Processes Of Globalization Are Causing Increasing Cultural Convergence Media Essay

Processes Of Globalization Are Causing Increasing Cultural Convergence Media Essay Interaction of the people, organizations and the most importantly among the governments of the nations is called the process of globalization. The process is determined by trade between the two nations, investment in their businesses and through the information technology and has some effects on the culture, environment, political and economic development of the country as well as on the well being of the human beings. There is no clear-cut definition of the globalization in general or in academic writings. For some, it is a means of freedom, prosperity and for others it is the means of prison and poverty. In the modern era some state the globalization as the process of modernism. This shows that everyone has make its own meaning and is affected by its global practices (Schirato Webb, 2003). Globalization has both negative and positive effects on the quality of life. In some respects it decreases the human security and peace while increasing crimes, but in some other cases it increa ses the human security by means of grater cultural pluralism (Scholte, 2000). Convergence means of bringing together things and it can be of different types, whether it can be technological, social, global, economic or cultural convergence. Culture convergence occurs when different cultures become more alike in terms of technology, sports, language and even in politics (Christopher, 2005). Globalization alone does not decide the shape and quality of the culture and the same way culture also does not alone manipulate the globalization. Both are interdependent on each other. In his book Globalization and culture, John Tomlinson states that Globalization lies at the heart of modern culture; culture practices lie at the heart of globalization. This is the reciprocal relationship. (Tomlinson, 1999). Globalization has transformed us and the most important it changes our culture. The history shows that contact between two different cultures leads to trade of products between them. Travelers and merchants from one culture to another culture bring products with them which make people to know about the other culture and their products. But today, due to globalization the products are spread rapidly through newspapers, television, telephone and internet. The computers and cellular phones were first made and used in the western world but now they are available everywhere, even in the less developed countries where landline cables are not even available. Technology has made the nations to know about the others and even to adopt their culture if they like something in the culture of other societies. In this era of Globalization, technology and products has deep impact on the cultures. People used to go to cinemas to watch movies before, but now they can watch it on their computers, same is the case with food where junk food can easily be grabbed and eaten in rush. Lets talk about American culture, people throughout the world watch Hollywood movies, TV shows and use English language as the primary as well as second language in their home country. Even their dressing has been changed; they like to wear jeans and t-shirts. We are living in interrelated world where people travel in air, have newspapers, televisions and other means of communications and they know everything that what is happening in the other society. Globalization is bringing the culture together by minimizing the scope of diversities. The ongoing global culture is not more than just the spread of Americanization. Hershey, Mars, Starbucks all has their markets in more than eighty countries around the globe, where they are spreading the food habits of their own culture into another culture. Another best example is of McDonalds food which is being served in almost every other country. Globalization is a process in which media and consumer culture is making the homogeneity around the globe, but on the other hand it is also said that globalization is demolishing the local cultures and traditions. This global culture is actually the westernization of the culture due to the capitalism. Global trade has made it easier for the nations to import and export their products. This culture convergence has now become a global culture having something common among the cultures or often called common community. Global culture convergence progresses when sport teams of different countries come together to take participation in international sports events like Olympics and world cups. Internet is available around the globe now and firms and even small businesses use it to market their products. The concept of e-marketing is increasing day by day and has important impact on the behavior of the business markets and the customer. The firms are changing their e-marketing strategies in order to compete in the global markets by attracting more customers around the globe (Sheth Sharma, 2005). The credit cards play an important role in the life of the consumer through which they can buy the products easily even if they dont have cash at the time of clearance. Consumer behavior has been changed over the past few years and the best example to study this behavior is the online social networking. People desire to get materialism, global capitalism and have brands represents the trends of the consumer culture. The globalization has strengthened and changed the way of organizing the capitalism. Means of communication has increased the awareness of the consumers regarding brands, food, music and life of the people of other nations. Globalization has increased the culture convergence which forces the governments to provide best and cheap products from all over the world to satisfy their own people (Ohmae, 1995). Technology has driven the world towards convergence where every wants to experience the new thing around the world through technology (Levitt, 1983). The globalization has changed the concepts of marketing and now organizations are customer-oriented and their focus is more on the profits as compared to sales. The organizations are get change worldwide now due to oligopoly and mergers. The companies are competing in global market place and having strategies