English Globalization
My paper considers the influence of ‘Western’ mass culture on Estonia. While each culture draws from its own roots, I believe that it may fail to blossom without contact with other cultures. A better understanding of how cultural systems are shaped, reproduced, and changed gives me more power to participate in that process of negotiation – between the impact and the impacted. I feel that writing about these processes is one of the best ways to work toward that enhanced understanding. My search for answers is taking me to study the essence of my own faith, culture and civilization, and the faiths, cultures and civilizations of my fellow human beings in a world that I see is becoming increasingly inter-dependent. When you contribute your own voice to the discussion, you should be aware of the implications that follow from your position. When you listen to the voices of others, you should listen with awareness, deciding for yourself what is at stake and how their positions relate to your own. For many people, the ‘what is at stake’ is the character of Estonian national identity. Some argue that this identity needs to become less culturally fragmented; others argue that the national character gets its strength from cultural diversity, from the freedom at home and in schools to celebrate, honor, and reproduce different cultural traditions. In any discussion of Western ideas of culture and consumerism in young peoples’ eyes, we need to focus on several issues: computer software as a carrier of Western culture and the connection between – and universal language of – Hollywood and American mass culture. How these issues affect Estonia, a small Baltic country, leads to a discourse on our cultural identity, and to my specific look at the effects of American mass culture. Exploring culture is also an educational issue: learning about contemporary culture as well as discovering the links between generations, peoples and cultures is beneficial. Some might say it is actually...
View Full Essay
