335 Cultural Globalization in Southeast Asia 335 By: ROS Size: 6" x 9" J/No: 07-12393 Fonts: AGaramond, Optima 15 MEASURING CULTURAL GLOBALIZATION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA Randolph Kluver and Wayne Fu INTRODUCTION: MEASURING CULTURAL GLOBALIZATION Although globalization is clearly one of the major factors driving global economic growth, political interaction, and social development, there has always been some difficulty in attempting to define the concept in a meaningful way. It is typically defined in economic terms, and then illustrated through practical impacts, usually anecdotally. There is tremendous merit to a quantitative assessment of globalization, as this allows analysts and policymakers to better measure trends and to make appropriate policies. However, in this very process of quantifying globalization, its impact is obscured. Data are available for a huge number of phenomenon typically associated with globalization, such as foreign direct investment, international capital flows, and even migration, but typically these measures are abstract and far removed from the actual social and cultural practices of nations, the very areas in which globalization is supposed to have its greatest impact. The most salient impact of globalization, of course, is not in the huge amount of money which is exchanged across national borders on any given day, but rather in its cultural element, the extent to which the social and cultural lives of individuals 335 15 G&CForces Ch 15 12/17/07, 12:27 PM 335