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 6
CHAPTER

Technological and Cultural

Dimensions of Globalization
Virendra Kumar and Bhavna Sharma

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

To understand the technological and cultural dimensions of globalization

" To explain historically rooted interrelations between technology and
culture
Todiscuss global-local dialectics inthe contemporary world
To evaluate the processes of cultural globalization

/lobalization is conceived as a multidimensional process wherein social, political and economi:

relations are increasingly integrated. This process is paradoxical and highly contested, as aresut
of which the study of any dimension of it cannot be done in isolation, Each dimension is inter
twined with others. Giddens (1998) argues that globalization is acomplex set of processes driven by a
combination of politicalandeconomic influences, at the same time creating new transnational systems
and forces. These transnational systems and forces have been impacting the social, economic, political
cultural and even ecological spheres of human life, cutting across the boundaries of modern natiot
states. While technology represents the material aspects of social life, the realm of culture involves
system of values, meanings and human imagination about the self and the surrounding woru
Communitarian scholars such as Michael Sandel argue that individuals are embedded in definite systerm
of meanings, given by their cultural community. The former is not arelationship they choose but
attachment they discover, not merely an attribute but aconstituent of their identity (Sandel 1982, 1
Technological means and tools do facilitate construction of the collective jdentity and create solidar
As Benedict Anderson (2006) has shown, the invention of the printing press and thenationalism.
consequentPeopk
n
education system through printed words and imagery helped construct asense of
who had never been in face-to-face contact began to think of themselves as belonging to one
 Technological and Cultural Dimensions of Globalization 99
Similarly. modern means of communiations have been very much instrumental in creating solidarity
anvund particular religious leaders and ideologies or generating mass demand for consumer products
such as blue jcans and Pepsi.
The primary objective of this chapter is to explore the complex interrelation between
and culture. This does not mean that the relations of globalization with globalization
the social, economic, political
and ecological spheres are less important, but they have been dealt with separately in other
this book. In addition to exploring the complex relationship between globalization and chapters of
culture, this
chapter also attempts to interrogate the implications of globalization on culture. While interrogating the
complex relationship of globalization with culture, and the implications of the former for the latter, this
chapter further demonstrates how technological advancements have been the main driving force
behind
the spread of globalization, just like has happened with the other ideas since time
immemorial.
moving on to the main objective, one more thing needs to be qualified here: when we refer to
Before
tion, we mean the second wave of globalization, which is also referred to as 'financial globaliza
unless the context specifies another meaning. globalization,

Understanding Culture and Technology

Individuals are constituted by their cultural communities. Communities provide the important cognitive
and evaluative resources to individuals to lead their lives. These cultural
communities are important for
its members and are of value in themnselves. Each culture, as a system of meanings and values,
seeks to
maintain its distinctiveness from other cultures, This quest to maintain boundaries and distinctiveness
from others tends to create contestation as also creative adaptation. Culture has been conceptualized and
interpreted in various ways, but two important characterizations draw consensus among scholars.
Culture has been defined as an essence and as a proces. The scholars who define culture as an essence
Conceive of it as a singular, transcendent, unified idea containing certain essential features, soul and
attributes. These features are static, stable and the same throughout history, providing an organicunity,
coherence and identity tomembers of a culture. The members of a particular cultural community share
certain common beliefs and a value system which gets reflected in customs, practices and social behay
iours. Culture, according to this perspective, maintains the persistence of its distinctiveness and core
values, and defines the identity of its constituent members. Cultural communities, for instance, have
specific views on relations between a god and the individual, rights and responsibilities, liberty and
authority. These values constitute important cognitive and evaluative resources through which individu
als make sense of the self and the surrounding world.
In the other perspective, culture is a dynamic concept, its meaning changing over time. Here, culture
IS ESsentially viewed as a process rather than a transhistorical static entity. However, though the idea of
culture is dynamic, at the same timeit possesses some sort of stability that provides identity toits mem
bers. This perspective further sees culture as continuously changing and being informed by numerous
Internal processes and shaped by external forces. Now the question arises, what are those internal and
external forces and how are they shaping culture in varying contexts?
The answer tothis question looks into the conception of culture, viewing it as being constituted by
ditferent webs and networks of meaning, implicitly acknowledging the diverse relationship people have
With it (Figure 6.1). This relationship ensures that cultures are endlessly mixing, with different perme
aions, and new cultural forms are emerging as a part of this ongoing process. This understanding also
100 VIRENDRA KUMAR AND BHAVNA SHARMA

