Islands in the stream : Australia and Japan face globalisation

A major study of how Australia and Japan, two island nations, face the currents of globalisation. Fascinating chapters by distinguished students of Australia and Japan, and they explore the impact of globalisation.

The Sociology of Cosmopolitanism:Globalization, Identity, Culture and Government

The dream of a cosmopolitical utopia has been around for thousands of years. Yet the promise of being locally situated and at the same time globally connected and mobile has never seemed more possible than it is today. The question remains as to whether it is positive and realistic for us to have multiple loyalties. Can we sustain community and solidarity with our neighbours while we look beyond our nation? And if we can't - or won't – consider distant strangers as part of our own world, are there increasingly dire consequences? This book reconnects classical sociological theory and contemporary ideas on mobility, otherness, material assemblages, consumption and surveillance to render the idea of a global cosmopolitan utopia amenable to sociological investigation. The book takes a realistic approach to the development of cosmopolitical arrangements. It embraces the imaginative impulses the cosmopolitan dream provides, but takes into account the political, ethical and cultural dimensions of such cosmopolitan developments. In revisiting the relevance of classical sociological approaches in the context of contemporary theoretical challenges, the distinctive approach this book takes to understanding cosmopolitanism will be of use to scholars and students alike.

Culture and creative industries in Australia

This paper draws upon the Australian case to argue that the case for support for cultural production and cultural infrastructure has been strengthened overall by its alignment to economic policy goals. In this respect, the rise of creative industries policy discourses is consistent with trends in thinking about cultural policy that have their roots in the Creative Nation strategies of the early 1990s. In terms of the earlier discussion, cultural policy is as much driven by Schumpeterian principals as it is by Keynesian ones. Such an approach is not without attendant risks, and two stand out. The first is the risk of marginalizing the arts, through a policy framework that gives priority to developing the digital content industries, and viewing the creative industries as primarily an innovation platform. The second is that other trends in the economy, such as the strong Australian dollar resulting from the mining boom, undercuts the development of cultural production in the sections of the creative industries where international trade and investment is most significant, such as the film industry and computer games. Nonetheless, after over a decade of vibrant debate, this focus on linking the cultural and economic policy goals of the creative industries has come to be consistent with broader international trends in the field.

Culture and creative industries in Australia

It has been argued that the origins of modern creative industries policies can be found in Australia. The Creative Nation national cultural policy statement released by the Labor government headed by the Prime Minister Paul Keating in 1994 sought an original synthesis of arts and media policies that was outwardly looking, identifying the opportunities presented by what were then new digital media technologies, and clearly stated the economic opportunities presented by promotion of what were referred to at the time as the cultural industries. Several commentators have identified the influence that Creative Nation had on the Blair Labour government when it came to power in the United Kingdom in 1997. Faced with the question of how to revitalise the once-mighty industrial cities of the U.K. after the Conservative government, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport drew upon policy documents such as Australia’s Creative Nation, as well as the experience of local governments in these cities, in looking to the cultural sectors to spearhead new jobs growth, as well as re-branding the cities as cultural or creative cities in a post-industrial economic landscape. This growing alignment of culture and economics, that has been a characteristic of creative industries policies as they have developed in Australia, Britain, East Asia and Europe, marks an interesting shift in the traditional focus of arts and cultural policy as compensatory to the economic domain. The first Chair of what would become the Arts Council of Great Britain (now the Arts Council of England) was the famous economist John Maynard Keynes. In the First Annual Report of the Arts Council for 1945-1946, prepared in the latter stages of the Second World War, Keynes proposed that “the day is not far off when the economic problem will take the back seat where it belongs, and the arena of the heart and the head will be occupied or reoccupied, by our real problems — the problems of life and of human relations, of creation and behaviour and religion”. 中文摘要 1994年工黨執政時期澳洲總理基挺（Paul Keating）發表創意的國家（The Creative Nation）的文化政策聲明堪稱是澳洲現代創意產業的起源，該聲明試圖將藝術與媒體政策結合在一起，其目的在面向海外，為新數位媒體技術尋找機會。聲明中明確指出要推動文化產業為經濟帶來機會。「文化政策也是經濟政策。文化創造財富與附加價值，對創新、行銷與設計有重要貢獻，是我們工業的標誌（badge）。我們創意的層次實際上決定了我們適應新經濟imperatives的能力。文化本身就是項重要出口，是其他產品出口的主要附件（essential accompaniment）。文化吸引觀光與學生，也是我們經濟成功之關鍵。」 創意產業的策略是構建藝術、媒體與資訊電信科技的網絡以利文化產業在國家創新政策策略中擁有一席之地。此一策略最早是由1990年代末英國布萊爾（Tony Blair）的新工黨政府所採行，其後歐洲聯盟、澳洲、紐西蘭、新加坡、台灣、南韓與中國。

