Social and Cultural Change in the South

In the fi nal Chapter of this part, we focus on the diverse ways in which areas of the Global South participate in social and cultural change (see Concept Boxes 5.1 and 5.2). This Chapter makes three key arguments: fi rst, despite their complex links to globalization, processes of socio-cultural change in the Global South (and North) are not necessarily homogenous (although at times they can be) and neither are they typifi ed by a singular process of Westernization from the centre to the Global South periphery. Second, economic, political and cultural globalization does not level out inequalities and differences of opportunity across the world. They are uneven processes which may entrench inequality in different ways (Tomlinson, 1999; Schech and Haggis, 2000). Finally, the tendency to understand social changes through a developmental lens has characterized many conventional analyses of these processes. We argue here for a broader approach which recognizes the role of cultural change in conjunction with social change, so as to explore the Global South as places of socio-cultural activity, rather than simply as spaces defi ned by developmental failure.