About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about normative evaluations of cultural globalisation, focusing in particular on: (i) optimistic accounts, such as Francis Fukuyama’s “end of history” thesis that liberal democratic ideals will inevitably spread across the world, and Thomas Friedman’s argument that cultural globalisation reduces conflict; (ii) George Ritzer’s pessimistic notions of McDonaldisation and the “globalisation of nothing” – that global culture is increasingly becoming homogenised and deprived of meaning; (iii) glocalisation – an alternative way of conceptualising cultural globalisation which emphasises interactions between global and local cultures and the diverse new forms this produces.

About the lecturer

Professor Rafal Soborski is Professor of International Politics at Richmond, The American International University in London. His research focuses on the ideological, political and social dimensions of globalisation, including on globalism, anti-globalism and environmentalism. He is author of Ideology and the Future of Progressive Social Movements (2018) and Ideology in a Global Age: Continuity and Change (2013).