Globalization is a political, economic and cultural process and technology is one of the drivers which has accelerated this process of globalization. As a result the impact of globalization is more pervasive and research has examined this impact of globalization process on cultures and cultural identity. This review examines and evaluates the research made by two groups, cultural imperialism group and anti cultural imperialism group. These groups have opposing views regarding the consequences of globalization on cultures. According to the cultural imperialist group, globalization can have a homogenizing effect on culture, whereas the anti imperialist group sees it as a hybridized effect.
Recent studies (Morris, 2002; Arnett, 2002; The UN, 2003) have analyzed the process of homogenization and hybridization from different prospectives; therefore, there are some different views about this process. Morris (2002) who belongs to the anti cultural imperialist group makes a valid argument that no culture is pure because all cultures interact with each other and she is of the view that exchange of cultural elements is multidirectional. Morris explains the process of hybridization by claiming that cultures are resilient. This is because they absorb and adapt foreign cultural elements to suit local circumstances. Therefore, she argues that some cultural elements which were once considered foreign, now become part of the deep structure and they are considered as traditional cultural elements.
Morris (2002) goes even further, by explaining the multidirectional influence of globalization from more powerful to less powerful and from less powerful to more powerful globalizing forces. She refers to this as a ’top down’ and ‘bottom up’ process of globalization (Robertson, 1995: 28 cited in Morris, 2002: 56). Though, she gives very clear and convincing examples of the absorption