Globalisation is a complex process that has deeply transformed contemporary societies and everyday life. Through increasing interconnection among parts of the world, globalisation has made the circulation of people, goods, images, ideas and technologies easier, influencing the way that communities organise and build their identities. To comprehend this process, it becomes essential to analyse how the way of life changes, and especially how childhood experiences are transformed.
Although the connection among territories is not a new phenomenon – they already existed in the ancient commercial routes or during the colonial European expansion – globalisation, as it is known nowadays, was consolidated in the 20th century. During this period, market liberalisation and the growth of transnational cooperation and the development of digital and communication technologies intensified the exchange globally. These changes have had an economic impact, but social and cultural as well, modifying habits, values and forms of socialisation directly.
From an anthropological perspective, globalisation is understood as a multidimensional process that is not experienced homogeneously in all contexts. A perspective especially useful to analyse it is Appadurai’s theory, which describes globalisation as an array of global flows that penetrate into everyday life progressively. These flows – in relation to communications, technology, people, capital and ideology- do not act homogeneously, but get integrated as forms of inequality. This process generates new cultural combinations.
Appadurai’s contributions allow us to understand that globalisation is not only a substitution of the global instead of the local. By contrast, global references are incorporated into practices and local traditions. As a result, hybrid cultural expressions emerged. This process is denominated as a glocalization, which explains how lifestyle, consumption and global cultural models are adapted and remain in specific contexts, progressively transforming ways of life.
Ireland constitutes a clear example of this process. During the past 50 years, Ireland was a homogeneous society, marked by traditional Christian values, where family, religion and the local community play a crucial role. Nevertheless, since 1990 the country has experienced a rapid economic and cultural opening. This multifactorial process has positioned Ireland as one of the most globalised countries in the world.
That said, how can this sociocultural and economic change modify children’s behaviour?
The social changes associated with globalisation have meaningfully transformed the children’s lifestyles. Nowadays, children are growing in an environment more connected, diverse and guided by technology, which are influenced by directly on how children behave, their personal relationships and how they build their identity.
As Appadurai argues, globalisation is getting visible in the constant circulation of people, images, technology and ideas which come from different parts of the world, especially from Western society. In the Irish context, children are exposed to lifestyle, values and forms of expression beyond their local environment. Schools are increasingly more diverse and they have very premature access to the internet and social media.
These changes influenced by their habits and behaviour, that children are getting embraced during their development. Their routines, leisure and other forms of relation are getting built through a combination of local traditions and global references.
At the same time, globalisation affects how children perceive themselves. The exposure to different cultural models allowing them to explore diverse forms of identity and belonging. The digital spaces, in particular, are converted into spaces where they experiment, express and relate to each other, influencing how they build their personalities and their worldview.
These changes do not mean that these children mirror what they see outside. On the contrary, they adapt, remain and mix up the global and local actively, depending on their environment, their family and their personal experiences.
In this context, the capitalist system reinforces increasingly an individualist vision of life. By the same token, the children’s tastes and lifestyle reproduce their social position, their identity and their sense of self. This process of realisation through consumption drives the individualisation and makes the influence of traditional religion, family and community weaker.
Globalisation adds another dimension: the goods and cultural influences that define class and identity come from outside more often than from local or national circles. So, the global cultural capital becomes more relevant than local, which only remains relevant if it is a source of social distinction. Hence, the study of globalisation involves analysing how are interwoven tastes and global lifestyle with the mundane local life and how this transforms the habits of children. In other words, the way children perceive and understand the world.
All in all, globalisation has transformed Irish childhood without erasing the local side. Children develop their childhood and adolescence under the influence of family, school and community, at the same time that they add global cultural references through leisure, media and consumption. This combination generates hybrid identities, where the local and global coexist naturally.
At the same time, it is observed a change in the values that influence how children understand each other. The loss of relevance of religion and national traditions are followed by a high importance of consumption and individual choice as a way of personal expression.
Within this context, the Museum of Childhood Ireland – Músaem Óige na hÉireann provides a space for dialogue on childhood experiences from the past to the present and dialogue on the current social changes, helping with understanding around how globalisation has transformed, and continues to transform the ways of growing up in Ireland and the world.
Paula Ordóñez, Museum of Childhood Ireland, Músaem Óige na hÉireann Children’s Advisory Team member.
Click to read the article on the Museum of Childhood Ireland’s website