Globalization-Reading

Before you read

1. Does globalization tell on modern music/architecture/?

2. Do you understand what multiculturalism/monoculture means?

3. Which do you prefer Eastern or Western culture?

4. What features of globalization do you see in big cities?

5. Do you like modern architecture?

6. Who is your favourite architect?

Read the text and say which point of view is more convincing?

The term globalization is also used to describe cross-cultural contacts. Today countries in different parts of the world share entertainment, food and, in some respects, similar attitudes to life losing their identity. Some consider such “imported” culture a danger. They are worried that it may assimilate the local culture, as a result of which the world loses its diversity. There are different movements which protest against globalization in culture. They give new importance to the defense of local uniqueness, individuality, and identity, but, according to analysts, without success yet. Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple ethnic cultures, The policy of multiculturalism is often contrasted with the concepts of assimilationism and social integration.

Multiculturalism was adopted as official policy, in several Western nations from the 1970s onward, for reasons that varied from country to country. The great cities of the Western world are increasingly made of a mosaic of cultures. Some express a point of view that multiculturalism promotes peace and understanding between peoples through culture.

A third position gaining popularity is the notion that multiculturalism is a new form of monoculture in which no differences exist and everyone just shift between various lifestyles in terms of music, cloth and other aspects within one single culture. The global domination of American culture at the expense of traditional diversity goes on.

B. One of the spheres where cross-cultural contacts are most apparent is architecture. In every city today you will find high-rise houses made of stone, steel and glass. Some of them are virtual pieces of modern architecture while many of them make the city faceless. Such high rise houses were considered to be a solution to the housing problem. But life proved that many of them are not comfortable places to live in. They are located in congested, noisy areas and lack playgrounds.

C. Modern cities have other problems as well–pollution, traffic jams, ghettos, etc. The heads of the city are trying to find ways out of these problems. Since the introduction of the motor car at the beginning of the century, our roads have become more and more congested and our cities increasingly polluted. In Mexico City, for example, where there are over two million cars, children are used to smog. It is said that the damage caused to children’s lungs is the same as that from smoking two packets of cigarettes a day. Seen from up the air, such cities as London and Los Angeles appear to be covered in a blanket of cloud that is, in a fact, the haze of pollution. Car manufacturers and city planners are now hard working to try and control the number of vehicles and improve the way they run to make them less polluting. One major advance has been the development of the electric car. Using batteries, these vehicles are able to move quietly around. Cities are trying to introduce new traffic laws. London had the worst traffic in the UK and was one of the worst cities in Europe. Drivers spent 50% of their time in traffic jams. and pollution was terrible. In 2003, the mayor of London made a new law to help reduce traffic. It costs 8 pounds a day to drive in central London. More people use public transport and bicycles now in London because of this law. Traffic is bad.....but not too bad.