Globalization and Culture Change

From a sociocultural anthropological perspective, by investigating how globalization affects different parts of the world we can build a better understanding of how global structures affect social and cultural practices. Globalization is the worldwide interdependence of economic and cultural activities through the interchange of worldviews, goods, beliefs, and other aspects of culture (Lalonde slide 22/01/13). To facilitate interdependence, globalization uses new technology, innovation, tourism, international trade, and the media to build and maintain a dominant global culture (Lalonde slide 22/01/13). In recent years, the process of globalization has hastened the destruction of small egalitarian cultures (Larkin and Robbins 2007). Using information conducted from three ethnographies, this paper discusses how globalization has impacted the culture of traditional societies. To narrow the focus, it will examine how globalization and the related process of modernization has contributed to culture change and will discuss each ethnography’s involvement within the World Systems Theory.
The progress of society is introduced by the idea that “human history is the story of a steady advance from life dependent on whims of nature to a life of control and domination over natural forces” (Larkin and Robbins 2007:43). This notion of culture change assumes that technological advancement is the driving force of progress, and that traditional societies should become modernized because it is in their best interest to align with technological, economic, and sociocultural systems of western industrial nations (Lalonde slide 15/01/13).
Modernization is characterized by “industrialization, consolidation of the nation-state, bureaucratization, market economy, technological innovation, literacy, consumerism, vertical mobility, and an open class system” (Lalonde slide 15/01/13). These processes help amplify globalization and support the assumption that “economic trade is the source of