Considering the relationship between Internet and Globalization
Saturday, February 3rd, 2007 (Posted 17 years, 2 months ago)Technology has radically transformed global culture, and also the way that people are reflecting on that culture. The new political, economic and cultural atmosphere has been illustrated by the concept of Globalization.
Globalization interconnected the world on many different levels, such as the complexification of economic relations and the ‘levelling effects’ (Thanks Ed!) of global culture. The Internet can be seen as a promoter of global culture. In other words, the world is rearranged into ‘networks’ of relationships. In fact, technology plays an important role as it amplifies the mobility of goods, services and so on. Moreover, the effects of distant events like the tsunami in 2004 and the war in Iraq show the other side of globalisation, and its fluidity through new media technology.
From a certain critical point of view, Globalization and the Internet are illustrated as a new Imperialism as they are symbolic of the west and they accelerate homogeneity (i.e. people all download the same music from the Internet and wear the same brands). In this respect, the Internet is described as an enormous supermarket whose duty is to dominate ‘the other’ by using high technology. Of course, this does not only apply to products , but also involves the cultural industry. However, there are some who hold optimistic views on this issue since each individual can possibly produce any kind of techno-culture and also ‘use the net to achieve greater control over globalizing influences’ (J. Slevin) in this public sphere.
The Internet itself may be seen as an invention for accommodating citizen’s needs in contemporary society. Globalization has been criticised as one of the outcomes of it. Some may consider Gobalization as the inevitable outcome while others may see it as an accidental phenomenon. Instead of defining the essence of this issue, we had better focus on its possibilities in the future.