Week 8: “Globalisation as Hybridization”

Explain the concept of ‘globalisation as hybridization’.

It is understood that globalisation involves the relative weakening of nation states, which encompasses the reinforcement of or go together with localism, and the reinforcement of both supranational and subnational regionalism. Globalisation has created a wide spectrum of organisational options. Thus, the overall tendency towards increasing globalisation translates into the pluralisation of organisational forms. The emergence of new economical, political, and social practices is the manifestation of how hybridisation is superimposed on globalisation.

Pieterse, JN 2009, ‘Globalisation as Hybridization’, in Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks, Wiley-Blackwell, Hoboken, pp. 658-680.