Ravi is an NRI residing in London. When he came to India, he found that there were more similarities in the British and Indian culture in 2024 than when British were ruling India. What would you call this process?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Homogenisation
Option (1) Westernisation — Incorrect. Westernisation is Srinivas’s term for the changes in Indian society and culture brought about by British rule. Ravi finds the two cultures more alike in 2024 than under British rule, so the change he sees came after colonial rule ended and is part of a wider worldwide process.
Option (2) Homogenisation — Correct. A central contention about globalisation is that all cultures will become similar, that is homogeneous. Ravi’s finding that British and Indian cultures are now more alike than before is this process of homogenisation.
Option (3) Globalisation — Incorrect. Globalisation is the growing interconnection of the world, economically, culturally and politically. It is the broad process behind the change; the question asks for the name of its result, cultures becoming alike.
Option (4) Glocalisation — Incorrect. Glocalisation refers to the mixing of the global with the local, as when foreign channels use Indian languages or McDonald’s sells only vegetarian and chicken products in India. It describes the global adapting to the local, not two cultures becoming the same.
NCERT (2025-26): “Homogenisation Versus Glocalisation of Culture … A central contention is that all cultures will become similar, that is homogeneous. Others argue that there is an increasing tendency towards glocalisation of culture. Glocalisation refers to the mixing of the global with the local. It is not entirely spontaneous. Nor is it entirely delinked from the commercial interests of globalisation. It is a strategy often adopted by foreign firms while dealing with local traditions in order to enhance their marketability.…” |