Required Reading

 In the past few weeks, many of my recent posts were about the attempt to find personal identity after being exposed to many cultures. I chalked my perspectives up to my own upbringing. I also considered the importance of each observer’s perspective in determining where each person is ‘from’.

Today, I started into my required university texts. I hit upon a theory of globalization that explains a lot. (Yes, I actually got excited by required course reading.)

Globalization “is visible in the emergence of a new economic class…whose members are separated from their fellow citizens by barriers of language, knowledge, wealth and tastes and to whom they may be physically proximate but psychologically remote.”

My cousin, uncle and grandmother live three miles from my parent’s home.  Ever since I was young I thought nothing of traveling the world. When America’s graduate school system wasn’t to my liking I imediately  looked abroad. My parents are both university graduates. My uncle never attended college.

About a year ago, I suggested that my uncle come visit me in Thailand. He informed me that he’d have to get a passport. I blanched involuntarily. I’ve held a passport since long before I had a driver’s license.  It never occurred to me that someone could lack such a basic document.   50-something years old and my uncle had never left the country.

In actuality less than 30% of Americans hold passports. Some of them are naturalized citizens.  

My little cousin says she never wants to leave the U.S. Believing that nothing could be better than the American way of life. But that lifestyle, and the quality of living in many other countries, has been bolstered by the power of trade.  She insists that she has no desire to learn a foreign language. I am proficient in two.   

The article also notes the association of this societal class with transnational corporations. My father worked with many of them as a mid and upper level manager during my upbringing. When I was about 13 my family was almost transferred to Switzerland. My Mother took many international assignments as a reporter. She currently runs an international media consulting company.

When I first wrote about South Hills, I attributed its difference from mainstream America to its existence as a subculture within LA. That may not be the whole story. I may be a member of this “new economic class” without realizing it. A member of a community comprised of successful, international families. Separated from the surrounding area by differences in language, ideology, wealth, and worldview. But, not so far removed as to be completely isolated from the surrounding local culture. 

Others claim that globalization leads to the erosion of local traditions. It enriches them. Born In America I had the curiosity to interpret Chinese proverbs. However, I find different meaning in them than a resident of mainland China. That native would doubtless have a different reading of an American film than its creators intended. Globalization is not simply American cultural imperialism.       

Other collage interns were employed at the NGO I worked with in Thailand. My closest friends were the 13 year old son of prominent Thai businessman and the 16 year old daughter of an international manager from Standard Chartered Bank. I attributed the age difference to my young colleges’ maturity at the time. Now I wonder if it was because we are from similar backgrounds. Based in nation-states. Citizens of the world.

In the current economic climate, some question the wisdom of globalization.  It’s a process that is beneficial to all concerned. Weather they realize it or not.

 As a product of this process I appreciate the importance of adaptation. The right to mold your own future.  To go where conditions are best. Despite those who are unaware of the possibilities.