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GLOBALIZATION
Global Challenges, Local Responses, and
the Role of Anthropology
CULTURAL FUTURE OF HUMANITY
Anthropologists unlike futurist projections
try to view things in context, further than
50 years from the present.
 They have a long-term historical
perspective and recognize culture bound
biases.
 Anthropologists are concerned with the
tendency to treat traditional societies as
obsolete when they appear to stand in the
way of “development.”
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GLOBAL CULTURE
Since the 1950’s it has been a belief that
eventually the world will become one large
homogeneous culture.
 Evident through such things as fast food
chains and soda companies like Pepsi and
Coca Cola.
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Here is a look at the KFC and Pizza Hut next to
the Pyramids at Giza (23 seconds)
Meaning that if a North American were to
travel abroad, no matter the destination,
they would see a similar culture to their own
in North America.
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Do you think this could be possible?
WORLD MIGRATIONS
Migration continues to have a significant
effect on world social geography,
contributing to culture change, to the
diffusion of ideas and innovations, and to
the complex mixture of cultures in the
world today.
 Internal migration occurs within the
boundaries of a country.
 External migration is movement from one
country or region to another.
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WORLD MIGRATIONS
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Prior to the mid-20th century, three types
of external migration were most important:
Voluntary- in search of better
opportunities
 Forced- people who have been
driven from their homelands by
war, environmental disasters, or
transported as slaves
 Imposed- not entirely forced but
made advisable by the
circumstances.
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GLOBAL CULTURE, GOOD?
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In theory it might sound like a world with
more peace and less misunderstandings of
differing cultures.
The reality is that it is unlikely that
cultures will change into one similar
culture especially if they are being forced
to quickly do so by outside powerful
nations.
What is created are poorer peasant
communities who are in the crosshairs of
“westernization” and their indigenous life
ways.
Since they failed to change quick enough
for the western corporate powerhouses.
ETHNIC RESURGENCE
The presence of westernization is glaringly
obvious worldwide with the diffusion of
western food, clothes, music, etc.
 This does not mean it is accepted. There is
an increase of ethnic pressure against
westernization.
 Resistance against globalization is becoming
much more frequent.
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CULTURAL PLURALISM &
MULTICULTURALISM
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So what is the future?
Chances are it includes a world with
multiculturalism- a public policy of
mutual respect and tolerance for cultural
differences.
Ethnic tension, common in pluralistic
societies, sometimes turns violent,
leading to formal separation.
To manage cultural diversity within such
societies, some countries have adopted
multiculturalism as an official public
policy.
TRANSNATIONAL CULTURAL FLOWS
IN A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT
 Anthropologist
Arjun Appadurai
marks out five global spaces or
dimensions in which transnational
cultural flows occur, identifying them
as “scapes” (meaning something
crafted, configured, or transformed
by humans):
 Ethnoscapes: the fluid and shifting
landscape of migrants
 Technoscapes: the global
configuration of technologies moving
at high speeds across previously
restrictive borders.
“SCAPES”
Financescapes: the global crossroads of
currency speculation and financial transfers.
 Mediascapes: the distribution of electronic
media capabilities to produce and spread
information, plus the large complex
repertoire of narratives and visual images
generated by these media.
 Ideoscapes: ideologies produced by the
state and alternative ideologies developed
by non-state and counter-hegemonic forces,
around which societies organize their
political cultures and collective cultural
identities.
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STRUCTURAL POWER
Structural power is the power
that organizes and orchestrates
the systemic interaction within
and among societies.
 Often directing economic and
political forces on the one hand
and ideological forces that shape
public ideas, values, and beliefs
on the other.
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STRUCTURAL POWER
 Two
major interacting forces of
structural power:
 Hard power is the type of power that
is backed up by economic and military
force.
 Soft power is the type of power that
is co-optive where one’s ideas are
pressed onto others through
attraction and persuasion to change
one’s ideas, beliefs, or values.
ECONOMIC HARD POWER
Large corporations which are
usually a cluster of several
smaller corporations held
together by common interest,
money, and strategy are
controlled by one group in one
country.
 Their power and wealth, often
exceeding that of national
governments, has increased
dramatically through media
expansion.
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ECONOMIC HARD POWER
 Mega
corporations have
enormous influence on the ideas
and behavior of hundreds of
millions of people worldwide.
 States and corporations compete
for scarce natural resources,
cheap labor, new commercial
markets, and ever-larger profits
in a political arena that spans
the entire globe.
STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE
Structural violence is physical and/or
psychological harm (including repression,
environmental destruction, poverty, hunger,
illness, and premature death) caused by
impersonal, exploitative, and unjust social,
political, and economic systems.
 Current structures are poised to offer
wealth, power, and comfort for a lucky few
and poverty, suffering, and death for the
majority.
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OVERPOPULATION
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In 1750, 1 billion people lived on earth.
By 1950, nearly 2.5 billion.
Between 1950 and 2000 the world
population soared above 6 billion.
Today, India and China have more than 1
billion inhabitants each.
Population projections suggest that global
population will peak around 2050 at about
9.37 billion people.
7 BILLION PEOPLE
National Geographic
 What’s Your Number? The World at 7 Billion
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7 BILLION PEOPLE
Issues of contraception—who gets to make up the
rules?
 Hans Rosling (4min)
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"There was an unmet need for contraceptive services,
of course. But there was also an unmet need for
health services and all kinds of other services which
did not get attention. The focus became
contraception." –BBC
Hans Rosling – Religion and Population? (13
min)
http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_religions_
and_babies.html
 Economic Development: A Global Challenge
(Films on Demand) 30 min.
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OVERPOPULATION
Replacement reproduction,
the point at which birthrates
and death rates are in
equilibrium; people producing
only enough offspring to replace
themselves when they die.
 Even with the replacement
reproduction the population will
continue to grow for 50 years or
more.
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OVERPOPULATION
 Western
societies have protected
their environment only when a
crisis warranted.
 Many of the world’s developing
countries have policies for
population growth that conflict
with other policies.
 A direct threat to humanity.
HUNGER AND OBESITY
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Currently over a quarter of the
worlds countries do not produce
enough food to feed their populations
and cannot afford to import what is
needed.
Most of these countries are in
Saharan Africa.
What is ironic is that while millions
of people go without food daily,
millions of people eat too much food
daily.
Obesity is not solely related to
overeating, it is also related to the
high sugar and fat content found in
food.
GLOBAL POLLUTION
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Air and water pollution appear to be the
direct result of the human hand. The
largest negative side effect of agribusiness
is environmental degradation.
Pollutants cause the development of acid
precipitation, which damages soil,
vegetation, and wildlife.
Most atmospheric scientists believe that
the greenhouse effect is being enhanced by
increased carbon dioxide, methane, and
other gases produced by industrial and
agricultural activities.
THE CULTURE OF DISCONTENT
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As previously mentioned the world’s
poorest countries have been told that
they can and should enjoy a standard
of living comparable to that of the
rich countries.
The resources necessary to maintain
such a luxurious standard of living
are limited. Non renewable resources
would quickly disappear at such a
high rate of consumption.
This growing gap between
expectations and realizations has led
to the creation of a culture of
discontent.
THE CULTURE OF DISCONTENT
 The
culture of discontent is not
limited to poor and
overpopulated countries.
 It can be found among the most
wealthy and enduring nations.
 Where the people are spending
money to obtain material riches
which often lead to more
discontent.