Globalisation Case Studies

Globalisation Case Studies

1. Media

   • Merger: News Corporation
     • Owns HarperCollins (publisher), over a dozen newspapers in Australia, the Sun, the Times and the New York Post and Wall Street Journal, Fox film and television. As well as parts of ITV and Sky and much more.
       • Dunn et al
   • Internet and Social Media
     • Allows culture to spread around the world and easy communication
       • Keep in touch with cultural roots wherever you live, may preserve some cultural diversity (hybrid cultures?)
     • Internet Users 1998: 140 million 2007: Over 1 billion
       • Sociology Textbook
       • Internet usage has been growing the fastest in those areas that previously lagged behind, e.g. Africa and Middle East
         • Kuwait
           • Television often carries American football from the USA but regular interruptions for Muslim calls to prayer
           • Internet is also increasingly popular - half of all internet users in Middle Eastern Arab countries live in this tiny country
             • Kuwait University is the first university in the Arab world to connect its students up to the internet
             • Teenagers are flocking to internet cafes where they spend most of their time in chat rooms or visiting pornographic websites = VERY counter-cultural (normally flirtatious relationships are not even allowed outside of marriage)
               • Unlikely to change Kuwait's age old culture, not going to immediately pick up an American ways of life but could adapt the current ideologies = Hybrid??
   • e.g. World Cup
     • Billions could watch, united the world
       • Sociology Textbook
   • Television: British and American cultures show their networks and programmes worldwide (e.g. BBC, MTV or F.R.I.E.N.D.S) but then adapt other cultural products from the Netherlands (e.g. Big Brother) or Sweden (e.g. Survivor) for British/American audiences
     • Sociology Textbook
   • Social Media
     • French - loss of 'vous' for informal 'tu' from Twitter
       • BBC

2. Hybrid Cultures

   • 'Gastarbeiter' generation of Germany
     • New Communities such as Latinos or Afro-Germans have emerged
       • Estimated 400,000 Germans with mixed black and white ancestry who identify themselves as Afro-Germans
         • Residents born in Latin America, marry, work and mix with Germans
           • Germans change their lifestyle as a result - learn salsa and study Spanish
       • They have little political impact but is changing German society in a fundamental way
     • Dunn et al
   • Bollywood
     • Combination of American Hollywood and Indian values
       • Imitation of Hollywood or a challenge to it?
         • blogspot

3. Spread of Westernisation

   • China
     • Since 1990, increasingly embraced Western consumer culture
       • Dunn et al
       • Landscape: taken over by people - e.g. Three Gorges Dam flooded iconic landscapes and over 1,300 archaeological sites and key features such as hanging coffins in Qutang gorge
     • St Patrick's Day celebrated in China
       • chefsref.hubpages.com
   • TNCs
     • 70% of cross-border world trade is now conducted by MNCs
       • The Geographical
       • 2005-6: Combined sales of the world's largest 500 transnational corporations totalled $14.1 trillion - nearly half of the value of goods and services produced by the entire world
         • The Economist
   • India
     • British Imperialism introduced India to everything from cricket to parliamentary democracy
       • 1991: liberalised its economy and within a few years, US firms were producing chapatis in Mexican factories and selling them in India ('local' food produced 'globally')
       • Call centre contracts with the UK
         • The Geographical
   • Indigenous Cultures
     • Explioted through tourism of western countries
       • Adapt their way of life to what makes the most money for the West i.e. the best tourist experience
         • e.g. African tribes and Canadian aboriginals
           • Positive: Employment for locals (sometimes!)
           • etec.ctlt.ubc.ca
   • IGOs
     • WTO
       • Imposing free trade = less diverse = join one global market
         • Earthisland.org
   • France
     • Craze for British and American weddings
       • Following films and Will & Kate
         • Esp. Dresses and cake
         • BBC
     • English Language and English Music (Rock)
       • Some unis want to teach courses in English
         • BBC
   • Egyptian Galabeya going out of fashion for business suits
     • BBC Video

4. Resisting Western Cultures

   • France
     • Starbucks 2004
       • Opened its first cafe in France but was competing with 55,000 traditional locally owned cafes, leaving Starbucks fairly unsuccessful
         • As of 2009, 40 outlets in France compared to over 600 in the UK and 3 directors have come and gone in France as they struggle to make a profit
           • Dunn et al
   • Anti-American Protesters e.g. Al Qaeda/ISIS
     • Islamic fundamentalism tends to be led by people who have a certain amount of money and education. While these people could benefit from globalisation in economic terms, they are objecting to the cultural effects
       • "they see western life as corrupt and perverse and believe that America is the bearer of all this"
       • Ian Linden, The Geographical