FIGURE 6.1 Elements of Culture

Values

Customs Beliefs

Traditions Religion

helps to explain the commonality that exists between cultures and further accounts for complexities and
differentiations that exist between them(Hopper 2007, 29-50). But the crucial aspect of this understand.
ing of culture is the coming together of cultures. We argue that, since time immemorial, it has ben
technological innovations and changes which have brought cultures closer, resulting in their fission and
fusion.
Technological innovations have historicaly been drivers of socio-economic change, though they ar
anecessary but not sufficient condition. It is argued that the primitive human being discovered fire and
wheel, which gave earlier civilizations £momentum leap. Not only did they start settled life, which
helped in creating shared values and belief systems, but also organized life, paving the way for the tet
nological innovations. The domestication of animals, for example, led to the development of the bullck
cart, which in turn facilitated interaction between different cultural communities at a common place
In the modern period again, it was massive technological disruptions in the areas of transport, com
múnication, chemical processes, textiles, and so on, which paved the way for the Industrial Revolution
in Europe during the eighteenth century. There began mass-level production based on the factory system
and associated with an urbanization process. Trade and financial flows intensified. The European cout
tries, in search of raw materials and markets for their manufactured goods, moved out of their home
lands and conquered far-off countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Britain, as a major hegemos
power,controlled most of the colonized countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The colonization of these countries is seen as one of implications of the first wave of globalization ta
seems to have affected the norms, values, beliefs, tastes, behaviours and even thinking processes of ui
people of the colonized countries.\Actually, industrialization gave birth to capitalism in Europe,
capitalism transformed the norms and value systems of the European people. For example, the birt
print capitalism standardized scripts, leading to the production of the same texts, Through those text
unified and singular meaning in religion, philosophy, science and technology got spread throug
 Technological and Cultural Dimensions of Globalization 101
European
Europe. The cumulative implication of all these changes was the complete transformation of
soçiety during that time.
With colonization, the norms and value systems of the European countries were introduced in the
colonized countries, through media which led to the fusion of cultures.The entry of Christian mission
aries, for instance, in these far lands during the colonial period led to the propagation of religious beliefs
andcultural practices based on the teachings of Christianity on a massive scale. One thing needs to be
qualified here: Christianity as a religion did not entered India for the first time only because of coloniza
no massive
tion; this religion seems to have first emerged on Indian soil though traders, but there was
campaign and propagation before colonization.
Furthermore, the European languages, mainly English, Spanish, French and Portuguese, were intro
duced in these colonies along with other cultural practices because of the prolonged stay of the European
powers. As previously mentioned of the way that print capitalism had standardized scripts, this proces
meticu
led to the production of a much more universalized language. The colonial administration very
lously introduced their languages in the field of governance. It needs to be noted here that it would be
administrative work. Their
naive to believe that European languages were introduced just for smoothing systems like
introduction was mainly for producing aclass of people whohad norms, tastes and value
the colonizers. The famous Macaulay minute document establishes these facts (Tharoor 2016).prolonged
their
Most of the colonized countries won independence during the Second World War but
psychology and
political, cultural and administrative penetration left an enduring impact on the social
collective ethos of the people of these colonies.

Globalization and Technological Innovations

well as a consequence of globa<ization
Scholars argue that technological changes have been a driver as
we have already discussed how techno
(Ferguson and Mansbach 2012, 109). In our previous discussion,
the diffusion of knowledge and helped to
logical innovations such as the printing press revolutionized
high-compression, non-sparking, internal combus
achieve mass literacy in European society. Similarly,
tion engines and gas turbines made possible ever large seagoing vessels and jet aircraft, The introduction
and cable technology across the oceans and continents, together with satellite technology,
of fibre optics such as radio, television and telephone to com
augmented the capacity and reach of electronic media
distances.
municate faster, with better quality, across the long
The second half of the twentieth century was marked by two significant developments--the begin
ning of financial globalization in the 1970s and the beginning of the information technology (IT) revolu
complementary to each other in the twenty-first century, as
tion. Both these developments have become
a result of which a new culture isemerging. twentieth century, such as the Great Depression,
Actually, catastrophic events in the first half of the
foundational premises of polity, economy and soci
the world wars, Nazism and fascism, had shaken the
mechanism for managing polity and economy once
ety. The 'perennial guestion' of what was the bestSoviet Socialist Republics (USSR) despite the Great
again resurfaced. The success of the Union of Taking lessons from these events, global
many positive and negative lessons to teach./
Depression has mechanisms for managing world affairs: the
together and evolved two sets of institutional
leaders sat International
and the Bretton Woods Institutions (the
United Nations (UN) for managing political affairsmanaging economic affairs. It is the functioning of the
Monetary Fund, or IME, andthe World Bank) for
102 VIRENDRA KUMAR AND BHAVNA SHARMA

latter istitutions which is believed to have paved the way for the second wave of globalization :
1970s, popularly known as financial globalization. This globalization pOsed new challenges and
lems before the whole world. prob,.
The quest for a solution ofthe financial globalization motivated for looking into technological
tions. This process finally culminated in the IT revolution in the 1980s. This revolution became solu
through the microelectronic revolution, especially the introduction of the semiconductor and Inter net possible
technologies linking together millions of computers and other devices across the several
jurisdictio
Financial globalization is nowadays known as the IT revolution; hence, it is also understood as teck
logical globalization) With the signing of the Information Technology Agreement of 1997, more tha
ns,
countries sought to elminate all tariffs on various categories of information and communication ."
nology products. This led to a decline in the quality-adjusted prices of computer hardware and softw
with rapid innovation. The web-based software revolution coupled with declining prices of
gadgets such as smartphones and other devices has made the information and knowledge explosion high-tech
accessible to individuals and groups hitherto not connected to computer networks (Ferguson and
Mansbach 2012, 110).

BOX 6.1l: Development of Computers

The present-day computers which we frequently use have developed over generations. On the basis of the
utilization of technology, the development of computers is divided into five generations:
1. The first-generation (1940-1956) computer was based on the vacuum tube technology. In those
days, computers used to be enormous and bulky, the size of an entire room. Those computers were
highly inefficient and used to consume a lot of energy and generate a huge amount of heat.
2. The second-generation (1956-1963) computer was based on transistor technology. Those com
puters were efficiernt, smaller, faster, cheaper and energy-saving.
3. The third-generation (1964-1971)computer was based on the technology of integrated circuits.
The integrated circuits were developed using semiconductors such as silicon. Thistechnology was
a huge leap in the development of computers.
4 The fourth-generation (1972-2010) computers are based on microprocessor technology. The
other developments in this generation are the graphical user interface (GUI) and the mouse.
5. The development of the fifth-generation computer is an ongoing process which began in 2010.
The plan is for this generation of computers to use artificial intelligence and to develop machines
which can respond to natural language and have the capability to organize themselves.
Source: www.btob.co.nz.

