Electrical Adaptation

In spite of the presumed leveling and homogenizing effects of globalization, there remains one area that has retained troubling heterogeneity for the international traveler -- the electrical outlet. Anyone who has traveled knows that they must obtain adapter plugs that convert the US plug of their favorite appliance or cell phone charger into one that will accommodate the electrical standard of their various destinations.

I brought a couple Chinese adapters with me but inevitably needed more. I went to a popular retail store in the nearby megamall and found a shelf devoted to adapter plugs. What I should have realized (if I had been less US-centric) was that the adapter plugs on sale were designed not for the US visitor (i.e. ME!) interested in converting their plug to the Chinese style, but rather adapters to convert the Chinese plug to other national standards for Chinese traveling abroad. (I was finally able to locate adapters in an unlikely doorway hardware store in a rough and tumble side street in a commercial section of Hong Kong.)

As for cultural adaptation -- the kind of adaptation a sociologist should be thinking about -- there is no such quick or equivalent technological fix.