Globalization wields powerful influence over societies and cultures. Business travelers and tourists both observe and distribute new ideas. New ideas, interactions, foods and products are tried, then embraced or discarded. With the internet or satellite television, films, publications, photographs, news reports and cartoons can travel instantly, entertaining or angering audiences around the globe. With social media like Facebook or Twitter, individuals offer news and own instant pronouncements on trends. Whether slowly through immigration or immediately online, these connections bring about some convergence of norms on fashion to human rights while also provoking challenges from traditionalists. A global society has emerged, and it’s tightly linked.

Brazil's Stand-Up Comics Lead Social Revolution Against Powerful Elites

The internet’s freedom to joke provides check on the powerful
Tom Phillips
October 7, 2011

Asia’s Lack of Babies

Young women avoid childbirth, focusing on personal wealth rather than national economic growth
Philip Bowring
September 20, 2011

Cycle of “Compulsive Consumerism” Leaves British Family Life in Crisis, Unicef Study Finds

Materialism reinforces inequality, creating difficult and unhappy children
John Bingham
September 20, 2011

An America Adrift

Distracted by 9/11 and wars, the US neglected pressing financial and international issues
Paul Kennedy
September 9, 2011

A Dispatch Disaster in Six Acts

WikiLeaks files are released, exposing US State Department informants
Christian Stöcker
September 2, 2011