Essay Sample on Global Cultural Economy: Disjunction and Difference

Introduction

The 21st century has been characterized by globalization, bringing humans together in all aspects of life. These aspects include political, cultural, and economic integrations. Economic integration is concerned with the growing interdependence of world economies. In the article, "Disjunction and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy," by Arjun Appadurai, he identifies a model that explains the global cultural economy. The essay will show how the concepts of the 1990 article explain the global economic practices and policies in the 21st century.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

In the article, Appadurai argues that people used to see the world in binary form; East vs. West or First world vs. Third world. However, in the age of globalization, people influence each other, and cultures overlap and intersect many times. Culture flows in the world through the five dimensions; mediascapes which affects the way people understand the world, ethnoscapes which include migration of people, technoscapes which consist of adopting modern technology, financescapes representing rapid movement of money across borders and ideoscape which refers to the spread of ideas and narratives around the globe (Appadurai, 1990). The five dimensions help to explain the flow of cultures in our contemporary society. Tzanelli uses the case of the Olympic games to show how different scapes support cultural transfers (Tzanelli, 2011)

Also, the article argues how the five dimensions overthrow the notions of separate economies and pure capitalism. The aspects cause disorganized capitalism in the world, which includes different and disjointed operations of the economy and culture. Hence, it is crucial to understand the dimensions to create a thriving global economy (Appadurai, 1990). In modern times, the organized interaction of capital and labor has broken down due to economic restructuring. Economic and political disorganization has encouraged the growth of post-modern culture (Oxford University Press, 2019).

Appadurai does not believe the 5 Scapes theory would cause homogenization, which would involve the global culture becoming one. The author thinks people spend much time worrying about homogenization, but that cannot happen because of the existence of other different beliefs (Appadurai, 1990). Also, different groups change the perception they adapt to suit their purposes, in the process of indigenization. Culture flows globally rather than homogenizing and being uni-directional (Ortiz-Ospina, 2017). Local cultures affect neighboring cultures.

References

Appadurai, A. 1990. Disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy. Duke University Press.

Ortiz-Ospina, E. 2017. Is globalization an engine of economic development? , Available at< https://ourworldindata.org/is-globalization-an-engine-of-economic-development > Accessed January 2, 2020

Oxford University Press. 2019. Disorganized capitalism. [online] (Updated 22 Dec.2019), Available at <https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/sociology-and-social-reform/sociology-general-terms-and-concepts-54> Accessed January 2, 2020.

Tzanelli, R. 2011. Cultural Flows. In: Southern, D. (Ed.) Encyclopaedia of consumer culture. (pp. 384-386). Los Angeles: SAGE.