Culture in a Globalizing World

In this chapter, debates regarding cultural heterogeneity and homogeneity are considered, and the argument is made that there is a conflict or tension between impersonal forces and creative, aesthetic impulses that can never be entirely contained. Even if many of the cultural objects that we consume in our globalizing world are created and disseminated by transnational corporations which operate on the basis of the logic of profit, these objects, whether films, books, songs or television programmes, are cultural objects, they have aesthetic properties which are interpreted and evaluated by consumers and audiences in very different ways. These properties enable them to escape the confines of mere product, imbuing even the most commercial cultural object with at least a dash of ambiguity. Furthermore, as will be demonstrated in Chapter 7. even the most commercial cultural objects may need to be ‘glocaiized’ in order to travel successfully across borders and to be adopted by consumers.