Are We The Same?
With rioting globalization, has homogenization of individuality rioted, too?
When one thinks of globalization, especially when a country is introduced to a globalized economy, images of massive highways, towering skyscrapers, and an ungodly amount of Subway franchises are likely to conjure up. And let us face it, for most people, globalization has been a boon, almost synonymous with the idea of modernization. Its contribution to raising most humans' overall living standards has been undeniable. It certainly has its downsides, especially concerning income inequality and climate change. Unlike the aforementioned, however, an oft unnoticed facet of globalization is the homogenization that comes with, the homogenization of our homes, offices, education, pop culture, and und so weiter.
To understand homogenization, let us consider these two luxury neighborhoods. One in Malibu, California, and the other in Palm Beach, Florida:
Everything from the design of houses and the suburban landscape looks strikingly similar, and this similarity is even more profound when you realize that the first image is actually from the Jumeirah Islands, Dubai, and not from California.
It is not surprising why globalization may bring about such homogeneity. If we expect Netflix India to broadcast (more-or-less) the same content as Netflix USA, it is not shocking to see or expect such similarity with housing. Consider those Subways again, could you guess which city this particular franchise may be in?
Couldn’t figure it out, could you? While homogenization is more apparent the more you try to find it, deciding whether its positive effects outweigh the negatives is a matter of contention.
A Neo-Liberal View
Ultimately, trade has been the bedrock on which globalization has become the force that it is. Trade accounted for 24 % of the global GDP in 1994, and in the 20 years following it, that figure doubled. And as always, trade has been an important node through which ideas have been shared, be it religion or gunpowder. Thus, a neoliberal approach to homogenization is that individuals have the freedom to choose which ideas to consume and which to not.
It could be argued that because of a more individualistic shift in both economic and ideological attitudes, especially after the fall of Soviet Russia, we have increasingly sided with a more capitalist system that relies on the free market to improve living standards and incomes. In essence, the biggest export of the age of globalization may be the American Dream.
Political and Cultural Hegemony
Herein lies one of the biggest issues with the Neo-liberal argument: the freedom of choice. Since the end of the cold war, the United States has held a decades-long hegemony over global affairs and has epitomized our understanding of the West. This dominance in both economic and political affairs makes it hard to distinguish whether the ideals of globalization were embraced or enforced. The Islamic middle east is exemplary of such a rift between willingly accepting and being forced to accept these ideals.
Nowhere is this more evident than in mass media. During the centuries of colonization, a running theme and justification for colonization was the education of “civilized” values to a group of “uncivilized” locals. This involved the implementation of several cultural norms that have become ingrained in these societies decades after colonization (this article is in English after all). While this imposition may not resemble the violence as seen during the age of imperialism, we still see massive multi-national corporations have enormous control of what we learn about the world in a broader context. Sure, we have seen a rise in popularity of Japanese Anime or Indian Bollywood, but most of the world still views this content on platforms that hail from the West and embrace its ideals.
The Best of Both Worlds
Homogeneity in a globalized economy has its benefits. As consumers, the availability of similar forms of goods and services around the world is a definite convenience. However, the same convenience that this homogeneity brings is probably reflective of the economic imbalances within our globalized societies that ultimately hurt us and the planet. While it may not be viable or even possible for an economically dominant force to exist within our system, reducing the current chokehold it has in terms of the goods we consume and the continent we watch or listen to is key in decreasing the imbalance between the dominators and the dominated.
Written by Ishan Kanade