Globalization, culture, and the city: A case study of Seoul

This thesis examines globalization's consequences for the cultural, social and physical composition of Seoul, South Korea. Seoul is a useful site for such an investigation due to the intensity with which the city's international connections have exploded in the past decade, coupled with the fact that the globalization of the city is a major focus of local and national leaders. The city's globalization is analysed from three different positions. First, Seoul's efforts to become a 'world city' and the social consequences of this trajectory are considered. Second, I interpret the consumption of 'foreign' images, objects, ideas and images in everyday life and its implications for local culture, and third, the 'subjective' experience of globalization as expressed by Seoulites themselves is explored.;The evidence from Seoul suggests even though globalization includes problematic economic aspects, and brings a layer of homogeneity to much of the world, it is also the case that local diversity is enhanced by globalization in that it brings an array of distant elements into local orbit. That is, globalization facilitates a growth in intra-local diversity even when it may erode some forms of inter-local diversity, which can lead to new cultural and subjective spaces. This thesis concludes by arguing that we need to take seriously and articulate globalization's potential in order to instigate a more 'socially' oriented globalization process.