The Globalization Reader, 5th Edition

Introduction

As globalization expands human connections, it enables more people to envision or adopt different identities. For example, women from Nepal or India, venturing far from home, may seek to fulfill aspirations unfamiliar to their ancestors. Taking advantage of global resources, African musicians craft a new identity as they mix aesthetic styles. Globalization also offers new arenas for expressing identities – quite literally in the case of international sports tournaments like soccer's World Cup, where national teams represent their countries' special virtues, at least in the eyes of their passionate fans. At the same time, globalization raises uncomfortable questions about identity, notably about where individuals and groups stand in a world that envelops them ever more tightly. For instance, women's participation in “global” practices, as in the case of Indian professionals, may loosen the hold of “local” family culture; national communities seeking to develop new symbols of identity, such as tequila in the case of Mexico, must at the same time contend with transnational business practices. While much of the “identity work” people do in response to globalization consists of variations on older themes, for at least some groups globalization itself can be a new source of identity, in the form of cosmopolitan appreciation of cultural difference or even an explicit commitment to “world citizenship” as a way to promote some universal goals. Our purpose in this section ...