1.1.2 Concepts and Terms

Should globalization shape identity?


In this unit, you will explore the following questions:

  • What is globalization?
  • What shapes your identity?
  • Does globalization threaten or enrich your identity?

You will encounter the following words in this unit. (Click each for its definition.)

accommodation
When one culture modifies itself in order to fit in with the dominant culture.
accommodation

assimilation
Where an ethnic group loses its distinctiveness in terms of language and culture and becomes absorbed into a majority culture. For example, First Nations tribes were assimilated into the dominant white European culture of Canada in imperialist times. In Canada today, visible minorities have experienced slower assimilation than in many other countries because of Canada's official government policy of multiculturalism. Immigrants often choose to assimilate in order to fit in, while groups like the Aboriginal people were forced to assimilate.
assimilation

culture
Culture refers to the way groups of people live. A culture is created over time and shared by a group with generally an understood shared set of values and beliefs. Cultures are always changing. Some people call culture a "design for living" which includes standards for deciding what is, what can be, how to feel about it, what to do about it, and how to do it. (Goodenough:1961)
culture

cultural revitalization
When a culture experiences a rebirth or newfound interest and growth.
cultural revitalization

globalization
Globalization is the process by which people around the world are becoming increasingly interconnected through trade, the media and migration. It has both positive and negative effects on individuals and societies.
globalization

homogenization
The process by which all cultures gradually lose their distinctive features and one blended culture results.
homogenization

hybridization
When cultures change due to influences of other cultures, and a new culture results.
hybridization

marginalization
Marginalization occurs when a less dominant group picks up some of the habits and customs of the more dominant society, becoming incompletely assimilated and no longer belonging to any cultural group. A marginalized group of people are pushed out of the mainstream to the fringes of society.
marginalization

multiculturalism
refers to a condition of cultural pluralism and the tolerance that make it possible, AND official Canadian policies that are designed to enable Canadians, from various cultural groups to grow and contribute to Canada.
multiculturalism

pluralism
a society where individual and group differences are present and are celebrated as enriching the social fabric.
pluralism

tolerance
sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's own
tolerance