Globalization and Its Impact on Developing Nations' Culture - Essay Example

Globalization and Its Impact on Developing Nations' Culture Introduction With the modern technological advancements come a lot of changes such as improved technology leading to development in communication. The improved network of communication in countries has led to globalization. Its popularity among nations has increased with time due to the impact it has on the economy of some of the nations. However, as much as globalization has had its impact on the economy of nations it has also had impact on the culture of the local people. Culture can be viewed differently by different people but it has to do with mainly the diversity of the people, their values and traditions. Cultures held by people are passed on from one kin to the next in a bid of maintaining it in the families. Culture can also be termed as the lifestyle of people according to the values they uphold. The culture of the people include factors such as; language of the people, moral values, parenting skills. In general culture is the routine that the people follow and respect over time. Hence, globalization has had its impact as it brings about new trends that people are forced to adapt to. Therefore, this essay is going to focus on the impact globalization has on developing Nations’ culture. This is based on the fact that globalization has affected the culture of people in various ways including their language, value of respect, parental duties among others. Globalization was meant to improve the economic status of nations since it involves many nations improving on their trade techniques; there was liberalisation of telecommunications worldwide (Fischer, 2003). This led to the interaction of different cultures and traditions. The developing countries have been said to abandon their traditions and cultures and adopting foreign cultures. Adopting new language Language is one of the areas where globalization has had major impact in the developing and third world countries. The language of the people is very important as it is a sign of belonging. According to Ninsin (2000), trade involves interaction either through the internet, which is being widely used to carry out transactions or through other mediums. Communication had proved to be a barrier before, but with time most of the citizens were starting to get acquainted with the foreign languages. Where most nations communicated with each other using their native languages now it is very rare to find that in most nations. They have stopped the use of their local language but rather communicate with each other in foreign language adapted to recently. This had had a lasting impact on the young generation since they are not even familiar with their local language as they have grown up speaking foreign language. The older generation has complained that trying to teach them their local ways has proved futile. They can only be able to sit and watch as their traditions are slowly diminishing in their own countries (Abdulraheem, n.d.). The situation does not seem to improve but rather the people are adopting more foreign ways and abandoning their own. The rift in languages can be based even on local trading, where the locals make an effort to learn the foreign language in order to carry out various transactions. Tourism has greatly improved in most nations due to globalizations leading to various interactions with the tourists. During this interaction communication has to take place and one finds the locals slowly adopting the foreign language as their own. Tourism is not the only factor that influences change in languages but other factors such as television and other mediums. Televisions rarely broadcast local programs since they are not valued by the locals as much as foreign and international programs are. Therefore, the children are brought up talking other languages but have no value for their own local language where in the culture of different nations’ the language is held with pride. This is seen to slowly start fading among nations. Therefore, through globalization people are exposed to other cultures and most nations are abandoning their native tongues and taking on foreign language slowly killing the culture of the people. Effect on value of respect Respect is a very important aspect in people’s cultures and should be maintained highly at all times. Although cultures are different, respect has always been evident in all of them. Where respect used to be of value and observed at all times nowadays there is very little respect shown between people and even the young and old. Globalization exposes people to different parenting skills and the way the young generation is currently being brought up is not the same way children were brought up before. This draws a wide drift between the older generation and the upcoming generation. Respect is no longer being exercised in homes such that children can be allowed to act as they please (Wade, 1999). Take for instance in an African home; where it would have been wrong for a child to answer back at an older person or an adult for that matter, punishment would have been heavy for the child. Nowadays the children and young generation answer back anyhow they feel like at their parents and any other person. Therefore, this shows that the value of respect is no longer there and the generations are slowly changing and leading their lives according to other cultures but not the one they were used to. Entertainment Globalization has brought about a new trend in the entertainment sector of the young generation. The music that is currently being practiced and aired has to do with the western culture but not the local culture. The young generation has adopted these facts and are leaning their talents to the western culture (Thompson, 1999). If their talent is in music we find that the music being produced by the locals has some western bet in them. This is a sign of the fact that local culture is deteriorating with time. Local songs and traditional entertainment is very minimal in most nations giving rise to the dominance of the western culture. Uniqueness in culture is lacking in every corner of the nation and we find the only people still hanging on to their values are the older generation since globalization had not had its impact then. Therefore, what is viewed in televisions does not only provide entertainment but rather a sense of livelihood by richer nations and we find the local