Globalization has been advantageous for Greenland, in that it has broken the country?s
isolation. The disadvantages described as results of modernization and globalization
processes, such as the annihilation of local cultures, giving rise to further stratification
problems or causing frustrations as individuals long for things they cannot achieve, are
discussed in this article in relation to Thomas Ziehe?s levels of modernization?s
penetration into society, culture and the individual. The analysis is based on empirical
data from quantitative and qualitative research among 12?19-year-olds in Greenland in
1997 and 2001. As we see, the local culture is not at all in danger of annihilation. Socioeconomic
differences exist and are unfortunately entangled in ethnic and
centre?periphery factors. The young peoples? leisure habits reveal an urge for a global
lifestyle, but its limited availability does not seem to lead to a sense of being left behind
as deprived locals in a global world. |