Popa Adrian,

Studii Anglo-Americane, anul I

Manifestations of Globalization in regards to National Identity

First of all, what is National Identity?
Accroding to the online Oxford Dictionaries, National Identity can be defined as the sense of a
nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language:
Globalization is a phenomenon that managed to spread worldwide, influencing more or less
everyones life. As history suggests, the existence of globalization is so old that it can be traced
back and associated with events such as the first migration of people from Africa or with the
beginning of intercontinental trade routes and colonization.
Its nature is so complex that it globally affects a wide variety of aspects such as culture,
economics, politics, environment and so on. Because of this infiltration under the most
important elements of society, some began to argue the benefits of globalization. The general
objections that circulate among the skeptics include: the threat on local markets, the
interdependence between countries, economic depression, social injustice, exploitation of labor,
high spread of diseases and even the dissolution of national identity.
As you can observe, globalization creates a series of problems, and problems create instability.
Moreover, instability is one of the key characteristics of the postmodern age and identity.
Nowadays, as Zygmunt Bauman reveals, many people adopt a life philosophy in which they
avoid fixation and maintain openness in terms of identity because of the uncertainties of the
world.
Globalization has made a huge impact on the life of Romanians after communism has fallen
apart. The long period in which everything outside the communist sphere was banned, had
generated a huge thirst amidst its citizens which, as an effect, imploded in the form of the 1989
Revolution. After this long expected moment, the country had turned into a sort of sponge,
assimilating many of the elements attributed to globalization Romanians were finally free to
experience a new lifestyle which until them was just a sweet dream made up from all the banned
movies that were seen in secret.
Popa Adrian,
Studii Anglo-Americane, anul I
Although still popular in countries like Romania, globalization has generated some important
issues in what concerns the cultural aspect and which can be seemed as an attempt to erase
national identity. To be more specific, more and more Romanians, especially young ones, prefer
behaviors and customs imported from outside in spite of the ones we already have. For
instance Halloween is more preferred than the winter traditions, Valentines Day seems more
appealing than Dragobete, foreign music is more listened to, while Romanian music fades away.
For many, foreign food and clothing style is far more better than the native ones, leaving all our
cultural treasure to vanish. The examples could continue
In order to understand this kind of behavior Bauman affirms that new desires are created,
making ours a period of extreme transience, shallow attachments, and intense individualization.
We have, here, a culture of forgetting rather than learning, and nothing can be embraced rmly.
1

On the other hand, Anthony Giddens explains that this sort of behavior is marked by choice, self-
identity and lifestyle
2
. He also adds that as habit and tradition retreat, we become more
individualized.
3

Along with this comes another interesting concern - how real is the threat that globalization
poses against national identity? When dealing with this subject, some anti-globalization adepts
fear the worse, that is, the national identity will be erased from the face of the earth which is
totally not the case. First of all, national identity in the case of all countries does not have the
characteristic of stand-alone. Take for instance our country which has imported many cultural
elements from all the important civilizations that passed by our territory such as the Romans,
Ottomans, Austro-Hungarians, Russians and so on.
It is false to think that globalization can replace an entire culture, like it or not, the core of a
culture is hard to kill. The real concerns is that of the amount of hybridization that culture
could suffer because of globalization.


1
Bauman, Zygmunt in Critical Theories of Globalization by Chamsy el-Ojeili and Patrick
Hayden, published by Palgrave Macmillan, New York -2006, p.152
2
Giddens ,Anthony in Critical Theories of Globalization by Chamsy el-Ojeili and Patrick
Hayden, published by Palgrave Macmillan, New York -2006, p.152
3
Idem
Popa Adrian,
Studii Anglo-Americane, anul I


Bibliography:
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/national-identity
Chamsy el-Ojeili and Patrick Hayden - Critical Theories of Globalization, published by Palgrave
Macmillan, New York -2006
George Ritzer - The Balckwell Companion to Globalization, published by Blacwell Publishing,
Victoria, Australia 2007
Gevorg Melikyan on Globalization found on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aEUEv9l-7Q