Globalization, Multiculturalism and Other Fictions: Colonialism for the New Millennium?

Abstract

In this paper, we critically examine different discourses of globalization and explore how concepts of globalization have been represented in organizational theory. We argue that, despite its celebratory rhetoric of `one world, many peoples', notions of globalization are inextricably linked with the continued development of First World economies, creating new forms of colonial control in the so-called `post-colonial' era. Thus, globalization becomes the new global colonialism, based on the historical structure of capitalism and is a process that executes the objectives of colonialism with greater efficiency and rationalism. We discuss the economic, political, social and cultural aspects underlying globalization, and argue that the emergence of a so-called `global culture' is simply a process that marks the transformation to a culture of consumption. We interrogate the notions of diversity and multiculturalism, and argue that the successful management of diversity, presented as the new prerequisite for sustainable competitive advantage, effectively continues global colonialism. We argue that, despite the rhetoric of celebrating difference, multiculturalism does little more than facilitate assimilation within the dominant ideology. We examine the different structures and processes of globalization, and conclude by discussing the possibility of alternate theorizations and a discursive redefinition of globalization involving the creation of new spaces that can articulate alternate forms of economic and social realities.