147
Soccer is the “glocal game.” Many
communities identify with their team
and develop distinctive traditions and
soccer cultures, which they then bring
to international competitions.
See also: George Ritzer 120–23 ■ Immanuel Wallerstein 144–45 ■
Saskia Sassen 164–65 ■ Arjun Appadurai 166–69 ■ David Held 170–71
the interacting aspects of a
person’s self-identity and their
relationship with national and
global cultural influences.
One’s self-identity, for example,
is defined in relation to a nation,
to interactions between societies,
and to humankind (ideas regarding
sexual orientation, ethnicity, and
so on). In this context, Robertson
explores the tension between global
and local influences on a person’s
experiences and actions.
Robertson emphasizes “global
unicity”: the ways in which
globalization and cultural exchange
seem to be giving rise to a global
culture. This is a movement toward
a world dominated by Western
cultural products and beliefs—such
as Hollywood movies and US pop
music—and is made possible by
the increasing connectivity of
societies and by people’s
awareness of the world
as a single sociocultural entity.
But Robertson stresses that
the emergence of “global unicity”
does not mean the world is moving
toward a single global culture in
which everything is the same, or
“homogenized.” On the contrary,
he argues that the differences
between cultural groups and their
products can be sharpened as they
encounter cultural flows from other
communities. This can lead to a
dynamic interaction between local
and global cultures, as people
modify cultural forms to suit their
particular sociocultural context.Mixing “global” and “local”
To reflect how the global
and local relate and intermix,
Robertson popularized the term
“glocalization.” The concept was
developed from the practices of
transnational companies and their
strategy of taking a global product
and adapting it for a local market.
For example, the fast-food
corporation McDonald’s has
created many “glocalized” burger
products in an attempt to appeal
to customers outside the US
(such as the Chicken Maharaja
Mac in India, where Hindus do not
eat beef). In sociology, glocalization
also refers more broadly to the
localization of global cultural
products or forms.
Globalization is, then, a twofold
process of “universalizing and
particularizing tendencies.” Some
cultural forms, products, and values
are transported around the world,
where they may be adopted or
modified by different societies and
individuals. A creative tension then
emerges between the local and
the global, which can result in
cultural innovation and social
change; for example, when people
tell “local stories” through their
adaptation of globally recognized
music genres such as Hip Hop,
K-Pop, and Indie. ■Cultural mélange
The recent rise of global
communications has produced
what Roland Robertson
describes as a “cultural
interconnectedness.” As
global influences mutate and
hybridize locally, the result
is “glocalized” diversity, or a
cultural “mélange,” according
to Dutch sociologist Jan
Nederveen Pieterse. A good
example of this global-to-local
process is film-making.
Hollywood movies inspired
the Indian film industry in
the early 20th century. But
Indian film-makers focused on
modifying Hollywood’s output:
they wanted to make the art
form their own, to appeal to
local culture and reflect its
distinct forms of expression.
In so doing, they initiated a
creative engagement between
the global and local. Indian
cinema draws on a rich body
of themes—ranging from the
country’s ancient epics and
myths to traditional drama—
and retells them in colorful,
distinctive ways. The Hindi
films known as “Bollywood”
attract audiences well beyond
the Indian diaspora.LIVING IN A GLOBAL WORLD
Local cultures adopt and
redefine any global cultural
product to suit their particular
needs, beliefs, and customs.
Roland Robertson