Beyond Self Containment: On the Politics of Culture and Identity in a Glocal Society

Abstract

As a result of the epiphany of giant multinational media conglomerates, transnational trade networks and the politics of globalization, it is tempting to believe that individual and national identities have morphed. This article argues that such homogenization in relation to individuation is tedious to accept. It draws from theories of symbolic interactionism, social psychology, Foucauldian, and postcolonial constructs to hold that structuralist significations of postmodern society ought to be contested. The article emphasizes that human identity can hardly be spoken of in <em>either/or</em> terms, by revisiting notions of selfhood, culture, and bio-power. The paper concludes by examining how these elements act, shape, and constrain individual identities in ‘glocal' societies, rather than as persons affected by them in homologous deterministic ways.