Effect of Globalization on Arabic Culture

Globalization may be defined as the set of social, economic, political, technological, cultural arrangement and procedures resulting from the altering characteristic of production, demand and marketing of products and services which includes the base of multinational political economies. These changes or alteration are multinational and transnational dynamics which pose great impact on the ultimate objective accomplishment in the determination of business environment, global trade regulations etc (Globalisation). There are four key features of globalization which are as follows:

• Globalization is the integration of various national economies into global market.
• It transits the economy from high volume in to high value; it is possible through increase in the number of exhaustive products and services information.
• It vanish the traditional clash of capitalism and socialism and bipolarity.
• It leads to the configuration and integration of new business alliance (Globalisation).

Introduction to Arabic Culture:

The Arabs are considered as the ethnic group of people, we can identify them from their conventional cultural values, language and ancestral civilization. The origin of Arab people is from Arabia and their original language was Semitic being Semites. The Arab Culture comprises of the unique features of Arabian people including language, food, dressing modes, rites and rituals, deities, music, dance, art and craft, literature, social structures etc. The Poetry Composition is a unique feature of Arabian literature which has been revealed through the holy “Quran”. Arabian music prefers melody and rhythm in comparison to harmony. The Arabian Cuisines were prepared mostly by rice, barley, dates, and meat and yoghurt products. The dress ups of Arabian people provides them unique identity in the world, the Arabian women use to wear robes and always prefer to cover their hairs and faces, and Arabian men also wear robes along with the turbans (Najjar, 2005).

Effect on Language:

Language is considered to be the most prominent part of any culture because people use to communicate with the help of it, and communication plays an important role in transferring the cultural attributes from one generation to another. Due to the over interference of western culture and globalization in the Arab their language shunned and changed towards the English. As English is simple to learn easily and quickly, it captured and spread in the Arab region and surpassed the Arabic language. Most of the Arab people prefer English over Arab language which leads to the Arabic language’s deterioration and make it the secondary language. English has been preferred by the Arabian youths and on the contrary Arab language opposed by them as they considered English as superior language which provide them honorable status in the society (John A. Morrow, 2007).

Effect on mode of Dressing:

The mode of dressing which was followed by the Arab people traditionally revealed their modesty. But due to the globalization the traditional dressing mode has been replaced by western dressing patterns, and the original ethnic dress ups of Arab people have been preserved for old aged people. The present young generalization of Arab have been influenced by globalization a lot, they generally prefers dresses of western culture like jeans, t shirts, and other dresses which leads to too much exposure in comparison with traditional Arab dresses. It posses significant negative impact on the Arabic cultural and ethnic values, beliefs, and norms as the globalization leads to over dominance of western culture on the Arab people and their dressing mode, which ultimately affects the identity and original dress ups of Arab (Najjar, 2005).

Effect on Identity:

With the emergence of globalization, Arabs have lost the major part of their traditional conventional culture due to its regional market penetration by western culture countries. The identity of individuals lies in their traditions and culture which includes values, beliefs, customs, rites, rituals, dress ups, language, food, arts and crafts, dance and music etc., culture can be observe in the individuals’ characteristics. Globalization has led to the desertion of various aforementioned features of Arabian Culture which leads to destruction of the Arab Culture as a whole. It leads to various problems like difficulty in identifying and discriminated Arab people on the basis of cultural aspects as they follow other cultural values. If these conditions would not going to change, the traditional culture of Arab get disappear entirely which leads to loss of rich cultural heritage (Najjar, 2005) .

Effect on Arab Heritage Culture:

The globalization, modernization and secularization provide various significant benefits to the Arabs in terms of technology, economic development, and political scenario. Apart from these benefits globalization leads to harm the traditional culture heritage of Arabs. The conventional art and craft, music and dance, language and literature, food and dressing mode have been replaced by the western cultural attributes (Najjar, 2005).

Conclusion: 

The Arabian youth do not understand the significance of their conventional culture and its preservation. Globalization has affected the Arabian Culture tremendously through internet, films, music, art and literature, so the strategies pertaining to transformation of Arabian Culture should be taken as early as possible so as to retain its original identity and overcome the losses of globalization.