cultural globalization (extra)

Cultural globalization refers to the transmission of ideas, meanings and values across world space. In the contemporary period, and from the beginning of the twentieth century, this process is marked by the common consumption of cultures that have been diffused by the Internet, popular culture media, and international travel. This has added to processes of commodity exchange and colonization which have a longer history of carrying cultural meaning across the globe. The circulation of cultures enables individuals to partake in extended social relations that cross national and regional borders. The creation and expansion of such social relations is not merely observed on a material level. Cultural globalization involves the formation of shared norms and knowledge with which people associate their individual and collective cultural identities. It brings increasing interconnectedness among different populations and cultures.
A visible aspect of cultural globalization is the diffusion of certain cuisines such as American fast food chains. McDonald’s is the world’s largest global food service corporation with more than 35,000 chains serving approximately 70 million people thanks to 1.8 million employees in more than 100 countries each day. Big Macs are uniform in size and content in all countries, and consumers are able to enjoy the same burgers and nuggets regardless of their locations. The Big Mac Index, an informal measure of purchasing power parity among world currencies, is universally acknowledged due to the same experience and knowledge of McDonald’s. Consumers, regardless of their nationalities, have developed a spreading taste for hamburgers, through the far-flung networks they are constantly in contact with, and they increasingly follow most of the already well-trodden paths in history.