ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on globalization and identity. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, globalization and identity have emerged as the most critical challenges to world peace. State and opposition terrorism are being fought under the dubious aegis of particular identities, religious or secular. Multiethnic or religious societies, one trillion websites, countless email exchanges, direct satellite television, short-wave radio, and global cellular phones have augmented global communication. In response to the rampant consumption of the rich, the poor have often resorted to their cultural identities. Commodity and identity fetishism thus lay out the landscape of a globalizing world. Commodity fetishism has proven to be as powerful as identity fetishism. Globalization has whetted consumer appetites. The consuming identities of those exposed to global advertising have sometimes focused on the designer car, the clothing, or the perfume.