Impacts of IT Revolution
Usin
The IT revolution seems to have become an enabling factor in the onward march of globalization.sharins
complex mathematical algorithms, the IT revolution has facilitated knowledge and information
suchasth
at an unprecedented scale and contributed to research andinnovation in various other fields,
 Technological and Cultural Dimensions of Globalization 103
edical sciences, business, space, military technology and robotics. Web-based software and various
anplications have emerged as a converging platform for cutting-edge technology by pooling knowledge
ond research from various interdisciplinary areas. Wireless technology has revolutionized biomedical
scearch and the healthcare system. Medical devices based on nanotechnology are being used for detect
ingvarious lethal diseases and studying cellular or subcellular functions. Mega projects such as genome
SeQuencing and coding have been achieved because of sophisticated computer technologies and engi
neering tools. Now with CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat) technology,
agenome can be adjusted for eliminating genetic diseases (MacRae 2013).
Artificial intelligence and robotics based on mechanical engineering and computer programming are
being utilized in avariety of areas, such as manufacturing, medical imagery, pollution monitoring, space
and ocean exploration, and even in entertainment, Disney's engineers have created hundreds of robots
for moviemalking. Robots are the future of the twenty-first century, as they are capable of carrying out
hundreds of clinical tests simultaneously and performing complex surgeries such as on brain tumours,
besides under water and space exploration. [AIl these technologies have become enabling factors for glo
balization, which can be broadly seen in two broad fields: governance and commerce.

On Governance
Governance has seen a paradigm shift after the integration with information and communication tech
nology (1CT). E-governance has made possible for increasing citizen participation in delivery of goods
and services. Governments have become more transparent and accountable to the people and the latter
have turned into active participants rather than mere beneficiaries of welfare services.E-governance has
widened the citizen-government interface in a variety of ways: government-to-people (G2P),
government-to-business (G2B), business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-people (B2P). In view of the
both devel
numerous advantages offered by these technologies (speed, cost reduction and wider reach), services
deliver public
oped and developing countries are using electronic modes of communication to
not gained as quickly as
and for intra-government communication, Developing countries, however, have investment in
industrialized countries from the ICT revolution. They face huge challenges to access and
technological infrastructure.
Twitter, among others,
Furthermore, Internet-based social networking sites such as Facebook and
consciousness generation. The massive pro
hàve helped political globalization,political education and Libya were made possible on account of
tests against the authoritarian regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and
got channelized and crystallized through
Increasing discontentment among the common masses, which
directly communicated with one another
social media. The common citizens and educated professionals
rulers finally agreed. Similarly, other
about their grievances and for democratization, to which their
rights, and so on, have been synergized and
social movements in the areas of the environment, human
civil-society groups cutting across ethnic, racial and geographical boundaries are coming
coordinated, as
platform for sharing their concerns. A Web-based
Ogether and the Internet is providing a common recently pledged to make governments all
International non-profit organization named WikiLeaks has information and classified documents
publishing secret
around the world more accountable and open by
anonymous sources. WikiLeaks releases include the Afghan War Diary (2010), the Irag War
Provided by
779 secret files related to prisoners detained in a Guantanamo detentioncamp (2011).
Logs (2010) and
various other releases have laid bare the hegemonic designs of theUS (Ferguson and Mansbach
Ihis and
2012).
104 VIRENDRA KUMAR AND BHAVNASHARMA

On Commerce
Intormation and computer software technologyis playing acritical role inthe global financial mapt
Online trading of financial products and their various derivatives across the various stock ml i

located far apart occurs in trillions on a daily basis through e-currencies, such as bitcoins. Massive
ment of institutional and non-institutional funds and capital from one part of the world to
another
causing volatility and speculation, It is argued that contemporary digital technology is as instrumen
in spreading panicas profit acro[s the market.
E-commerce has emerged in a big way as new entrepreneurs are harnessing online platforms as
attractive site for shopping for almost everything. Online vendors such as Flipkart, Amazon,
and so on, do offer huge discounts on a wide range of products to attract customers who are tech-s Snapdeal,
This has helped the marketing of even traditional cultural products, such as handicrafts, artefacts a
paintings, to a much a larger base of buyers across borders because of declining transportation co
Entrepreneurship has reached a new height as software-driven technology does not require the
posses-
sion of factory units. The owner of Uber taxi services does not own a single taxi, but runs thousand
taxiservices in hundreds of cities across the globe. Likewise, the CEO of OYO Rooms runs a business i
over 200 cities and many countries, but does not own a single hotel.

BOX 6.2: Digital Divide: A New Form of Inequality

The IT revolution has led to the expansion of the Internet. With the development of technology, the
number of mobile users has accelerated over the last two decades in both developed as well as developing
countries. These technological developments have led to the emergence of new concerns known as the
'äigital divide. The 'digital divide refers to inequality in terms of those who know how to use digital tech
nology and those who do not know how to use such technology. This is a new form of inequality, which
significantly depends on social, economic and countries.
political factors. The penetration of Internet technology is
highly uneven in Latin American and African
The digital divide is further creating new forms of problems. One such problem is exacerbation of the
generation gap. In future, this problem will become much more evident in the developing countries since
their population will be getting old.

