Impact Of Globalization On Local Culture

Globalization can be representing “shrinkage” of the world with an increase in the “thickness” of human interaction, according to Ervin and Smith (2008). It means that human activities in different aspects makes the distance between countries to countries mainly because of the rapid development of the technology and transportation. The impact of globalization has been widely discussed in our society. The impact towards the development of Hong Kong culture can be positive or negative. There are two arguments being discussed in some academic literature: those who argue that globalization mainly causes cultural homogenization, bringing negative effect to the local culture (Barker, 2003; Surlin, 1991), and those who argue that the globalization

Due to the rapid development of technology, the mobility of products is much higher than the past, products from other countries are sold in many stores in Hong Kong an buying products from other countries in the internet is easier. More choices are provided to the citizens, lends to a richer local culture because using different products change the habits of the users and the habits shape the culture. Television program in Hong Kong is a good example. A survey conducted by Anthony (2007) showed that Japanese drama that were imported from Japan since 1960s not only increase the diversity of local culture or even become part of our culture. That’s why the app, named Pokemon Go, is so popular nowadays. Many people played and watched the cartoon when they were kids and it became the culture of Hong Kong. Pokemon Go is a collective memory of the childhood in Hong Kong. Some people may think that the foreign culture will replace the local culture. It might be right in other cities. But in Hong Kong, it actually evokes the competitions between the local culture and the foreign culture. According to Hall (1997), Some Hong Kong dramas represented local ideas in a way that similar to the Japanese drama. Hall (1997) stated that it was not a copy because it could only be understand by Hong Kong people, which means Hong Kong people was trying to fight with the foreign culture to protect and even increase the quality of

Globalization enriches the local culture by bring different type of culture from other to Hong Kong. It not only increases the quality of the local culture, but also emphasizes the features of our local culture and creates fusion. Although there is a risk that the local culture being replaced by the foreign culture, it is just little cases because the special situation that Hong Kong people have different backgrounds. As a result, globalization bring benefits to the development of Hong Kong culture in a large