Fate of Our Peoples

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/11/07/ww.lifeoutsourcing/index.html?iref=newssearch

Nothing says globalization more than outsourcing. We talked in class about the two main possibilities that globalization brings about: Hybridization, where cultures mix and the citizens living within those cultures take what they like about each, and Homogenization, where identities converge and cultures become a nearly unrecognizable mix. Outsourcing takes this type of thinking to an entire different level. Not only are cultures coming together and mixing though the sharing of ideas and products, but, as the article states, Westerners are relying on Asia to be personal assistants, in charge of making their schedule, performing their searches, and even teaching their children. All ideas, whether they pertain to work, home life, or one’s hobbies, are first viewed and criticized by an assistant thousands of miles away. There is no better example of globalization than instant feedback and advice from a mind raised and currently active in an entirely different to one’s own. This travels far beyond Hybridization or even Homogenization. All decisions made by certain people in this rapidly Homogenizing culture are first even further mixed by being viewed through the filter of the one culture which may be becoming more of a thoroughly mixed combination of East and West than our own. While with certain decisions, such as the example of outsourcing the buying of shoes, may not seem too severe, one must realize that having someone else perform your searches for you or make your itinerary takes away a lot of the decision making process that one’s culture conditions them to have. Results which one culture would simply toss aside as irrelevant are suddenly brought to the forefront by another. While this may cause for some inconvenience, it does naturally lead to the broadening of ideas though the further mixing of cultures. However, this broadening is the same everywhere, and soon one could conceive the possibility of a global hive-mind, where everyone reacts the same to a certain situation and culture matters for nothing because all peoples from all regions think the same.

A few years ago I read “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman. Among other issues, this book dealt with the increasingly “flattening” of the world due to technologies that mixed cultures to the point of being nearly unrecognizable. At the pace we’re going, I believe we’re not too far from a world where culture matters little, if at all, and soon ideas stemming from all places around the world will be uniform, from fashion to food preparation to the way business is conducted.