Globalisation and identity
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Is globalisation, which is shaping our societies whether we like it or not, a threat to identity? If we were to believe all that we hear, the winds of globalisation are wreaking havoc everywhere, uprooting identities and cultures which for centuries have been shaping human relations, sweeping away all local values and customs, and leaving behind an irretrievably flat wasteland, to use Thomas Friedman’s well known metaphor. According to this view, globalisation is a sort of homogenisation that is sapping our strength and causing us to decline.
There are plenty of examples to illustrate this widespread view. Thanks to the spectacular development of transportation and new information technologies, our planet has apparently become a village whose inhabitants are developing increasingly similar lifestyles and consumption patterns. In Paris, Brasilia, Shanghai or Montreal, the same restaurant and clothing chains are invading the shopping districts, the same films are flooding the cinemas...
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