Global Culture/Individual Identity : Searching for Home in the Cultural Supermarket

Gordon Mathews examines the complex and debated topics of globalization, culture and identity. The book should be of interest to social and cultural anthropologists and students.

Most people still think of themselves as belonging to a particular culture. Yet today, many of us who live in affluent societies choose aspects of our lives from a global cultural supermarket, whether in terms of food, the arts or spiritual beliefs. So if roots are becoming simply one more consumer choice, can we still claim to possess a fundamental cultural identity?
Global Culture/Individual Identity focuses on three groups for whom the tension between a particular national culture and the global cultural supermarket is especially acute: Japanese artists, American religious seekers and Hong Kong intellectuals after the handover to China. These ethnographic case studies form the basis for a theory of culture which we can all see reflected in our own lives.
Gordon Mathews opens up the complex and debated topics of globalization, culture and identity in a clear and lively style.

Gordon Mathews opens up the complex and debated topics of globalisation, culture and identity in a clear and lively style. His book will be an illuminating and valuable read to social and cultural anthropologists and students.