people trying to live the same way. Parental duties Where children used to rely on tales from their parents and grandparents to keep them occupied, which is a tradition that was observed for a long time is no longer being practiced. This loosens the bond between children and the older generation, who should teach them of their tradition. The children end up growing with no cultural values but on values that have been adopted. The parents no longer have time for the tales since they are busy at work and looking for means of survival (Friday, 2002). This is due to the economy status of the developing countries where globalization was supposed to improve their economic status it is at a loss. Due to the economic crisis brought about by globalization, the women are being forced to work as well. Before women used to stay and look after their families while the men worked but currently even the women are part of the struggle. Where this might be a positive issue since gender equality is being exercised at some level it also brings about other cultural issues. Women have been able to establish themselves in small scale farming activities and trading as well. This being their main source of income has been affected greatly due to liberalistaion of trade (Lindsey, 2002). The agricultural products produced in these farms are meant to attract profit but rather the women are being faced with major challenges such as; lack of insecticide or pesticide for their farms due to the high prices. The products from the farms are marketed by people who are focused on making profit for themselves and the farmers end up receiving very little. Since trading through marketing boards has proved impossible for most of the women, they end up carrying out their trade across borders. This in turn affects their livelihood greatly because instead of taking care of their families, they are held up trying to look for means of survival. The children in turn are neglected and their growing up is not closely monitored as they should be. In turn the children end up engaging in unsightly activities and they might even be in danger of rape from idle men. Leading to issues such as; unwanted pregnancies and increase in AIDS. The economic crisis is affecting the children as well because they have to assume new duties. The children are supposed to be school and some of them are forced to engage in trading activities in order to earn money for food and other necessities. Children are seen wandering the streets trying to sell some of their commodities since globalization is not improving the economic status of developing nations. Cultural practice had it that the children were not to be seen loitering the streets after dark there was food security and they did not have to assume the responsibility of selling wares in the streets and market places. Most homes had food storage areas where they were capable of storing enough food from their farms. Lifestyle Development of infrastructure has greatly improved in an effort to enhance trading activities. Investors and entrepreneurs have targeted the rural areas as well trying to take over the market in the sector. During this development, the building of roads and industries has led to the ignorance of cultural trade and values and modernisation taking over most of the activities that was carried out before. Some of the local people are forced to move out of their traditional homes since maintaining them has proven to be quite difficult and into the modernised homes. This is because fixing some of the traditional houses may prove to be difficult as parts required are no longer available but rather only developed parts. Moving out of their traditional homes has also been triggered by the fact that most of the land surrounding their homes has been purchased and used to build industries. Therefore, surviving in such conditions may tend to be difficult. Morality Globalization encourages access of tourists and foreigners to the country at all times and carry out trade indiscriminately. This may have its own repercussions as well since this also means access to entry of illicit drugs and other morally incorrect behaviour. This influences the young generation negatively and the little value they had of culture and tradition quickly disappears. The young generation may be looking for methods of making quick money where less labour. These activities involve drug trafficking, usage and trading within the specific nations. Engaging in prostitution is also evident as the locals may feel it is a way of earning foreign currency quickly. This shows that the morals practiced in different cultures are ignored and not observed anymore. Positive effects of globalization on culture The impact globalization has had on the culture of developing nations has been mostly negative as culture no longer exists. Although this is evident there has also been some positive attributes to the trend on cultures of different nations. Education is one of the areas where globalization has made positive impact to some extent. Some cultures believe that the girl child should not be educated but rather remain at home and take care of specific chores. Since most people are adopting different cultures, the girl child has been able to receive education. This is because strong women activists from other countries have been able to impact the importance of girl child education in many cultures. The knowledge that has been impacted in these communities and cultures concerning education has been very beneficial. The girls in most nations are now being educated and fighting for their rights to other activities as well (Massey, 1994). The education that they have been able to receive has been able to grant even some of them work in specific fields and have helped even their families greatly. If the interaction between countries had not taken place education for girls in the developing nations would have been a far fetched dream but now it has been made possible through great relations between countries. Other women in other countries also act as examples in the education sector and as a source of inspiration for the girl child in the developing nations (Said, 2008). Most girls are subjected to early marriage and they do not have a right to fight for their rights. Recently due to organisations interested in making a better future for the girls, they are able to say no to early marriages and concentrate on their studies. Multiculturalism Globalization is also seen