Globalization's Impact on American National Culture

Introduction and Definitions

Globalization has multiple meanings depending on disciplinary perspective. Economists regard it as a process increasingly integrating the world marketplace, while political scientists view globalizing trends as a gradual shift from conventional definitions of the state characterized by territorial sovereignty and the emergence of nongovernmental actors in the world order (Farazmand, 2002). Many academicians interpret globalizing trends as steps toward a "borderless world," while other analysts attribute these trends primarily to private rather than public sector forces. Regardless of the precise definition used, a common feature of globalizing trends is how national borders have become increasingly porous in recent years.

The United States, with its highly multicultural population, exemplifies these border changes. This paper reviews peer-reviewed and scholarly literature to determine the impact of several key globalizing trends on American national culture: homogenization, deterritorialization, hybridization, and transnationalism. Understanding these four trends and their effects provides insight into how American cultural identity is being reshaped in an interconnected world.

Homogenization of National Culture

Some analysts contend that globalizing trends reshaping American national culture are destroying the traditional "American way of life." While this traditional conception may have historically applied only to a narrow demographic, critics nonetheless lament homogenization's impact on national culture. Giardina and Metz (2003) note that "American cultural critics have argued that in 1990s America the nation has been involved in a crisis of identity, a struggle between who and what counts (and will count) as ideal 'American' subjects" (p. 203). Rather than fostering egalitarianism, these critics argue, globalizing trends manifest as competing spheres of influence, each advancing different interests. As Giardina and Metz conclude, "This perceived crisis of national identity is grounded in the belief that what has traditionally been deemed the 'American way of life' has become threatened at the hands of various bodies operating within the space of the nation, each exerting more and more influence on the nation and its citizens" (2003, p. 203). Under this interpretation, globalizing trends produce the opposite of homogenization, fragmenting the United States into self-interested enclaves with little in common beyond geography and time zones.

Other scholars argue that globalizing trends are homogenizing American culture in fundamental ways. Although the United States is no longer described as a "melting pot" but rather a "tossed salad," evidence suggests globalizing trends fuel national cultural homogenization. Hamilton and Huntley (2001) report that "In this age of political and economic centralization, mass communications, and increased physical mobility the trend is undoubtedly in the direction of homogenization. In the United States today, for example, the North and South differ much less in the character and quality of black-white relations than they did in the past" (p. 15).

Race relations remain central to American political discourse, particularly following high-profile incidents and the nationwide demonstrations that have ensued. Yet the fact that Americans of all racial and religious backgrounds participate in these demonstrations suggests increasing homogenization of American culture. In this context, homogenization refers not to biological blending but to cultural blending—people adopting elements from various cultures and integrating them into their own practices. Recent immigration policy initiatives reflecting efforts to provide undocumented immigrants pathways to legal citizenship demonstrate growing American acceptance of cultural pluralism.

The United States is an enormous country containing more than one-third of a billion people representing several ethnic groups, religions, and languages, as shown in Table 1.

Note: Hispanic origin is not separately listed because the U.S. Census Bureau considers Hispanic to mean persons of Spanish/Hispanic/Latino origin, including those from Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Central or South America—approximately 15.1% of the total U.S. population, crossing all racial categories. The United States has no official national language, though English has official status in 28 of 50 states; Hawaiian is official in Hawaii.

Additional insights into current American national culture emerge from Geert Hofstede's cultural dimensions framework. Hofstede's analysis of the United States reveals key cultural patterns as shown in Table 2.

Source: Adapted from Geert Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions (2014).

Deterritorialization and Borders

Taken together, the world's highest individualism score—emphasizing "liberty and justice for all"—combined with high indulgence reveals that despite being historically predominantly Caucasian (a demographic composition rapidly changing), the United States maintains an increasingly homogenized culture embracing and celebrating cross-cultural differences. This tolerance applies, however, only when cross-cultural differences are not perceived as threatening the "American way of life." Another significant globalizing trend affecting American national culture is deterritorialization.

While American national culture has become more homogenized through globalizing trends, these same forces have deterritorialized the nation's laws and influence far beyond its borders. Beyond military activities spanning a century, this process intensified dramatically in the post-September 11, 2001 United States. Ciomos (2010) emphasizes that "We have all noticed how the authentic deterritorialization of law as in the famous Patriot Act decreed by the president of the United States two days after the attacks from September 11, 2001" (p. 18). Some analysts maintain that deterritorialization is an inevitable consequence of globalization. Cruz (2008) points out that "As a social phenomenon globalization has primarily been associated with the flexibility and extension of the forms of production, the rapid mobility of capital, information, and goods, the denationalizing of capital, the deterritorialization of culture, the interpenetration of local communities by global media networks, and the dispersal of socioeconomic power" (p. 358).

Monnier (2009) identifies three basic types of human exchange amenable to deterritorialization:

Material exchanges involve transmission of physical items—factory work, goods trade, tenancy. These tend to localize in specific spaces: raw materials are extracted from particular locations, factories operate where labor is cheap, and manufactured goods transport to Western markets.

