Globalisation: Dimensions and Origins Contextualising Globalisation, Culture and Lifestyle Lecture 1 Daniel Turner and Jenny Flinn

Globalisation “the vague concept that is the buzzword of our time” (Steger, 2003, p1) “an awful and ugly word, bound up in complex processes and aspects of social change but also theoretical trends and fashions” (Miles, 2001:143) But: “the primal force in social change” (Miles, 2001:144) So 3 questions… What is globalisation? Where did it come from? Why is it important for study?

Globalisation: Origins Key factors leading to ‘globalisation’ Steady advance of travel technologies Expansion of global trade, international relations and economic migration Invention of ‘time’ Steady advance of communication technology Capitalism’s drive for profit Locating globalisation ‘processes unfolding for millennia’ (Steger, 2003:18) Spread of Christianity (Held, 2000) Industrial revolution and British colonialism (Giddens, 1990) Post-industrial revolution

Understanding Globalisation “What really distinguishes globalisation from what has gone before is the truly global impact of communication and transport which have increased the speed and volume of images, symbols, people and goods. No state is disconnected.” (Held et al, 1999) “the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa” (Giddens, 1991) “The compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole” (Robertson, 1992) ‘borderlessness’ (Urry, 1990)

Globalisation: Dimensions Steger (2003) – 4 dimensions of globalisation Political: growth of cross-national political organisations and the increasing interrelatedness of nation states Economic: growth of multi-national organisation and corporations, growth of interdependent economic policy Ideological: neo-liberalism dominance(?), triumph of markets over governments, West versus Islam, hegemony Cultural: intensification and expansion of cultural flows across the globe, the symbolic construction, articulation and dissemination of meaning, homogenisation versus hybridization

Globalisation: Significance Growth of a global ‘politic’ around culture, sport, health, events and tourism Issues of identity in a global community Changes in professional practice and organisational operations in a global marketplace and global factory Globalisation impacts of the Cultural Industries at levels of production, consumption and regulation.