that we put the media information factor before identity itself. However, if we put media information, identity, and place together in one cultural framework, this would make media information part of society building. Media information may have a role, but it would not be easy for it to have a power that can generate common relations and connections. Generally speaking, researchers agree that culture is relative and an open to change. In both the third world and western world, analysts view globalization as a strategy that aims at invading the other parts of the world, introducing a single behavioral and moral pattern or mode through the information media, financed by multinational companies, in a way that threatens the cultural identity of local populations. Other researchers see that the national and cultural identities are not necessarily affected by electronic information, 118 Global Studies Encyclopedic Dictionary so that realizing globalization depends on how strongly people can struggle, surrender, or weaken before the cultural invasion of the information media. S. Nasser Cultural Identity and Standardization: The most common explanation of globalization views the world as directed toward unity and unifying measures through the technological, commercial cultural synchronism that have emerged in the West. In this regard, globalization is connected with modernization, with the result of mixing all peoples of the world into one international society. This aspect of globalization has been addressed within several fields. According to international economics, this trend arises from global production and financing in conjunction with the heightened concentration of international relations. Sociology concentrates on the global increase of social intensity and the establishment of international society. Cultural studies stress how world communications and the unifying of cultural measures globally (such as CocaCola® imperialism and the global expansion of McDonald’s® restaurants) impose cultural and intellectual standardization. This process can be summarized in giving the political infrastructure an institutional shape that is closely attached to the imperialistic and hierarchical formation of international bodies of organization such as the United Nations and the different Aid Associations. Some claim that originality offers alternative visions for the world situation, while seeing the East as wrong and somehow illogical. In recent years many writings on globalization have appeared. Most of these writings concentrate on the imperialistic aspects. They expose the domination of central cultures and the spread of American values, consumer goods, and types of life. A fear in Europe in the late 1950s and 1960s emerged among the intellectual elite related to danger imposed by American culture, epitomized in the domination of Coca-Cola® culture. This theme has been developed further in studies in cultural sociology. With globalization some important aspects appear such as: (1) Globalization enhanced and supported regional inclinations and national tendencies. The EU, for example, was established as a reaction to the American-Japanese economic challenge. (2) Globalization through different aspects goes side-by-side with modernization that at its core involves alienation. (3) The idea of international cultural synchronism lacks many things because it ignores opposite events such as the effect of foreign cultures on the West. The new western cultures ignore the fact their cultures include in their deep roots oriental influences. Europe has been receiving cultural trends from the Islamic East up to the fourteenth century. The domination of the West appeared only subsequently. (4) A prevailing measure in international policy concerns how the West adopt democracy inside its countries while exercising imperialism outside its borders. America is exercising imperialism on all levels in Iraq. However, while using such expressions as democracy, human rights, and freedom, it mixes these expressions with various religious slogans. 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