General culture

Culture can be defined as the way of life of a group of people, including their behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them. It encompasses language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music, arts, and other shared patterns of behaviors and interactions that are learned by socialization. Culture is passed down from generation to generation and can be seen as the growth of a group identity fostered by social patterns unique to the group. It includes codes of manners, dress, language, religion, rituals, and art. Culture is a collective set of beliefs, values, and norms that define how a society is and how it lives, including the spoken and unspoken tacit norms that bind people together. Culture is also the artifacts that people produce, which represent their values and ways of thinking about the world. Culture is a complex whole that includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by humans as members of society

How does globalization affect culture?

Globalization has a significant impact on culture, and the following are some of the ways it affects culture:

1. Standardization of cultural expressions: Cultural globalization leads to the standardization of cultural expressions around the world, as influenced by the diffusion of commodities and ideas. This phenomenon reflects the homogenizing influences of globalization, which create a trend toward cultural uniformity that could eventually make human experience everywhere essentially the same.

2. Emergence of global subcultures: Although homogenizing influences exist, they are far from creating anything akin to a single world culture. Some observers argue that a rudimentary version of world culture is taking shape among certain individuals who share similar values, aspirations, or lifestyles. The result is a collection of elite groups whose unifying ideals transcend geographical limitations.

3. One world culture: There is no reason to rule out a “one world” culture, and in some respects, we are already well on the way. However, at first, these factors will cause people to pull back from whatever level of cultural ‘scaling’ they have achieved to the previous level. An example is the nations of the European Union squabbling over national versus EU rights and privileges. A more troubling example might be the rise of nationalist groups and political parties, such as Marine le Pen’s Front National in France, or similar far-right groups in Britain and several European nations.

4. Conformity, passivity, political apathy, racism, and violence: The globalization of products, coming primarily from the West, has led to the homogenization of cultures, which can cause conformity, passivity, political apathy, racism, and violence.

5. Cultural identity: Globalization changes and alters cultural identity in dialogue with other cultures that people come across through economic and political relations5. People's cultural identity is not static, but it changes and adapts to new circumstances.

Globalization has both positive and negative effects on culture. It can lead to the standardization of cultural expressions, the emergence of global subcultures, and a one-world culture. However, it can also cause conformity, passivity, political apathy, racism, and violence. Globalization changes and alters cultural identity in dialogue with other cultures that people come across through economic and political relations.