What Are Cultural Factors That Promote Caribbean Integration free essay sample

Specialised knowledge of how a product works creates jobs in areas such as information technology (IT) support. multiculturalism the official Australian Government policy of encouraging immigration from diverse, ethnic backgrounds. It also refers to the promotion and encouragement of the retention of ethnic languages and cultures within Australian society. popular culture considered to be more mainstream than ‘high culture’. It is associated with ‘lighter’ forms of entertainment such as sporting events, television programs, comic strips and rock concerts. ationalisation to eliminate what is considered unnecessary, in order to make it more efficient. secular a term meaning ‘non-religious’. sovereignty the supreme and unrestricted power to govern a state. transnational corporations (TNCs) large international companies whose operations take place in both developed and less developed countries; their headquarters are usually located in developed cou ntries. World Bank an international organisation made up of three United Nations (UN) agencies. It provides less developed countries (LDCs) with technical assistance and reconstruction and development finance. Glossary of selected terms deregulation removing government controls and supervision. economic restructuring the significant and enduring changes in the nature and structure of the economy brought about, primarily, by the emergence of the global economy. globalisation the integration of the world’s economy through the mass consumption of mainly Western culture, technology and trade. Globalisation affects economic, political, social, cultural and environmental decision-making. global village a term used to describe how the world appears to be getting smaller through the accessibility of technology—especially technologies that facilitate the transfer of information. Thus, the actions that occur in one corner of the globe can rapidly and significantly affect people elsewhere. high culture incorporates elements of lasting value such as art, literature, theatre, ballet, opera and classical music. Some critics consider its content to be ‘high brow’ or ‘intellectual’ when compared with ‘popular culture’. homogenised a term used to describe when one culture becomes similar to another. intellectual capital using ideas, knowledge or inventions as a means of gaining material wealth through a business What is globalisation? No culture is static. Ideas, technologies, products, and people move from one place to another. When cultures come into contact through migration, trade, or the latest telecommunications devices, they influence each other. Sometimes cultures cross-pollinate, exchange foods, music, sports. At other times, say critics of globalisation, a culture swamps another like an invasive, fast-reproducing weed. Cultures have evolved in response to contact for thousands of years. But the pace has changed. In the past the influences of distant cultures came slowly, delayed by long journeys. Today, because of the telephone, the television, the Internet, telecommunications satellites, world trade, and long-distance travel, cultural influences can spread across the planet as fast as the click of a mouse. It is what happens when you finally get a new job in Brisbane under a new employment contract that lowers your wages and conditions and your boss explains that this is essential to compete with Mexican, or Indonesian, or Chinese, workers. It is what happens when your sister is sacked from her hospital job because of budget cuts by a State Government that defends its actions by saying it must meet the demands of international creditrating agencies for balanced budgets and lower taxes. And it is what happens when you get skin cancer because of the hole in the ozone layer created by chemicals released by refrigerators and aerosol cans all over the world. But globalisation is also what happens when you use the computer at your local library to connect to the Internet and find pages of information from unions and community organisations in England, Mexico or Indonesia, which are trying to link up with workers around the world to stop the driving down of wages and the repression of trade-union activists. Globalisation is what happens when young London musicians of English, Caribbean and Indian desent begin to create new crossrhythms of black reggae, white trance and Hindi rap †¦ And globalisation is also what happens when a child sees photographs of this planet taken from space and realises that the Earth is indeed finite. John Wiseman, Global Nation? Australia and the Politics of Globalisation, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 1998, pp. 13–14 Defining cultural integration Cultural integration is difficult to define because it is made up of many concepts. The idea of a multicultural society reflects cultural integration at work; so too does the idea of the ‘global village’, where, through technology and trade, a seemingly borderless world is created. Cultural integration also concerns the adoption of a mass consumer culture where everything from fashion to sport, music to television, becomes integrated into the national culture, often without challenge. While this may be seen by some as a positive step towards unifying the world, to others, cultural integration is seen as a threat to national sovereignty and cultural diversity. Geographically, where a person lives in the world often determines what part, if any, he or she can play in this globalisation process. What is culture? Even experts struggle to define the word ‘culture’. In a very general sense it can be defined as the ‘way of life’ of a group of people. More specifically culture can be described as the elements of human existence that are passed down from one generation to the next, the product of humanity’s collective intellect and memory. These elements include the traditions, customs, languages, belief systems, art, architecture, music, ood and institutions shared by a particular group of people. It includes the material goods the group creates and uses, and the skills it has developed.