SECTION:
Economy and Culture
Tessy A. Salami (University of Ibadan, Nigeria)
Effects Of GlobalizationIt does not make sense to talk of a world of over 6 billion people becoming a monoculture.
The spread of uniformity of the organisation of work procedures have on the development of the cultural identity of people will undoubtedly bring changes to the countries it reaches, but change is an essential part of life, it does not mean the abolution of traditional values. Indeed, new global media such as the internet, have proven a powerful means of projecting traditional culture. Capitalism is essentially diverse as the traveller from Tokoy to Hongkong, Zürich, France, South Africa, Lagos, Buenos Aires and New York will discover the fact that America and British culture products are successful in world markets, reflect not more than their popularity.But tobe sincere with ourselves, western or European culture belief are very strong, more especially U.S culture exports are very strong and it is influential.That reflect the success of the U.S. economy and popularity of it's products, so also is the popularity that is being gain and enjoy by New Giant-Asian countries like Japan, Korea, Singapore, e.t.c. with their product all over the world.
European culture should no more be vilified than should npn-America culture be placed on a pedestal beyond criticism, for example cultural practices as female genital mutilation in many Africa countries.
The first great expansion of european capitalism took place in the 16th century following the first circumnavigation of the earth in 1519 to 1521. There was a big expansion in world trade and investment in the late 19th century. This was brought to a halt by the first world war and the bout of anti-free trade protectionism that led to the great depression in 1930. After which we experience another expansion of capitalism at the end of the second world war with the development of multinational companies interested in producing, selling and changing cultural back-ground of different nations and their domestic markets around the world. The fall of the berlin wall, the processes of economic transformation carried out, especially in eastern europe and the collapse of the soviet union which ended the cold war between the the forces of capitalism and socialism made it possible, the organisation of business on a global scale with grater facility in a large territory than ever before.
A report by the UN educational scientific and cultural organisation (UNESCO) showed that the world in goods with cultural content almost trippled between 1980 and 1991: from 67 billion to 200 billion dollars. At the core of the entertainment industry-films, music and television-there is a growing dominance of U.S. and european products. Integration and uniformity in the world economy contribute to environmental improvements by promoting growth, increasing incomes, improving property rights and the allowing the efficient use of all mineral capital resources available.
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