The role of globalization has had a major influence on society and the world, and this essay will argue it has resulted in cultural homogenization. This can be illustrated through an introduction to globalization, the consolidation of media, ownership and vested interests, world standardization and neoliberalism, politics and the media and public service media. Examining the different views of globalization, including Appadurai and McChesney as well as other sources it can be clearly understood the negatives arising due to globalization, and its impact on cultural homogenization.
Globalisation can be defined as the process of international integration, including the sharing of ideas, laws, economies, politics, cultures and concepts between nations. To understand globalization, it is necessary to compare the differing viewpoints. Appadurai argues that globalization is a battle between homogenization and heteroisation and that there is a series of ‘scapes’ which consist of ethnoscapes, technoscapes, financescapes, mediascapes and ideoscapes. (Appadurai 2011). He also maintains that as globalization is brought into other countries, they “tend to become indigenized in one or another way”. (Appadurai 2011). This claim rejects the notion that globalization leads to standardization, rather its influence is organic on a nation and not part of a controlled system, such as neoliberalism as argued by McChesney. McChesney defines neoliberalism as “the set of national and international policies that call for business domination of all social affairs with minimal countervailing force” (McChesney, 2001). McChesney believes globalization is actually neoliberalism and it has been presented on a silver platter as free trade when in actual fact, it has caused privatisation