Blogging through Media Trends and Globalization (2025)

1. Summary of Reading 2: Cultural Globalization In Reading 2, John Tomlinson discusses the relationship between culture and globalization. He argues that globalization is not just about economics or technology, but also deeply connected to culture. Culture is both affected by globalization and acts as a key factor shaping global connections. Tomlinson defines globalization as a process of "complex connectivity," which means that our social, material, and everyday lives are tied together through a dense and fast-growing network across international borders.A major part of Tomlinson's argument is clearing up two common misunderstandings about cultural globalization.First, he disagrees with the idea that economic factors completely control culture.He points out that economic choices, like buying consumer goods, are always based on people's cultural lifestyle choices and personal stories. Second, Tomlinson addresses the common fear that globalization is just Western ...

 Link to the advertisement and news report: The Guardian – American Apparel ad banned The advertisement featured a young-looking female model in a series of photographs showing increasing levels of nudity. Although the company stated that the model was 23 years old, the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that she appeared to be under 16 and that the advertisement could be interpreted as sexualizing a child. As a result, the advertisement was banned. Advertisement Analysis Description The advertisement was created by American Apparel and appeared in Vice magazine in 2009. It showed a young-looking female model posing in a series of photographs while wearing a hoodie. In several images, the model was partially undressed and shown in sexually suggestive poses. Although the company claimed that the model was an adult, many viewers believed she looked much younger. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) later banned the advertisement because it was considered inapprop...

  1. Summary Economic globalization is often described as a world run by "placeless" giants, but the reality is much more complex .  Peter Dicken argues that the central actors in this process are Transnational Corporations (TNCs), which he defines as firms that can coordinate and control operations in more than one country, even if they don't own them .  These corporations drive globalization through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which has grown much faster than world trade in recent decades .  Rather than a simple global spread, economic globalization works through "webs of enterprise"—complex production networks that connect different parts of the world but are often concentrated in specific regions like Europe, North America, and East Asia . 2. Interesting and Unusual Points One point I found really surprising is that most "global" corporations aren't actually that global .  Even among the top 100 TNCs, the majority still keep more than half...

  1. Summary Political globalization is much more than just the "decline of the nation-state." According to Delanty and Rumford, it’s a complex process that changes how we organize space and time across national borders. They define it through a "relational dynamic" between three main things: global geopolitics, a global normative culture (like human rights), and polycentric networks. Basically, it means that while the state is still here, it now has to share its power with transnational networks, global movements, and international organizations. It's a shift from traditional national politics to a more "postnational" or "transnational" way of running the world. 2. Interesting and Unusual Points One really interesting point is that political globalization isn't just one single "thing" or "reality," but rather a set of tensions. I found it surprising that the authors don't just focus on big governments; they also t...

  1. Summary The relationship between culture and globalization is not a one-way street where culture simply reacts to external changes; rather, it is a deeply reciprocal and multidimensional process. Tomlinson defines globalization as a "complex, accelerating, integrating process of global connectivity" that links material, social, and economic life across the modern world. Culture acts as the "primordial context" for human agency, providing the socially shared meanings and narratives that make existence purposeful. In this relationship, globalization reaches deep into the local "lifeworld" , while culture simultaneously generates and shapes the globalization process through the small, meaningful actions of individuals, such as consumer choices.   2. Interesting and Unusual Points One of the most counterintuitive arguments in the text is that globalization, rather than merely destroying local traditions, is a primary force in creating and proliferating ...

Summary of the Reading In this reading, the author does not try to give a single and fixed definition of "globalization", but regards it as a multi-dimensional and continuous process of change. The author pointed out that globalization not only occurs in the economic field, but also involves many levels such as politics, culture and society. Therefore, it is an overly narrow view to simply understand globalization as economic integration or market expansion. At the same time, different disciplines, different countries and people from different historical backgrounds have obvious differences in their understanding of globalization, which further shows that globalization is not a state that has been completed and universally recognized, but a process of continuous discussion and re-understanding.  The author also emphasized that when discussing globalization, people tend to pay more attention to structural changes at the macro level, such as the flow of connections, capital and...

  How globalization affects the economy Globalization changed how business works. Companies don't stay in one country anymore. They sell products everywhere. They also make products in different places to save money. Trade between countries grew a lot. Korea exports cars and phones. We import oil and food. Money moves across borders fast. What happens in Wall Street affects the Korean stock market the next day. Your smartphone tells the story Look at your smartphone. It's a perfect example of global economy. The design might come from California. The screen is made in Korea. The camera parts come from Japan. Workers in Vietnam or China put everything together. Then it gets shipped worldwide. No single country makes the whole phone. Each country does what it costs less or what they do best. This is how modern economy works. Everything is connected. The benefits Economic globalization makes things cheaper. Competition between countries keeps prices down. We can buy more st...