as a method by which the developing nations get a chance to learn about the cultures of others. During the interactions, it is a nice opportunity for the nations to watch and observe how different cultures go about their activities. The similarities that exist between the cultures of different nations will only draw the nations closer together and create better understanding. This is necessary as good relations will only mean better reasoning at solving the crises that are common in every nation. The differences may seem to be many in many ways and coming to an understanding will be difficult but this is an opportunity of one learning to embrace people as they are despite their cultures. Learning about others and being able to live with them despite their diversity is a major step in building unity among different nations. Tourism is also another factor that is influenced by the cultures of other nations. Therefore, when some of the nations still hold on to their cultural practices, they are able to attract tourists to their countries increasing on foreign currency. Even if globalization is slowly causing cultural practices to be extinct in some of the countries, it also helps people value their cultures more. It has created awareness among the people that cultural values are no longer being observed by people and that has made some of the people turn back to their roots and try to maintain some of the values they had (Cheng & Starosta, 2000). The little cultural practices and activities still being observed in some of the countries helps attract the tourists and adding more value to their traditions. This has been seen in some of the people still trying to dress in their traditional ways despite the fact that they might have adopted some of the western lifestyle. There has also been the exchange of consumer products and its exchange as well to other countries. Consumer products may be in form of food or other products such as clothing and textile. The food adopted by one culture can be easily spread to other nations if it goes according to their liking. This will make the cultural rift narrower and some of the cultures might find they are not so different from others. This has helped improve on trade and other areas concerning relations. Multiculturalism can also be spread through intermarriages between different cultures. Due the rise in the rate of tourism in the developing countries, there is also a rise in the level of intermarriages taking place. This has led to the support of the developing nations from the already developed through trade. The interaction has also been boosted by the popular social networking sites. The sites have given people a new way of interacting with people across nations. This has led to people improving on their knowledge about other cultures as well (Larssen, 2001). Some of the popularly known websites include; face book and my space among others. This creates a wider perspective on what other cultures prefer and their livelihood. Learning from others helps people more knowledgeable about their cultures and if they should choose to adopt their ways, they should be able to do it correctly. Conclusion Globalization was seen as a bright idea to help improve on the economic status of most nations but the impact it has had on the nations is far more than was expected. Globalization has affected the cultural practices and systems of many developing countries globally. Culture is the lifestyle of an individual and most of the nations embraced their cultures fully and tried to pass them on from generation to generation. This has not been made possible though due to the impact of globalization where most of the young generation are abandoning their cultures and adopting the foreign cultures introduced to them through globalization. Culture gives people a sense of belonging and it is evident that most people are not even aware of their local language since English is the most spoken language globally nowadays. Some of the activities introduced to these nations are considered to be immoral by most nations and its introduction further damages on the hold and value people have on cultures. Although it may seem like globalization has negative effects on culture only, it also has positive impact as well. The positive effects have to do mostly with educating the girl child and breaking some of the old traditions that have no real value behind them. This is usually beneficial as some of the beliefs the cultures hold deny some people opportunities in life. Multiculturalism is also encouraged by globalization through various ways such as; cross culture trade and intermarriages as well as other ways too. Therefore, globalization has a lot of impact on the culture of the developing nations and as we look at the negative effects we also have to look at the positive ones and the changes that have been brought about by them. Reference List Abdulraheem, Y. , n.d. Impact of globalization on culture. [Omline] Available at: http://www.musero.org/impact_globalization_culture.pdf [Accessed 1 June 2010]. Cheng, G. , & Starosta, W. , 2000. Communication and global society. New York: Peter Lang. Fischer, S. , 2003. Globalization and its changes. Economic Review [Online]. 93(2), 1- 30. Available at: http: // links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002- 8282%2820005%2993%3A2% [Accessed 1 June 2010]. Friday, M. , 2002. The effect of globalization on culture in Africa in the eye of African woman. Echo. World Council of Churches. Larssen, T. , 2001. The real story of globalization. Massachusetts: Cato Inc. Linsey, B. , 2002. Against the dead hand: the uncertain struggle for global capitalism. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Massey, D. , 1994. Space, place and gender. Cambridge: Polity. Ninsin, K. , 2000. Globalization and the future of Africa. AAPS Ocassional Paper series. [Online]. 4(1), n.pag. Available at: http://globalization.icaap.org/content/v7.1/Akinboye.html [Accessed 1 June 2010]. Said, A. , 2008. The African Union and new strategies for development in Africa. New York: Cambri Press. Stiglitz, J. , 2002. Globalization and its discontents. [Online] (Updated 15 August 2002) Available at: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2002/aug/15/globalization-stiglitzs- case/ [Accessed 1 June 2010]. Thompson, K. , 1999. Media and cultural regulation. London: Sage. Wade, A., 1997. Globalization and its Limits: Washington D.C.: Brooking Institution Press. Read More