Culture and Capitalism

Steven Chi

5/14/14

Section A02

Reading Response #8

In Response to “Korean American Youth and Transnational Flows of Popular Culture across the Pacific” by Jung-Sun Park

Recent Asian Migration Patterns

                The article “Korean American Youth and Transnational Flows of Popular Culture across the Pacific” by Park highlights how globalization has broken down cultural borders. While explaining the elements of transnationalism, Park shows how first-generation Korean immigrants and their children have brought to America their own cultural values. Many of these values are fundamentally similar – which, consequently, allowed countless immigrants to develop lasting friendships and relationships within the Korean community.

                I believe the rate of cultural expansion into the United States would have been significantly slower if Western economies only capitalized on its own population. By expanding their businesses abroad, Western society learned to gain profits based on the needs of other cultures. In doing so, people in these foreign lands were exposed to numerous Western ideas, such as the high value of a U.S. post-secondary education.

Hence, it’s no shock that Park's article notes that youths are exchanging cultural ideas at an astonishing rate. Youths are seizing every opportunity they get to secure a better future – even if it means bringing their cultural ideas to a new, distant land.

Question: Do you agree that youths are primarily responsible for the flow of cultural ideas from one country to another? Why or why not?