Global Pecuniary Emulation: A Case Against Globalization

Global Pecuniary Emulation: A Case Against Americanization

International affairs, globalization, and economics literature often speaks of a concept of "Americanization." By this the authors generally attempt to portray that globalization in the 21st century has consistently been an example of the rest of the world adopting American culture instead of a true global exchange between all nations. Often, the advocates of this position view the perpetrators of Americanization as multinational corporations, the United States government, or other multilateral organizations that the United States plays a large role in, such as the IMF or World Bank. Even Thomas Friedman, a staunch advocate of Globalization, argues that there is a connection
Yet, Veblen expands this thought to include the fact that the lower classes still tend to focus on the actions and examples of pecuniary emulation. In the hypothetical example, despite the fact the postal worker could not have a Ferrari as a second car, he still pursued the idea of a second car because he viewed the act as something that someone in the upper class would do. Veblen details his theory that the actions of the upper class filter through to the lower
Globalization acts as the catalyst for the transformation from a situation of pecuniary emulation within a country or group of countries to a situation of global pecuniary emulation precisely because it breaks down the communication borders that existed between nations. Globalization brings together people better through the use of the internet, satellites, mobile phones, etc. For this reason, there no longer exists "lines of demarcation" between the wealthier developed nations such as the United States and the poorer developing countries of the world. This allows the citizens of other nations to have a concept of American culture that they would not otherwise have a chance to access. While the United States may for both capitalistic and political reasons be trying to pawn its culture off on other countries, these other countries are by no means forced to look to the United States. Instead, the reason that these other countries have chosen to act American runs strictly from the notion that these countries view the United States as the preeminent leisure culture. One could argue, of course, that the goods and ideas that represent American culture are just better and so as an economic choice these other nations are choosing the United States, but in most cases the goods, for example, are being made all