Marlaine Paula A.

Ambata BSIS 1-1 Contemporary Global Issues

Cultural Identity: A Challenge in the Modern Society

In contemporary society, there is a deepening intersection between the economic

and the cultural, as Singh (2011, 2017) demonstrated in his analysis of globalized art
markets and North-South trade relations. The media presents one dramatic illustration of this
intersection: that is, commercially produced cultural artifacts. At the same time, culture has
come to be seen as an instrument of economic development and urban revitalization—a
view encapsulated in terms like creative class, creative cities, and the creative economy. Yet
culture is also about the arts. Notions of l’art pour l’art, or “art for art’s sake,” in the sense
that culture is first and foremost about creative expression, are challenged by the deepening
intersection of culture with economics and politics. That is why several countries have
already taken respective actions to promote their culture and at the same time, preserve
their cultural identity.
The concepts of culture, value, and identity are as intricate and multifaceted as their
relationships are to each other. Anheier and Isar (2007, 3) wrote in their introduction to the
five-volume Cultures and Globalization Series “that globalization has a profound impact on
culture, and that cultures shape globalization may seem like a truism. Yet the two-way
interaction involves some of the most vexed and at the same time taken-for-granted
questions of our time.”  Per say, the Korean Pop Culture. Through globalization and
technology, people around the around get fond of it and slowly learned the Korean Culture.
In the Philippines, which was colonized by several countries was also one of the many
effects of globalization in the cultural area. Filipino dishes and language, as well as their
clothing were mostly influenced by the western part of the world and East Asia. Without
history books, paintings and photography, people in today’s world would have a hard time
understanding their ancestors and the story behind the freedom they are enjoying. Identity
crisis and worst, lost, might happen to a nation or state once the people living there failed to
recognize the beauty of their own kind and culture. Sociologically, identity is a person’s
learned notion of self, combined with a sense of belonging expressed and experienced
through values, ethnicity, language, nationality, locale, and the like, and is closely related to
a sense of “we-ness.” Along with peers, family and school, digital media plays a central role
in shaping the lives of children and young people today. Increasingly, young people use
digital spaces to build relationships, express opinions and assert desires. Everyday
experiences in real and online spaces also involve encountering new knowledge, risks and
pleasures.
Local culture remains a powerful influence in daily life. People are tied to places, and
those places continue to shape particular norms and values. The appearance of
homogeneity is the most salient, and ultimately the most deceptive, feature of globalization.
Outward appearances do not reveal the internal meanings that people assign to a cultural
innovation. True, the standardization of everyday life will likely accelerate as digital
technology comes to approximate the toaster in “user-friendliness.” But technological
breakthroughs are not enough to create a world culture. People everywhere show a desire to
partake of the fruits of globalization, but they just as earnestly want to celebrate the
distinctiveness of their own cultures.

References
Anheier, H. K. (2020, February 20). Cultures, Values, and Identities: What Are the Issues?
Retrieved January 4, 2021, from University of California Press:
 https://online.ucpress.edu/gp/article/1/1/11755/106232/Cultures-Values-and-
Identities-What-Are-the-Issues
Mbunda, D. [. (1983). Problems of culture and cultural values in tea contemporary world
unesco. Retrieved January 4, 2021, from Unesco Digital Library:
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000054681
Watson, J. L. (2017, March 17). Cultural Globalization. Retrieved January 4, 2021, from
Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/science/cultural-globalization
Anheier, Helmut K., and Yudhishthir Raj Isar. 2007. “Introducing the Cultures and
Globalization Series.” In Conflicts and Tensions, edited by Helmut K. Anheier and
Yudhishthir Raj Isar, 3–16. London: Sage.
Singh, J.P. 2017. Sweet Talk: Paternalism and Collective Action in North-South Trade
Relations. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.