Postmodernism as a Catalyst for Globalization

I've been reflecting on life lately and a few weeks ago I started thinking about the progression of society. In particular I've started to think about about the progression of globalization. There is a school of thought to which I subscribe which suggests that globalization is not simply a trend or fad but is, rather, an international system that influences the politics, environment, geopolitics and economics of almost every country in the world.

Globalization aims to develop a single marketplace to allow for the monopoly of large corporations, from Microsoft to McDonalds. This monopoly of the marketplace would result in the same product/s being sold all over the world all at once, and international spending would be standardized.

The success of globalization depends on a couple of factors, the most vital of these being worldwide cultural homogenization. Environmental issues aside, there is a legitimate risk that within a few generations globalization could wipe out the cultural diversity that took thousands and thousands of years of human development and experience to produce.

While cultural homogenization does take time to occur, several factors have accelerated it. The most important of these (in my opinion) was the development of postmodernist theory that was influenced by the economic breakdown and cultural disillusionment induced by the Second World War. Originally just a re-evaluation of western architecture, postmodernism grew to the point where it invaded all areas of philosophy, science, politics and history until it became what it is today: A complete denial of any objective reality. God either doesn’t exist or can never be known and people create their own reality and truth. In other words, quite literally, reality and truth is in the eye of the beholder. This philosophy spills over into the education system regarding the need to study history, since all history is based in private and individual interpretation of historical sources.

Think about it, if history means something different to everybody, then what’s the point of learning it? Shouldn't society be focused on the present? Shouldn't people be planning for the future instead of trying to deal with a totally subjective past? If one subscribes to postmodernism, as the majority of the next-gen academics do, then the answer is ‘yes’. As postmodernism grows in popularity and invades the education systems of the west, not only does knowledge of history diminish, so too does the desire to gain knowledge of history.

The easiest way to accelerate cultural homogenization in any society is to remove that societies cultural heritage by creating a vacuum between that society and it’s past. Whether it was intentional or not, by becoming philosophical and educational standard in western societies, postmodernism does just that. And when either postmodernism or some other such theory becomes prominent in other societies, the world will become that cultural mush that corporations and other institutions will pounce upon to cement the international system of globalization.

The only way to halt globalization is for countries to develop strong cultural filters so they can interact with other strong and vibrant cultures without being overwhelmed by them. One such filter is ensuring that the next generation has a thorough knowledge of their national and cultural history. If this cannot be achieved, then every country in the world will start to look like every other country: The same architecture, food, music, McCulture and ecological desolation.

Looking to a brighter future,

Studmuffin.