'To many outside Europe and North America, globalization looks like Essay

'To many outside Europe and North America, globalization looks like Westernalization'. Is this the case in cultural terms - Essay Example From a historical standpoint, what made this possible and is this a positive thing for the rest of the world? Why for many people is American culture still a problem? Seeking to address these questions and many more with respect to perceptions of American cultural hegemony and the world today, this essay will provide an in-depth exploration of American culture and the globalization phenomenon today. According to Kelly and Prokhovnik, â€Å"although the globalization of culture seems in some ways obvious in our daily lives, it is not an entirely straightforward matter. Culture is a complicated and pervasive phenomenon, taking many forms.† (48) Addressing charges of cultural imperialism and the role of the United States in cultivating a mass market â€Å"world culture†, the following will begin with a concise overview the charges leveled against the United States as an economic and cultural hegemon. Following this, we will explore glocalization and the cultural hybridity created when different cultures interact, and persuasively argue that globalization has in fact been a positive force in inter-cultural relations. Chapter Three of A Globalizing World describes the phenomenon of globalization as â€Å"the process by which markets and production in different countries are becoming increasingly interdependent due to the dynamics of trade in goods and services and flows of capital and technology† (85). Accordingly globalization, as it exists today, rests largely on the shoulders of neoliberal economics and the global entrenchment of capitalism as the dominant economic system across the world. This is an important and often neglected component of American cultural imperialism: the internationalization of the US economic system. Neoliberalism, the belief in laissez-faire economics, was best articulated by Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom and Ronald Reagan in the United States in the 1980s. US