Globalization and intercultural communication

Intercultural contact and communication have allegedly increased in the context of globalization. Both terms are, however, little transparent, evoke a host of associations and carry ideological baggage. The present article proposes a framework to understand current socio-economic processes by recourse to a particular heterodox economic view (Regulationism). I will argue from this point of view that although there is no such thing as globalization there are some changes — dominated by neoliberal policies — that mercase the gap between rich and poor inter- and intranationally. Since these changing structural conditions of distribution (class) impact fundamentally on issues of recognition (identity), le. the core of approaches to intercultural communication, I conclude that any theory of the latter has to take economic and political structures into consideration.