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 INTRODUCTION TO WICHTERICH CH. 5
• Globalization is the integration and expansion of the neoliberal market economy into all
countries in the global world (Wichterich, vii)

• “The long period of seclusion from the world market had a boomerang effect on
people’s consciousness. All foreign products carried with them the myth that they were
better than local ones.”  (page 129)

• The chapter is centered around “global homogenization” vs. “local cultural identity”
(tensions between the two)

• Globalization leads to multicultural and multiethnic societies but also leads to multi-racist
structures
 THE PROCESS OF GLOBALIZATION
• 3 Large Regional Submarkets transformed by Globalization and the
Liberalization of Market
• Latin America
• Japanese-Chinese
• Indian sub-continent

 These submarkets are becoming most influential centers (page 132)

• Population increase, supply and demand becomes higher, massive move toward
urbanization + development
• Ex. New Delhi (4 million to 10 million ppl in 15 years)
• Why?
 Massive opening to the world market (aka globalization)
CONNECTIONS TO CLASS
• Killing Us Softly video:
• Women’s bodies-- East vs. West, Modernization vs. Traditionalism

• Identity Politics and its connection to third way feminists (Freedman)

• Concept of hard and soft power addressed in this chapter (Kuypers)

• Nouveaux riches—lived a life of luxury from new import-export businesses.  “Real
purchasing power” (page 130)
 SOCIAL CLASS AND CULTURE- INDIA
• Globalization dramatically impacted Indian culture

• Social hierarchy transformed:

 Class is now determined by possession of consumer goods
 This is a Western concept (alien to India)

• Influence of clothing for both males and females:

Males: clothing symbolized modernity, a way of living, and progressiveness
Females:
-Clothing had the task of preserving tradition by using the sari and salwar kamiz
- Introduction of Levi’s and modern clothes brought forth sexualization and ironically
independence/mobility
QUESTION 1

What criticisms does Wichterich present in her

discussion regarding the effects of cultural
globalization? Do you consider these criticisms
valid?  And what two crucial mechanisms does
Wichterich point to as responsible for the effects
of cultural globalization?  (See pages 131 and
132).
QUESTION 2

How are people and governments

reacting against globalization? Cite
specific examples (See page 134 and
135).
“LOOKING WEST, TURNING EAST”
• Malaysia
• Wichterich discusses the development of Islam and the generation of Muslims in the
era of globalization in the 1980’s.  

• Young women working in the export factories gained more independence and therefore
their material consumption increased.

•  “Developed westernized ideals of womanhood and beauty” (p. 136)

• Shame of working women brought out conservative Islamic forces.

• “The veil functions as a protector against the outside world and signals a demand
for respect” (p. 137)  The women are presenting a modernization of Islam itself
and for the role of women.  
“LOOKING WEST, TURNING EAST”
Bangladesh
• Conservatives vs. younger generation
• Power struggle
• New Generation of Women
• Education
• Personal income
• Perceived as a threat to existing power relations

Egypt and Turkey

• Some of the younger generation has embraced traditional ideals
• Support the veil & bodily purification over the mixed-sex culture of Westernized
Egyptian youth.  
• While women’s bodies are used to argue between modernization and traditionalism the
real issue is two different concepts of modernization.  

*Key element in concept of modernization is visibility in public, and through globalization

women have achieved political recognition and a separate labor market.
QUESTION 3

What are some ways the religion of Islam has

reacted towards globalization in countries
such as Malaysia, Bangladesh and Egypt, and
what has this meant for the younger
generation of Islamic women today?
QUESTION 4

From the examples of Wichterich, how are Muslim

women torn between complying with their
religion and expressing their individual rights
from globalization?
 IDENTITY POLITICS IN A GLOBAL WORLD
• Identity politics is a result of globalization
• People feel the need to reconstruct a sense of self when displaced from their origins or
categorized as a minority (pg 140).

• Creation of identities leads to

• Socio-economic exclusion
• Intensification of redistributive struggles
• Self-definition (in terms of religion, race, culture) become more significant
 Example: African American women protesting in Philly in 1997

• Identity politics also offers an “anti-disparagement politics, an attempt to build a

countervailing power” (141).
 Example: African Americans using the N word and the gay community embracing and
using the word “queer”.
QUESTION 5

In what sense is identity politics a side effect of

globalization? Is it possible for one global
identity to exist?
GROUP IDENTITY & CULTURE CLASHES
• Group identity offers a sense of belonging and shelter.
• Example: Kenyan women washing their white frocks every weekend before
Sunday mass creates a sense of community.

• With a multicultural society comes the promise of integration while also

respecting the right to cultural difference (142).

• Integration attempts often fail

• Berlin

• Hybridization
QUESTION 6

How does the author suggest society uses a hybrid

culture to prevent violence and strife among
people of different cultures?