globalization and unglobalization

Abu-Lughod’s piece on globalization, although not very thorough in an explanation, culminates with the idea that culture has somehow been simultaneously globalized and unglobalized. This is something I had not thought much about prior to this reading. The communication of cultures across the globe has increased our exposure to various foreign cultures, but this increased exposure only serves to increase our ignorance, given that exposure is often incomplete. As [a very broad] example, the media gives us access to accounts of communist control, sweatshops and high levels of pollution in China, but it tells us less about other aspects of Chinese culture. Even the typical Chinese take-out won’t give you a true glimpse of genuine Chinese cuisine. My point is that yes, we have access to more information from around the world, but as we gain this access, we have to take the extra step to complete the picture. By having so much more incomplete information about the world, we have so many more misconstrued or incomplete conceptions of what other cultures are like because in areas of uncertainty, people tend to fill the space in with what they do know – familiar ideas that make sense from their own cultural standpoint. To tie this back into the class on ethics and economic globalization, it’s like finding out that people are being paid very low wages in a third world country. This causes outrage and a push for change. What people don't realize, though, is that for that third world country's standard of living, such pay can be relatively high, and increasing cost of labor would only serve to decrease competitive advantage in the global economy, which would put everyone out of a job. People make judgements based on their own understanding of the world. Given a bit of information, it may be impossible to completely step out of one's existing constructions of the world, but the process of globalization hits us with a simultaneous increase in responsibility to fight ignorance.