Globalization is an inevitable phenomenon which affects social and personal life tremendously. The role of conservative traditions is on wane, and time-honored customs and values are debilitated greatly by the emergence of globalization. Along with globalization, new individualism appears and social criteria which were guiding the choices and activities of people are mostly out of fashion. In other words, in the past the elder son of a tailor had to follow his father and choose tailoring, women had to work indoors and the people’s personal identities took shape in the society they were born, whereas, now people face new individualism which give them the chance to make their egos and identities actively.
One of the effects that globalization has is increasing the working hours. Nowadays, parents are too busy to reach out their children and they hardly have time to pass with them. So, mostly children are given childcare and submitted to babysitters. Moreover, increase in family tension and anxiety is also emerging – due to submission of parents’ daily role to babysitters. The American sociologist, Hochschild in his book, The Time bind, believes that these changes depend on globalization.
Modernization swallows the norms and values of traditional societies gradually. Of course, conservatism is mostly vulnerable to the bombardment of modern cultures. Furthermore, no societies will survive the effect of globalization, for it is the need of them. Even, high religious sensitivities cannot stop the movement of this process. The most conservative people are forced unintentionally to join the caravan of globalization. For example, religious extremists who deny any changes and follow their own stereotypical ideas are globalized and use modern technologies without any hesitations.
Undeniably, globalization digests the culture of a society or replaces it with different cultures. Movies are one of the factors which reflect the values and cultures of a society especially when they include a set of political, social and economic issues which display the world view of a society. It is feared that globalization will lead to the emergence of international culture and the values of the mightiest and wealthiest - in this case, Hollywood movie makers – dominate customs and traditions. Hence, if it happens so, it will be no more than cultural imperialism.
In addition, globalization enters private lives and also joins many rural lives to urban ones. Those who were enjoying their lives in quiet villages far from the noises and risks of the cities are mostly pulled to the cities and industrial factories. They are pressurized with the burden of city life and supposed to work longer hours than ever before. Hence, being busy with industrial life, they will find little time to pass with their families and therefore, the boredom and risk of city life will gradually affect their families. Likewise, enjoyment and kindness depart from their life which is, indeed, to the detriment of their family life.
If we compare our country with decade ago, now the warmth of kindness is felt less among the families. Social and family contacts are gradually on wane. People are too busy to continue their relationship and friendship. It seems a big tragedy of the time. Moreover, the more you think over this issue, the more you get sad and lonely. So, it is one of the traditional values which has departed our life.
Even though globalization has disadvantages, it does have some advantages too. Globalization, gives people access to information and news. Likewise, in case of important issues such as an infectious disease or terrorist, etc, all the countries and international community will take action. Moreover, by providing technical equipments and communicative tools such as telephone, internet, etc, people can contact one another very easily without waste of time or money.
There were some effective factors which led the world to globalization. One of the factors was the downfall of Soviet communism which happened in Eastern Europe in 1989. From the downfall of communism, the ex-countries of Soviet Block, Middle Asian and many more countries moved towards Western political and economic system.
The second factor was the development of international and government regional mechanisms. National organization and European Union are the best examples of international organizations which gather the nation-state in a common political arena. Likewise, inter-governmental organizations (IGO) and inter-national non-governmental organizations (INGO) are the factors of globalization.
It is believed that globalization is pregnant with modernization and civilization; however, it is a bitter fact that none of them are identified correctly in our country. Even though, our country is affected tremendously by all, especially by globalization, nonetheless, our religious cultures and moral values are in the risk of collapse and have been badly targeted by modernity, etc. Our people embrace any new fashions which enter our society, just not to look traditional or conservative. Our religious laws are marginalized, whereas, foreign cultures which are targeting our youths through films, pictures, music, internet, etc. are given high significance. Of course, modernization and globalization are inevitable process which is not possible to prevent; nevertheless, at least our religious guidance must not be disregarded. In other words, in spite of the advantages and priorities that globalization has, it also threatens the moral values of our present and as well as future generations. Hence, we are not supposed to accept an idea whether it is at the cost of our religious beliefs.
Definitely, the more we get distant from our religious guidance, the more we approach downfall. Practicing our religious beliefs safeguards our society against crime and corruption. Those who close their eyes to religious beliefs and do not care about its rules, certainly, commit the most dangerous crimes. I do not mean to deny globalization or modernity; however, I agree with them provided that they neither jeopardize our life nor risk our religious cultures. Therefore, the tendency of our youths towards changes at any costs is a matter of great concern. So, we are supposed to be attentive to the pros and cons of globalization.