1. THL354 Youth,Culture & Mission: Globalisation & Consumerism 2017
Jonathan Kemp, director AYCF Ministry, Anglican Church SQ

2. Bronfenbrenner’s Macrosystems
= The cultural environment in
which the child resides.

3. Globalisation Handout: what is Globalisation?
YouTube clip: what is Globalisation?
Pictures / statements / discuss

5. Globalisation statements 1
It doesn't matter how far apart we might be geographically, economically or culturally, we're all held tightly together as members of the human race in an all- embracing web.
Jobs are leaving many of the developed nations and moving to developing nations. The money earned helps those developing nations move forward – more jobs, cheaper goods, more profits for research and development. Everybody wins.
I interact with other people who live in different countries when I’m playing computer games.
Countries which are open to external investment are able to develop their economies to generate incomes from exports and raise their standards of living.
Of the world's 7 billion people, 214 million are migrants, a phenomenon that has 'internationalised' many cities. 

6. Globalisation statements 2
Young people around the world have adopted international brands and styles without discrimination. Their clothes are influenced by their favourite bands, they sing along to songs they don't understand and support values that don't belong to them. Culture is under siege!
Recently we have seen the collapse of undemocratic regimes, improvements in workers' rights, an increase in environmental awareness and responsibility, and an increased awareness of fair trade as a result of advocacy campaigns using social media.
Sixty-eight million people are served every day in McDonald’s – 33,000 restaurants in 119 countries worldwide.
Globalisation has caused important changes in who makes decisions that affect our lives as multinational companies have more power than national governments.
Differences in local conditions require local solutions rather than an externally imposed and globally uniform ‘one size fits all’ solution. 

7. A step back: Modernisation / modernism
Beginning after Renaissance and Reformation (say, the 16th century)
Characterised by rise of modern nation-states
Creation of national cultural identities and national economies
Rise of modern science (with belief in inevitable positive progress)
Industrialisation of economy in 19th and 20th centuries
More recently (19th – 20th centuries), “modern” means breaking away from traditional models and approaches in areas such as art and literature.

8. Modern Art

9. Modern poetry

10. Are we still Modern? Modernism is no longer on sure ground.
Continuous positive progress cannot be guaranteed (WW1);
Science as automatically good has been challenged (WW2 = ‘educated Eichmanns’ / or try watching Gattaca);
Are we even in control of our own minds and impulses (see Freud et al)?

11. Or are we “Post-modern”?
pel%20Coalition

13. The industrial age is now the information age.
Scott Cowdell: Global economy and post-modern culture are two sides of the same coin.
“Post-modern is how we live and think and imagine in a global, late- capitalist economy.”
Here’s a case study of globalisation meeting post-modernism…

14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY&ytbChannel=Matt%20 Harding

15. Where the heck is Matt.com
Write down some immediate impressions and reactions to this clip!
Emotions?
Thoughts?
Questions?

16. Recap: What’s your picture of Australian youth?
1. Draw a quick picture of a 16 year old from your community.
Dot points on (or draw) the “five pillars of youth culture” as they apply to your student:
Music / Sport / Fashion / Technology / Socialising.
2. Outline a head!
Outside: What does your student aspire to in life?
Inside: What are your student’s biggest concerns right now?

17. Consumerism

18. The idea of people being labelled “consumers” is not new.
Henry Ford realised a world fit
for his product required a certain
way of life: a reliable, stable
workforce, with enough pay and
leisure time to be good
consumers.
(Write your own definition of
Consumerism.)

19. https://www. youtube. com/watch
M0&ytbChannel=The%20School%20of%20Life

20. 321 RIQ 3 things you remember… 2 insights…
1 question you’d like to ask…

21. Retail therapy: shopping as a way of life.
Many social critics say the search for identity (in each of us) has been redirected and manipulated by the forces of consumption.
E.g. advertising aimed at self-image.
Apart from the actual product, what are the following ads selling to the audience?

29. Is Consumerism strong in Australia?
Almost all political parties are committed to ‘economic growth’.
Capitalist theory dictates that production and consumption are both meant to keep expanding.
How much money would you say your average Australian teen spends per year?

30. “Aust teens spend $5000 per year”
Market research company TNS's Tru Study found that young consumers have become a spending force in their own right, shelling out on average $96 a week.
Clothes, transport, mobile phones, electronics and fast food swallow the most cash.
Parents, part-time jobs, gifts and allowances are their main income source.
The report also revealed children are being introduced to the seductive power of plastic from a tender age, with one in 10 saying they regularly used credit to make purchases.
The study, based on a sample of 810 youth answering online questionnaires, also showed:

31. “Aust teens spend $5000 per year”
THREE in four own an MP3 player compared with half who have a wristwatch and fewer than half who have a bicycle.
APPLE, Coca-Cola, Nike, McDonald's and adidas are favourite brands.
TWO in three say they could not live without the internet - tempting marketers to bombard them with advertising through s and social networking sites.
"Teenagers are receiving allowance/money from parents regularly, enabling them to have constant buying power," the report states.
Average weekly spending ranged from $56 for 12 and 13-year-olds to $192 for 18 and 19-year-olds.
One in four aged 16-plus combined study with a part-time job.

