The document discusses how globalization can both positively and negatively impact cultural diversity. On one hand, it allows for the spread of ideas and self-representation of cultures. However, it can also encourage the dominance of Western culture and loss of local languages and traditions through economic and technological forces. There is a debate around whether globalization leads to more cultural homogenization or heterogeneity globally.

1. Cultural Diversity and
Homogenization through
Globalization

2. Cultural Diversity
Is ethnic, gender, racial, and socioeconomic
variety.

3. With the unparalleled acceleration of labor,
capital, and information mobility in the age of
globalization, local cultures, languages and
national identities either influence or become
influenced by other worldviews and expressive
forms, resulting in massive cultural
homogenization.

4. Cultural Homogenization
Is an aspect of cultural globalization, listed as
one of it’s main characteristics, and refers to the
reduction in cultural diversity through the
popularization and diffusion of a wide array of
cultural symbols – not only physical objects but
customs, ideas and values.

5. Developing countries that are at the receiving
end of these global transactions yield to cultural
erosion.

6. The discourse regarding the effects of
globalization on cultural diversity is a
challenging debate. The advancement of
technology dissolves international boundaries
and opens cultures to a whole new arena (Smith,
2000), enabling globalization to occur.

7. There is a paradoxical dichotomy, a tangible
undercurrent, when it comes to globalization
and cultural diversity. On one hand,
globalization has the potential to mobilize and
empower people, provide a means for self-
representation, support a collective identity
through socialization and provide employment
opportunities.

8. Negative Influences
There are a number of negative impacts
globalization has had on cultural diversity,
including the influence multinational
corporations have on promoting a consumer
culture, exploitation of workers and markets
and influencing societal values.

9. Loss of individualism and group identity occur
when globalization encourages a ‘Western ideal
of individualism’.

10. The adoption of Western Culture and ideologies
is seen as many computer-mediated technologies
are developed, marketed and processed via
western markets.

11. Not having access to technologies that are
present in the classroom, combined with an
education system geared toward the dominant
society can be a lethal combination for non-
dominant cultures. The present education, legal
and power structures reflect western ideas and
philosophies.

12. Globalization allows further colonization which
impacts intellectual property and cultural
rights.

13. Positive Influences
The technological global mecca can be
empowering for various cultures as it allows
self-representation and information sharing on a
whole new level.

14. Instead of destroying some cultures, as others
predicted, mass media assists in the revitalizing
and restoring of cultural preservation of nations
(Ginsburg, 2002).

15. Global technology has provided the opportunity
to redefine collective identity along with
identifying a place for distinctive cultures.
Global social, political and economic networks,
combined with common goals, will no doubt
enable the emerging empowerment among
cultural peoples (Smith, 2000).

16. According to The Endangered Languages
project, 40 percent of the world’s approximate
7,000 languages are at risk of disappearing, and
this threat to language can belinked to economic
globalization.

17. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary
defines culture as the “total pattern of human
behavior and its products embodied in speech,
action, and artifacts and dependent upon man’s
capacity for learning and transmitting
knowledge to succeeding generations”.
Globalization raises the fear that this definition
will have only one pattern to define; that the
resulting absence of cultural diversity will,
without intervention, leave succeeding
generations with nothing but a homogenized,
Westernized culture to inherit.

18. Cultural diversity can be strengthened through
globalization by providing the means and
wherewithal to support cultural groups
attempting to make a difference in society while
still maintaining their distinctive set of beliefs,
practices and values.