The impact of globalization on

The impact of globalization on world cultures

Tyler Cowen has written a book on this, called Creative Destruction: How Globalization Is Changing the World’s Cultures. There is a review by Paul Cantor, here: "Creative Destruction...". In a posting to the Volokh Conspiracy blog, Cowen says "...Paul summarizes the book better than I ever could..." From the review:

"...Cowen makes his most valuable contribution in Creative Destruction--articulating the difference between two kinds of diversity, what he calls “diversity within society” and "diversity across societies" (pp. 14-15). As he points out, these two developments are frequently at odds: "When one society trades a new artwork to another society, diversity within society goes up (consumers have greater choice), but diversity across the two societies goes down (the two societies become more alike)". The question is not about more or less diversity per se, but rather what kind of diversity globalization will bring (15). When I objected to Australians watching Seinfeld in the outback, I was focusing on the diversity between the United States and Australia, but when I wanted to have Queensland mud crab served at the Outback Steakhouse in my hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia, I was focusing on the diversity within the United States. In the first case, I was speaking as a tourist; in the second as a consumer. And typically, as a tourist I wanted to decrease the diversity available within Australia in order to preserve my image of its difference, while as a consumer I wanted to increase the diversity available within the United States to broaden my own range of options at home..."