5. Glocalisation

   • Coca-cola differentiates its packaging for its different locations
     • The Geographical
   • McDonalds vary menu for each country
     • Still Western bias??
       • McSpotlight argue against 'McDonaldisation'
         • The Independent
   • Disney: Help reach a global audience
     • e.g. Hong Kong Disneyland (opened 2005) - was firstly a massive loss for Disney but when they changed the food, ticket costs and traditional space planning (feng shui) to accommodate the local culture, HK Disneyland was very profitable (2012)
       • Done the same thing with Korea, targeting films about families and coming together to overcome the villan are particularly successful for example.
         • In 2011, Disney begun broadcasting in Korean instead of English
           • "Let it go" was also published in Korean (one of 25 langauges)
           • Seoulbeats.com
       • However, this is a rare occurrence to change it, most of the time they go for a "one size fits all" method
         • But they did apply for a Japanese style Disneyland to be created in Japan, only for this to be rejected by the client who was motivated by the Japanese fascination with America and wanted a distinctly American park. In the end, only one attraction, Meet the World, would be based on Japan
           • Disneyology.blogspot.co.uk
           • Yet, EuroDisneyland, was subject to a number of directives given by the French Government to protect their French Identity whilst giving it the desperately needed economic boost

6. Global Cities

   • Examples: London, NY and Tokyo
     • High Migrant population
       • 3% of the world's population is migrant
       • Affects donor regions, esp. as its usually the young, skilled, healthy ones that migrate
         • Remittances: send back wages, some as high as 50%
     • Creates hotspots of economic and cultural activity (as well as cold spots)
       • Lack of investment in Africa
   • The Geographical

7. CASE STUDIES FROM EQ1 WESTERNISATION

   • London's changing ethnic geography
     • Integration or Segregation?
       • Geography Review
   • Subterranean Settlements in Tunisia
     • Today they are exposed to more outside influences, they are now less reliant on subsistence agriculture, political changes have encouraged more modern settlements & visiting tourists also bring cultural influence
       • Tourism is what could keep this settlement alive in the future
         • Geography Review
   • Ecuador
     • Loss of indigenous way of life as there's been a rapid increase in external and internal migration, to more politically & economically stable areas
       • 20% rural to urban areas/15-20% migrated abroad. 1/3 of indigenous adults living abroad
         • UNESCO
   • Western at threat?
     • 70% of Americans believe western way of life could be at threat from immigrants
       • Reuters
     • 600 Britons gone to Syria to join extrememists and many more from the other EU countries too
       • Fight against western culture
         • Daily Mail
       • Paris March - come together as one culture against this
     • Decline of British identity as a whole
       • Welsh want to be Welsh, Scottish want to be Scottish etc.
         • AS/A2 Sociology
   • China
     • Cultural destruction e.g. 25 out of 6,000 hutongs remain
     • Westernisation of diet = 1 in 10 adults and 1 in 5 schoolchildren = officially overweight
       • BBC
   • Korea
     • Clothing: hanbok = now nearly non-existent in everyday wear - nearly 100% westernised
       • Western food = wildly popular
         • Weddings modelled on Western weddings and slow evolution of post-wedding traditional views (i.e. woman and men equality)
           • Majority of doctors = western and increase in big western style university hospitals
             • Seoulistic.com
     • NEGATIVE THING: 1. English teachers = indoctrinating Korean children with English ideals, ruining culture, liberalising women 2. Western fast food like McDonalds ruin nutrition choices
       • Koreatimes.co.kr
   • India
     • Bollywood = copy of western films with a small Indian touch
       • Music: Western rhythm and style e.g. Bally Sagoo converts old Indian songs to Western Alternatives & no longer TV restrictions on Western music channels
         • Local languages not allowed to be taught in schools, English is more important. In India = 18 main langauge and over 1,600 minor languages and dialects.
           • Western ideals as well, esp. family values e.g. families living separately
             • Gandhi
   • Africa
     • Mobile phone usage is increasing here faster than anywhere else
       • 75% of all telephones in Africa are mobile
   • Lebanon: Arab Language
     • English taking over, Campaign to protect own language, not even allowed to talk it in her own country
       • Similarly, WELSH have put laws in place to protect their language
         • welsh.gov.uk
       • "Don't kill your language"
   • Bhutan
     • last country in the world to turn a TV on (1999)
       • Since seen increased crime & a "host of social ills" undermining the traditional way of life
   • Masai Mara
     • Tourism destroying way of life
       • Governments did little to improve literacy rates and just took unfair advantage of ignorance of the Masai, including robbing huge parts of their land
         • Masai Mara National Park: huge deforestation to build lodges and camps
           • Social changes due to tourism: loss of positive traditional values; increased promiscuity & prostitution; spread of AIDs form mass tourism sites to ecotourism destinations; locals illegally lost homes & livelihoods with no compensation, then pushed to marginal regions wit harsh climates, poor soils, lack of water and infested with diseases; not allowed to use land for their own traditional farming = FACE LOSS OF CULTURAL IDENTITY
             • United Nations
             • 2007: Tourists blamed for Mass Wildebeest drowning
               • National Geographic

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