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STUDY GUIDE FOR MODULE NO. ___

A World of Ideas
MODULE OVERVIEW

Globalization is “a process through which events, decisions, and activities in one part of the world can
come to have significant consequences for individuals and communities in quite distant parts of the globe .”

Globalization creates and avenue where the fraternization of cultures become possible despite the
evident constraints due to geographical segregation. Martin Khor, the former President of the Third World
Networks in Malaysia, considers globalization as a form of colonization. The fast paced import and export of
products and services and of course the prevalence of social media are some of the many obvious
manifestations of this diffusion of cultures. Everywhere you turn, people are always plugged in to the World
Wide Web. A wide array of information is made available at the palm of our hands. With a simple tap of the
finger, the world opens up offering infinite possibilities. Globalization allows this penetration of one culture into
another culture and unknowingly, cultural exchange becomes a by-product of these progressions

In this chapter, we will look into two possibilities that religion and globalization presents to the
contemporary period. One of these possibilities emphasizes the role of religion in globalization and the other
being the effects of globalization to religion. In order to achieve this goal, especially the latter, it is paramount
that we examine the Secularization Theory and the views of several academicians in relation to religion and the
advent of globalization.

MODULE LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:

• analyze how various media drive various forms of global integration.
• explain the dynamics between local and global cultural production.
• explain how globalization affects religious practices and beliefs.
• analyze the relationship between religion and global conflict, and conversely, global peace.

LEARNING CONTENTS (title of the subsection)

Intercontinental Drift: Culture, Media and Globalization

The Role of Social Media

Writers and academics alike consider the past, our history, as a proof that social interaction is vital to
the survival of mankind. Looking back we started from simple tribes to cities to what we now recognize as
nation-states. In each of these developmental phase, people establish social infrastructures manifested through
community, government, and mass media to mention a few. These institutions enable us to accomplish tasks
we couldn’t do for ourselves, under normal circumstances, such as protection from foreign invaders and

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promote peace amidst all the chaos happening all around.

At the onset of globalization, globalists prophesized a world with permeable borders, connections
unhindered by physical difficulties. Coupled with technological innovations like satellites, the internet,
computers, and mobile cellular phones the intercontinental exchange of ideas, philosophies and advocacies
has been intensified a hundred folds. The predicted explosion of rapid interconnectedness of peoples around
the world is now a booming reality. On the next section we will examine the impact of media in the cultural and
ideological arena of a globalized world as trends and influences cross the boundaries.

But up to this point, the question that continues to baffle scholars is the extent of the role of media in
the propagation of transnational cultures. Provided that cultures have already come in contact through histories
of trading, warfare, and bondage aren’t cultures hybrid prior to the explosion of technology? Did media just
amplify the already existing process of cultural diffusion?

.
*please refer in the Worktext in the Contemporary World

LEARNING ACTIVITY 1

Name: _______________________________________ Score: _________________

Course: ______________________________________ Date: __________________

Trending YouTube Sensation

Direction:
In class, form groups with 3-5 members each. Every group will be assigned to search for an act or artist
that became or is currently internationally trending and prominent. Students must download and present the
video of the act in class prior to their oral presentation. In their group report, they must answer the following
guide questions.

*please refer in the Worktext in the Contemporary World

LEARNING CONTENTS (title of the subsection)

The Globalization of Religion

Globalization denotes the chronological development by which all the world’s people gradually came to live in a
social unit. Throughout its early beginning as a phenomenon in the 1890’s, inadequate attention was given to
religion as an important driving force focusing entirely on the economic and technological facets. However,
there is more to religion than the restricted highlighting of Islamic political extremism which is basically the
nearest, impartial and scant courtesy provided in its study.

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Secularization: The Apocalypse of Religion

In the eighteenth century, many thinkers became unsatisfied with religious and theological explanation
of human actions that early social scientists were invigorated to theorize rational justifications for socially
occurring phenomena. The minds and awareness of the people are growing too big to simply accept the
theological stage of social advancement and it tenets. This kind of philosophy advocating the use or reason
rather than relying on the supernatural and religious order began, together with similar developments in other
fields, gave birth to the Age of Enlightenment.

