Globalisation at the Crossroads of Tradition and Modernity in Rural India

Abstract

This paper explores the ongoing structural and cultural changes in a number of mountain villages in Western India more than a decade since the liberalising of the economic markets, which opened the sub-continent even further to the globalising forces of consumerism and materialism. In addition to mass communication that includes television, other developments, such as transportation, agricultural systems and education, have all contributed significantly to a fundamental reorientation of village life in the past two decades. The present research suggests three central processes at work in rural India today. First, the ethos of consumerism has reached an all time high. Second, information technology and mass communication are connecting villagers to each other and the global market of ideas and information. Third, while the impact of certain western notions of life and relationships as well as some aspirations and expectations are beginning to take hold, traditional agrarian society in this region remains resilient in the face of many modernising forces. Villagers appear to distinguish between modernity (improving quality of life) and westernisation (rejecting certain values, ideas and cultural practices).