the disappearance of traditional societies: a forgotten effect of globalization

Paolo Palmeri. The disappearance of traditional societies: a forgotten effect of globalization. One of the “weakest” part of the humanity is disappearing due to the overwhelming power of western society with its peculiar way of welfare based on liberalism, capitalism and globalization. This part of humanity is weak because it has no appropriate means to contrast the advancement of western society. World economic development proceeds at two different speeds: that of the West, which led to the rapid development of our own society, and that of the rest of the world, the so-called South of the world. The basic idea rested on the conviction that traditional societies were poor because they appeared to lack all the elements that characterize well-being in the West. It was this dissonance between the perception of reality of indigenous communities and the perception of reality of development technicians that undermined any activity whose aim was to promote development. The work of anthropologists on the field had shown that without the participation of the people themselves nothing could be accomplished. Anthropologists emphasized the importance of: (i) The human factor. It would be impossible to promote economic development without the involvement of whoever was believed to need help. (ii) The alleged superiority of Western techniques that could not always be considered the best solution as a substitute for traditional techniques. (iii) Lack of a propensity to produce for the market that is a characteristic well rooted in traditional societies. The gradual unstoppable extinction of Traditional societies is a disaster that passes unremarked. This array of populations includes thousands of ethnic groups with their idioms, languages and dialects, not all completely studied or classified. The indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources produces devastating effects on the environment and condemns the indigenous populations to extinction or forced migration.