Ph.D.

Comprehensive Examination
Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration

Stephen Sills

Department of Sociology
Arizona State University

9/28/2002 8:32 AM
to
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Table of Contents

Toward a Unified Definition of Globalization......................................................................

Economic Globalism & Financescapes.............................................................................

Cultural Globalism & Ethnoscapes...................................................................................

Political Globalism & Ideoscapes......................................................................................

A Synthesized Definition of Globalization........................................................................

Application to contemporary economic, political, and cultural processes........................

Immigrant Acculturation, Incorporation, and Assimilation..................................................

Application of Models of Assimilation to Diasporic International Adoptions..................

Defining Culture and Social Structure...................................................................................

A Global Definition of Culture..........................................................................................

Works Cited...........................................................................................................................

Figures

Figure 1 - Based Upon Faist (2002) Stylized stages of melting into the core, pluralization
and three forms of transnational social spaces p 259...................................................

Figure 2 - The Relation of Culture, Values, & Actors within a Social Structure..................
Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration

Toward a Unified Definition of Globalization

The term “globalization” is used frequently these days, often in ill-defined ways. Drawing on readings
from the core list that you think are relevant, develop a careful definition of the term “globalization”.
Then describe how you see it applying to economic, political, and cultural processes in the world today.
Be sure to address all three of these types of processes clearly in your answer.

Globalization is a contested1 and amorphous concept used in both academic and popular

writings. As a result of its conceptual vagueness, definitions of globalization abound.

Moreover, each academic discipline tends to focus on separate characteristics and facets

of globalization ranging from:

• Global movements of capital, cross-cultural trade and transnational corporations

(Economics)
• Homogenization of global consumer culture, mass media, and popular culture
(Cultural Studies)
• Internationalization of nation-states, international human-rights discourse, and
INGOs (Political Science, International Relations)
• Time-space compression and deterritorialization (Geography)
• Culture, identity and the condition of Modernity (Sociology, Anthropology) 2

Because of their flexible nature, Appadurai’s (1990) five dimensions of global cultural

flow (Ethnoscapes, Technoscapes, Financescapes, Mediascapes and Ideoscapes)3 may be

useful in understanding these separate perspectives on globalization and helpful in

developing a definition that embraces all of its dimensions. In this essay, I will focus

specifically on three of these dimensions – Financescapes, Ethnoscapes and Ideoscapes –

1 “The current buzz-word to describe the contemporary situation is ‘globalization’. Personally, I think it is
meaningless as an analytic concept and serves primarily as a term of political exhortation (see Wallerstein
2000). It represents however an insistence, which seems to have resonance with both intellectuals and the
general public, that something very new is happening these days. This fits in with the syndrome of ‘post’-
concepts.” Immanuel Wallerstein. From sociology to historical social science: prospects and obstacles.
British Journal of Sociology, Volume 51, Number 1 (January 1, 2000), pp. 25-35. See also Hirst and
Thompson (1999). Globalization in Question: The International Economy and the Possibilities of
Governance, Polity Press.
2 Based upon handout and colloquium presentation by Jan Nederveen Pieterse Globalization and
governance Arizona State University, Tempe, 2000
3 Giddens (1990) lists four dimensions that are somewhat distinct from those of Appadurai: Nation-State
System (akin to ideoscapes), World Military Order (absent from Appadurai); International Division of
Labour (subsumed under Appadurai’s financescapes and somewhat under ethnoscapes); and World
Capitalist Economy (financescapes and technoscapes).

3
and their relations to economic, cultural and political globalism. Throughout this treatise,

I will examine the definitions of globalization found in the literature then develop a

definition that will provide a synthesis of current usage. Finally, I will apply that

generalized definition to the processes of globalization today.

Economic Globalism & Financescapes

Many definitions of globalization refer exclusively to an economic process that began

with international market capitalism sometime in the 16th century (Robertson 1992;

Wallerstein 1974) expanded and intensified in the later half of the 19th century (Harvey

1989; Hobsbawm 1975) and resulted in the worldwide “economic revolution” of the late

20th century (Greider 1997; Sassen 2001). Economic globalism has been characterized by

instantaneous and perpetual flows of capital across borders and the rapid industrialization

of developing countries (Greider 1997). It has brought about the existence of a world

economy with “a single division of labor and multiple cultural systems” (Wallerstein

1974, 390).4 Economic globalism has likewise seen the creation of a web of global cities

or denationalized centers where the production and coordination of global resources

occur (Sassen 2001). Appadurai’s concept of the financescape, or “the very complex

fiscal and investment flows” that link cities in a “global grid of currency speculation and

capital transfer,” embraces these separate aspects of economic globalism (8). Moreover,

Appadurai emphasizes that while “deeply disjunctive and profoundly unpredictable” a

financescape influences and is influenced by the cultural and political aspects of

globalization (9).

