Difference Between Globalisation And Americanisation

Globalisation shapes our lives nowadays. However, the definition of the concept of ‘globalisation’ is not indisputable. As Pieterse (2009) suggested, ‘globalisation invites more controversies than consensus’. (Pieterse, 2009, pp.8) Some even mix globalisation up with Westernisation and Americanisation. According to Tony Spybey, ‘Western civilisation is the first truly global civilisation, with Americanisation being its most visible and dynamic manifestation’. (Baracco, 2006, pp25) It is understandable that some argues the nature of globalisation is actually Westernisation and Americanisation. Accurately speaking, though the three concepts are interdependent, they are distinguishable from each other. Before looking into the difference between …show more content…
In terms of direction, globalisation is a multi-direction trend while Westernisation and Americanisation are single-direction trends. Westernisation and Americanisation refers to the trends in which Western countries and the United States spread their cultures to the rest of the world respectively, sometimes even replacing the indigenous local culture, but in no way vice versa. It is implied that Western and the United States are the origins of the spread of culture, while other places, destinations. For globalisation, different cultures may spread from their origins to other places of the world. Each corner of the world is not only the destination, but also the origin of the spread of cultures. Under the promotion of westerners, milktea becomes popular among Hong Kongers. This trend can be considered as both Westernisation and Globalisation. But if Hong Kongers’ habit of producing Hong Kong-style milk tea with a sackcloth bag is spread to Western world, it is considered as globalisation, but certainly not Westernisation, let alone …show more content…
Fair Trade International (2009) is an important example of transnational charitable organisations which focus on improving livelihood of poor labour. It strived hard to guarantee employees a decent wage. Not only does globalisation lead to the rise of global charitable organisations which arouses public’s awareness of poor situation of labour, but it also brings world-wide supervision over the situation of labour. For instance, National Labor Committee in the North America launched a campaign to support labour who are exploited by Gap in El Salvador, as stated by Jeffcott (1998). It is seen that through globalisation, people in one corner are concerned about those being exploited in another corner. Globalisation also arouses more people’s concern for sweat