Productivism, culture and the challenges of sustainable beef production in Australia

Beef has become an important part of the South Korean diet. Rapid modernization and economic development since the 1960s has led to an increase in meat consumption, especially beef. Indeed, per capita beef consumption per year increased from 0.5kg in 1960 to 8.8kg in 2010, representing an 18-fold increase. The increasing demand for beef in Korea has been met by the development of intensive domestic meat production systems, along with a sharp increase in imports from meat exporting countries, most importantly Australia and the US.

Globalization, culture and e-business

This chapter argues that globalisation, culture and e-business exist in interesting ways that challenge accepted norms of interpretation about business practice in the new century. There appears to be a paradox of parallel business practice of defacto standards versus a culture of micro management. Discourse has been constructed that accepts the parallel existence and the co-existence of two layers operating within the business world. The international layer of standards, albeit defacto, co-existing with a layer of cultural difference supported by Guanxi and cultural values and cultural practice. This chapter argues that the one doesn't challenge the other. Rather, the one compliments the other. They co-exist and create economies of scale, deliver efficiency, deliver cost effectiveness, deliver productivity savings, solve currency trade problems, solve logistics problems, solve tracking problems, and deal with the imperfections in the marketplace. The two levels, it is argued, encourage collaboration and foster necessary cooperation along the supply chain. The end result is a world of e-business that benefits international business.

Leadership, culture and employee deceit : the case of the National Australia Bank

The National Australia Bank (NAB), one of Australia's largest banks, announced losses in 2004 of AUD$360 million due to unauthorised foreign currency trading activities by four employees who incurred and deceptively concealed the losses. The NAB had in place risk limits and supervision to prevent trading desks ever reaching positions of this magnitude. However, the risk management policies and procedures proved ineffective. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the deceit, via a content analysis of official investigative reports and other published documents, to determine the extent to which the Bank's culture and leadership may have influenced the rogue traders' behaviour. The findings suggest that cultural issues, and the role played by the Bank's leaders, were influential in creating a profit-driven culture that ultimately impacted the Bank's foreign exchange operating activities.

Legacies of White Australia : race, culture and nation

The White Australia policy continues to haunt Australia. Here, leading Australian scholars provide an informed debate on the essential issues of race, identity and nation that will determine our attitudes to immigration, multiculturalism and Australian-Asian engagement in the twenty-first century.

Culture and political party ideology in Australia

Australian federal cultural policy has been shaped by the political party in government in ways that reflect the distinctive ideology of that party. The authors trace the influence of Australia's two major political parties on federal cultural policy, arguing that their distinctive political philosophies have been significant forces in determining the changing shape of cultural policy in diverse ways. The authors demonstrate that, over the past decade, the cultural policies of the two major parties have become less distinctive as each party responds to the same international economic and political challenges. This lack of ideological dichotomy within political discourse has hampered the development of cultural policy that adequately responds to the cultural interests of Australian communities and artists.

