Blog 2: Cultural Globalization--Hong Conghui

1.What I Learned from the Reading

This article helped me understand “cultural globalization” more clearly. It is not only about how culture spreads to other countries. The article also talks about how culture and globalization affect each other. We may think that globalization brings food, music, movies, or brands from different countries to the rest of the world, so culture is just something influenced by globalization. But the author explains that culture can also affect globalization. The choices people make every day, such as what clothes they like, what brands they buy, or what kind of lifestyle they choose, may seem very normal, but they are also related to globalization.

The article also asks whether globalization will slowly make cultures in different countries become the same. Today, we can see the same international brands in many countries, and it is easy to find movies, music, and food from other countries. But seeing or using the same things does not mean that everyone will have the same culture. People can use the same products but understand and accept them in different ways because of their own cultural backgrounds. So, even though cultures are becoming more connected, their original characteristics do not simply disappear.

The article also talks about “deterritorialization.” I think this idea is easier to understand through everyday life. In the past, culture was more closely connected to a certain place. But now, because of the Internet, media, and travel, we can experience cultures from faraway places even when we stay where we live. For example, we do not have to actually visit another country. We can watch videos or movies from that country on our phones, listen to its music, or see what is happening there. This already gives us a chance to experience different cultures. The culture we experience every day is no longer only from the place where we live. We are also influenced by cultures from many different countries and regions. But this does not mean that local cultures will be replaced. Different places still have their own unique cultural characteristics.

2.What I Found Interesting

I found the part about whether globalization will make cultures in different places become more similar very interesting. Today, it is easy for people to see what is popular in other countries, and many people are influenced by current trends. I think this can make different countries become more similar in some ways.

Clothing styles are a clear example. I often see different fashion trends online, and if I see a style that I think looks good, I also want to buy something similar and try it. When people in different countries can see similar trends online, the clothes and styles they like may slowly become more similar. We can also see this in music. Many K-pop songs include English words or sentences, but when I listen to them, I do not think there is anything unusual about it. I also do not pay much attention to where the English comes from and usually focus more on the song itself. For me, seeing different cultures together like this has already become very normal.

However, I do not think these changes mean that cultures in different places will eventually become completely the same. Things like clothing and music can be easily influenced by popular trends, but deeper cultural habits and ways of life are not so easy to change. People may like similar clothes and listen to similar music, but they still keep many of their original habits in daily life. So I think globalization may make us look more similar in some ways, but this does not mean that the cultural differences between different places will disappear.

3.A Question for Discussion

This also made me think about whether our own preferences are influenced by globalization and popular trends. Today, we can see many things from different countries on the Internet every day, and a popular clothing style, song, or brand can be seen by many people in a short time. When we keep seeing the same thing, we may become more familiar with it and slowly start to think that it looks good or seems interesting.

I am also influenced by this. Sometimes, when I first see a popular clothing style, I do not really like it that much. But after seeing it many times online, I may slowly start to think it looks pretty good, and I may even want to try it myself. I find this change interesting because in the end, I really do feel that I like it, but it is hard for me to know whether I like it completely because of my own taste, or because I have seen it more and more and also seen more people liking it.

So, the question I want to discuss is: When something becomes more and more popular, do we really like it ourselves, or do we slowly start to like it because we are influenced by popular trends?

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