Global Culture/individual Identity

Searching for Home in the Cultural Supermarket

• Author(s): Gordon Mathews,
• Publisher: Psychology Press
• Pages: 228
• ISBN_10: 0415206162
  ISBN_13: 9780415206167
  
• Language: en
• Categories: Political Science / General , Political Science / International Relations / General , POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Cultural Policy , Psychology / Social Psychology , Social Science / Anthropology / General , SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural , Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social , Social Science / Ethnic Studies / General , SOCIAL SCIENCE / Popular Culture , Social Science / Sociology / General ,

Description:... Most people still think of themselves as belonging to a particular culture. Yet today, many of us who live in affluent societies choose aspects of our lives from a global cultural supermarket, whether in terms of food, the arts or spiritual beliefs. So if roots are becoming simply one more consumer choice, can we still claim to possess a fundamental cultural identity?
Global Culture/Individual Identity focuses on three groups for whom the tension between a particular national culture and the global cultural supermarket is especially acute: Japanese artists, American religious seekers and Hong Kong intellectuals after the handover to China. These ethnographic case studies form the basis for a theory of culture which we can all see reflected in our own lives.
Gordon Mathews opens up the complex and debated topics of globalization, culture and identity in a clear and lively style.