What is Globalization?   LYUKE 려가

 1. Summary

Globalization is commonly simplified as worldwide economic integration, but this is a narrow and misleading view. In essence, globalization is a multidimensional social process encompassing economic, political, technological, and cultural spheres, whose core feature is the unprecedented acceleration and intensification of global connectivity.

The crucial point is that globalization is not an abstract economic force imposed upon our lives. Instead, it is constituted and driven by the everyday practices and choices of countless individuals. For example, our decisions about which international brands to buy, which media to use for information, and how to communicate with people afar—these seemingly minor "moments of culture" actively participate in building and maintaining the networks of globalization. Therefore, culture is not a passive recipient of globalization but its active co-producer.

A significant transformation brought about by globalization is "deterritorialization." This signifies that culture, social relations, and economic activities are increasingly detached from their original geographical territories. We can find global foods in our local supermarkets and follow distant events in real-time through the news, integrating remote connections into our daily lives. However, this does not mean the disappearance of local culture; on the contrary, local distinctiveness is often reinforced and expressed in new ways within a global context.

Ultimately, globalization does not create a single, homogeneous global culture. Instead, it fosters greater cultural hybridization and pluralized identities. An individual's identity is no longer confined to a single, innate label but becomes a flexible "repertoire of identities" that one can switch between or blend, navigating local and global affiliations in different contexts.

 2. An Interesting Point

A fascinating and counter-intuitive perspective is that globalization does not destroy identity; rather, it creates and proliferates it.

The traditional worry is that globalization erases unique cultural identities. However, a more accurate view sees 'identity' itself as a modern category that globalization brings to the forefront. In a world of intensified interactions, the question "Who am I?" becomes more complex and open to negotiation. Rather than possessing one fixed identity, individuals now manage a portfolio of affiliations (e.g., ethnic, professional, religious, global-citizen). This explains the paradox of why intense ethnic or religious identity politics often emerge alongside globalization—it is a process that multiplies the sources and expressions of belonging, rather than eliminating them.

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