4 Although Wallerstein does not use the term globalization, his depiction of a world economy can be seen
as synonymous.
Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration

Cultural Globalism & Ethnoscapes

While the relation of globalization to global capitalism is decidedly important, the term

today refers to something more than features of the modern world economy. To many

authors the web of social linkages, which result from global markets, technological

advancements, and mobility of capital, products and peoples5, is the novel feature that

makes the global systems of today unique from those in history. For example, Tomlinson

(1999) sees globalization as a complex connectivity which he defines as the “rapidly

developing and ever-densening network of interconnections and interdependences that

characterize modern social life” (2). In the same way, Giddens (1990) sees globalization

as a network of social ties. Moreover globalization is for him a “dialectical process,”

which he defines as the “intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant

localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles

away and vice versa” (181). This dialectical process may result in what Barber (1995)

describes as the paradoxical concepts of tribalism (an intensification of local ethnic

culture and anti-globalization he refers to as Jihad) and globalism (expansionistic hyper-

consumerism he calls McWorld) which occur simultaneously within an increasingly

interconnected world.6 Likewise these opposing forces may be observed as well in

Appadurai (1990) as "global homogenization" and "heterogenization" that work in a

dialectical process creating paradoxes and disjuncture (5-6).7

5 Explained both under Financescapes and Technoscapes by Appurundai.

6 A recent example of this phenomenon would be the creation of redesigned bistro-style McDonald’s for
the anti-American French market. See Shirley Leung “McHaute Cuisine: Armchairs, TVs And Espresso --
Is It McDonald's? --- Burger Giant's Makeover In France Boosts Sales; Big Change for Fast Food --- Some
Franchisees Have a Beef” Wall Street Journal; New York, N.Y.; Aug 30, 2002
7 As an example, he use the internationalization of local culture that results in fetishes for the popular
culture of others such as popular American music in the Philippines and Hong-Kong martial arts movies in
the US.

5
 Importantly, Giddens’ definition of globalization recognizes a new geography that

results from global linkages. Like David Harvey (1990), Giddens specifically refers to the

transformation in the concepts of space and time that occur as a result of these worldwide

social ties.8 Robertson (1992) also recognizes the spatial-temporal change that has

occurred in globalization process as he explains that it “refers both to the compression of

the world and to the intensification of the consciousness of the world as a whole" (8).

This definition acknowledges that individuals not only experience the effects of

globalization, but are cognizant of their place in a global community. Appadurai labels

the dimension of global culture that deals with the interconnectivity of individuals as

ehtnoscape, defining it as “the landscape of persons who constitute the shifting world in

which we live: tourists, immigrants, refugees, exiles, guest workers…” (7). His definition

too recognizes the role of individuals and groups of individuals (communities, kinship

groups, friendships, etc.) in creating the global linkages that may carry local culture to

paradoxical global scales.

Political Globalism & Ideoscapes

Political globalism is also both a result and cause of globalization. A major component of

political globalism within this body of literature has to do with the debate over what

constitutes a global actor. While some authors focus on the role of the nation-state

(Meyer et al. 1997; Huntington 1993; Giddens 1990; Wallerstein 1974)9 others

concentrate on the position of non-state actors such as INGOs and transnational

corporations in the global arena (Boli & Thomas 1999; Keck & Sikkink 1998; Giddens

8 However, while Giddens sees the change as a stretching of time (events) across space, Harvey sees it as a
compression of space and time that began with the British economic crisis of 1846/7.
9 Sassen (2001) emphasizes the growing international role of the city as disconnected from that of the
nation-state. Thus, we might include the global city as a political actor as well.
Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration

1990). The content of the political discourse between nation-states and non-state actors

alike tends to focus on ideologies of global civil society including democratization,

universal human rights, and the erosion of political boundaries (Boli & Thomas 1999;

Keck & Sikkink 1998; Jacobson 1996).

Giddens (1990) explains that sovereignty of the nation-state developed in

conjunction with a global system of nations. He notes that “the sovereignty of the

modern state was from the first dependent upon the relations between states, in terms of

which each state (in principle if by no means always in practice ) recognised the

autonomy of others within their own borders” (183). The neorealist viewpoint of Meyer

et al. (1997) likewise sees the nation-state as constructed by the global institutionalizing

forces of a world society. Empirical evidence of these forces is found in the fact that

“nation-states exhibit a great deal of isomorphism in their structures and policies,”(151)

as well as the “expansive structuration” of even peripheral nation, regardless of the local

need for such structures (152-153).