Technology and the Reconfiguration of Culture

This reconfiguration of the culture can be best captured through analysing the following procese
homogenization, clash of civilizations, hybridization, domination and consumerism. These processesa
not only processes but also perspectives on culture in varying contexts in contemporary times.

Homogenization
The homogenization perspective sees globalization and increasing means of communication a5 a
rationalityan
that are promoting a universalization culture. The universalization of culture requires
of
 Technological and Cultural Dimensions of Globalization 105
standardization. Here, standardization essentially puts one culture as the benchmark to
compare and
ndgeothercultures. Transnational corporations (TNCS),intheir pursuit of maximized profits, mobilize
superiorressourcesto create similar practices, tastes and lifestyles. This creates aculture of consumerism
otonl adapted to but actually generating the demand for a world market. Individuals, instead of cul-
ivating distinct traditions, become uniformly attached to commodities to satisfy their material desires.
This amounts to a kind of ideological takeover of the world. George Ritzer describes it as a
McDonaldization of the world (Lechner and Boli 2005, 139-140).
he US, being a hegemonic state on account of its unrivalled economic andImilitary power, is
pushing
stinctly individualistic consumerist culture-turning its own type of modernity' into aglobai model.
Americans, while publicly advocating the virtues of free markets, also have covert agents among their
cartoon characters, movie heroes and music stars. American media products mediate more and more of
annle's experience ot reality. These products, ranging from music and videos to books, sports, soft
rinks, clothing, and so on, are constructed as a standard image through common logos and brand
names. thus creating aseductive appeal. This leads to the emergence of akind of videology that works
through sound bites and film clips and, as a consequence, may be more successful in instilling the novel
mlues' required for a market to succeed (Barber 2000, 25). Thus America's 'hard' pursuit of the world
combines with the 'soft'and alluring appeal of its media offerings, thanks to modern communication
technologies, and creates a world culture that threatens diversity.
It is also argued that there have been subtie examples of Western cultural imperialismn over non
Western societies. The West has used its militarv and economic dominance to impose its values, beliefs
and institutional forms on others. These values and beliefs also contain a universal message: they purport
to apply and be valid everywhere. Democracy, the free market and human rights (or alternatively, con
sumerism, commoditization and rationality) all bear the ethnocentric marks of their origin.
While criticizing the homogenization thesis, Ahmad (2004) holds that the aesthetic value of cultural
objects, symbols necessarily are getting diminished, or transformed when they caught up in circut of
exchange, market pricing, advertising and so on. He further argues that culture needs to be understood
as sum of means and practices of communication through which values and meanings are generated.
This idea of generation of meaning gives the idea of culture and orientation towards future not past. This
ornentation and will to go on imagining the impossible, is what the culture of globalization seeks to
undermine (Ahmad 2004, 105-110).

