Globalization and glocalization in sociology

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With the advent of technology and easier travel to remote locations, developments and events that occur outside of an individual's culture are as likely to influence behaviour as local events do. Perhaps the most infamous events to demonstrate the impact of a global culture on the individual would be the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC, on September 11, 2001. These events changed the sociological landscape as drastically as they changed world culture. For example, travel restrictions have made flying more challenging, limiting what can be taken on a flight. For this reason, the powerful effect of globalization must be considered in any discussion about social identity. As you learned in Chapter 4, globalization is the integration of government policies, cultures, social movements, and financial markets on a worldwide scale affecting countries and cultures around the world. Society is not limited by geographic borders.

Globalization has broadened the scope of sociology, and sociology has brought global culture to the individual. Globalization as a framework naturally entails a macro-approach to society and social behaviour. This framework therefore threatens to overshadow the valuable micro-approach.

A new way of viewing the social world, large and small, has developed called glocalization. This concept was developed to help alleviate the strain between the macro- and micro-approaches to sociology. Glocalization is simply the practice of addressing global issues by taking local action. For instance, companies and individuals can buy fair-trade coffee or chocolate. The slogan that best represents proponents of glocalization, also known as glocals, is "think globally, act locally." Today, glocalization helps to explain a number of different social phenomena across many different cultures.