Similarly, Boli & Thomas (1999) apply a neorealist view to the construction of

actors noting that “world polity is not reducible to states, transnational corporations

(TNCs), or national forces and interest groups” (13), but may be attributed to an

“overarching world culture” (14) or social structure. In the first chapter of their book,

Boli & Thomas promote the thesis that INGOs are formed by a global culture and are

influential in orienting other international actors (including nation-states) within the

world order. Keck and Sikkink (1998) make a similar argument that NGOs (through

transnational advocacy networks) influence nation-states both directly and indirectly

using “persuasion, socialization, and pressure” to bring about a reorientation of the

political frame (16). The theme of the emerging global frame is one of individual rights

7
and responsibilities, democratization of the political process and global

environmentalism.10 Falling within this discourse is the idea of Jacobson (1996) that

transnational migration, resulting from the intensification of global connectedness as

discussed in ethnoscapes, has “eroded the traditional basis of nation-state membership,

namely citizenship” (8). Jacobson maintains that while nation states as sovereign actors

have become less powerful in the global arena, individual rights and the role of the

judiciary have become more powerful. Thus, individuals and collective bodies of legal

authority become additional actors in political globalism.

The concept Appadurai defines as ideoscapes or “the ideologies of states and the

counter-ideologies of movements explicitly oriented to capturing state power or a piece

of it” (9) corresponds with the political dimension of globalization. He explains that

ideoscapes are political in nature and represent images such as “ ‘freedom’, ‘welfare’,

‘rights’, ‘sovereignty’, ‘representation’ and the master-term ‘democracy’”(10). Thus, this

term encompasses nation-states and non-state entities as rational actors at the same time

as recognizing the globalizing principles of the modern world polity.

A Synthesized Definition of Globalization

By creating a universal definition of globalization that acknowledges three of

Appadurai’s key dimensions of global culture (Financescapes, Ethnoscapes and

Ideoscapes) it may be more broadly applied to current themes of the globalization

process. However, as with all generalizations, some specificity may be lost. Nonetheless,

I propose that globalization may be defined as:

10 Appadurai (1990) points out that these ideologies are “composed of elements of the Enlightenment
worldview” (9) inferring a Western orientation and valuation. Huntington (1993) proposes that these ideals
are decidedly Western and will lead to eventual conflict with non-Western nations as the West attempts to
impose democratization and individualism on cultures that are more collectivistic and authoritarian.
Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration

The interdependent and overlapping economic, socio-cultural, and

political fields or ‘landscapes,’ that result in a disarticulation of events
from space-time, a paradox of local identities within global contexts,
and a global framework that is both created from and encourages
global expansion of civil society.

The most important aspect of this definition is that these processes are interdependent

and overlapping. Each dimension includes elements of the others and cannot exist

independently.11 This definition clearly contains those of Tomlinson, Robertson, and

Giddens as nested models, while recognizing too the importance of the economic and

political dimensions and the general outcomes of globalism that we recognize as

globalization today. Moreover, this definition acknowledges that these processes occur at

all levels (from the micro to the macro) simultaneously and affect every facet of post-

modern life.

Application to contemporary economic, political, and cultural processes

As this definition is a holistic synthesis that stresses the co-dependence and

interrelatedness of global processes, it would be impossible to illustrate its application in

just one aspect at a time. For example, we may examine that global polity, the ongoing

political process constructed from the ideologies of individualism and democracy, cannot

exist without direct international social ties between: individuals (such as those that meet

at the Davos Forum); groups, organizations, NGOs & INGOs, and advocacy networks

(such as those meeting at countless international conferences); or nation-states (meeting

in forums such as the UN, the EU, the WTO, etc.). Likewise, world polity is dependent

upon the continuation of a worldwide marketplace in which information, services, and

products are produced and exchanged. Equally then, these marketplaces, while often

11 Think perhaps of a Yin-Yang with three complementary elements rather than two.

9
existing in a deterritorialized and disarticulated virtual space of instantaneous computer

transactions, must also have physical complements perhaps culturally, linguistically,

temporally, and spatially removed from the actual marketplaces themselves. These

market players, transnational corporations and powerful monopolists12 are maintained by

yet further disarticulated service providers somewhere within the web of interconnected

global cities of Saskia Sassen. Global centers, that came about with the expansion of

international markets and political accords that established the power of nation-states in

the age of industrialization, continue to grow today as individuals and institution become

increasingly mobile and gain more rights and freedoms. Global cities become the

magnets for further immigration, diasporas, displaced refugees and asylums seekers, and

provide the habitus for the continued transnationalization of elites and marginalized

populations alike, resulting in increased contact (and even friction) between ever

disparate local cultures. Simultaneously this cultural contact promotes the consumption

of the fashionable products of McWorld in the developing world and the fetishism of the

exogenous in core nations (Appadurai 1999; 16), creating a new global marketplace of

glocalized products (Robertson 1993; 173). Trends in popular culture such as that of the

modern primitive,13 new age or neo-mystism, neo-paganism, and contemporary

orientalism are simply examples of the “search for the fundamentals” of Robertson

