Youth Culture and Globalisation
Read the passage carefully and answer the following questions from
Another key issue regarding globalisation and labour is the relationship between employment and globalisation. Here too we see the uneven impact of globalisation. For the middle class youth from urban centres, globalisation and the IT revolution has opened up new career opportunities. Instead of routinely picking up B.Sc./ B.A./B.Com. degree from colleges, many young persons are learning computer languages at computer institutes, taking up jobs at call centers or Business Process Outsourcing BPO companies, working as sales persons in shopping malls or picking up jobs at the various restaurants that have opened up. In many ways it was a major political change, namely, the collapse of the erstwhile socialist world that hastened globalisation. And also gave a specific economic and political approach to the economic policies that underpin globalisation. These changes are often termed as neo-liberal economic measures. We have already seen what concrete steps the liberalisation policy took in India. Broadly these policies reflect a political vision of free enterprise which believes that a free reign to market forces will be both efficient and fair. It is, therefore, critical of both state regulation and state subsidies. The existing process of globalisation in this sense does have a political vision as much as an economic vision. However, the possibilities that there can be a globalisation which is different do exist. We, thus have the concept of an inclusive globalisation, that is one, which includes all the sections of society. Another significant political development which is accompanying globalisation is the growth of international and regional mechanisms for political collaboration. The European Union EU, the Association of South East Asian Nations ASEAN, South Asian Association for Regional Corporation SAARC are just some of the examples that indicate the greater role of regional associations.
Which of the following is a direct cultural effect of neo-liberal policies?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Development of Indi-pop and multiplexes.
Option (1) Development of inter-regional alliances. — Incorrect. Regional alliances such as the EU, ASEAN and SAARC are a political effect of globalisation, as the passage itself says, not a cultural one.
Option (2) Development of Indi-pop and multiplexes. — Correct. Globalisation brings a mixing of global and local culture: in music, Bhangra pop, Indi pop, fusion music and remixes have grown popular. It also brings a culture of consumption, in which spending on art, food, fashion and music shapes cities, seen in the spurt of shopping malls and multiplex cinema halls. Both are cultural effects.
Option (3) Development of ‘flexi-time’ work. — Incorrect. Flexible working hours are a change in the organisation of work and labour, an economic effect, not a cultural one.
Option (4) Development of government schemes on tribal culture — Incorrect. Government schemes are state action, and neo-liberal policies favour less of it; such schemes are not an effect of these policies.
NCERT (2025-26): “Homogenisation Versus 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. In India, we find that all the foreign television channels like Star, MTV, Channel V and Cartoon Network use Indian languages. Even McDonald’s sells only vegetarian and chicken products in India and not its beef products, which are popular abroad. McDonald’s goes vegetarian during the Navaratri festival. In the field of music, one can see the growth of popularity of ‘Bhangra pop’, ‘Indi pop’, fusion music and even remixes.… Culture of Consumption … Look at the crucial role that cultural consumption is playing in the process of globalisation especially in shaping the growth of cities. Till the 1970s the manufacturing industries used to play a major role in the growth of cities. Presently, cultural consumption (of art, food, fashion, music, tourism) shapes to a large extent the growth of cities. This is evident in the spurt in the growth of shopping malls, multiplex cinema halls…” |