Which framework serves best for the relationship between the concepts of Orientalism and Occidentalism? (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Globalization, Political Economics, grade: 2,3, Maastricht University, course: Cultural Diversity and Gender in Global Perspective, language: English, abstract: Globalization has led many authors to finding explanations for the connections between the different cultures. Three of the most discussed concepts which aim at explaining these relations are Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations", Ritzer's "McDonaldization" and Pieterse's "Hybridization". Two more focused views of each others culture are Said's concept of "Orientalism" and Buruma's and Margalit's "Occidentalism".
The question is, how the link of these two concepts fit in one of the paradigms mentioned above. In the following I will argue, that the concept of McDonaldization will serve as the best framework for this relationship. To achieve this goal I will first sketch the concepts of Orientalism and Occidentalism. After that, it is important to explain what the relationship between the two concepts is about, in order to assign this relation to a framework. Before arguing why the McDonaldization thesis serves best, I will explain why Hybridization and Clash of Civilizations do not fit as a framework for the relationship between Orientalism and Occidentalism.