Many observers of globalization have come to recognize a new class of people who are generally well-educated, trained professionals in the business field, who have developed a kind of global common culture.

Harvard University Professor Samuel Huntington has characterized this group of global professionals as the "Davos culture," named after the Swiss luxury resort locale of an annual, informal meeting of very select and elite businessmen, financiers, and heads of states. (Although the participants at the meeting do not represent governments in any official capacity, make policy decisions, or negotiate any agreements, they do share ideas and put forth proposals pertaining to global economic concerns.) Huntington sees these individuals as drivers of global economic processes and as a force for pursuing the business agenda of further globalization.

The members of this group around the world are largely proficient in English, and from their offices in their native countries they are immersed in a shared world of computers, cell phones, and flight schedules. Huntington is disdainful of this group for presuming that their predominantly Western ways of doing business and living will supersede traditional cultural values. He identifies this group of elites as being largely responsible for driving the global agenda on foreign affairs and trade talks.

Robert Reich, who served as Secretary of Labor under President Clinton and whose political views are very different from Huntington's, has also noted the existence of this group. However, Reich draws a broader definition of its membership, including a wide segment of professionals within the United States. Although much of Huntington's thesis focuses on the differences between various civilizations, Reich points out that this cultural globalization is also creating a division within American society (Reich, 1991).

For Reich, this new class of globalized professionals accounts for perhaps 15 to 25 percent of the U.S. population. He observes that the members of this group:

• think in cosmopolitan rather than national terms;
• have high skill and education levels, and, as such, benefit the most economically from globalization;
• speak foreign languages;
• travel internationally;
• are much less likely to lose their jobs, or to work in industries with falling wages, due to globalizing economics; and
• are unlikely to have served—or even have family members who have served -- in the military.

Members of this group therefore may be more likely to think of themselves as "citizens of the world." They can feel as at home in Tokyo, Rome, or Hong Kong as they would in New York or Los Angeles . Reich says they have been the biggest winners in the globalization game, and comprise most of the membership of those who are shaping the globalization agenda. However, as his essay also notes, this does not mean that members of this group are in agreement with each other on many, or any, of the decisions being made about globalization, or that they share an understanding of its implications.

In contrast, the rest of society - being more national or regional in its outlook—is not only more sensitive to the intrusions of global culture on their local norms, but is also more likely to bear the economic costs of the disruptions of globalization and serve in the military. The frustrations of these groups may explain the periodic resurgences across the world of anti-global nationalist figures like Pat Buchanan in the U.S., Jean-Marie Le Pen in France, or Vladimir Zhirinovsky in Russia. 

Of course, there are positive arguments to be made on behalf of this globalizing professional class. Although many observers note the imprint of American culture on this group, it is also possible to look upon this culture as one that pays more homage to the market than any xenophobic national identity; it is internally meritocratic, and it could in fact be seen as the very vanguard of global multiculturalism. 

Some suggest that the new American model is itself a multicultural one. Thomas Friedman suggests that one kind of leadership the has offered the world over the past several decades is the example it has set for multicultural diversity. In The Lexus and the Olive Tree, he quotes an executive from a biotech company in California describing his staff:   

"We have nineteen employees Three were born in Vietnam, two scientists and one administrator; two were born in Canada, both scientists; one was born in Germany, a scientist; one was born in Peru, a scientist, one was born in Malaysia, a scientist; one was born in China, a scientist; one is from Iran, a scientist; and one is from India, a scientist. The rest of us are native-born Americans. I cannot think of another country in the world where you could so easily put such a team together."

Friedman notes that, due to the increased volumes of immigration and mobility of people brought about by globalization, almost every country in the world is having to learn to come to terms with multiculturalism. In spite of its problems in dealing with the problems of race and ethnicity, many people around the world look to the United States as an example of how to promote diversity and tolerance of other cultures within one society.

Dr. Robert Rosen addresses the cross -cultural skills needed for success to today's globalized economy, to see this interview, click here. 

For information on virtual jobs, please click here.

Source: UNESCO World Cultural Report