here to say that aspects of a national culture that do fit in with this culture ideology of consumerism will survive and be absorbed by capitalist culture defined by an ideology of consumption. The power that America and the other developed nations hold within the global network cannot be under estimated. All areas of financial power are able to influence global consumption and cultural patterns by the diffusion of cultural and material goods. Time space compression has broken down the boundaries of physical location and this has had an impact for the ways in which countries interact with each other. This has implications for trade, and it is the rich countries that hold the power within this situation. These countries are able to negotiate amongst themselves and in ways that can produce detrimental consequences for the people of developing countries. To become a developing country nations have to open themselves to global markets, and thus the global forces that are forging greater interdependence between states. Decisions that increasingly effect national interests are made by quasi-regional or quasi-supranational organisations such as the European Union (EU) or the World Trade Organisation (WTO). In these groups it is the developed nations with the backing of TNCs from these countries that are able to exert the most influence. In terms of the individual the globalisation of consumption is opening up a set of new cultural references that exist outside of the nation state. An example of this is the growing realisation of global problems and this is linked to global social movements like Green Peace that are able to utilise the instantaneous properties of telecommunication technologies. However, these are still interpreted through the languages and discourses of the nation state. It would be fair to say that the nation state will resist unwanted intrusions upon its culture and feeling of national identity. How...
