the advantages of international travel and mass media. The ease of international travel and the spread of various kinds of mass media all over the world have made it more possible than ever for people to know how other people live in other countries. Do the advantages of this development outweigh the disadvantages? ...................... Among sociologists worldwide, there is, to my knowledge, certain concern expressed over the issue of the effects recent advances in transportation and communication exert on people's lives. To be more precise, a fact worth noting is that it is very easy now for people in a country to have access to information about lifestyles of those in another. According to the general consensus of opinion, the fact above should be seen as a positive development since it can offer tremendous benefits. Above all, people can have an opportunity to gain a great deal of knowledge about foreign cultures and then improve their lifestyles, either easily getting it via the mass media or experiencing these cultures first-hand via tourism. As a result, cultural exchange can be carried out in a faster and faster fashion, which many people believe will play a significant role in speeding up the process of globalization. None the less, people still fear some potential consequences in which the development may result. In particular, it should be mentioned that there may be mixed changes to the local cultures, and as a consequence, more and more countries will witness the loss of their cultural identity. What is more, the world may be on the verge of losing its cultural diversity in the not too distant future when people in a great number countries, whether developed or developing, have a tendency to follow the same way of life. In brief, having a chance to travel to another country or to get information about it in as easy a way as now can improve people's lifestyles and help speed up globalization. Much as this can cause a few problems, but they fail to improve too serious, or put another way, they can be outweighed by the benefits.