Ch. 59, Globalization is Over, NPR

Chapter 59 discusses the work culture in the Indian IT space and its relationship with global forces. Some people think that the more global sense of the industry is destroying their Indian culture. They find it easier to communicate with other IT professionals around the world than with their own people in India. The working hours that the IT field demands are also very different from Indian cultural standards. Since IT demands simultaneous cooperation around the globe, workers must work during the operating hours of whatever company they work for or who outsources their labor. In contrast, some Indian workers feel that the global aspects of their job provides them the freedom they need to get away from cultural and social pressures. I think the important thing to note with this chapter is that there are at least two sides to every situation. It is difficult to determine if impacts are "good" or "bad", because everyone feels them in different ways. It's a theme that we can see in a lot of the situations we've read about this year. It's difficult to determine how to proceed in scenarios where there are so many different outcomes.

The article that proclaims globalization to be over was an interesting read because it posits the fall of the concept as more of a cultural shift than an economic one. It discusses the human motivations for investing in and divesting from other nations of the world. The invasion of Ukraine was the modern-day tipping point for the shift the author describes. Nations are separating from China and Russia and other nations that are trying to impose a more regionally based system of economic and global dominance. At the same time, the Western culture that stemmed from America has grown problematic in its own regards. I think this separation is especially important to highlight when thinking about deglobalization because all of these nations have built up ties over so many years. China and the USA especially have built relationships with each other economically, and its diffciult to just cut that off. It goes back to what we read in travel of a t-shirt. Industries that have primary beginnings and ends in the two nations cannot simply relocate because they've relied on each other for so long. We've tied the knot so tightly to ensure economic success, and now we cannot get it untied when we want to rely on ourselves.

Something I found interesting about the NPR podcast was how it described music fans as creating grassroots movements to spread music from around the world. They talk about BTS's fan group army mass-calling radio stations with scripts to try to get their Korean songs on American radio. This reminds me of so many NGO movemenst we've discussed, using the mobilization of people who are devoted to a cause to spread a message to others around the world. Another interetsing thing is that many different regions with specific types of music are very open to sharing their music with the rest of the world, and also cosuming music from other parts of the world. At the same time, when artists adopt cultures that aren't their own, it can bring backlash and accusations of appropriation. I like that the hosts emphasize the idea of collaboration between cultures, as it is extremely important to the spread of music and also the creation of new genres.