comment on Measuring Change, Loss and Gain

in response to John Tao's blog:

Measuring change is possible at the macro-level. Measuring loss vs. gain is constantly influx. It depends completely on who is measuring and how they are measuring. Loss and gain requires a value system.

Measuring change is objective, measuring loss and gain is subjective. It is easy to look at something and see how you have changed and how you are different. Take women's rights for example. We can look at them and see a clear progression of change. In the 1920's, women were expected to stay in the home. In the 1950's women had to work outside the home because of WWII.

If you step back and look at a macro level, you can observe change. Now to measure loss vs. gain, you inherently have to put a value to the change that has occured. For example, those who believe that women should be at home to raise their children would see women who go into the workforce as a loss. Those who think that women are a value in the workforce will see this as a gain.

At a micro-level, for somethings there is a clear turning point. Like women's right to vote. There was an amendment made to the constitution and there after, women could vote. However, for most things, it is a slow progression of evolution, which is why you have to be at the macro-level.

Culture and Globalization

One of the question prompts for this topic which I thought was most interesting was the one that asked "is there even a way of measuring cultural loss and cultural gain?" This made me think about different cultures that I am familiar with, and made me think about whether or not, even in my life that, they have changed. And, if so, how did they change? And, as the question asks, I thought about whether or not there was even a way of measuring the cultural shift.

To say that we are living in an age of globalization is both true and false. Globalization did not just suddenly happen within the past twenty years. It has always been happening, there has always been interaction between different peoples and cultures. Yet, it is true that with the advent of the internet, with plane tickets being so accessible to more people, etc. the world is in an era of globalization which it has never seen before.

So with that said... how can you measure cultural changes? Cultures change. People change. Values at one point in time for one society undergo changes. Has globalization made a change to these cultures? Yes. Would these cultures have changed anyway? Yes. Since change is inevitable, since there is more of a flow between cultures, since there is more interaction between different traditions how do you measure the change?

I would say that there is no real way to measure cultural loss or gain, as the question put it. I would say, as well, that there is no real such thing as cultural loss or gain since cultures are apt to change on their own at any given point in time in order to fit the times. Cultures will change, but I think it is best to think of them as evolving with the times. That's what they have always done and what they will always do. This will not change even with the rapid globalization of the world.

Cultural Purity or Global Culture?

The topic for this Spring 2009 Forum is posted in the banner above, but we thought we'd get things started not just restating the topic in the blogroll but providing some links to get us all thinking. Not all of the connections between the questions and links are immediately obvious, but we think they are all suggestive -- and worth exploring.

But you tell us -- and your colleagues here -- and post your own links! And remember, these aren't the only questions; just a few to get us started. Ask and take a shot at answering your own.

So here we go:

Ethnic and national cultures have never existed in a vacuum, but the idea of cultural purity seems especially fantastic at this particular moment. President Barack Obama is claimed by his father’s Kenyan village as one of their own; Hollywood repeatedly dips into the East Asian film archive for its Next Big Release and major studios have even taken steps into Bollywood (and what to make of this?); afrobeat bands can be found in almost every US college town; while luxury-good retailers continue to expand into emerging markets and set new standards for ostentatious consumption (even in this challenging economic environment). Are we losing something as the walls that remain between cultures crumble? Is there even a way of measuring cultural loss and cultural gain that would allow us to make reasoned judgments? How would you go about protecting culture, when so much of it travels with people and goods which increasingly face fewer and fewer cross-border restrictions? Are we in an age of cultural “survival of the fittest” or is the blending of culture elements actually an improvement? Or does that depend on what side you – and the culture you identify with – end up on?

Read, comment, register, and share your thoughts with the UW-Madison community -- and the world!

The Spring 2009 WI-Global Forum is Open!

Welcome to the third WI-Global Forum! Global Studies and the Offices of the Dean of Students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are happy to be able to once again provide this opportunity for UW students to share their thoughts and insights among themselves and with the wider world.

This semester's topic revolves around questions of cultural purity and winners and losers (if there are any) in the increasing interchange among peoples and cultures. Is this the great erasure of cultural difference or the birth of a new global culture (or just more of the same)? The full topic statement for the Spring Forum is above -- and we'll be posting it in the blog roll itself, together with some suggested links to get us thinking (and blogging) shortly.

Complete information on how you can participate in the WI-Global Forum (UW students are eligible to post and win the WI-Global Forum awards; everyone is welcome to comment on postings) is available by following the links under the header above.

This semester we are also reducing the number of postings needed to be eligible to win the $125 prize from 5 to 3; and once again we'll be giving away free flash drives to the first, eighth, and fifteenth postings.

The postings from the Spring and Fall 2008 Forums -- on music & international sport respectively -- are available below. You can get a good sense of the quality of the discussion by reading the posts. And though those Forum topics are closed, comments on those past postings, and the postings to come yet this semester, are always welcome.

WI-Global Awards for Fall 2008

Once again, thank you to all the participants in the Fall 2008 WI-Global Forum.

Unfortunately, none of the Forum participants met the 5 posting minimum to qualify for the award. Nor did we receive eligible nominations for the WI-Global Paper Award.

The Forum will reopen in the coming week (and we will offer the WI-Global Paper Award this coming semester as well). Of course, we encourage the discussions from both the Spring and Fall of 2008 (on music and sport) to continue -- we hope you will participate by commenting and joining in the Spring 2009 Forum!

The WI-Global Team.