Globalization, Essay Example

Today’s marketing potentials present an unprecedented dichotomy, or debate.  On one level, technology is applauded as enabling a completely international availability of all goods and services, and a global “free market” is seen as a unifying force.  On another, the inescapable fact that Western industry eclipses other cultures in its commercial expansion is viewed as a vastly destructive power.  Economic resources in the West, simply, have the sheer presence to dominate other cultures, and domination at this level translates to the weakening, or even eradication, of local culture (Campbell, MacKinnon, & Stevens, 2010, p. 282).  The argument then wages, as to the correctness of commerce as having this level of influence.

These international tides may be disturbing.  They may even be radically unethical, in a sense.  What is overlooked, however, is that they are as old as humanity, and represent nothing more than an expansion of national behaviors long in place.  Long before technology enabled global expansion, those nations equipped with greater resources exercised imperial domination over weaker countries, and modern instances of cultural “bullying” merely reflect traditional, and usually more violent, behaviors.  The impact of Wal-Mart is so immense, for example, that developing nations actually send emissaries to its corporate headquarters in Arkansas, to promote corporate interest in their nations (Brunn, 2006,  p. 3).  This is not unlike dignitaries of another era seeking to negotiate diplomatic and commercial arrangements with a great European power, in order to enhance their own economies.  The difference today, aside from the sheer magnitude of these transactions, is that they occur in a non-violent way.  For good or ill, dominant societies have always exploited weaker nations, usually in the forms of colonizing and outright acquisition.  If there is a moral imperative to respect indigenous culture, it has rarely ever been practiced, and it is not likely to occur.  Rather, the process is a test of the strength of the indigenous culture.  If millions of Asians rush to buy Levi jeans, it would seem that their cultures are eager to be altered by this Western influence.  While such a view may seem disrespectful of native cultures, the reality is that world trade has always rendered the preservation of such cultures a case of “survival of the fittest.”

References

Brunn, Stanley D.  (2006).  Wal-Mart World: The World’s Biggest Corporation in the Global Economy. New York: CRC Press.

Campbell, Patricia J., MacKinnon, Aran, & Stevens, Christy R. (2010).  Introduction to Global Studies. Hoboken: John Wiley & Soms.