Semiotic Approach to Globalization: Living in a World of Glocal Things

Abstract

This paper is an effort to discuss the concept of glocalization from a semiotic point of view. In order to carry out a semiotic analysis of globalization or glocalization, first globalization needs to be defined from a semiotic perspective. Therefore, first an explanation of globalization and glocalization in semiotic terms is provided. Some believe the ongoing process in the world cannot be best described as globalization and it should be called glocalization. According to this approach, the ongoing universal process is a combination of globalization and localization leading to new diversities, not uniformity. With a structuralist approach to semiotics a better understanding is gained on how glocalization may affect the world in which we are living. After a theoretical argument on the semiotic definition of globalization and glocalization, the results of a number of in-depth interviews with people who have experienced living in two different cultures will be analyzed in a qualitative method to provide further insight on how glocalization might work.