Chapter Eleven

Global Homogenization

CHAPTER 10 ADDED political fears about globalization to the economic preoccupations discussed in the preceding chapters—and addressed those fears. This chapter does the same for cultural fears, as exemplified in the cartoon. Critics have decried globalization as a tidal wave of homogenized American consumer culture that tears “authentic” local cultures asunder. And on the surface, they seem to be right. Fly into any large, cosmopolitan city on any planet in our solar system and you encounter restaurants like McDonald's and KFC as well as their local imitators. The American global ...

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