Culture, Globalization, and Social Cohesion: Towards a De-territorialized, Global Fluids Model

Abstract

To conceptualize the interrelationship among culture, social cohesion, and globalization, this paper uses Urry's three "social topographies" of space: region, network, and fluids. Fluids describe the de-territorialized movement of people, information, objects, money, and images across regions in an undirected and non-linear fashion. They are characteristically emergent, hybridized, urban, and cosmopolitan. Drawing upon Appadurai's five dimensions of global cultural flows (ethnoscapes, technoscapes, finanscapes, mediascapes, ideoscapes) and using examples from Britain, the U.S., and Canada, the paper argues for greater research and policy attention to the processes whereby transnational and hybrid identities are forged in cities. It concludes by introducing some empirical indicators of cosmopolitanization that represent a starting point for further research into the linkages between global cultural fluids and social cohesion. Résumé: Pour conceptualiser le rapport entre culture, cohésion sociale et mondialisation, cet article emprunte à Urry ses trois « topographies sociales » de l'espace: régions, réseaux et fluides. « Fluides » se rapporte aux mouvements non-linéaires, sans direction particulière, d'une région à une autre, de personnes, d'information, d'objets, d'argent et d'images. Ces fluides ont la caractéristique d'être émergents, hybrides, urbains et cosmopolites. Cet article se rapporte en outre à Appadurai et ses cinq flux culturels mondiaux (paysages ethniques, techniques, financiers, médiatiques et idéologiques) et utilise des exemples britanniques, canadiens et américains. Il fait appel à plus de recherches et d'analyses politiques sur les manières dont les identités transnationales et hybrides se forgent dans les villes. Il conclut en présentant les signes empiriques d'un cosmopolitisme accru qui représente un point de départ pour mener des enquêtes futures sur comment les fluides culturels mondiaux et la cohésion sociale s'influencent réciproquement.

Young adults' linguistic manipulation of English in Bangla in Bangladesh

“…However, it seems inevitable, considering the locatedness of the young adults in time and space. When young adults and their language are already within the global flow of the scapes (Appadurai 1999;Hall 1993;Hannigan 2002), the government's stern effort to keep Bangla unchanged, unaltered and untouched, or the step to stop its 'linguistic pollution' seems ambitious. Consequently, the diversity found in the language practice of the young adults, both in terms of English and Bangla, questions the viability of the government's 'butterfly-collection approach to language preservation' (Pennycook 2002, 21) and 'uni-linguistic nation state' approach to language policy (Bal 2010).…”

El proceso de globalización económica y los actuales movimientos populistas

“…En concordancia con lo anterior, existe evidencia empírica que sugiere los posibles impactos de la globalización en lo que se ha denominado como cohesión social 2 . Al respecto, Hannigan (2002) conceptualiza la relación entre cultura, cohesión social y globalización a través de las tipografías sociales de espacio, región, red y flujos. Para Hannigan, los flujos muestran el movimiento internacional de personas, información, tecnología, bienes y servicios.…”

The Structural Characteristics of Global Law for the 21st Century: Fracture, Fluidity, Permeability, and Polycentricity

“…What is fluid in global law can 'represent the de-territorialized movement of people, information, objects, money, images, and risks across regions in undirected and non-linear fashion and at variable speeds' . 71 This touches also on the idea of permeability, discussed below, but here focuses on its consequence: the constitutional character of organizational borders (space) within which it flows (the substantive character of movements) develop in accordance with their own logic.…”