Globalization of Culture Through the Media -Reader Response Draft 1

The article titled "Globalization of Culture Through the Media" (Kraidy,2002) states that globalization of the culture is supported by the media though there has been a debate about the media influence on globalization. The author discusses different perspectives on the debate, first is cultural imperialism and second is globalization, which occurred after the Cold War. To conclude, the article also explains about cultural hybridization as another form of globalization that largely supported by the media.

I agree with the conclusion of this article, “globalization of culture through media is not a process of complete homogenization, but rather one where cohesion and fragmentation coexist.”. If globalization is a homogenization, the cultures in almost every country will be the same now as the globalization happened in all over the world. But in this world, we can see that it does not happen. Every country still has its own unique and distinct culture, although we cannot deny that it has been changed or reformed because of the effect of globalization.

For example, in some part of Indonesia, people used to eat food using their hand. As globalization came throughout years, the usage of fork and spoon was introduced. Now, if you come to Indonesia, you can see that most restaurants or houses have fork and spoon yet some people still prefer to eat with their hand when their eat certain food, for example, Padang food, because they feel it is culturally appropriate.

As much as I agree with Kraidy, I would like to say that this article can be better if it gives clearer example of cultural imperialism, globalization, and hybridization. Also, it can be improved by explaining the strengths and weaknesses of globalization.

To explain further, cultural hybridization is something that already existed but being stronger with the help of media. It is true that cultural hybridization is not about Westernization. Cultural hybridization happened all over the world. Now, people in U.S. can watch Singapore’s movie, people in Japan can French, people in all over the world can watch the on-going Sochi Winter Olympics live in their TV or even better, phone.

Globalization has its own strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, we must be selective and careful to choose which part of globalization should we take or leave. We need to consider our principles and cultures.