Critical Article Review

Connell in “The Northern Theory of Globalisation” (2007) examines how the theory of globalisation has been constructed and discusses the issues surrounding the ‘Northern’ focus of globalisation theories. One of the main concerns addressed in the article is whether globalisation occurs through the adoption of a dominant culture or through the interaction between different cultures. Although both views are arguably valid, Connell (2007: 379) advances that the universal acceptance of Western capitalist values is largely due to the fact that capitalist nations in the northern hemisphere dominate much of the academic writing regarding globalisation.

According to Connell (2007: 369), the economic, social and political boundaries that divide the world have become permeable through the advent of globalisation. Inevitably, this leads to debates regarding how cultural values are transferred from the local to the global, primarily whether globalisation establishes a system of cultural homogeneity or heterogeneity (Connell, 2007: 374). Nederveen Pieterse as cited by Connell (2007: 374) argues t...