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Unit 1 Communication across Cultures
Some Ideas Related to Globalization and Intercultural Communication 1. What is globalization?
Globalization refers to the increasing unification of the world’s economic order through reduction of such barriers to international trade as tariffs, export fees, and import quotas. The goal is to increase material wealth, goods, and services through an international division of labor by efficiencies catalyzed by international relations, specialization and competition. It describes the process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through communication, transportation, and trade. The term is most closely associated with the term economic globalization: the integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, the spread of technology, and military presence. However, globalization is usually recognized as being driven by a combination of economic, technological, sociocultural, political, and biological factors. The term can also refer to the transnational circulation of ideas, languages, or popular culture through acculturation. An aspect of the world which has gone through the process can be said to be globalized.
2. The Challenge of Globalization
1) Globalization poses four major challenges that will have to be
addressed by governments, civil society, and other policy actors.
2) The second is to deal with the fear that globalization leads to instability, which is particularly marked in the developing world.
3) The third challenge is to address the very real fear in the industrial world that increased global competition will lead inexorably to a race to the bottom in wages, labor rights, employment practices, and the environment.
4) And finally, globalization and all of the complicated problems related to it must not be used as excuses to avoid searching for new ways to cooperate in the overall interest of countries and people. Several implications for civil society, for governments and for multinational institutions stem from the challenges of globalization.
3. What Makes Intercultural Communication a Common Phenomenon?
1) New technology, in the form of transportation and communication systems, has accelerated intercultural contact. Trips once taking days, weeks, or even months are now measured in hours. Supersonic transports now make it possible for tourists, business executives, or government officials to enjoy breakfast in San Francisco and dinner in Paris — all on the same day.
2) Innovative communication systems have also encouraged and facilitated cultural interaction. Communication satellites, sophisticated
