Cultural globalization and cultural identity
On December 15, 2006 in “Noravank” Foundation was held a seminar on the subject of “Cultural globalization and cultural identity”. Hrach Bayadyab was the speaker of the seminar.
H. Bayadyan pointed out that globalization supposes formation of global culture, which may be elite and mass. Most of the researchers consider cultural globalization to be the manifestation of Americanization and mcdonaldization of the world’s culture. From the other hand, it is spoken about localization of culture and its complicated and unpredictable process. As a rule, the exported culture faces confrontation and transformation and, at last, is adapted to local realities, in some cases furthering revival of local traditions.
Cultural globalization is inseparable of the consumer logic. Spread of mass culture supposes globalization of consumption and formation of consumption behavior all over the world. One may say that consumption is the ideology of cultural globalization.
According to the researchers, globalization is threatening to destroy the present civilization picture of the world and puts a number of ideas and conceptions under question, including the conceptions of national state and national identity. Some theorists already speak about the sunset of national state and post national era.
There were presented the new realities which appeared after the collapse of the Soviet Union that allowed us to have an idea about the challenges facing “the identity of national culture”. In this case it is not merely the issue of new identity, but also the one of the idea of identity’s new paradigm. H. Bayadyan pointed out the factors characteristic to the process of cultural globalization in Armenia. One of them is the differences of principal character between the modernization of Soviet phase and present process of globalization.
The speaker singled out the three stages characterizing cultural changes in post Soviet period. The first stage is the one of information and communication technologies. It is impossible to imagine globalization without computer technologies and global nets of communication. From the other hand it is not possible to imagine up-to-date culture without information and communication technologies, and internet is today’s most powerful cultural technology. Information capabilities of society are the most important guarantors of cloture’s transformation and revival. The second one is the recent transformation of Yerevan’s territory. After “cold and dark” years in 1990s, which may be called deurbanization, city reurbanization is now in process. The constriction of the city center, formation of the new social territory, stratification of society and spread of consumerism are the manifestations of this process. The third stage is electronic and printed information sources, commercialization of the latter, formation of entertainment culture etc. The seminar held not without active discussions.