Recognition and respect : globalization culture and Malaysian education

Globalization and language reform is often presented as a set of practices and relationships to which educators must adapt in order to 'compete‘ or maintain 'relevance‘ in contemporary society. Presented in such a way neo-liberal versions of globalization and educational reform situate localized culture often as a kind of impediment, something we must overcome or ameliorate in order for progress to be sustained and maintained. In Malaysia, these kinds of discourses inform public policy debates. From debates over university competitiveness through to arguments over language and literacy in a global world, the pressures on Malaysian educators to change their practices and reform are often presented with an implicit assumption that local culture is somehow in deficit.

The argument of this paper challenges this framing and representation of globalization. I present an alternative theoretical framework through which educators can judge their practices within the discourse of globalization. I will demonstrate how respecting difference and culture is framing globalization as mutual respect and recognition rather than imposed change is critical to addressing the language and culture of globalization and education. In this sense, debates about language (understood here in the broadest sense as how we communicate and in what power discourse we communicate within) and culture are ultimately arguments about recognition and respect. Neo liberal politics as an expression of an increasingly authoritarian discourse of globalization needs to be challenged by a politics and practice of cultural recognition and respect.

Dies of culture and religion : India and Australia, from settlement to post/modern times

In historical sketches of India-Australia or Australia-India relations, the important dimensions of the cultural and religious connections from the shared colonial period and Gandhi's nationalist voice echoing in all corners of the Empire, through to the diasporic migration, settlement and temple culture, is largely overlooked. This essay intends the redress that absence in current research and contribute toward a critical appraisal of that rather 'esoteric' part of history, arguably still in its infancy. The story begins close to the early white settlement period to the aftermath of the events of 9/11 (2001 in New York) and Bali (2002). The focus will be on Hindus with some reference to Sikhs, Muslims, Sri Lankan Tamils, and migrants from the subcontinent, as the conduits for the particular Indian-Australian diasporic connection and 'spiritual diplomacy' being explored.

Barriers to blood donation in African communities in Australia: the role of home and host country culture and experience

BACKGROUND: An influx of African migrants and refugees can strain a host country's blood services, because often migrants have unique blood needs that cannot be sourced from local donors. To increase blood donation by the new migrants, host country blood services need to understand how blood and blood donations are viewed by immigrant communities, because recruitment models that are not culturally adapted may have limited success.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Nine focus groups representing a cross-section of Australian-based African communities were conducted in multiple languages, facilitated by bilingual workers. The qualitative protocol was guided by the literature on blood donation by African migrants and communities in Africa. Thematic analysis identified the relevance of issues previously included in the literature and whether other issues facilitated or prohibited blood donation.

RESULTS: Home country cultural issues were not generally raised as barriers to donation, and respondents were positively disposed toward donation. Home country experiences shaped respondents' views in Australia. Participants focused on assisting “individuals in need,” rather than giving to a blood service that many viewed with suspicion because of issues in their home country. There was a lack of knowledge about the donation process in Australia. More importantly, respondents perceived that their blood would not be wanted, based on a perception of host country mistrust and discrimination.

CONCLUSION: Developing an intervention that encourages migrants to donate blood needs to be culturally focused. It appears that addressing perceptions based on home country experiences is essential. Overcoming a general perception of discrimination is beyond any blood service, but there can be an attempt to ensure that blood donation is seen as an inclusive process—blood from everyone, for everyone.

Ethnicity, structure and globalization : an argument about Association football in Australia, 1958–2010

The overwhelming weight of academic historical writing on Association football in Australia since the 1970s has focused on the game through the prism of ethnicity. The ills of the game and its failure to become the dominant code of football, as it is in many countries, are regularly attributed to the many ways in which the game was or could be portrayed as a foreign import that brought non-Australian concerns onto the sporting field where they had no place. Here it is argued that structural issues have a much greater role to play in understanding the evolution of the game since the 1950s. Global changes in sport and Association football in particular have also impinged significantly on the game in Australia. Now football is a major part of the Australian sporting landscape, though its position vis-a`-vis rival codes remains contested.