32. Oz Teens demonstrate a consumerised approach to life:
The stress of trying to keep up with the latest
Longer hours need to be worked to maintain desired consumption levels
Personal debt levels rising
Pragmatic approach to ethical issues e.g. movie piracy, Uber (when it was illegal).
(Does this ring true?)

33. Post-modernism = Anxiety?
“…the characteristically fluid identity of post-modernity is trained to seek relief in consumption.” (Lasch)
This suggests that Western consumers are in a state of constant uneasiness and anxiety.

34. Zygmunt Bauman says…
Ambient anxiety comes from 4 contributing factors:
1. ‘new world disorder’;
2. deregulation of labour markets via globalisation with resultant job insecurity;
3. unravelling of family and community bonds [see Individualism];
4. post-modern relativism and ‘softness’ of the world creating a trackless path through life.
So people (including youth) are anxious because of all the uncertainty in the world. “[Young people’s] world today is less shaped and directed, their family ties and relationship prospects are less reliable and their economic future is less certain” (Cowdell).

35. Globalisation + consumerism = alienation?
As well as anxiety, some may be feeling a dissatisfaction with life based on modernist expectations that things should be continuously improving (Cowdell p.28): we have segments of the “population [here and elsewhere] thinking things should by rights be better than they are.”
E.g. our litigious society?
Housing unaffordability?
One Nation / Tea Party (US) / Trump?
Brexit?

36. But overall: a loss of community?
If you ‘go global’, you risk losing touch with the local and vice versa.
With globalisation, there are clearly winners and losers.
The winners have the wealth, mobility and skills to be flexible in response to what happens.
The losers are trapped locally and have nowhere near the choices of the winners.
Or they are ‘reluctantly mobile’ e.g. FIFO workers. (Would they really rather be FIFO or living somewhere in a stable way?)

37. Winners and losers
Winners aren’t threatened by new arrivals / migrants.
Those struggling are, and are ready to look for scapegoats.

38. Risk of mindless violence?
[Examples of Westerners resorting to violence through frustration and boredom]
But could Globalisation itself stem violence?
E.g. Friedman’s theory of the Golden Arches: no two countries with McDonalds franchises have yet gone to war.
But what about the countries where Maccas won’t go?

39. 5 tensions facing youth ‘growing up global’ (Jones and KCD)
1. Disparity between hope and despair
2. Tension between identity and openness
3. Cross-generational discontinuity
4. Cultural clashes with otherness
5. Omnipresence of American popular culture within local cultures.

40. Christianity has something to offer!
No such thing as a universal model for effective youth ministry.
Christian message offers resources for youth to navigate global culture more critically and positively.
We need young people to be able to see how their story fits within God’s story.

41. 1. Disparity between hope and despair
Western
Northern hemisphere
Religious
Educated
Older
Non-Western
Southern hemisphere
Non-religious
Less educated
Younger
Jones and Dean, p.259

42. 1. Disparity between hope and despair
Christian story presents a hopeful alternative to despair.
We look for opportunities for youth to exercise their gifts.
We encourage youth to find meaningful vocations in church and society.
We bring hope through primarily caring for the social and economic needs of the world’s neediest people.

43. 2. Tension between identity and openness
God calls us to embrace, respect and care for the other.
We don’t call for rigid self-identity
We don’t call for unmitigated openness
We should be a community providing youth with opportunities for sacrificial love.
Along with ‘our’ rituals, sacraments and teachings, there should be immersion in justice, hospitality and compassion.

44. 3. Cross-generational discontinuity
The Christian story spans this discontinuity.
Consumerism (within globalisation) seeks to brand each generation (music, technology, etc), but the Church can subvert that.
“Downward overlaps” are needed, and each generation benefits.
Youth need to learn the language and rhythms of faith, especially at home.

45. 4. Cultural clashes with otherness
The Christian story provides resources for mediating cultural clashes.
We could just pick a side and fight (Our track record is not great…)
Or we could be a model of transcending conflict through creating community (education and experience). (cf Miroslav Volf et al)
Our message is that each person contributes to the total story of God. (“Think of misfits, saints and martyrs over the centuries.”)

46. 5. Omnipresence of American popular culture within local cultures.
The Christian story offers a more global vision than the overwhelming influence of American popular culture.
There is fear in some places of US “Coca-colonisation” (justifiably).
We can model ‘critical thinking’ skills all the time, allowing Christian youth to step out of their cultural identity and assess what is of value, and what’s going on within particular songs, movies, YouTube clips etc [see JS on pop culture].

47. References
Brain, Matt. Engage! How the Church can Reconnect with Young People, Barton, Canberra, 2011.
Cowdell, Scott. God’s Next Big Thing: Discovering the Future Church, Garrett, Mulgrave Vic, 2004.
Osmer, Richard and Dean, Kenda Creasy (eds.) Youth, Religion and Globalization: New Research in Practical Theology. IAPT, 2006.