Cultural Socialization and Ethnic Consciousness

In this chapter, I argue that cultural socialization processes of ethnic consciousness need to be understood in the context of the contemporary global political-economic order. To do so, I first discuss the commodification of culture under neoliberal globalization and its role in heightening ethnic consciousness. This discussion points to three spaces in which cultural encounters, cultural knowledge, and identity have been intensified in the Global South: tourism, development, and social media. The chapter explores what are some key characteristics of cultural socialization of ethnic consciousness in these three sites and their implications for heightening or diminishing ethnic consciousness. I suggest that with the commodification and globalization of “ethnicity” and “culture,” researchers looking into cultural socialization practices and what is heightening or diluting ethnic consciousness need to look beyond the social relations in the family, peers, education, and “traditional” media and examine the economy – especially in the areas of tourism, the development industry, and the performance of identity in social media