(1993; 165 – 181) and the aesthetic of the “cosmopolitan” of Tomlinson (1999; 181 –

207) brought upon by this increasing contact between cultures. This cosmopolitan nature

of globalization illustrates the role of “the imagination as a social process” as discussed

by Appadurai (1990; 5) in that we may develop a global identity borrowed from the

12 See Barbers (1995) many references to Bill Gates, Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch and others as
totalitarian rulers of McWorld.
13 Also called urban tribalism, neo-tribalism, etc.
Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration

images we find in the media and our ideation of a global self. Thus, these concepts are

incorporated into my definition of globalization by inclusion of concept of local identities

within global contexts and the clear understanding that the fields of globalization are

intersecting and contingent upon one another.

While I see these often paradoxical processes as generally positive forces leading

to increased individual freedoms and the possibility of pluralistic global cultures,14 global

processes of oppositional cultural forces have created concern for some authors. Barber,

for example, sees the only path to a global civil society leading between possible ethnic

tribalization and conflict or featureless homogeneity of McWorld. He views the current

world polity as one that would attempt to coerce nations into a federalist system, only

resulting in further resistance by anti-global movement. He proposes a solution of

confederalization, resulting in a plethora of coexisting sovereign nation-states held

together by a democratic process (288-292). Samuel P. Huntington (1993), on the other

hand, offers an even more pessimistic view of the future. He maintains that “nation states

will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global

politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations” (22). Moreover,

these conflicts will arise due to basic cultural differences that he sees as immutable and

irresolvable. According to Huntington, an initial political result will be increased

economic regionalization followed by military “interaction” between Western and

Islamic countries, followed by conflict with other non-Western nations of East Asia. In

both cases, whether that of a precarious global pact between confederate nation-states or

eventual armed conflict between ethno-cultural blocs, I believe my definition to be

applicable as the force or mechanism that would create global agreement or

14 Akin to the cultural pluralism or multiculturalism espoused by educators throughout the late 20th century
which touted the celebration of diversity within a single structure or social system.

11
fractionalization is the same – the current civil society that promotes formerly Western

ideals of individual freedoms, rights, and global citizenship.

Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration

Immigrant Acculturation, Incorporation, and Assimilation

The issue of immigrants' adaptation/incorporation/assimilation has concerned scholars for a long time.
Discuss the main frameworks and approaches (past and contemporary) dealing with this issue. Using an
immigrant group of your choice as an example, show how that group's experiences can be interpreted from
the different points of view in this debate

The concept of ethnoscapes offered by Appadurai (1993), and incorporated into the

definition of globalization above, clearly indicates that the world may be characterized by

an ever increasing mobility of individuals and groups. Therefore, as long as the

globalization processes continues, the concepts of assimilation, acculturation and

incorporation will be of growing importance. Traditional assimilation theory of Gordon

(1964; as cited and explained by Faist 2000) starts with acculturation, progresses toward

structural assimilation, or “the entry of immigrants into the primary groups of the

immigration country” (283), and ends with cultural adaptation and absorption into the

dominant culture. Yet, Portes and Rumbaut (1995) point out that “assimilation as the

rapid transformation of immigrants into Americans ‘as everyone else’ has never

happened” (141). They explain that ethnic resilience persists despite the pressure to

assimilate, and ethnic identity as “hyphen American” (Italian-American, Irish-American,

etc.) even has experienced a resurgence among both new and old immigrant groups. This

hybridity of cultural identities has been addressed to some degree by the “search for the

fundamental” (Robertson 1993) and the renewal of ethnic tribalism (Barber 1996), as

well as in the discourse on post colonial identity.15 Hybridity has also been a focal point

of the growing literature on transnationalism and transnational identities (Anthias 2001;

Vertovec 2001; Faist 2000a; Faist 2000b; Forner 1999; Roberts et al. 1999).

15 See especially, Stuart Hall (1994) “Cultural Identity and Diaspora,” where he defines cultural identity as
a “‘production’ which is never complete, always in process, and always constituted within, not outside,
representation” (392). As he explains cultural identity is about “‘becoming’ as well as ‘being’”(394).
Moreover, Hall writes on the hybrid cultural identity of the African- European- Caribbean

13
 According to Alba and Nee (1997) assimilation theory had its roots in the early

Chicago school. In 1921, Park and Burgess devised a formulation of assimilation theory

that looked at the social process of becoming part of the mainstream. This formulation

conceived of a race-relations cycle that included stages of “contact, competition,

accommodation, and eventual assimilation.” This progression was seen as linear,

invariable and irreversible (2).16 The 1964 reformulation of assimilation theory by Milton

Gordon is also that of a linear process. “Gordon conceived of seven dimensions in all, the

critical distinction in his conceptual scheme lay between acculturation and what he

termed "structural" assimilation, by which he meant the entry of members of an ethnic

minority into primary group relationships with the majority group” (Alba & Nee 1997;

2). Unlike the process of assimilation proposed by Park and Burgess, Gordon saw that not

the process of assimilation may take various forms resulting in Anglo-Conformity

(complete absorption), the popular vision of the Melting Pot (amalgamation), and even a

version of Cultural Pluralism.

