Globalization's Influence: Examining Cultural Shifts and Traditions

This essay delves into the multifaceted impact of globalization on culture, examining both its positive and negative effects. It begins by defining globalization and culture, highlighting how the increasing interconnectedness of the world through trade, technology, and migration influences cultural norms and behaviors. The essay presents a balanced perspective, discussing how globalization can lead to the eradication of harmful practices and the adoption of beneficial ones from different societies. Conversely, it also addresses the negative consequences, such as the dominance of Western culture, the loss of local traditions, and the potential for cultural conflicts. The essay uses examples like the changing practices in African societies to illustrate its points. Recommendations are provided to mitigate the negative effects, emphasizing the importance of education and preserving cultural identity. The essay concludes by reinforcing the complex relationship between globalization and culture, acknowledging its capacity to both enrich and erode cultural diversity.

Running head- Effect of Globalization on Culture
Effect of Globalization on Culture

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Effect of Globalization on Culture
Introduction
The reach of the individuals has increased tremendously all over the globe regarding business,
traveling, spending holidays, seeking medical assistance, education, and many other things.
Nowadays, an individual can easily travel from one corner of the world to another (Hirst et al.,
2015 p-56). The world has become borderless. All these things have become possible because
only because of globalization. Globalization can be defined as the integration of the economies
through trade, technology, capital flow, migration of labor, investment, etc. (Beck, 2015 P-29).
Globalization has removed the barriers of national boundaries and has encouraged the free flow
of goods and services, labor, and capital, etc. Globalization has also affected the culture of the
economies to a great extent (Beck, 2015 P-33).
Culture
Culture is the social norms and behavior found in the human societies. Culture is formed by the
values, attitude, beliefs, and custom of the individuals living in a society (Riddell et al., 2014 P-
67). Culture determines how people interact, how they behave, what they perceive regarding a
particular thing, what are their traditions and customs, etc. The culture of any society depicts the
values of the people living in that society. Culture is also the identity of the individual. The
culture of a society is affected by the social structure, political philosophy, religion,
globalization, economic philosophy, education, language (Garratt et al., 2014 P-453). But among
all of them, one of the major determinants of the culture is globalization. The effect of
globalization could be positive as well as negative on culture.

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Effect of Globalization on Culture
Effect of Globalization on Culture
Globalization affects the cultures positively
Support
Globalization affects the culture of the society significantly. According to an article published on
the Refworld website on 4th May 2000 strongly support the positive effects of globalization on
culture. The article states that in African society there was a ritual which was forcing the widow
to shave their head for a year. The widow had to also drink the water which was used to wash the
dead body of the husband. They had to sleep on ground without a blanket for a week or month.
After the influence of western culture these rituals end in some societies while it is still practices
in some societies of Africa.
Globalization has made the whole world as a single village in which the goods and services of a
nation are available for every nation. All the nations in the world can be benefited by the
advanced technology of a single nation. Globalization is an ongoing process which integrates not
only the societies and economies but also the cultures of various societies. Every society has
some good practices as well as some bad practices. Every good practice is not born in a single
civilization. There are some bad practices as well as some good practices in each society
(Pieterse, 2015 p-123). These practices (good and bad) coming together make the culture of a
society. If the culture of different society would not integrate, a particular society cannot
eradicate its bad practices. Even the society will not consider the practice as bad practice because
it is prevailing in the society and the people of the society exercising the practice as their
tradition (Cleveland et al., 2016 p-1097). But when it integrates with a society which considers
the practice as bad practice and has some real reasons to support their viewpoint then only the

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Effect of Globalization on Culture
particular society will come to know that the practice which they are performing is a bad
practice.
For example, there is a culture in a society of Africa that when a husband is dead, the wife will
shave her head and wear black clothes for a year. This is one of the worst treatments to the
women in this world. It is the part of a culture, and the people of that society perform this
tradition in respect of dead husband which is completely undesirable and unethical. After the
introduction of globalization, when people integrated with the people of other culture (western
culture) they came to know that their culture which they are following is not acceptable and they
are not treating women as human, they stopped this practice (Refugees, 2018).
It is the human tendency to adopt good things in place of a bad thing except some exceptional.
Whenever a man or women face something which seems good logically as well as practically he
or she adopt that thing and include in his or her custom or tradition (Cleveland et al., 2016 p-
1099). For example: when some societies come to know that stopping girls from getting an
education is not a good practice and it should be eliminated from our culture the society
eliminated such practice and started educating their girl child also. All these things have
happened only because of the globalization. When societies integrate with each other the good
practices of every society eliminate the bad practices of the society. Every society tends to adopt
the best practices which are prevailing in other society. Due to the globalization people of a
group and society welcome by other group or society. The people of both the group live together,
and the best result comes on the scene in the result. Globalization creates a whole new culture in
which only good practices prevail, and there is no space for the bad practices (Bartsch et al.,
2016 p-79). All such good practices lead the society and the country on the path of growth and
development, prosperity, and integrity. Due to the globalization, the famous and popular art