Clash of Civilization
nthe cultural discourse over homogenization and cultural imperialism, fundamentalists have responded
Mth an alternative world view. In the 1970s and 1980s, Islamic fundamentalist thought, drawing from
particular readings of Islamic text and Islamic history, emerged as a counter to ethnocentric ideas.
TDnt contributors included Egyptians Hassan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb and Syed Abul Ala Maudoodi.
t collective ideas were more concerned with faith and following divine guidance. For them, secular
ityhparation
of God and of religion from politics constitute the central problem, as it undermines the author
posits that people can run governments, build businesses, administer justice and enjoy
themselves without direct divine guidance. They believe that God is one and God is all; nothing can be
Novel
Tequires valconstuesant consumption
refer to ideas, beliefs and norms legitimizing consumption of capitalist goods. Capitalist market
asthe underlying and legitimate belief of progress for its continuation.
 BHAVNA SHARMA
106 VIRENDRA KUMAR AND
state, no one can regard any field of his affairs as per.
left out-politics is part of religion. In an Islamic
aspect of society, from forms of dress and hygiene to
sonal and private. God's law encompasses every principles of knowledge. Iran's Islamic republicwac
principles of administration and justice,morality and supreme Islamic scholar who combined religione
intended to be just such a system, which was led by aLechner and Boli 2005, 196-197).
cited in
and political authority (Khomeini and Algar, their mate.
fundamentalist world view, consumerism tempts individuals to focus on satistying
In the sexual
rather than abiding by religious obligations. Individualism leads people to act on
rial interests censure. The scientific knowledge system cele.
homosexual desire, without moral
impulses, including of an ill,.
poisonous hostility towards religion. In place(shura),
over divine powers and creates a In
brates human alternative in the form of popular consultation
Sory democracy, Islam offers a superior Islam
free-market economy that leads to boundless greed and divisive competition,
comparison to a Islamists do no
economic activity toreligious rules, including a prohibition on charging interest.uncontaminated
subjects way of life
over the world-restoration of Islamic
just want restoration of Islamicrule all competition, consumerism, homosexual desire,
hostility
values of individualism, divisive
by corrupting kind of world civilization based on the
freedom of man on
towards religion, etc.,but aim to create a new
(Ibid.). In contrast with changing principles and cul.
earth from every authority except God's authority eternal and unchangeable principles and promotes a way of
tures,such a civilization would be based on
cited in Lechner and Boli 2005, 198). Reaching this
life harmonious with human nature (Qutb 1981, struggle to make Islam's system of life domj.
destination requires a struggle, or jihad, as an active public
defend the honour of Islam against imperialists
nant in the world. At a minimum, Islamic people need to
Algar 1985, cited in Lechner and Boli 2005, 198).
and their main supporters, the Jews (Khomeini and
Eastern countries and owing to enabling
Over time, the jihad went global. With support from Middle
militants established networks outside their
modern technology, banking and transportation, Islamic
United States, the Great Satan. A series
home countries and targeted the linchpin of global culture: the
American embassy in Tehran (1979)
of Islamic militant attacks beginning from hostage-taking at the the World Trade Center and the
finally culminated in the brazen terrorist attack by the Al Qaeda on
manifestation of Muslim militancy, this
Pentagon in New York and Washington (2001). As an extreme
Revolution (1979).
violent attack produced a greater sense of shock and 'cataclysm' than the Iranian the
The aforementioned Islamic world view and its militant manifestation, though, do not capture
civilization as
diversity of Islamism, such as Sufism, and presents an essentialized notion of culture and
any par
rooted in unchangeable and static principles and attributes. This understanding suggests thatinfluences
ticular culture remains the same and thus does not confront internal dissension and external
whatsoever, and posits that other non-slamic cultures and civilizations only pose a threat to Islamic
culture and this entails confrontation and conflict.
A more persuasive but again essentialized understanding of culture and civilization is the starting
point for Samuel P. Huntington, whoadvanced the clash of civilizations' thesis in the post-cold war era
He argues that there exists an incompatibility between diferent civilizations and, more particularl,
across different cultures. Each culture or civilization has its core belief system and attributes which ar
distinct from others. The premises of liberal ideas of individualism, secularism, pluralism and huma
rights are represented as the foundation of globalization and cosmopolitan culture; in reality, these id
have only asuperficial resonance in orthodox cultures. Each civilization is differentiated from others
history, culture, tradition and-the most--religion, and provides different answers to life's great qu
tion. Though they may adapt to change, civilizations endure by virtue of powerful 'structuring ideas
Lechner
shape the identity of individuals and communities over centuries (Huntington 1993, citedin
 Technological and Cultural Dimensions of Globalization 107
andBoli 2005, 201). Religion is a central defining characteristic of civilizations. Huntington
H identifies a
iied number of true civilizations: the Western, Latin Amnerican, Islamic, Sinic, Hindu, Orthodox
Christianity and Buddhist. These civilizations become caught up in conflicts among groups along their
ines and among their leading states, because the value they contain matters so much to their adher
nts. When stakes are highest and the group faces their biggest troubles, Huntington argues, they are
nost likely to fall back on what is most 'basic, enduring, and comprehensive. This is what happened in
the Islamic resurgence: From Huntingtons perspective, what is universalism to the West is imperialism
to the rest (Huntington 1993, cited in Lechner and Boli 2005, 202). Most Muslim countries resist Western
universalism, resent imposition and avoid convergence. Instead of being bridged, cracks along fault lines
are getting wider and this turns into a clash on account of the West's arrogant action.
For Huntington, civilizations are tight bundles of beliefs and values. He mistakes an bstract category
for existential reality. Real civilizations are composites, held together by long histories and complex
exchanges with others: Iran, for example, combines an Islamic and Persian heritage, both influenced by
Western imports. Civilization is complex and may inform and give meaning to social life, but this always
requires creative work (Lechner and Boli 2005, 205). His thesis also fails to understand that Islam and
Islamism are not monolithic ideas and that there exist a variety of world views within Islamism. The
absence of kin country rallying' on behalf of the Taliban or Al Qaeda or behind Khomeini's Islamic revo
lution shows internal dissension within Islam, which thus far has limited the appeal of violent groups
claiming to act on behalf of Islam as a whole (Lechner and Boli 2005, 204).

Hybridization
Hybridization as a perspective entails a dialectic relationship or mutual reinforcement between global
ealture and a particular culture. In the complex interplay of these two, the former is seen as influencing
the latter, and vice versa, in a way that can be called glocalization or hybridization. The earlier colonialist
expansion of the West and the consequent cultural influences were mediated and redirected in distinct
patterns of appropriation by people in Global South-as demonstrated by syncretic cultures in the Indian
tradition. Inthe contemporary context of globalization as an aggregation of cultural flows or networks,
cultural influences move in many directions to bring about more hybridization than homogenization.
Individuals and different nationals, ethnic and racial groups located in distant settings react actively or
passively tothe same mass-media cultural product or symbol, and differently. Movement between cul
tural areas always involves interpretation, translation, adaptation and indigenization as the receiving
culture brings its own cultural resources to bear in a dialectical fashion upon cultural imports (Issar
2012, 293-295). Further, globalization has stimulated nations, global cities and cultural organizations to
not only protect but also project their culture in a global space.
In this context, McDonald's and KFC have become popular icons in various non-Western countries,
While Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Indian foods are also gaining substantial presence in Western
countries.
The global landscape of cultural production has increasingly become polycentric and polysemous.
Globalization appears less to be resulting in apattern of mass cultural uniformity and more theemer-
8ence of a mosaic of cultural production centres tied together in a complex relation of competition and
collaboration across the globe (Scott 2008, cited in Issar 2012, 295). In India, Rupert Murdoch's Star TV
ne beginning sought to displace the government television monopoly, but found itself in tough com
petition with a dozen indigenous competitors, many of them telecasting in one of many Subcontinental
108 VIRENDRA KUMAR AND BHAVNA SHARMA