  How globalization affects countries Countries used to work alone. Now they have to work together. A problem in one country can spread to others quickly. Think about COVID-19. It started in one place but became everyone's problem in months. Governments can't just think about their own people anymore. What happens in another country matters. The economy is connected. If factories close in China, people in America lose jobs. If Europe makes new rules, companies in Korea have to follow them. Countries form groups to solve problems together. The UN tries to keep peace. The WHO handles health issues. Trade agreements let products move between countries. Governments meet and make decisions that affect millions of people. Climate change as a global issue Climate change shows how politics became global. Pollution doesn't stop at borders. Carbon emissions from China affect the air in Seoul. Forests burning in Brazil impact the whole planet. No single country can fix this alon...

  What is culture? Culture is the way people live. It includes the food we eat, the language we speak, the music we listen to, and the clothes we wear. Culture is also about traditions, holidays, and how we behave with others. Every country has its own culture. Even different cities can have different cultures. For me, culture is what makes a place special. It's the street food in Seoul, the festivals we celebrate, the way we greet each other. Culture is our identity. How globalization changes culture Globalization makes cultures mix together. Now we can watch American movies, listen to K-pop, and eat Japanese food all in one day. Foreign brands are everywhere. Starbucks, Zara, and Netflix exist in almost every country. Sometimes cultures become more similar. Young people around the world wear similar clothes – jeans, sneakers, hoodies. They use the same apps like Instagram and TikTok. They listen to global pop music. But globalization also makes people curious about other cu...

Globalization is basically the world becoming more connected. People, products, and ideas now move across borders much faster than before. It's like the world is getting smaller, even though it's not. Think about your daily life. You probably eat food from different countries – pizza from Italy, tacos from Mexico, or ramen from Japan. You might wear clothes made in Bangladesh or Vietnam. You watch Netflix shows from Korea, America, or Spain. Your phone was designed in California but made in China. This is globalization in action. Why did it happen? Technology changed everything. The internet lets us talk to someone on the other side of the world instantly. Airplanes can deliver packages in days, not months. Companies can now sell their products everywhere. McDonald's is in over 100 countries. K-pop fans exist in every corner of the globe. Information spreads fast through social media. The good side Globalization gives us more choices. We can try new things, learn about...

Summary of the Reading In this reading, the author explores the relationship between culture and globalization, and clearly points out that cultural globalization cannot be simply understood as the becoming more and more the same global culture. Unlike the view of "cultural homogenization" or "Western cultural diffusion", the author pays more attention to how culture is experienced, understood and re-meaninged by people under the background of deepening global connections. From this perspective, cultural globalization is not only reflected in the global dissemination of cultural products such as movies, music or social media, but also in the changes in people's daily life, values and identity. Foreign culture does not simply replace local culture, but interacts, collides and integrates with local culture after entering different social contexts. Therefore, cultural globalization is more like a continuous process. In this process, the meaning of culture is not fi...

Summary of the Reading In this reading, the author discusses the relationship between the economy and globalization, especially focusing on how economic globalization is not an automatic or purely natural process. To be honest, some parts of the reading were quite academic for me, and I could not fully understand every theoretical detail. However, my overall understanding is that economic globalization is mainly driven by specific actors, particularly transnational corporations, rather than by abstract market forces alone. The reading emphasizes that transnational corporations play a central role in shaping global economic integration, but they do not operate in a completely free or detached way. Although these firms invest and produce across borders, their major decisions, headquarters, and research activities are often still connected to their home countries. This challenged my previous assumption that global companies are entirely “rootless.” Instead, the reading suggests that firms...

Summary of the Reading Based on my own understanding, the reading discusses the relationship between politics and globalization as something more complicated than a simple replacement of the nation-state. To be honest, some of the theoretical explanations were difficult for me to fully understand. However, my overall impression is that globalization does not mean the end of politics or the disappearance of states. Instead, it changes the way politics works and the space in which political decisions are made. The author argues that political power has not vanished, but is now spread across different levels. Besides national governments, there are also international organizations such as the United Nations and the European Union, as well as regional and local actors. I may not fully grasp all the details, but it seems that politics today operates on multiple levels at the same time, rather than being limited within national borders. The reading also criticizes the idea that globalization...

