4 who runs the global village 2016

WHO RUNS THE GLOBAL VILLAGE?

Cultural imperialism and the convergence of cultures

Our progress 

We have introduced the development of globalisation and its impact on local cultural identities, specifically nationhood

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We considered the impact of transnational media conglomerates in developing a global communications system

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We will now examine how this system impacts upon cultures and people around the world

The Situation 

The processes of globalisation mean that many cultures are now heavily exposed to ‘foreign’ cultural influences

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These influences are primarily American and are dominated by transnational media conglomerates

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But does it result in cultural change that produces greater cultural sameness ?

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How are our cultural identities actually affected by these global processes?

To what extent has your cultural identity been affected by the processes of globalisation?

Global media

You

Today 

An introduction to cultural imperialism

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Social media the global imagined community

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Social media and cultural pluralism

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The stubbornness of local audiences

Cultural imperialism 

This predominance of Western media has led many to suggest that these forms of media, along with the spread of ‘Western values’, are the latest form of ‘cultural imperialism’

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Cultural imperialism occurs when the ideas, practices and systems of one culture are imposed upon or adopted by another culture

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Imperialism once involved the active takeover of one civilisation for another (colonialisation), now it can often be a voluntary process

Media and imperialism 

Concerns over the impact of global communications on developing countries emerged in the 1960s as these nations began to enter global society

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As many nations were establishing their independence, global media influences were seen to be stifling this growing cultural expression

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Transnational media is arguably now colonising the Western world too

Spreading Americans 

American culture is being spread by media corporations, rather than the American government

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Nonetheless, American ideals are strongly present

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This presence is in both the content and the style of American media

How much has your cultural identity been influenced by American culture?

Profitable culture 

American culture is spread not only through its content, but its style

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The drive for profitability has led to the reproduction of similar forms of entertainment, even if the content is different

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Re-makes, cross-overs and re-runs are becoming increasingly common to avoid the risks of originality

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Culture is being commodified, reduced and reproduced as superficial brands

The culture industry 

For many these global, or American, brands wholly represent Western values

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They become an aspirational point of identification that mediates cultural identity

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Here a large ‘culture’ industry has developed that promotes and sells cultural images and ideals in a commodified form

McDonaldization 

This spread of homogenous global cultural form is captured by George Ritzer’s (1993) concept of McDonaldization

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Comparing global cultural process to those of McDonald’s restaurants, Ritzer argued that global cultures are becoming increasingly standardised and calculable

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Similar concepts of ‘Disneyification’ and ‘McWorlds’ portray the homogenisation of culture through commercialisation, mass reproduction and inauthenticity

Chinese mimicry 

This trend of ‘architectural mimicry’ or duplictecture in China (Bosker, 2013), is consider ‘self-colonisation’

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These towns are entirely ‘themed’ around Western icons, but are Chinese interpretations or ‘remixes’

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This pattern of replication is repeated in other industries with China and South-East Asia

Why?

An imagined community 

When defining the nation, Benedict Anderson (1983/1991) argued that because large communities cannot be cohered through faceto-face interaction, cohesion must occur through an imaginary identification with others

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This imaginary is based upon an identification with symbols and ideas that allow for the construction of a common identity and common bond with other people

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If communities are imagined on the basis of shared resources, globalisation provides a much wider range of symbolic points of identification

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We can identify with certain shared cultural ideas, practices, images and ‘sayings’ on a global scale

The digital village 

Marshall McLuhan’s (1911 -1980) argued that we developing an electronically connected ‘global village’

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Ideas and events are shared more intensely with little regard for geography

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We are able to establish non-territorial ‘communities of interest’

Structuring our digital lives 

We live in a singular body, even if our mind travels elsewhere

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Laurence Scott argues that we can be materially present, but social media facilitates our mind to be actively elsewhere – we can be in multiple places at once

Do you share more in common with a distant or virtual cultural community than your current geographical location?

The plurality of social media 

The internet promotes cultural pluralism because it allows for collective audience participation and interpretation, as opposed to ‘top down’ ideologies and journalism

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Social media users are producers of media as well as consumers

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As a consequence of this wide range of users, diverse views are available to a global audience

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Social media thus allows for users to construct cultural identities and communities of interest that are not strictly tied to local geography or traditions

Interpretative audiences 

Social media facilitates critical engagement with media

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Audience reception theory suggests that the meaning of a text is not inherent to that text

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Instead it is produced through audience interpretations, which can be dominant, negotiated or oppositional

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Audiences thus have some control over the influence of global media, but this control occurs within a framework that limits these options

Watch a trending YouTube video Where is it from and who is commenting on it?

What proportion of your social media connections are from your local culture?

The stubbornness of the local 

Despite the availability of global cultural influences, for many people the most meaningful cultural interactions are locally orientated

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Cultural identities and practices and not just constructions but are emotional attachments

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Audiences are inherently local and remain embedded within cultural traditions

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As a consequence, local cultures are resistant to change

Indigenisation 

Arjun Appadurai (1998) defines indigenization as the local appropriation of global forces

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Global media may appeal to local consumers, but they bring cultural traditions or ‘memories’

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The cultural tradition may be global, but it is reinvented until it ‘feels’ like a local tradition

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This ‘new’ tradition often stands are a marker of cultural independence

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Conversely, corporate global media also appropriate this process

Hybridisation 

Hybridisation is, according to Rowe and Schelling (1991) “the way in which forms become separated from existing practices and recombine with new forms in new practice”

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Consequently, we see ‘hybrid’ cultures that are expressed in the media, such as in reality TV where a global concept is locally interpreted

Do you participate in any cultural practices that originated elsewhere?

Glocalisation 

Glocalisation describes the process of adapting products for local markets

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Glocalisation occurred as capitalism sought to be more flexible in its approach to global consumers

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This allows for the reproduction of the commodity form through the appropriation of local content

Is this local or global?

Summary 

We are increasingly exposed to images and ideas from outside of our cultural traditions and locations

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These ideas tend to be Western or American

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However, audiences are always critical and interpretative and social media technology allows for consumers to be producers of media and culture

Next week

The next week WEEK 6

GLOBALISING SOCIALISING: FROM THE GLOBAL TO THE PERSONAL

NOW IN LC068 READING: Beck-Gernsheim, E. (2007) From 'the family' to 'families': How individualisation and globalisation are changing our personal lives. Soundings 35, March 2006, pp.105-114