When will culture globalize

By Joshua Elmore:

As of right now the only interactions that are truly global are economic and political. Regardless of the forces that drive our interconnected economy, culture seems to operate independently of global trends.

Most of the first world adopts similar consumer products that aid in streamlining perception but do not integrate fundamental differences in cultural practices.

The Converse Chuck Taylor All Star shoe, also known as Chucks, signifies youth and adventurism in America, and even within this context the shoe has multiple meanings within subcultures.

Mostly identified through musical taste, dirty Chucks say you like rock ‘n’ roll, while clean ones say you like hip hop.

This is a generalization but the point is that even within one culture single items can mean different things to different people.

However, differences of opinion have not kept large populations from uniting to form the massive societies we recognize today.

It was not long ago that the American Civil War divided people by their fundamentalist ideas of society.

Today there are still differences but those differences are part of what would be considered an aspect of American culture.

The differences are what make such large systems work. Progression would cease if there were no alternate perceptions of the same issues.

Global integration of cultural differences could form a generalized ideology that excludes bias.

This does not mean that individual groups would not be bias. Only that if all positions were considered, then the system would not be.

Without bias a global society would be capable of objective problem solving. The world’s vast cultural reservoir would make this possible.

Today many issues expand beyond borders, while consensus seems remote and difficult to attain. In many cases it is the lack of influence between countries that concepts like climate change are approached with caution.

As single nations, most countries have found common places from which they can approach policy. Problems are solved, decisions are made and progression takes place. This process of policy creation and consensus building will inevitably come to incorporate global issues more frequently.

A step in the right direction is to find commonplaces within every culture to encourage engagement.

Foreign policy leaders should incorporate their citizens and encourage their participation. The sense of pride many citizens feel for their country needs to be expanded to a global pride.

National pride and collectiveness makes people feel connected to those around them. If communication and similarities between populations became more widely acknowledged feelings of connection would result.

Many cultures are very old and have refined the ways in which they view the world, but cultural understanding can be a powerful tool when used to approach new issues.

As progress speeds up, humanity will experience many new issues. The best solutions should include the refined perspectives available from all cultures.