Assess the View That the Growth of Religious Fundamentalism Is a Reaction to Globalisation.

Assess the view that the growth of religious fundamentalism is a reaction to globalisation. (18 marks)

Globalisation can be defined as the increased interconnectedness of society, people and cultures. Around the world various cultural traditions, beliefs, food etc. can be seen as either already having a permanent place within other societies or as being slowly integrated. The advancements of new technology, the ability to book a flight cheaply and the influence of international media corporations means that various parts of the world are becoming more westernised and increasingly multicultural – Like the UKs. It can be argued that globalisation can cause fundamentalism in response, meaning that some groups of people and individuals respond to globalisation in a hostile way as they see the introduction and integration of various other cultures as a threat to their own dominant culture.

Steve Bruce identified one function of religion as creating cultural defence. When applied to a context of globalisation and fundamentalism it can be said that some communities feel that their culture and identity is threatened by alternative ideals and beliefs from other cultures. For example In the 50s Western capitalist powers had significant influence in Iran, which in turn resulted in the implementation of pro-Western regime. In 1979 there was a revolution in protest to the regime and an Islamic Republic was created. Though this is an extreme example, on a smaller scale it can be seen within countries like the UK – the rise in support of far right political protest parties like the BNP and Britain First who strongly advocate that multiculturalism cannot work and though they use Christianity as a forefront for a lot of their arguments, many of their members are not necessarily religious at all. Therefore, globalisation can create religious fundamentalism because some feel that other cultures threaten the prominence of what they see as, their own dominant culture. However,...