"I'm in Paris and all I Want is a Big Mac, a Starbucks, and some new Nikes"

As my fellow NYU peers and I visited the college months ago with the prospect of entering into this university, we were promised a ‘global’ education. We were told repeatedly that NYU is a ‘global’ university and is unique in its goal to completely submerge its students into a global culture. In this day of age, where with the help of technology and advances in communication the globe has shrunk, being aware of the world globally is something that is valued. To be educated in the cultures of other countries is something that has become more and more important. However, as the world we live in becomes increasingly globalized, there is a simultaneous homogenization of culture. Or rather, as the globe becomes more connected, we can see a loss of unique cultures that is being replaced with more American or western culture.

                With companies like Starbucks, Apple, and most notoriously McDonalds expanding to other countries at an almost exponential rate, it is safe to say that there has been some loss of local culture in places like China and India. In China, a Starbucks even welcomes the “five million Chinese a year [who] visit theForbidden City”, an ancient Chinese palace. This sacred landmark of China, and remnants of some of the most powerful dynasties ever to rule over China, has become yet another casualty in the Americanization of cultures. The expansion of these big name American companies, while profitable for America, is coming at the price of something way more valuable: the true untarnished identity of other countries’ cultures. There was a time where traveling the globe meant experiencing other unadulterated places, getting a new and completely different experience than you have ever had before. However, now ‘traveling the world’ means going to Paris just to get the same Big Mac you can get from the drive-thru three blocks from your house.  It is truly amazing that in our global society today, where an American CEO, a Scandinavian super model, and an Indian computer technician can all be drinking virtually the same cup of coffee at the same time, we still have such pressing issues as malnutrition and high illiteracy rates in some of our most developed countries.

                The United States is practicing “cultural imperialism”, and subjecting less developed countries to its restaurants, clothing companies, and entertainment ventures. In January 2003, “American films accounted for approximately 80percent of global box office revenue”, a true testament to the homogenization of culture, where people all over the globe want to watch and enjoy the same movies. As a global society under one global culture we are not actively creating new and unique ideas and concepts, but rather “old ideas are repeated over and over again, in these media and thus culture is no longer characterized by diversity but is reduced to the repetition of a relatively narrow spectrum of forms and ideas” (Koval). With this Americanization of cultures we’ve seen the disappearance of original ideas, almost as if nothing is truly “new” or “innovative”. Although with a population of over seven billion people, there will never be such thing as “one global culture”, it seems as if we are becoming a sea of sameness- a population who wears the same brands, eats the same food, and likes the same music. That is not to say there aren’t those who are opposed to this Americanization of culture; In many places, especially in western Europe, there has been a movement to oppose the coming of US big name companies and a boycott of places like Starbucks and McDonalds. In Italy, for example, is one country whereStarbucks has yet to expand its global empire of coffeehouses. Many Europeans oppose these big name companies because they recognize them for what they are: a threat to local businesses and yet another sign of an Americanized world.

                I’m going to be honest here; I do not represent a citizen who is rallying for global change. I fully partake and am a cog in our capitalist society, I drink Starbucks every day (sometimes twice a day), I love to go shopping, and I even eat at fast food chains like McDonalds (McFlurrys while they are ticking caloric time bombs are delicious and hard to pass up). While it is easy to point out the flaws of Americanization, it is even harder to fully separate yourself from global imperialism. Although people complain about big name corporations, most of us still wake up every morning craving an egg mcmuffin and a venti-non-fat-extra-whip-pumpkin-spice-expresso-soy latte. We live in an extremely connected global society, where in the future there will be global problems that we, global citizens, will be called upon to answer.