languages. This compelled Star TV to localize its programming and institutional practices so as to adapt
to local conditions at the very same time when local film and television
in their perspectives and practices.
enterprises were becoming global
Echoing the same dialectic between global and local, Arjun Appadurai (2000) takes the position that
there exists a disjuncture between various cultural flows: ethnoscapes, technoscapes, financescapes,
mediascapes and ideoscapes. The suftix 'scape' refers to the fluid, irregular shape of these landscapes and
these terms are deeply context-dependent. These disjoint flows, argues Appadurai, collide within a par
hcular society, where identity construction becomes a mater of local interpretation of the collision. In
this perspective, sameness and difterence do not just happen but they actually cannibalize each other
(Appadurai 2000, 320-330).
The critics contend that hybridity is inauthentic and 'multiculturalism lite' (Pieterse 2015, 57-59).
However, Pieterse (2015) counters that there are multiple layers of hybridity, and the real problem is not
the hybridity but the politics of boundaries. He argues that hybridity is aproblem only from the point of
view of esentialism's boundaries. He further maintains that what hybridity' means varies not only over
time but also in different cultures, and this informs different patterns of hybridity. The importance of
hybridity lies in the fact that it problematizes the boundaries.

Domination
The perspective of domination utilizes the concept of ethnocentrism to understand the subjugation of
one culture by another culture. Ethnocentrism essentially means Europeans looking at non-Western
societies and their practices from their own Western perspective. The scholars of ethnocentrism include
Edward Said, a founding figure of postcolonial theory, developed from 1970 onward, and a humanist
critic of Western enlightenment that uncovered its link to colonialism and highlighted narratives of
oppression, cultural and ideological biases which disempowered colonized people. He thereby con
demned Eurocentrism's attempt to remake the world in its own image.It is argued that the present-day
technological revolution promotes ethnocentrism through various means. Present-day beauty contests
such as Miss World or Miss Universe are criticized on the same grounds, that they
promote a European
understanding of beauty. In order to overcome domination of one culture over others, it is argued that
people located in one culture should not see the people located in other cultures from their own self
understanding, but rather the other people should be seen from the perspective of their
self-understanding.
Consumerism
The current phase of globalization and technological revolution has been bringing local
the domination of the market, resulting in the shrinking of culture under
autonomous spaces. In this process, cultures
are getting commodified. The ultimate outcome of this is the arranging of
chal order, and the values associated with each culture automatically getting
different cultures in a hierar
is embedded in the culture and society in which they are born, as a result of hierarchized. The individua
which the individual identi
fies themselves with their own culture. Hence, cultural
communities
their individual members, as they provide them with cognitive and
are of overriding importance fo
evaluative resources. Once a lowe
value is placedon one particular culture, the people who identify themselves with that culture by detau
 Technological and Cultural Dimensions of Globalization 109

BOX 6.3: Security Versus

Individual Privacy
Digital globalization has opened up a
There has been a deliberate attempt on new kind of security
the part of some statesvulnerability after land, sea, air and space.
in the computer hies of other to steal some strategic
and private agencies through spying andinformation locked
aberespionage has become angovernments malware attacks.
infecting networks of high-valueintelligence tactic The to collect strategic and critical
information through
hesieged for a day by cyberattacks establishments. US and South
from North Korea in 2009. Similarly,Korean computer networks were
attacked by a computer worm called Stuxnet, utilizing the nuclear facilities of Iran
ials have hacked the Google search software provided by a German firm. Chinese were offi
The US is the sponsoring countryengine
of
and violated the privacy of Gmail.
applications such as Google, Amazon, several Facebook
modern Internet-based technologies and various
and Netflix. Hence, the US software
governance through the Internet Corporation for Assigned dominance over Internet
Names and Numbers
International Telecommunication (ICANN)
tries in the Global South concerned. Even the has left coun
itself sidelined in the new international Union (ITU) has found
through the ICANN and the WTO (Sidhu communication framework promoted by
2017, 64-67). Edward Snowden's leak inindustrialized countries
massive American cyber surveillance of European and 2013 has exposed the
disguised techniques are threatening not only the countries Asian countries, including India. These digitally
vidual privacy. In addition to this, many security but also violating the right to indi
countries are resorting to mass surveillance
response to increasing malware attackS and potential terrorist capabilities in
Individual privacy has been further attacks (Sidhu 2017, 64-67).
personal data collected by data brokersendangered
as there emerged a huge market for
(Maus 2015). These private entities, unlike security buying and selling
least accountable to laws and monitoring
authorities. They obtain agencies, are
financial transactions, online activities and government records, anddata from various sources, incuding
sell to any party, criminal or other
wise, for an agreed amount. This selling and reselling of data
the data buyer. The issue of privacy and personal liberty free continues, depending upon the suitability of
from state interventions is important for an
individual to act as an agency and a reflexive being. The individual needs to be given the choice and
autonomy to choose their life's end. This takes us to the idea of the
values in certain cultural settings. formation of identity, meaning and

Decome inferior. The placing of a value on any culture is wrong, since each culture is conceived to have
intrinsic value, which is distinct from all others. In contemporary globalization, however, such an act has
ome anecessity of the time, since almost everything has become sellable in the market.

