Globalization and Culture – A Study Paper

This is the fourth of four papers developed by the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) and made available to the church for study, reflection and feedback on issues related to globalization and international trade and the church's advocacy on trade issues in the public arena. In this paper, Ruy Costa examines the impact of globalization upon various cultures.

Globalization and Culture addresses the cultural exchanges that accompany the globalization of markets with the expansion of financial systems, means of communication, movements of people and radical changes in global geo-politics. Working assumptions about culture are teased out by introductory remarks on language, values and philosophy. Then, concepts emerging in the studies and debates over the impact of globalization on culture(s) are organized around the notion that the economic exchanges promoted by the globalization of the economy are accompanied by a cultural exchange in which the developed nations import greater cultural diversity from around the globe while exporting to the developing nations the cultural habits of production and consumption of the developed world. Some celebrate this exchange as progress; yet, others raise concern about certain values that are exported by the developed nations. One example is the globalization of time pressures that characterize the industrial and postindustrial organization of work and renders traditional practices like a common day of rest and worship unpractical for too many people.