In a process similar to Gordon, Berry (1980) describes the process of

psychological acculturation as occurring in a linear process of three phases: contact,

conflict and adaptation. However, whereas Park and Burgess speak of a single possible

outcome (complete assimilation) and Gordon examines several alternative yet essentially

assimilationist outcomes, Berry details four distinct results of cross-cultural contact:

assimilation, integration, rejection, and deculturation. The distinct outcomes result from

the possible retention of cultural identity and the relationship (reception by and

orientation toward) the host culture. Accordingly, movement toward the dominant culture

while relinquishing one’s own cultural identity would result in what Berry terms

16 Page numbers do not reflect original publication but those of the PDF version of the original text
downloaded from http://web2.infotrac-college.com/pdfserve/get_item/1/Sa5d8cd_1/SB941_01.pdf
Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration

assimilation, while maintenance of cultural identity (and a positive relationship with the

host) simply has the outcome of integration.17 In contrast, a negative relationship with the

dominant culture and the preservation of cultural identity leads to rejection and even

segregation. Finally, Berry proposes a fourth possibility of deculturation, where the

immigrant losses her own cultural identity in addition to having a negative relationship

toward the dominant society. Berry states that this form, while perhaps rare, could

explain marginalization and even ethnocide (12-17).18

Alba and Nee (1997) point out that the distinction between the group level and

individual level of ethnic assimilation and incorporation was unclear in the early

formulations of assimilation theory. Padilla (1980), in the introduction to his volume on

acculturation, clearly indicates that the role of the individual is important in the study of

acculturation as “the individual is crucial in whatever change that occurs through contact

between differing cultural orientations” (2). Likewise, Berry (1980) explains that

“acculturation requires the contact of at least two autonomous cultural groups [italics

mine]; there must also be change in one or more of the two groups which results from

their contact” (10). Berry consequently examines acculturation as a “two-level

phenomenon – that of the group and that of the individual” (11). Waters (1994) and

Portes and Zhou (1993) additionally add a temporal element to the group level as they

witness assimilation occurring over generations.

17 In this way he is much like Gordon who focused on the distinctions between cultural and structural
assimilation.
18 While potentially useful, this framework does not account for many of the forms of intergroup relations
as it neglects the nature of exit from the homeland and the intentions of the migrant in the settlement
process. For example, the “middleman minorities” of Bonacich (1973) are not marginalized due to rejection
by the dominant culture, they do not lose their native culture, nor do they really become incorporated into
the host society. For a short time, they fill a unoccupied middle ground within the dominant society. As
their eventual intent is to return to the homeland, these sojourners therefore keep strong ties with co-ethnics
and few ties to the local communities (see page 586). The characteristics of these groups are: resistance to
exogamy, residential self segregation, language and cultural schools, maintenance of culture and religion,
avoidance of local politics, and a high degree of organization.

15
 Berry’s analysis of the assimilation and acculturation patterns of the late 1970s

hits upon one of the flaws of early migration theory that is addressed in the more

contemporary theories of segmented assimilation. In this line, Brubaker (2001) argues

that immigrant groups today do not only assimilate toward a dominate culture, but also to

sub-cultures within a society.

The notion of a universally acknowledged ‘core culture’ has lost all its
plausibility since the late 1960s. This, in turn, has raised the question of
the reference population towards which assimilation is said to occur.
Characteristic of the newer literature on assimilation is its willingness to
consider multiple reference populations and correspondingly segmented
forms of assimilation (Portes and Zhou 1993; Waters 1994; Zhou 1997;
Neckerman et al. 1999). It is no longer true that assimilation (or
integration, a term that often, especially in the European context, refers to
much the same thing) is ‘inevitably’ (Brubaker 2001; 540)

Portes and Böröcz (1989) also discuss the problem of early assimilation theory as being

too linear of a process to account for the many outcomes of relations. They explain that

early theories were based entirely on studies of the European migrants and did not

observe those who were not assimilated into mainstream society or migrants who may

have returned to their homelands for various reasons.