In the succeeding years of the nineteenth century, sociologists and philosophers alike donned that the
emerging phenomenon known to many as globalization marks the beginning of religions’ forthcoming end
declaring that “it [religion] was a declining force in the world.” Moreover, they affirmed that with all the
modernizing dynamism occurring all over the place, religion as it is would become an unimportant element in
people’s very lives and will inevitably vanish from modern society. Prominent psychologists such as Sigmund
Freud trained his student to view religion as the “greatest of all neurotic illusions” and that its end would be upon
the therapist’s couch. According to Peter L. Burger, the core idea of secularization lies with the complete
understanding that “Modernizations necessarily leads to a decline of religion, both is society and the mind of
individuals.” – the dawdling death of religion.
According to Rodney Stark in his Sociology of Religion, there are five features of the imminent death of
religion following the rise of globalization, these are as follows:
a. Modernizations is a causal engine dragging the gods into retirement;
b. Secularization theory not only predicted the end of religion in terms of religious institution as expressed
in the separation of church and state and the decline of authority of religious leaders, but also in the
sphere of individual piety and religiousness;
c. It is explicit that science has influenced mostly the death of religions in modern secular society;
d. Secularization is an unstoppable and irreversible social force;
e. Secularization as a process is not only limited to Christianity or Christendom, but also to other world
religions and the global world.

*please refer in the Worktext in the Contemporary World

LEARNING ACTIVITY 2

Name: _______________________________________ Score: _________________

Course: ______________________________________ Date: __________________

Directions:
Create a pie chart that will represent the distribution of religions practiced all over the world. You may use
different colors to show the different percentages allotted for each religion. Use the space provided below to
indicate the proportion of each religion included in your chart.

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Religions of the World

Protestantism - ____ %

*please refer in the Worktext in the Contemporary World

SUMMARY

The understanding of the relation between media and globalization should not be restricted to the
differences of internet speed among countries; which country is the leading giant in technology production; or to
the number of views a worldwide movie premiere has. Being active users of media, it is also our duty to look
into the effects of this consumerist attitude to our cultural identity, ideology, and value systems. Aside from the
evident “uneven” process of media globalization occurring worldwide, which implies that its effects and
consequences are not identically experienced, globalists recognize a certain “ power geometry” at work.
Accordingly, it talks about the idea that some groups are more in-command than others in terms of the
proliferation of ideas and to an extent specific interests – a dictator. On the other hand, Religion in this
globalized arena therefore cannot be considered as a passive, apathetic by-stander patiently awaiting it demise.
It actively influences how far and how deep globalization infiltrates cultures and societies in the global sphere.
And throughout the process it too gets influenced and experience change as it adopts the unescapable
phenomenon called globalization.

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REFERENCES

Mendoza, Et.al, 2019. WORKTEXT IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD. Nieme Publishing House. Co.Ltd.

Brahm, Eric. (2005, November). Religion and Conflict. Beyond Intractability. Retrieved from
https://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/religion_and_conflict%20.
Caminiti, Kathryn. (2014, December 9). Global Flows. Media, Culture and Globalization. Retrieved from
http://mediacultureandglobalization.yolasite.com/ menu.php.
Globalization of Culture Through the Media. (2001). Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved from
https://www.encyclopedia.com/media/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/globalization-
culture-through-media.
Globalization and Religion. (2005). Encyclopedia of Religion. Retrieved from
https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/
globalization-and-religion.
Impacts of Globalization on Religion. (2016, October 31). GKToday Current Affairs General Studies. Retrieved
from https://www.gktoday.in/gk/impacts-of-globalization-on-religion/.

Iqbal, Asep M. (2016, January). Varied Impacts of Globalization on Religion in a Contemporary Society.
Religion, 6, 2088-6330. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315109111_Varied_Impacts_of_Globalization_on_Religion_in
_a_Contemporary_Society.
Smock, David. Religion in World Affairs: It’s Role in Conflict and Peace. February 2008.
https://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr201.pdf
Steger, Manfred B., et.al.2014. The SAGE Handbook of Globalization. Sage Publication. USA.

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