  1. What Economic Globalization Means Economic globalization refers to the expansion of trade and capital flows beyond national borders, turning the world into an integrated market. In the past, raw-material extraction, manufacturing, and retail usually happened within a single country. Today, each stage—sourcing resources, producing components, assembling products, and distributing goods—can occur in completely different regions. This shift has accelerated the rise of multinational corporations, which divide production across multiple countries and manage global supply chains. As a result, world economies move less like isolated systems and more like a single interconnected structure. 2. What I Found Surprising as a Consumer One aspect that particularly surprised me is the fact that a single object is actually the result of multiple nations’ resources, labor, and technology. What looks like “just one product” to a consumer like me is, in reality, composed of parts manufactured...

  1. Definition and Context of Political Globalization Political globalization refers to the process in which countries cooperate to address problems that cannot be solved at a national level. Issues like environmental crises, pandemics, and war require multilateral responses, so organizations such as the UN, WHO, and WTO coordinate international communication, negotiate collective decisions, and influence regulatory standards. Events like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia–Ukraine war have shown that no single state can manage global emergencies alone. The Paris Climate Agreement, where nations collectively set carbon-reduction goals, and WHO’s declaration of a public health emergency to standardize global health protocols are typical examples of political globalization. 2. Understanding Cooperation Through the Pandemic The concept of political globalization never felt concrete to me until I thought about the COVID crisis. Countries shared medical data, testing methods, and t...

 The Acceleration of Cultural Globalization and Media Expansion Cultural globalization has accelerated as the Fourth Industrial Revolution has increased the speed of information and communication exchange. Among the different fields affected by globalization, culture seems to be the one changing the fastest and most visibly. In the past, cultural products were mostly consumed within their own national boundaries. Now, stronger global connections allow culture to spread across regions, blend with other influences, and transform into new forms. This cultural flow is not a one-way transmission but an interactive process, and in today’s media-driven environment, global platforms help cultural content circulate at high speed. Some people welcome this change because it promotes cultural development, while others worry that unique traditions may disappear and that culture may become increasingly uniform. The Global Spread of K-Pop and Hybrid Cultural Forms What I found most interesting w...

  1. Summary The economy and globalization are deeply interconnected, making it almost impossible to discuss one without the other. As globalization has advanced, economic activities have increasingly moved across national borders. Production is no longer confined to a single country; instead, goods are often designed, manufactured, and assembled in different places depending on cost, resources, and labor. This shows how national economies are now tied together through global production and trade networks. However, globalization does not mean that states have lost all power. Governments still play an important role by setting labor standards, environmental regulations, and trade policies. At the same time, corporations depend on states for stable infrastructure, legal protection, and skilled workers. This suggests that the relationship between the economy and globalization is not one-sided. Rather, it is a continuous negotiation in which both states and companies influence each oth...

1. Introduction Globalization and the economy are inseparable from each other. This is because the economy is one of the areas that has benefited the most from globalization. Globalization is not simply about cultural exchange. Rather, it can be understood as global economic activity driven by cultural exchange . Recently, an animation film based on K-pop, K-pop Demon Hunters , achieved great success, leading to a sharp increase in tourists visiting Korea and growing global interest in K-pop and Korean culture. As a result, Korea’s economy has clearly benefited as well. This example shows how closely globalization and the economy are connected. 2. How Globalization Changes Economic Activities One of the biggest changes brought about by globalization is in the way goods are produced. Before globalization, everything from raw materials to finished products was usually produced within a single country. However, in the era of globalization, even a single product often passes th...

I used to think that 'political globalization' was a topic for politicians, but after reading the research of delanty and rumford， I realized that it was hidden in discussions on human rights and environmental initiatives. 1、 Personal understanding of the document The most subversive thing about the document is that political globalization is not about "weakening of countries", but a dynamic process of global geopolitics, global normative culture, and multi center networks pulling together. It emphasizes political processes that transcend national borders, as well as the feeling of "time and space being compressed" - for example, a resolution of an international conference can quickly affect ordinary people in different countries. The nation-state has not disappeared, it is just undergoing a 'transformation'. I used to think that globalization would render countries useless, but the document states that the state is still an important force, only to ...

1. Introduction When people think about the relationship between politics and globalization, they often assume that globalization weakens the political power of the nation-state. However, this is not entirely true. Rather, globalization has expanded the scope of politics. Political activity is no longer confined to the stage of a single nation-state but has extended to the global level. International organizations, civil society, and global norms are examples of this transformation. 2. How Does Globalization Transform Political Power? Traditionally, political power referred to the state’s exclusive authority to enforce laws and policies within its own territory. Within this limited space, it was relatively easy for the state to control people and exercise power. However, globalization has changed this situation. Politics no longer remains within national borders, and states must now pay attention to forces beyond their territory. In particular, global media and the public opini...