Seyond Liberal Multiculturalism: Negotiating Cultural Diversity

Globalization, accompanied by
cutting
has also across the
the territorial
the IT revolution, has facilitated massive flows of goods and
boundaries of nation states since the last two decades. This
services,
phenomenon
increased movement of people from one countryto another country and one continent to
another continent. Such movement of people has been promoting cultural conflicts, because this phe-
nomenon bas been leading to the intermixing of cultures. The massive migration of people from one
110 VIRENDRA KUMAR AND BHAVNA SHARMA

country to another country has created problem of cultural rights, and there has resurfaced a demand
for reframing the language of the claims of various groups and communities. These communities include
indigenous people, religious and linguistic minority groups, immigrants, and so on. After settling in
developed countries, the people of the Global South are demanding minority rights to protect their cul.
ture. For example, Sikhs have demanded the right of wearing aturban and Muslim women have soughr
the right to wear ascarf. There is aproliferation of such demands but the cultural or community right is
taken as a conditional right. The widespread demand for cultural rights shows, however, that human
consciousness of cultural differences has increased.
Multiculturalism has emerged as an institutional response while mediating the claims of different
communities in these contexts. The multicultural path means making an institutional arrangement, with
supportive and protective public policies to facilitate the coexistence of people from different cultural
traditions with different moral valuesThe multiculturalism school has agalaxy of scholars such as Wll
Kymlicka, Bhikhu Parekh, Avishai Margalit, Micheal Walzar and Gurpreet Mahajan. These scholars are
religiously divided' over the issue of whether rights should be the priority or goods should be given
priority. Those who argue that individual rights should be given priority believe that the people would
choose the culture which would be beneficial for them, and in this way, the culture would survive. The
people who argue that the goods should be given priority advocate that the individual should be given
an exit option.
Will Kymlicka argues that some minorities, such as the French-speaking Quebecois in Canada and
African Americans in the US, face adisadvantage with respect to cultural membership (Kymlicka 1995,
cited in Heywood 2015, 321). On issues that matter to them, minorities are likely to be outvoted and
outmanoeuvred, and therefore some cultures should be protected through special legal or constitutional
measures, above and beyond the common rightsof citizenship. In other words, if minority cultures are
vulnerable and are weak in relation to majority ones, they should be protected through a system of
group-differentiated rights.
In the liberal multiculturalism perspective, cultural diversity is endorsed only when it is constructed
within aframework of toleration and personal autonomy. Pluralism provides amuch stronger founda
tion for the politics of cultural difference. Isaiah Berlin holds that people are bound to disagree about the
ultimate ends of life, as it is not possible to demonstrate the superiority of one moral system over another
(Berlin 1969, cited in Heywood 2015, 326). When there is aclash of world view and value system, a
particular world view-such as Western liberal beliefs such as support for personal fredom, toleration
and democracy-has greater moral authority than illiberal or non-Western beliefs and value system.
However, he believes that only within a society that respects individual liberty can the value of pluralism
thrive; but fails to demonstrate how liberal and illiberal cultural beliefs can coexist harmoniously within
the same society (Heywood 2015, 326-327). Many scholars agree that pluralism implies apost-liberal
stance in which liberal values and regimes are no longer seen to enjoy a monopoly on legitimacy
(Heywood 2015, 326-327).
Critics see multiculturalism as a divisive ideology as every culture group becomes increasing')
inward-looking and concerned to protect their 'own' tradition and cultural purity. Sen (2006, cited in
Heywood 2015, 332-333) finds a problem with the underlying assumption of multiculturalism thal
human identities are formed by membership of asingle social group. Such an understanding, in his vie
leads to not only the 'miniaturization' of humanity but also makes violence more likely as people identiy
only with their own culture group and fail to honour the rights and integrity of people from other cultus
 Technological and Cultural Dimensions of Globalization 11
groups. Multiculturalism thus breeds a kind of ghettoization that diminishes cross-cultural
understanding.
In the name olpreserving their distinct culture and way of life, some cultural communities tend to
ontinue with those social and cultural practices which might be at odds with individual rights and dig
aity, Women were barred from the public sphere and expected to follow acertain dress code after the
kundamentalist revolution in Iran, as this is what Islamic culture suggests. Similarly, many cultural com
munities deny inheritance of property to women and practise forced marriages. Neera Chandhoke
2002), however, argues that the right to have a cultural community exists as a precondition for indi
widual rights. Only when a flourishing culture exists can an individual exercise his/her rights. Theretore,
the individual can question those practices which are against individual dignity. The rights of a com
munity cannot be substitute for individual right as they are the preconditions for individual rights
(Chandhoke 2002, 232).

Retreat of Globalization
Ethnocultural Nationalism: Resurgence
The combination of contextual factors such as refugee and migrant crises,anxieties associated with ter
rorism and persistent inequality stemming out of neo-liberalism has led to aresurgence of ethnonation
alist right-wing parties acrossEurope. Ethnonationalism envisages anation that excludes various ethnic,
religious and racial groups and is about ashared ancestry, religion, common language, and so on. These
parties, across a wide policy spectrum from populist and nationalist to far-right neo-fascist, have not
only made significant electoral gains but are also controlling the government in many countries. Groups
such as the Freedom Party (Austria), National Front (France), Party for Freedom (Netherlands) and the
UK Independence Party (UKIP) are calling for their once-open countries to close up and turn inward.
The increasing economic inequality and perceived loss of status for the native white population vis-à-vis
immigrants on account of free-market globalization and increasing terrorist threats seem to have fuelled
some kind of uncertainty that has been harnessed by ethnonationalist political parties. After the trË
umphs of Donald Trump with the America firse' rhetoric in the last US presidential election (2016),
Brexit's anti-immigration stance and the closing of the borders have resonated in mainstream policy
debates. The resurgence of nationalism across Europe has become so powerful that parties from the
political mainstream have been forced to retreat from their core principles of tolerance, openness and
diversity. In France, some municipalities have banned Muslim women from fully covering themselves
with so-called burkinis while swimming. Similarly, the Danish parliament approved acontroversial jew
elry law' that allows government to confiscate valuables from arriving asylum seekers to help finance
their accommodation (Aisch, Pearce and Rousseau 2017).
But this shift from outward-looking multiculturalism to inward and ethnocultural nationalism is
Interpreted as the emergence of the essentialist meaning of culture, where culture is seen as having a
xed and static meaning with some intrinsic value. Seeing culture from this perspective requires looking
a culture as autonomous, pure and having intrinsic value. Here, the intermixing of people is seen as an
dtempt at polluting of culture. The right-wing groups are opposing the migration of people because of
this reason.
112 VIRENDRA KUMAR AND BHAVNA SHARMA