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Effect of Globalization on Culture
forms of various society are being performed in almost all the society, the musical style, the
cooking style, the living style, the way of communication, education of the children, etc. have
changed. All the societies are increasingly looking forward to adopting the best practices to grow
and develop (Bartsch et al., 2016 p-83).
Oppose
There are numerous positive effects of globalization on culture, but globalization also affects the
culture negatively. Apart from culture, globalization also affects the economy of a nation by
creating jobs insecurity, fluctuation in prices, etc. But here the main focus is on the effect of
globalization on culture. Globalization has mainly spread the culture of western countries all
over the world. The local culture of third world countries or developing countries has been
affected significantly greatly (Cleveland et al., 2016 p-1103). The western countries dominate
and spread their culture all over the globe. The people of developing countries such as Africa and
many others are increasingly following the culture of the western countries and forgetting their
own culture and tradition completely. Instead of forgetting the culture and tradition completely,
the people of such countries should only eradicate the bad practices from their culture and adopt
good practices from the other culture because the culture is the identity of the people (Cleveland
et al., 2016 p-1097). If the people forget their culture, they will lose their identity as well. And
the same thing is being happened. The people are losing their identity by adopting the culture of
western countries wholly. For example- the culture of India is to use ethnic clothes to cover the
whole body. But after coming under the influence of western culture, the people are wearing
western clothes instead of traditional cloths. The people forget their values and morale under the
influence of western culture (Bavlis et al., 2017 p-83). The dressing style, eating habits, language
of the society all are being affected due to the globalization. Globalization also leads to the

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Effect of Globalization on Culture
conflict or differences of opinion among the individuals belong to the different culture. It is the
tendency of human being that they always prioritize or superiorities their own culture on the
others. They always think that their culture is the best among all of them. They do not think
logically and practically regarding the practices prevailing in the culture and give priority to their
culture irrespective of the nature of the practices. It leads to the differences of opinion among the
individuals of a different culture (Bavlis et al., 2017 p-89).
Conclusion
Globalization affects the cultures positively. However, the effects of globalization could be either
positive or negative. But the positive effects of globalization on culture is strong than the
negative effects. The positives effects are that it helps in eradicating the bad practices of the
society by depicting good practices. Globalization tends to integrate cultures of a different
society and people from different society lives together. All of them represent their culture and
out of all best practices are adopted by all the individuals. It encourages people to see the things
logically and practically. When people from a particular culture integrate and interact with the
people of different culture, they compare their culture and adopt best out of all. It also helps in
eliminating some really bad practices such as shave of the head after the death of husband in
African society, restriction on the education of girl child, etc. But there are some negative effects
of globalization as well. The people of developing countries forget their values and traditions.
They are losing their identity and adopting the culture of western countries. The dressing habit,
eating habit, the language of the people of developing countries is changing due to the
introduction of globalization.

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Effect of Globalization on Culture
Recommendation/Solution
The following are the recommendations to mitigate the negative effects of globalization on
culture;
Individual
 The individual of developing countries should not consider the culture of western countries
superior. There are some bad practices and some good practices in every culture. The people
of developing countries think that the culture of developed countries is far superior to their
culture. No one culture is superior to other. The people of developing countries should think
about it. What they need to do is to analyze the practices of western culture and compare with
the local culture. After analyzing the practices, they should adopt the good practices of other
culture and leave bad practices of the local culture.
 Culture is the identity of the individuals. The individuals should not completely forget their
local culture. The culture depicts their beliefs, values, attitudes, perception, and many other
things of the people. The culture is also depicted the religious values and beliefs of the
people. Therefore, the people should not completely forget their culture. Because if they
forget their culture completely, they will lose their identity.
 The individuals should come forward to stop the bad rituals from the society.
Government
 The government of developing countries should focus on education because only education
can empower the human being and give the ability to think logically and practically.
Education empowers human being and enlightens them regarding their values, their culture,
their tradition, their morale. Education teaches the people regarding the values of their

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Effect of Globalization on Culture
culture and tradition. Therefore, the people should focus on education to mitigate the
negative effects of globalization on culture.
 The government should make people aware of the good practices of other culture which is
necessary to adopt for the betterment of the society. Such as awareness regarding girls
education, eradication of child marriage, etc.
 The government should allow the people to practice the good practices of other culture.

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Effect of Globalization on Culture
References
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dispositions, and behavior: A cross-national examination of globalization and culture change.
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Riddell, S., & Watson, N. (2014). Disability, culture, and identity. Routledge.
Pieterse, J. N. (2015). Globalization and culture: Global mélange. Rowman & Littlefield.
Refugees, U. (2018). Refworld | Nigeria: A ritual by the name of "isiku" that a widow is
subjected to upon the death of her husband. Refworld. Retrieved 22 January 2018, from
http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ad702c.html