The Global Culture

World is changing rapidly as we are all set to welcome 2012. The concept of globalisation has gained a lot of popularity in the recent decade which has totally changed the concept of the word, Culture.

Culture is normally misinterpreted and it is important to understand its true meaning. Culture can be best defined as, the ways of life including Language, Thought, Arts & Science, Spirituality and interaction amongst the people of a certain society.

Geert Hofstede defined it as, “the collective programming of the human mind that distinguishes the members of one human group from those of another. Culture in this sense is a system of collectively held values”.

A rather simpler definition would be, "Culture is a system for differentiating between in-group and out-group people." All the above mentioned explanation suggests that the behaviour of people living in a society are said to be sharing a common culture.

However, the world we live in today is moving towards a global culture which means that our way of living is very common to a number of other people living thousands of miles away. It can be said that a new form of culture is taking place which is replacing
most of our old and traditional methods and ways.

As far as I can remember addition of a cassette player was my first step towards the worldwide civilization and I was totally unaware of the fact back then.  It was in 90’s when every young kid wanted a cassette player in his / her room. The second addition
was computer which was even more addictive and introduction of internet made it a very entertaining, useful and a must have gadget.

The invention of mobiles changed our life style as they were soon found in every pocket or bag. Mini mp3 players are considered to be the most addictive of all the devices. The above mentioned devices have such a strong grip on our society that we cannot
imagine our lives without them.

We have slowly drifted towards the global culture, as there are a number of common things in a 12 year old kid living in Pakistan, England, America, China or any African country. They listen to the same music, use the same type of mp3 player, same style
/ brand of shoes, eat the same type of food, wear the same clothes, watch the same movies and even walk the same way.

Internet and television has given our society a lot of exposure and as a result we have allowed other cultures to squeeze in. If your child fits the above stated description, he is fully qualified to be honoured as a ‘Global Kid’.

Concept of culture is totally changed and all the old traditions, customs and behaviours have already welcomed the global culture. Most of our villages now have the facilities of electricity, television and internet through which a number of international
stars pay a regular visit in some of the most rural areas in our country.

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Posted by Ahmed Babar on Dec 17 2011. Filed under Africa, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry