What is Globalization?

Globalization is the destruction of walls, literal and figurative, in order to mix multiple cultures into an ever progressing unanimous one. The end result of globalization is one homogenous culture which encompasses all of mankind. This view of globalization has both positive and negative connotations. Many people cherish the culture they grew up in and they want to preserve it for their future generations. Changing their beloved culture is a lot like destroying everything they know and love. A person can only bend so far, as in the play Fiddler on the Roof (1) . Tevye's daughters attempt to force change upon Tevye's culture, the culture him and his ancestors followed for hundreds of years. He was able to accept the unorthodox arrangements of the marriages of his first two daughters, however when his third daughter tried to bend him even further, he refused. In the end of the Tevye subtly acknowledges the existence of his daughter, however still refuses to accept anything about the marriage. Only so much about a culture can change of a single generation.
The positive connotation of my definition is we as a world are growing closer. Yes we are all sacrificing certain facets of our culture. For example, I now have to deal with the world cup frenzy every four years. When I was younger only my friend who's family is from Cyprus ever talked about the World Cup, now everyone is obsessed. Soccer is becoming more engrained as a major sport in America and that is due to globalization. Talking about sports is a great conversation starter for men, and now when an American man visits Europe he can now talk about soccer without looking like a fool. Globalization is allowing people from different countries and cultures to have more in common.
Many people refer to globalization as Americanization. The American culture is probably one of the most influential cultures in the world, I cannot name a country McDonalds is not in off the top of my head. That does not mean other cultures don't have influence. As I mentioned before many Americans are becoming more and more obsessed with soccer. We have adapted many words from other cultures, such as schadenfreude and weltschmerz. American culture is not the only culture shaping the world.
Information poverty refers to the disparity of technology between countries. Certain countries, such as the United States lead the way when it comes to technology. IBM, Google, Facebook are all stationed in the United States and are the leading companies in each of their industries. Certain countries in the world haven't undergone an industrial revolution yet, let alone have the advanced technology wealthy countries have. Without this technology countries will struggle to receive the information we take for granted. When I want to know what the weather is outside I look on my computer as opposed to stepping outside. It's faster and more efficient than getting dressed (since it's against the social norm to walk in only your underwear while in public), getting sneakers on, waiting for one of the elevators to come up to the fifth floor (which usually take a while, whoever engineered these elevators really don't know what they are doing, when you push the door close button it's suppose to close the door),and walking outside. Then you have to swipe your card in front of the sensor a few times so the door to the building actually opens (again, those engineers) and then repeat the earlier steps in reverse. Much more work than moving my mouse to see the weather application on my desktop.

1)Bock, Harnick, Stein: Fiddler on the Roof, Chava Ballet