There are clearly great differences between past migration flows (pre-1965)

observed by Gordon, those of the late 1970s analyzed by Berry, and the migrations of

today. While obviously more ethnically and culturally diverse, there is also a context of

advanced globalization and a momentum to the movement that allows for a multiplicity

of paradoxical ethnic identities today. Enclaves of first and second wave migrants coexist

in the same geographic spaces with transnational corporate elites and labor migrants.19

Likewise, today’s population movement is a perpetual feature of the international system

19 Take for example Vancouver, BC & San Francisco, CA where vibrant, historic Chinatowns help to
maintain the ethnic identity of early waves of migrants, while also supplying transnational, jet-setting dual
nationals (from Hong Kong and Taiwan particularly) with the cultural accoutrements (media, foods,
clothes, jewelry, etc.) of their homeland.
Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration

whereas previous flows were short lived historic events. For this reason “there are likely

to be strong incentives to keep ethnic affiliations alive even for the third generation”

(Alba and Nee 1997 p. 836). The results of the various ethnoscapes of postmodern

migration may be a portrayed best in the concept of transnationalism. Portes (1997)

defines transnationalism “dense networks across political borders created by immigrants

in their quest for economic advancement and social recognition” (812). Portes et al.

(1999) further explain that transnationalism offers yet another, albeit alternative model

for the immigrants where “success does not so much depend on abandoning their culture

and language to embrace those of another society as on preserving their original cultural

endowment, while adapting instrumentally to a second” (229) This definitions of

transnationalism sees adaptation in producing hybrid identities and cultural practices

(Glick-Schiller et al.1995, also Anthias 2001) such as biculturalism, bilingualism, and

trans-local solidarity (such as reinforcement of national identity in the exterior). Thus,

cultural outcomes in the context of reception have been treated as a continuum with

transnationalism as one of the possible outcomes along with the smooth acculturation,

assimilation, and incorporation of historic assimilation theory and its contemporary

segmented reconceptualization.

Application of Models of Assimilation to Diasporic International Adoptions

Models of acculturation, assimilation, and incorporation have routinely been applied to

the major historic and sizeable movements of populations to the United States such as

Mexicans (Massey et al. 1994; Massey et al. 1987; Espenshade 1999; Sanchez 1993),

East Asians (Tse 2000; Zhou & Bankston 1998) and Turks to Germany (Faist 2000).

However, I wish to test the theory that international adoptions represent diasporas that,

while clearly unique forms of immigration, may be conceived of in the terms of other

17
international migrations (Hübinette 2002; Williams 2002; and principally Miller-Loessi

& Kilic 2002).

I would begin by referring to the diagram below of the “three stages of

international migration and transnationalization” constructed by Faist (2000). This

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Figure 2 - Based Upon Faist (2002) Stylized stages of melting into the core, pluralization and three
forms of transnational social spaces p 259.

diagram is useful in visualizing how the three major approaches to immigrant

incorporation may be applied. By simply exchanging his term of “pluralization” with

segmented assimilation, “transnational circuits” with transnationalism, and “melting into

the core” with straight line or smooth assimilation, we see that all three historic and

contemporary explanations may be applied simultaneously. Moreover, by inclusion of a

third stage of “transnational communities,” Faist draws our attention to the globalizing

processes that may potentially influence immigrant incorporation.

Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration

Beginning with stage one, we see that immigration involves a migration or flight

from a homeland. In the case of international adoptions from China, Miller-Loessi &

Kilic (2002) have made the claim that there are various push factors resulting in a

“relatively large scale” flow of individuals (98% of whom are female) from the PRC.

These factors are namely the “sheer numbers of people” in China (causing considerable

strain on resources as China undergoes its own globalizing processes), the one-child

policy implemented to “restrain huge population growth rates,” and the patriarchal

culture that preferences male heirs and results in a sizeable (as many as a million)

orphaned population of female children (5-6).

According to Faist (2000) movement to the later part of stage one, “transnational

reciprocity,” is usually by means of transnational kinship networks and other social ties.

He does point out that in the case of refugees there is often “an abrupt severing of

transnational ties” to the homeland. Many international adoptions have been observed to

follow the latter pattern (Hübinette 2002; Williams 2002). Williams (2002) explains that

in the case of Vietnam international adoptees were in fact refugees: “In a humanitarian

military exercise known as Operation Babylift, thousands of orphans were evacuated

from Vietnam just before the ‘fall’ of Saigon as babies and then dispersed across

America, Australia, Canada and Europe” (1). In most cases, the only path to

incorporation was that of assimilation or melting into the core (Faist): “Unlike other

Vietnamese migrant youth, adoptees did not have much contact with Vietnamese or

Asian mentors and authority figures such as parents, grandparents and a sense of being

part of the Vietnamese migrant community” (Williams 2002). Similarly, Hübinette

(2002) notes that the 150,000 Korean adoptees dispersed world wide since the Korean

War found the only path was that of assimilation and that the only social support came in

19
the form of assuring the “adoptees’ adjustment to the adopting family and assimilation to

the host culture” (4). Compared to these child diasporas, that of Chinese adopted

daughters is quite unique. Due to the intentional construction of transnational reciprocity

(through the framing of the adoption as a “gift”) and the maintenance of both real and

symbolic cultural ties to China within a deliberate community that reinforces a global

ethnic identity, the options of a pluralized identities or the hybridities of transnationalism

are possible (Miller-Loessi & Kilic 2002; 8-11).

