Defining the Sociological Interest in Globalisation: Difference between revisions

Simmel opened an issue which is perceived nowadays as an ‘organic’ part of the everyday life – diffusion of different cultures, because globalisation (a) is not exclusively an economic phenomenon, but cultural as well, and (b) is not a one-way process (from the West to the rest of the world). Naturally, the existence of the influential so-called cultural imperialism theory cannot be ignored: economic and political globalisation leads to disappearing cultural differences in favour of one dominant culture – American, or at least Euro-Atlantic culture. Well-known symbols of the Americanisation of the world exist (Hollywood, Coca-Cola). On the other hand, the cultural process termed hybridisation cannot be ignored either, in which different cultures influence each other and merge in a new union. Finally, there is one phenomenon with no historical precedence: a sort of global youth subculture emerges thanks to new technologies (media), where youth in the parts of the world affected by globalisation dress in the same ways, listen to the same music, go skating, do graffiti, etc. This dimension of globalisation, nonetheless, leads to the formulation of another big virgin topic: the generation conflict issue. We are therefore witnessing not only ‘mutual influencing of cultures’ but also a mutual relation between generation subcultures, which may become more conflicting than ever before.