and activities that focus on the global market opportunities and threats to gain the competitive advantage over their competitors (Keegan Green, 2003) . In order to compete in global markets, all firms need to craft strategies regardless of their sizes and functions. The global companies focuses on what consumer wants in order to achieve the long term success and they are selling same things everywhere in the same way that drive the world towards cultural convergence (Levitt, 1983). The companies are now well aware of the needs of the consumers as well as they are kindling the need for their products through promotional programs and advertisement. The best example is of Coca cola who thinks globally by giving a message of uniting the nations may be a source of competitive advantage for the company. The mass media and especially advertisements of the products continuously hold the people to think about the products in the market. Youth is the primary target of the advertisers because they think that once they persuaded the people in their young age, then they will remain with the goods and services forever. Advertisements persuade people to buy the products. The study conducted on German and Chinese culture reveals that German people find advertisement more convincing and informative than Chinese people, which shows that perception from advertisement has important impact on the consumer intentions to accept or reject the brands and the products (Chan, et al., 2007). The research shows that the new world has changed the marketers now they are dependent on other companies within their homeland or in other nations for their profits (Fellman, 1999). For example the most famous merger is of Disney and Pixar, Cisco and Linksys, eBay and Skype, Microsoft and Yahoo, Google and YouTube, Apple and neXt and JP Morgan Chase. Coca Cola comes in our mind when we talk about best and successful global advertisements. The brand is made from the same formula and sells with same strategy throughout the world. Ethics in visual representation of the advertisement is very important and there is need to understand the issues related to visuals representation (Schroeder Borgerson, 2005). In the study of advertisement strategies of the companies in America, Europe and Asia it is revealed that in order to face the global consumer culture, America and china both have shown similarity in their international advertisements, having the visible western and non western values (Jiang Wei, 2012). Cultural globalization has found everywhere now and it occurs through media that creates homogeneity across the nation. The best example of cultural globalization is coca cola and McDonalds. Media and communication are the integral parts of the globalization and there can be no globalization without them (Movius, 2010). The international marketers are facing issues regarding the set standard of advertisement in the age of globalization. Jiang Wei, (2002) in their studies shows that the companies insight creative strategies in their advertisements to have one voice or reliable effect of brands in the global market. History shows that consumption patterns of one nation always influenced the consumption behaviors of the other nation. In modern consumption culture very minute differences found between the products and consumption is differentiated on the basis of the brands names. Consumer culture is global now because of the link between the culture and identity of the individual. Capitalism has changed the self images of the people and alters them into consumers. The current study of consumption shows that that the consumer culture should be conducted systematically based on technical level as well (Miller Rose, 1997). There is a need to better understand the lives of the consumers or the ways in which they manage their identities through consumer subculture (Schouten Mcalexander, 1995). Mooij, (2011) argued that the consumption patterns of people are local, the brands and products can be global but people and their motive to buy such brands are not global. The study of indian culture shows that decisions related to consumptions are not made alone, they are closely related to the values and cultural loyalty. The process of globalization has made culture as an important issue which needs to be handle properly because conumption pattterns of the people and their cultural values both have greater impact on the marketing decision making (Banerjee, 2008). Globalization has increased the cultural convergence by means of technology, media and trade between the nations. Globalization makes the culture to come together and have some similar tastes in life and music and technology. The process of having similar norms and values is most common in teenagers. Teens around the world whether they are in America, Africa or Asia, watch the same channels and advertisements and the most important their access to internet develops the similar consumption patterns in them (Mooij, 2011). Cultural convergences has created more job opportunities for the people and saved many cultures. The study shows that due to globalization, marketization of the culture is very important for the survival of any culture which gives them an identity and save them (Howes, 1996). Although globalization has many positive impacts on the quality of life but this also increases the inequality between the nations and even within the countries. Policies are needed in the process of globalization which addresses the processes of production and the ways in which the poor countries connect with the global producers and consumers of the economy (Kaplinsky, 2000). This is not necessary that globalization only leads to the homogeneity of the cultures. There can only be the homogeneity of certain aspects of the society or economy otherwise there cannot be homogeneity among the culture and if this happens it will be very slow to differentiate. Advanced technology has created a difference among the cultures clearly. If we look back to 1960s we see that Asian culture find Americans modern in every aspect of their lives but today communication technology creates a difference. But now they dont find American ideal because of the family decay system. Both cultures can now see the values of each other clearly. (Mishra, 2008).