Globalization Keeps on Spreading...

In this week’s readings, John Sinclair states, in “Globalization, Supranational Institutions, and Media” that the basis of globalization is the control of time and space, and that the media is the channel through which this control is achieved. This is why communication plays a central role in the globalization movement. Through the media we can communicate with people across the globe, through: cell phones, internet, radio, television… there are so many new forms of communication every day; it is a constantly changing and evolving area. Through these types of media is that globalization has penetrated many countries, but television has been the most influential in spreading the cultural aspect of globalization. This is how the cultural fusion or hybridity occurs. You can practically view any channel you want, no matter what country transmits it. We can see hybridity of cultures in movies and television shows, there is always some cultural aspects not only from the country of origin but from other countries and cultures as well in these programs or films, which reach a wide variety of viewers.

Sinclair also talks about Doreen Massey’s view of this movement, which I found to be very accurate. She points out that “globalization is a highly relative phenomenon, but the ideological discourse about it talks as if everyone on the planet is both participating in and benefiting from it”. I think this is true, most theorists simply assume that since globalization is being most widely transmitted by the media or some form of communication system, that everyone on earth is part of it. What about the people and countries in the world that don’t have satellite radio, that don’t have televisions with a million channels to watch, that don’t have access to the internet or do not know how to use it? Not everyone has the same opportunities to be involved in the globalization process.

Finally, globalization has its pros and cons, the appearance of global corporations, the weakened nation-states, the increase of cultural fusion, access to new technologies, to mention a few, and to keep up we must constantly change and adapt. The influences of other cultures, communicating with people from different nationalities, learning to use new technologies are all of this is part of this movement. This new phenomenon is using the media to spread its control to every inch of the globe.