Globalization and the Consequential Effect of Universalization of Western Cultures on Peripheral Others
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Abstract
Globalization is a multifaceted, widespread phenomenon affecting people all over the world. It simply connotes worldwide interconnectedness and the exchange of ideas, cultures, technology, peoples, goods and services. It is reputed as having both positive and negative dimensions and being driven by Western and Asian capitals, concepts, technology, products, etc. Keen observation of globalization has revealed its lopsidedness and tendency to impose foreign cultures, particularly, of the Western variants and their products on erstwhile colonized and, developing nations of the world; termed ‘the peripheral others’. This has manifested in the supplant of their indigenous cultures and practices such as language, religion, values, dressings, belief systems, and arts, among many others. This study therefore seeks to highlight and draw attention to this global cultural anomaly with the intention of waking up the affected peripheral cultures to the imbalance inherent in the universalization of Western cultures and the dangers in the wholesale adoption of the same. The study is library-based but also involves deductions from the realities of everyday life. The descriptive qualitative method, involving verbal explanation, was used to expound the study and establish the thesis of the universalization of Western cultures on peripheral others. The study denounces the indiscriminate adoption of foreign cultures calls for the reversal of the trend and suggests as best for sustainable development, a blend of local cultural products and the best of global techniques.
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