Globalization

The term globalization is intended to convey a specific idea and a particular concept about the workings of modern capitalism and about the nature of international relations that animates this perspective on capitalism and its functioning. At its simplest, the concept of globalization is captured in the metaphor of the global village. Inherent in this concept is the idea that technological innovations, the availability of affordable travel, the flow of global capital, and the ubiquity of the mass media have resulted in a world that is significantly interconnected; it is thought that the result is a “hybridizing” cultural mixture that gives rise to innovative cultural forms and an equalizing of opportunities for trade, travel, and other forms of cultural exchange among all people across the globe.

This is an optimistic conceptualization of globalization, and many scholars, particularly those who study culture from a critical perspective, are more sober and guarded in their evaluation and analysis of globalization and its impact. Postcolonial scholar Bill Ashcroft argues that the discourse of globalization finds its genesis in and is grounded in the much more complex and widely analyzed discourse of modernity. Drawing on Ashcroft's argument, the concept of modernity had its origins in ideas and philosophies arising out of 16th-century Europe. Building on the cultural and economic energy linked to the discovery of the “New World” by Europeans, the idea of the inevitable forward trajectory of human social organization and the desirability of economic development became truisms that took on the status of a mantra.

From this perspective, the concept of modernity became linked to the idea of progress as represented by increasing technological innovation. Technologically advanced societies were seen as civilized, and this form of human social organization was understood to be far superior to alternative visions of human social systems. More specifically, those societies that were deemed pre-modern or “traditional” were seen as primitive and uncivilized. These societies were also seen as prisoners of the past. Linked to this conception of human development was the ideal of the superiority of logic and reason as sources for understanding the nature of the physical world and the known universe.

Ashcroft argues that the concept of modernity is primarily about conquest and control of land, of ideas, and of people. In linking the concept of [Page 312]modernity to the colonial domination of European powers, Ashcroft sets the stage for thinking about globalization as a modern synonym for a form of imperialism—a controversial perspective. What is clear is that the discourse of modernity found its most salient construction in bifurcated discourses where Europe was seen as modern and advanced and non-European societies were seen as static and underdeveloped. Capitalism, therefore, became the economic discourse most often associated with modernity. The flow of cultural production also became an important concept associated with the economic discourse. Built into these ideas is a focus on the superiority of materialism as a representation of human progress and sophistication. A problematic offshoot of these perspectives, Ashcroft argues, is the fact that these discourses of modernity naturalized the unequal power relations between Western Europe and the nations it colonized. A logic developed that argued that the differences between Western and non-Western societies were the difference between innovation, creativity, hard work, and talent.

...