Similar movements have been noted among adult Korean and Vietnamese

adoptees as they struggle to regain a sense of their cultural heritage.20 “The movement of

adopted Koreans is now trying to create an ethnic identity of its own in the third space

between their birth country’s dream of a global ethnic Korean community where the

adopted Koreans are automatically perceived as Korean brethren” (Hübinette 2002; 7).

Similarly, Williams (2002) notes that adult Vietnamese adoptees formed online networks

through egroups, message boards, instant messages and chat rooms that have resulted in

“virtual communities that encourages solidarity, collectivity and association” (6).

Thus, we see that even when the initial incorporation of the immigrant community stage

two is limited to melting into the core, transnational communities may still arise as a

result of the universal search for the particular (Robertson 1992). Identities may be

renegotiated at any point and in any generation (see Waters 1994). The uniqueness of the

Chinese diaspora in terms of its gendered nature, but more so in its deliberate

construction of transnational fields (Faist) and hybridized cultural identities will be an

important referent for future theories of immigrant incorporation. As Miller-Loessi &

20 A clear relation exists here with the advocacy networks of Keck and Sikkink (1998) and the INGOs of
Boli & Thomas (1999) as organizations like Korea G.O.A.L. (Global Overseas Adoptees’ Link) have act on
a worldwide scale drawing attention to the issues of international adoptions.
Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration

Kilic predict, “it is very possible that a strong ethnic group

consciousness sustained over a long time and based on a sense of

distinctiveness, a common history, and a belief in common fate will

form….both their ethnicity and their gender will bind them together in

some form of shared consciousness” (20).

21
Defining Culture and Social Structure

Culture and social structure are concepts rife with different meanings and associated controversies. How
do you think it is most useful to define and use these concepts? Does it depend on the context? If so, give
examples.

Culture is like the sum of special knowledge that

accumulates in any large united family and is the common
property of all its members. When we of the great Culture
Family meet, we exchange reminiscences about
Grandfather Homer, and that awful old Dr. Johnson, and
Aunt Sappho, and poor Johnny Keats.
- Aldous Huxley21

Throughout the previous two essays, the concept of culture has been central. While I

teach my Introduction to Sociology students that culture is the material and non-material

products of a human group or society passed from generation to generation through

shared interactions and experiences,22 the various usages of the term culture in the global

literature find my characterization deficient. Usages I have recorded include:

Ethnic culture, cultural identity, resilient culture, world culture, culture of

consumption, hegemonic culture, cultural imperialism, cultural contact,
cultural solidarity, cross-cultural linkages and practices, deculturation,
cosmopolitan culture, cultural milieu, cultural hybridity, synthetic culture,
authentic culture, exogenous culture, dimensions of culture, acculturation,
cultural diasporization, ethnocultural identity, postmodern culture, cultural
capital, consequences of culture, cultural differentiation, etc….

The problematique regarding a definition of culture that encapsulates all of its

distinct usages has long been discussed. For example, “In Culture: A Critical Review of

Concepts and Definitions (1952), U.S. anthropologists A.L. Kroeber and Clyde

Kluckhohn cited 164 definitions of culture, ranging from “learned behaviour” to “ideas in

the mind,” “a logical construct,” “a statistical fiction,” “a psychic defense mechanism,”

21 http://www.wsu.edu:8001/vcwsu/commons/topics/culture/quotations-on-culture/quotations-on-
culture.html#Aldous%20Huxley
22 From Macionis (2002) and Popenoe (2000).
Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration

and so on” (Encyclopædia Britannica).23 Kroeber and Kluckhohn settle on a definition

that Miller-Loessi and Parker (2003) refer to as “so all-inclusive that it seems to us less

useful” (3). Britannica points out that a resolution may rest in the 1959 essay by Leslie A.

White entitled “The Concept of Culture” where he leaves the specific definition up to the

particular level of analysis and “context of the scientific interpretation.” This would be,

however, a definition of last resort. In this essay, then, I will incorporate the conceptions

of culture as a product of a historical process, linking it to the concepts contained within

the global literature, and delineating culture from actors, values, and social structure.

Throughout the literature we have seen culture as a product of a historical

process. This process creates the product of sameness within a cultural (or ethnic) group.

