What is the role of culture in globalization?
There are basically two culturalist approaches regarding the role culture plays in global processes. The first one consists of defining globalization as a process in which ideas and behaviors, technology and information are exchanged and disseminated between different cultures worldwide freely. From this perspective, which de-emphasizes the economic side of globalization, or disconnects culture from economics, politics and power, globalization is understood as another case of cultural diffusion or hybridization this time at a global scale of, more often than not, positive consequences, such as promoting racial tolerance, cultural understanding, and social awareness toward difference [van der Staay, UNESCO 1998, 253]. In this sense, cultural globalization, understood as globalization of cultures, is equivalent to some sort of universal humanism. The other approach consists of stating that cultural globalization, characterized by massive acculturation, worldwide homogenization, and ethni