Power exchanges refer to leadership exercised through coercion or legislation. While power inherently applies to territories, it also extends across international relations through war, diplomacy, and alliances, thereby crossing territorial boundaries.

Symbolic exchanges encompass communication, information, and data transmission—mass media, entertainment, advertising, propaganda. Because technology rapidly disseminates symbols widely, symbolic exchanges easily detach from territories and globalize.

Hybridization and Cultural Mixing

Deterritorialization has become one of the most influential globalizing trends, largely due to the Internet and computer-mediated communication technologies enabling information-sharing among millions worldwide. Monnier reports that "When one American exchanges instant messages with someone in another country, this instantaneous interaction erases distance and occurs as if these two individuals were in the same place, a virtual space" (2009, para. 2). Real-time video communication via platforms like Skype effectively eliminates distance between people. As Monnier adds, "Time and space have therefore been compressed through the technological creation of a virtual space of interaction unaffected by distance" (2009, para. 2).

Communication at the speed of light has diminished distance as an important factor in relationships between national cultures. Humans have described the world as "becoming smaller" since people first ventured beyond the next mountain range, but recent technological innovations enable real-time interaction in virtual spaces where national borders are irrelevant. Monnier emphasizes that:

"Thanks to information technology, anyone in the United States equipped with a computer and an internet connection can play the stock market in Tokyo, chat online with friends in Canada, upload or download all sorts of information and data from any place in the world from other individuals similarly equipped, as well as watch Al Jazeera (a television network from Qatar, in the Arabic peninsula) via satellite. Territories and borders have become irrelevant to such interactions that are therefore global in nature." (2009, para. 4)

Deterritorialization is a common feature of many globalizing trends, defined as "a proliferation of translocalised cultural experiences" (Marti, 2004, p. 92). It implies a closeness transcending traditional distance, a trend especially enabled by telecommunications and transportation innovations. Cruz (2008) similarly reports, "One can deduce from these trends that the shrinking of spaces is a distinguishing feature of globalization, especially given the fact that as a concept it has to do with both the compression of the world and the intensification of the consciousness of the world as a whole" (p. 359). In an era of social media networks where people worldwide gather in communities of shared interest, distance demarcated by national boundaries has become far less important, just as hybridization has transformed American national culture.

Transnationalism and Population Movement

This term carries powerful negative connotations reflecting historical anxieties about racial "purity." Nevertheless, the actual meaning provides a useful analytical lens for examining globalizing trends' effects on American culture. Bell and Bell (1998) note that "In linguistic terms, hybridisation is creolisation, which, despite its sometimes negative connotations, is an equally productive metaphor. No cultural nationalist welcomes the label of creolisation, yet if the colonising centre is itself seen as a result of the same intermixing the insult might be softened" (p. 10).

In essence, globalizing forces have exposed more people to far more languages and cultures than previously possible, inevitably bringing foreign words and phrases into the national lexicon. This process may be viewed as harmful—concerns about linguistic and cultural erosion are common in societies like Quebec—but it is fundamentally neutral. It can only be judged negative if compared against a presumed superior earlier standard. As Bell and Bell conclude, "It should be obvious that the label [hybridisation] is only demeaning if one assumes what the process denies: that in cultures and languages there ever was a fixed, authentic centre or norm against which all derivative cultures should be judged" (1998, p. 10).

Like hybridization, transnationalism is typically cited as a fundamental outcome of globalizing trends. Duany (2011) reports that "The cultural dimensions of globalization have been conceptualized as transnationalization, hybridization, Creolization" (p. 19). The United Nations defines transnationalization as "the increased activity by international corporations and their expanding role in the world economy" (The process of transnationalization continues, 1998, p. 54). Duany (2011) offers a broader definition: transnationalism comprises "the processes by which immigrants build social fields that link together their country of origin and their country of settlement," including "multiple relations—familial, economic, social, organizational, religious, and political—that span borders" (p. 19).

This globalizing trend has rapidly accelerated population movements between other countries and the United States over recent decades (Duany, 2011). Although the United States constructed a border wall with Mexico, the U.S.-Canada border remains the world's longest unprotected boundary. North Americans therefore possess substantial transnational capabilities, with Americans enjoying unrestricted short-term travel to Mexico. These transnational freedoms have been significantly constrained by the U.S. Patriot Act and security measures implemented following 9/11, but technological advances—especially deterritorialization—have diminished the importance of physical presence in a single country.

Conclusion

The world is becoming a smaller place, and the importance of national borders for citizens with unrestricted Internet access and freedom of speech has diminished or evaporated entirely. Research demonstrates that globalization carries multiple meanings, but common features emerge when examining the globalizing trends of homogenization, deterritorialization, hybridization, and transnationalism and their cultural effects. In an already highly multicultural society such as the United States, these trends have facilitated communication and information-sharing in ways allowing people to gather more easily in physical and virtual spaces. Given that these outcomes have already been realized to varying degrees, it is reasonable to conclude that American national culture has been profoundly influenced by these and other globalizing trends.