19 Microsoft PowerPoint - MonoCulture Against

							It is our ethnic and cultural diversity
— our differences in language,
customs, and beliefs — that provide
the strength, resiliency, and creativity
of our species.
                   - Octavio Paz
       A Definition Teaser
• Globalization: a modern phenomenon
  involving rapid movement of goods,
  capital, and information—key conduits
  being global media and the internet
                 --------------
• Global culture: a product of globalization,
  it describes a single culture shared by the
  First World
                 --------------
• Local culture: indigenous cultures with
  society-specific ways of living
         Terms from False Dawn
• Enlightenment: Philosophy from the 18th century in Europe that held
  reason and scientific proofs as the basis of truth. Empirical,
  materialistic outlook on life
• 'Washington consensus' : Economic globalization as preached by
  the IMF and the WTO, a shorthand term for liberalized markets,
  open borders and free trade.
• . A diversity of cultures was not a permanent condition of human life.
  It was a stage on the way to a universal civilization. - Discuss
• “Utopia”: A perfect world. In Gray’s case a world of economic
  freedom and prosperity.
• Wherever deregulated markets are promoted in late modern
  societies they engender new varieties of capitalism.

• anarcho-capitalism: uncontrolled capitalism breeding
  social chaos. A made-up word that Gray uses.
             Monoculture
• The Monoculture has also been called the
  “megaculture” or the “McWorld” Culture. It
  is that homogeneous, all pervasive junk
  culture that many of us feel is inescapable.
  The culture of consumerism and
  consumption, the culture that makes us
  listen to the same music, wear the same
  clothes, watch the same entertainment
  and even have the same morals. It is the
  end of diversity.
  Monoculture caused by massive advances in
technology that allow us to communicate to other
        cultures cheaply and efficiently.
          Where are we?

Tradition                Modernity
Family                   The Individual
Values                   Reason/Logic
Diversity                Homogeneity
Creativity               Empiricism
Qualitative              Quantitative
Holism                   Specialization
Revelation               Explanation


  Indeed, things are a-changin’.
    Globalization and Capitalism

• Globalization primarily stemmed from:
  – A desire for liberalization of political
    systems
  – A desire for expanded markets
     • A liberalization of controlled economies
     • Greater access to liberal economies


• In the vein of real politik: if it is in the
  economic interest of the state, it is in
  the interest of the state
                       A Focus
• The side effects of capitalism are neatly codified in the
  aspects of sustainability:
    – Ecology
    – Economy
    – Society
• Environment and economy are discussed at length, while
  major societal issues (like cultural erosion) go largely
  overlooked
• Why does this happen?
    Globalization: Culturally
Effective, Politically Ineffectual




• Not only driving the growth of a global
  monoculture and detrimental to the
  character and welfare of local cultures, but
  also a lacking in political efficacy
   Global Culture Doesn’t Mean
         Global Freedom




– Instead of global freedom, there has developed a global
  market which has in turn developed a global culture
   • Ex. Laotian internet café
       – Internet politically impotent, but economically fruitful
   • Yahoo! and AOL both have censored news content “to
     please authoritarian regimes like China”
   • Third World labor; another example
                         http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?pt=Fh6wK8Mt2hAwTIAacKwqLD==
              A Global Monoculture
• “First World tastes and
  wants are exported,
  profitably, to the Third.
  The Third World is merely
  a consumer-market for
  things Western.”

• “In the face of the global
  power of modern
  communications and
  capital, ‘Little Traditions’
  are…very fragile, their
  religions…vulnerable to the
  onslaught of high-tech
  Christian fundamentalism
  funded by millions of
  dollars.”

(Ske lton)
     An Incan Parallel

“…the indigenous peoples of South America
continue to be assimilated into white-
dominated national cultures as their
traditional ways of life and homelands are
being destroyed by over-population growth
and industrial development.”

                     (http://www.indigenouspeople.net/americas/southam)
The Grand Subtext of Globalization

Unique and therefore
inherently valuable
societies’ entire ways of
living (culture) are
subverted into a mass
produced (and consumed)       F DA
global porridge

It becomes a global
homogenization or
assimilation of once very
rich societies into a grand
fondue melting pot of
Grade A, FDA-inspected
cheese
The Crystal Ball of Global
      Implications
     What will it all mean?
Extinction of local cultures and subsequent
rise of a global culture

Rise in wealth and power of commercial
giants

A growing disparity between the rich and the
poor intra-First World

An ever-growing disparity between those
patrons of the First World monoculture and
those who manufacture the monoculture’s
goods