A WORLD OF IDEAS
civilizations even in ancient times.
GLOBAL MEDIA CULTURES
Important Impact of Media on Cultural
Globalization:
First: the media provide an extensive
transnational transmission of cultural
products.
Second: the media contribute to the
formation of communicative networks
and social structures.
Global media cultures create a
continuous cultural exchange, in which
crucial aspects such as identity,
nationality, religion, behavioral norms
and way of life are continuously
questioned and challenged.
• The media such as the press, and later
radio and tv have been very important
institutions for the formation of national
communities.
• The internet, for example, not only
facilitates communication across the
globe, but also supports the formation of
new social communities in which
members interact with each other.
• Satellite tv and radio allow immigrants
to be in close contact with their
homeland’s language and culture while
they gradually accommodate to a new
cultural environment.
VARIOUS FORMS OF GLOBAL
INTEGRATION
•Global integration is not a new
phenomenon in today’s contemporary
world.
•Trade took place between distant
•This globalization process in the
economic domain has not always
proceeded smoothly, But, despite
occasional interruptions, such as the
collapse of the Roman Empire or during
the interwar period in this century, the
degree of economics integration among
different societies around the world has
generally been rising in the past half
century, and ever greater than it has
been and is likely to improve.
Three (3) factors that have affected
the process of economic
globalization:
1. Improvements in transportation and
communication technology have
reduced the cost of transporting goods,
services and factors of production.
2. Individuals and, societies take
advantage of the opportunities provided
by declining costs of transportation and
communication through increasing
economic integration.
3. The character and pace of economic
integration have been significantly
influenced by public policies, although it
is not always in the direction of
increasing economic integration.
GLOBALIZATION OF RELIGION
• The relationship between religion and
globalization is antagonistic – one of
struggle and conflict.
• Religion and globalization can also be
seen as partners in historical change.
• The extraordinary growth of a certain
religion was a result of a link between its
global ambitions and the expansion of
various political and economic regimes.
It succeeded as a globalizing force long
before there was a phenomenon called
“globalization”.

Globalization Affects Religious

Practices and Beliefs
Evolving trade routes led to the
colonization of the Asia, Africa, Central
and South America. Religion became an
integral part of colonization and later on
globalization. Religion has been a major
feature in some historical conflicts and
the most recent wave of modern
terrorism.

What is Religion Nowadays?

• Its no longer a set of beliefs that
people arrive by reflection.
• It’s a symbolic system which carries
our identity and marks out social/ethic
and other boundaries.
• It marks crucial moments in the life
cycle with rituals.
• It provides powerful mechanism for
psychological and social tension.

Role of Religion Today

Looking around the world today, it is
clear that religion plays a role in many of
the major conflicts going on at various
levels. Furthermore, religion plays an
important role in people’s lives
worldwide, and has become one of the
major ways people connect with each
other across the globe. However, the
role of religion in contemporary societies
is still not sufficiently understood in
academic research and in the work of
policy-makers, NGO’s and journalists.