BOX 6.4: Ethnic Cleansing

Ethnic cleansing refers to the forcible expulsion of an ethnic or culture group or groups in the cause of
racial purity or homogeneity involving genocidal violence. From the I990s onwards, the rise of ethnocul
fural nationalism has led to a series of civilwars and ethnic cleansing, often in the name of a nationalism
that aims for cultural homogeneity. The civil wars in Yugoslavia (1991-1995) witnessed the worst forms
of ethnic cleansing and mass massacre wherein Bosnian Muslims were slaughtered by the Serb military.
Similarly, genocidal bloodshed broke out in Rwanda when militant Hutus killed approximately one mil
lion Tutsi and moderate Hutus.

Though the forces of ethnonationalism have resurrected in Europe and elsewhere, the idea of cOsrme
politanism has also gained respectability in academic discourse. As an idea, cosmopolitanism entails that
the world constitutes a single moral community and that people have obligations (potentially) towards
all other people in the world, regardless of differences of culture and nationality. Individuals everywhere
would come to see themselves as global citizens united by a common interest in addressing ecological
social, economic and other challenges that are global in nature.

Concluding Observations
Culture as a system of meanings and values defines the identity of individuals. With the phenomenal
advancements in transport, information technologies and mass-mediated instant cultural images, scrips
and sensations (through audio-video bites), imagination about the self, one's identity and the surround.
ing world have undergone profound transformations. There has emerged à contestation on to what
extent a particular culture is able to maintain its distinctiveness in the face of the US-sponsored con
sumer culture. It is argued that Western countries, after losing direct political and military control of
Global South, have penetrated these societies through a Western value systems rooted in consumerism,
individualism and materialism. Multinational Corporation (MNC) interests are being served through
the promotion of aWestern liberal value system in the guise of modernity. The contestation is seen to be
moving towards violent confrontation if culture is conceptualized as a static entity in terms of having
fixed attributes (material, linguistic and territorial). Many scholars, however, are converging on the posr
tion that culture is a dynamic process and that universal culture is increasingly being creolized and
indigenized in aparticular location by aparticular group. This interplay of global and local, called glo
calization or hybridization, is invariably seen in many Western and non-Western societies, depending
upon degree of adaptation, interpretation, translation and mutation on the part of the receiving culture.
Millions of software applications (apps), notwithstanding the digital divide, now contain maters whlt
are labelled as traditional, such as religious text, hymns, folk tales, and so on. While technology is crea
ing opportunities for cultural mixing, political power in major Western countries--including the US
swinging towards those groups who believe in cultural homogeneities and in ethnocultural nationais
than cosmnopolitan multiculturalism.
 Technological and Cultural Dimensions of Globalization |13

Summary

Globalization is a multidimensional process wherein social, economic, cultural and political dimen
sions are interlinked with a complex set of processes. It has been pushed by a transnational external
force and hence produces a similar force.
Culture is detined either as an essence or a process. The former school conceives of it as a singular,
transcendent, unified idea containing certain essential features, soul and attributes. The latter group
conceives of it as an ever-flowing current of ideas shaped by an ongoing process of fission and fusion.
Technology has acted as the main driving force behind the fission and fusion of cultures since ancient
periods. But the demands of the time have led to the technological innovations.
The problems of contemporary globalization seem to have acted as a stimulating factor in the infor
mation and technology revolution of the 1980.
The information and technology revolution has impacted science and technology governance, trade
and commerce, and more.
Because of the IT revolution, culture has got reconfigured. The reconfiguration can be understood
by studying processes of homogenization, clashes of civilizations, hybridization, domination, and
Consumerism.
Certain recent events show that there are tendencies of de-globalization. These tendencies are
because of the re-arrival of culture in the form of fundamentalism.

Suggested Questions
1. What do you understand by 'culture? Critically evaluate whether culture is a static phenomenon or
a fluid phenomenon.
2. What is hybridization of culture? How is it different from homogenization?
3. Explain the role of the Internet in the transformation of Indian culture in recent decades.
4. Do you think the technological revolution is promoting ethnocentrism? Substantiate your answer
with proper examples.
5. How does commodification of culture pose athreat to the survival of the culture?

References
Ahmad, Aijaz. 2004. On Communalism and Globalization: Offensives of the Far Right. New Delhi: Three Essays
Collective.
Aisch. Grego, Adam Pearce and Bryant Rousseau. 2017. 'How Far Is Europe Swinging to the Right? The New York
Times, 22 May 2016, updated 23 October 2017. Accessed 23 April 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/interac
tive/2016/05/22/world/europe/europe-right-wing-austria-hungary.html.
Anderson, Benedict. 2006. Imagined Community: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London.
Verso.
Appadurai, Arjun. 2000. 'Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy. InThe Globalization Reader.,
edited by Frank J. Lechner and John Boli, 320-330. New York, NY: Blackwell Publisher.