As globalization becomes more prominent, Transnational Corporations have more opportunities to expand to other countries. This causes the phenomenon called the homogenization of landscapes, which is the process of places becoming the same. Before globalization, different places have their own styles, so when outsiders pay a visit to the place, it is easy to know the history of the place.
As an example, in Great Britain, Cambridge is named as "King Clone" of UK. The name clone towns are given to towns inundated with chain stores with no sign of history. Chain stores are indirectly forcing out small local shops in towns across the UK, 4 out of 10 of Britain's high streets are undergoing this phenomenon.
Clone towns may be seen as signs of foreign investment, but it may cause detrimental effects too. Some of the effects include:
- loss of small independent businesses
- reduction of consumer choice
- chain stores' exploitation of suppliers
- identity loss of towns
- increase in average price of goods and services
I think whats interesting about the homogenization of landscapes is that it is very often considered to be a bad thing: a loss of local identity as a result of TNCs and other such entities taking over a small city/town/etc. However, this perceptual bias on cultural homogenization ignores the fact that in many cases, the locals embrace the change. The large companies provide jobs for locals, contribute to the local economy, and often provide more specialized goods for the people (ex. a big chain Walmart opening in a small town can provide utility items and products that were not being sold by local businesses previously). Despite their benefits, these large economic entities do take money out of the area and move it to wherever the company's HQ is, with the profits used for further expansion and rarely for small community developments.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the prompt asks for the effects of these common commercial activities, structures, infrastructure, etc. and many people don't consider the fact that having the same style of city everywhere might actually make people more comfortable. People forced to move to a different country due to the nature of their employment can take solace in the fact that the place they're moving to is more or less the same as where they came from, which can have a positive effect on a person. Just something to consider, HAHAHA.