Catarina Santos

John Jordan
AEAD-402-11-Persuasive Essay 1- Draft2
05 August 2014
Globalization and Culture

Christine is living in Brazil, but her parents had been living on Spain and her
grandparents lived in Italy. She knows how to cook native foods from these three
countries and speaks three languages. This kind of situation has been happening
frequently in our globalized world. Nowadays, people have been influenced by foreign
cultures and traditions. The mix of cultures caused by globalization is very common and
affects everyone. People are concerned about others world and acquire knowledge
about it. Some people believe that the contact with other cultures can annihilate some of
them. However, globalization is beneficial to the world culture for three reasons such as
spreading the old cultures, creating new cultures and enriching the existing ones.
The first factor that makes globalization favorable to culture is the expansion of
old cultures. When people have contact with foreign ones they learn about cultures that
have been existing. According to Ma (2008) in Paths of Globalization: From the
Berbers to Bach, globalization doesnt destroy cultures, but it helps to fortify and
spread traditions that have been present for many years. In other words, globalization
positively affects cultures by making them stronger and familiar. Old cultures will
remain known if it is spread. For example, people from Brazil remains doing old
tradition parties and activities because the increase of the interest of foreign people in
knowing our culture. The interaction between different cultures influenced by
globalization has had positive results.
The creation of new cultures is another reason why globalization has been
positively affecting cultures. People started to know other cultures and put traditions
together, making a unique and new culture. The article Globalization and Local
Culture (n.d) by The Levin Institute explains that the openness to foreign values has
brought changes in natives cultures through exchanges of goods and services. In other
words, the contact with nonnative cultures is a factor that makes changes in local
cultures. This type of modifications influences the formation of a new culture with
exclusive characteristics. For example, Brazil was colonized for a European country and
received immigrants from the entire world. It made Brazil a country with an exotic and
mixed culture, which has characteristics from each part of world. The new cultures
formed by globalization expansion are beneficial for the world because they can fit our
new necessities.
The last factor that shows the benefits of globalization to culture is the
enrichment of current cultures. The exchange of knowledge brings a fill of each culture.
According to Ma (2008) in Paths of Globalization: From the Berbers to Bach, each
culture is product of an interference and every culture offers a precious knowledge. In
other words, it is very important to the development of each culture to be influenced by
another one. For example, Native Americans have had contact with Hispanic people
through of immigration, which brought the adoption of some Hispanic customs. When
two traditions are together, the knowledge is shared and constructive customs can be
learned. It is useful to each culture evolution to have contact with another one and catch
some values.

Many people think that globalization negatively affects local cultures for a
variety of reasons. According to the Levin Institute (n. d.) in the article Globalization
and Local Culture, globalization leads to a homogenization and an Americanization of
world cultures. However, this argument is irrelevant because globalization influences in
a mix of cultures not in a homogenization. Globalization acts like a way where people
meet another tradition and insert it in their culture. For example, Ma (2008) gives an
example of one dance which was originated in North Africa and was adapted from
many countries. They made changes in that dance according to their values and
traditions, and their culture was enriched. In addition, Hastings et all (2003) in The
Deadly Noodle argues that globalization negatively influences food habits. This
argument is true but weak because people who are induced by the global food habits
still have their own food culture. For example, people from China who eat American
food remain eating Chinese food. They acquired some habits from another culture, but
their traditions continue strong. Also, Ma (2008) contends that these interactions make a
culture richer. Every piece of one belongs to all of them.
In conclusion, globalization has many positive effects in the world cultures. It
fortifies the old one, builds new cultures and makes ample the existing ones. The
expansion of globalization can strongly bring benefits for all the global culture. There
wont be an annihilation of existing ones if there are many benefits for then.
Globalization is a powerful tool to make our world connected and concerned about the
entire world.


Reference
Hastings, M. ,Thiel,S. , & Thomas, D. (2008, January 20). The deadly noodle.
Newsweek, 141, 3.
Ma, Y. (2008, Spring). Paths of globalization: from the Berbers to Bach. New
perspectives Quartely.
The Levin Institute (n. d.). Globalization and local culture. Retrivied from
http:// www.globalization101.org/issue_main/culture/