Hence, shared experiences and a shared milieu (historically limited in time-space)

creating a constancy of values and viewpoints that can be measured empirically in

anthropological observations and social-psychological tests (see for example Schwartz

1992; The Chinese Cultural Connection 1987; and Hofstede1980). Hofstede (1980) in

particular, defines culture as “collective programming of the mind…describing entire

societies” (13). Cultures, he says, are “rooted in value systems of major groups of the

population” and have become “stabilized over long periods of history” (13). In this

definition he distinguishes between cultures and values indicating that culture result from

shared values.

This historical view tends to neglect, however, the destabilizing forces of

globalization that are perhaps more apparent in other texts. Agadjanian and Qian (1997),

for example, found that while there were marked differences in the incidence of abortion

(a cultural practice) among ethnic Kazak and Russian women in Kazakhstan, an

23 Also discussed in Miller-Loessi and Parker (2003).

23
acculturation process was occurring that perhaps blurred the lines between the

ethnocultural groups. Their evidence indicated that Kazak women who were more

“Russified” (i.e. were interviewed in Russian and by proxy have become culturally more

like Russian women) had become acculturated beyond the simple use of language to a

more basic cultural practice of family planning by induced abortion at levels that were

more like those of ethnic Russian women.

Thus, a modern definition of culture must recognize the ongoing globalization

processes, but must determine whether that processes is essentially one creating products

of greater cultural homogeneity or heterogeneity. The neorealist view sees the forces of

world culture, through the increased presence and participation of INGOs, as creating

greater isomorphism among global actors (Meyer et al. 1997; Boli & Thomas 1999). On

the other hand, Appadurai (1990) sees culture that is imagined, negotiated, co-opted and

composed of flexible, overlapping and unbounded dimensions that create more

disjuncture and less isomorphism. This contradiction of cultural processes is address by

Barber (1996) who views the cultural outcomes of globalism and tribalism (universalism

and particularism of Robertson 1992) as two aspects of the same process. Likewise

Anthias (2001) see transnationalism and globalization as creating hybrid cultures that

exemplify “the increasing synthesis of cultural elements between minority and majority

‘cultures’” (619) while also creating diasporas of local culture (an idea she attributes to

Hall 1990). Therefore we have three or more simultaneous products of the globalization

of culture resulting in instances of greater sameness, greater difference, and new

amalgamations of old cultural formations.

Before drawing these assorted threads together into one germane definition, the

distinction between culture and social structure must be made. Miller-Loessi and Parker
Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration

(2003) draw upon House (1981) to explain this differentiation:

Social structure is defined by House (1981:542) as “a persisting and

bounded pattern of social relationships (or pattern of behavioral
interaction) among the units (that is, persons or positions) in a social
system.” Culture may be both a cause and consequence of symbols,
behavior, and physical artifacts, just as culture and social structure may
reciprocally interact. (Miller-Loessi & Parker 2003; 3-4)

A similar argument is presented by Rohner (1984) in Smith and Bond (1998) Social

Psychology Across Cultures. They explain that Rohner defines social system as “the

behaviour of multiple individuals within a culturally-organized population, including

their patterns of social interactions and networks of social relationships” (39). Moreover,

Rohner explains that a society is largest collective unit “organized around a common

culture and a common social system” (40). Thus, in our most universal definition of

culture we may recognize that social structure is the pattern of relations that governs the

interactions of global actors within the world society. Global society then is the habitus in

which the ongoing processes of culture create the various, paradoxical products of global

culture whereas a global social structure provides the rules by which global actors much

engage one another.

Toward a Universal Definition of Culture

A definition of culture that would be relevant in today’s global environment and yet

applicable at all levels of analysis would surprisingly be very similar to that I give my

Introduction to Sociology students. I would begin with a definition that sees culture

simply as the products of people who interact with one another. Thus, they are social

objects in the sense of Mead and other Symbolic Interactionists. I would add, however,

the caveat that these social products are situated. I locate culture within a social structure

and associate it using reciprocal ties to the actors who create culture, the values that guide

25
those actors and are in turn influenced by extant historical cultural trends. I also

acknowledge the paradoxical globalizing and localizing forces that influence social

structures, actors, values, and cultures alike (See Fig. 2). In this way, we may see

applications of this definition of culture at any level. For example, one may have a home

culture made up of historical family traditions and values learned in interactions with

parents, yet influenced by other exogenous entities (media, school, church, etc.).

Likewise the actors within the world polity (social structure), influenced by the values of

democracy (a homogenizing force) and principals of individualism that acknowledge

diversity (and thus particularism) as well as external globalizing forces such as

capitalism, technological change, etc., produce a culture (shared discourses, experiences,

and even commercial goods) that, in turn, further influences the values and very global

actors themselves.

Figure 2 - The Relation of Culture, Values, & Actors within a Social Structure
Stephen Sills Global Studies/ Culture and Identity Concentration

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