WHO RUNS THE GLOBAL VILLAGE?
Cultural Imperialism and the convergence of cultures
Today
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From corporate media to cultural imperialism
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Mediating an imagined global community
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Culture pluralism and active audiences
To what extent is cultural diversity stimulated by corporate media?
The Situation
The processes of globalisation mean that many cultures are now heavily exposed to ‘foreign’ cultural influences
These influences are primarily American and are dominated by transnational media conglomerates
But does it result in cultural change that produces greater cultural sameness?
From Sameness “Globalisation as a concept refers to both the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole” (Roland Robertson, 1992, p.8)
“Globalisation refers to all those processes by which the peoples of the world are incorporated into a single world society, a global society” (Martin Albrow, 1990, p.45)
Write down the top five television shows you watch
What country are they from? What ‘genre’ are they?
To Difference Globalisation “is best considered as a complex set of interacting and often countervailing to human, material, and symbolic flows that lead to diverse, heterogeneous cultural positionings and practices, which persistently and variously modify established sectors of social, political and cultural power� (Lull, 2000, p.150)
Hope, or pessimism? 
The commercialisation and centralisation of the ownership of global media has created a threat of cultural imperialism
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Conversely, technological and economic developments have led to the possibility of more independent voices
Cultural Imperialism
This predominance of Western media has led many to suggest that these forms of media, particularly through Hollywood films, are the latest form of ‘cultural imperialism’
Schiller (1976, p.9, cited in Rantanen, 2005, p.76) defined cultural imperialism as “the sum of processes by which a society is brought into the modern world system and how its dominating stratum is attracted, pressured, forced and sometimes bribed into shaping social institutions to correspond to, or even promote, the values and structures of the dominating centre of the system”
The Soft Empire
Imperialism is the development and reproduction of an unequal relationship between civilisations
Cultural imperialism involves the shaping of local institutions and social practices by an outside power
This once involved the active takeover of one civilisation for another, now it can often be a voluntary process
In most instances cultural imperialism is no longer an active national process, but one of capitalist expansion
Spread of western values
The spread of entertainment and news media has occurred within a wider acculturation by Western civilisations
Not (only) the control of power or land, but of minds, values and cultural practices
English has become the dominant global language and primary means of global communication
Whilst English is regarded as the 3rd most common native language, it is ‘spoken’ by an estimated 1 billion people
American brands are globally ever-present, although their message is not entirely dominant
The Culture Industry
For many these global, or American, brands wholly represent Western values
They become an aspirational point of identification that mediates cultural identity
The concern is that ‘local’ culture is being replaced by a consumer culture that works for the benefit of global capital rather than local people
Here a large ‘culture’ industry has developed that promotes and sells cultural images and ideals in a commodified form
Owning Culture
Privately owned media focus on what is profitable, not what is culturally valuable
Re-makes, cross-overs and re-runs are becoming increasingly common to avoid the risks of originality
The 24-hr news cycle also represents this trend - we don’t get more content, just more of the same
The drive for profitability has led to the reproduction of similar forms of entertainment, even if the content is different
An imagined community
Anderson conception of imagined communities extends beyond the nation
Our communities are ‘imagined’ on the basis of identification with cultural symbols
Media, in a broad sense, provide these points of identification
We can identify with certain shared cultural ideas, practices, images and ‘sayings’ on a global scale
Name these celebrities
What is their cultural status?
Name these movies
What is their cultural status?
Imagine No (local) Communities
If communities are imagined on the basis of shared resources, globalisation provides a much wider range of symbolic points of identification
Culture is no longer ‘naturally’ attached to certain locations, instead global brands and media allow connections beyond the local
Moreover, national boundaries are have little influence on social media, even if local identities remain
This use of media allows for the development of local/plural globalisations outside of the dominant channels
Do you share more in common with a distant or virtual cultural community than your current geographical location?
How are these relationships and attachments maintained?
Are we becoming more similar through these shared cultural understandings?
McDonaldization
Cultural imperialism is captured by George Ritzer’s (1993) concept of McDonaldization
Comparing global cultural process to those of McDonald’s restaurants, Ritzer argued that global cultures are becoming increasingly standardised and calculable
Similar concepts of ‘Disneyification’ and ‘McWorlds’ portray the homogenisation of culture through commercialisation, mass reproduction and inauthenticity
Chinese mimicry
There has emerged a strange trend of ‘architectural mimicry’ in China (see Bosker, 2013)
These towns are entirely ‘themed’ around Western icons
This pattern is repeated in other industries within China and South-East Asia
What do you want to know?
The Difficulty 
Cultures, people and media are highly differentiated
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We cannot forget that people are locally situated and are active consumers of information
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Whilst we might identify strong structural tendencies, individual characteristics mean these tendencies are never uniform
Interpretative Audiences
Audience reception theory suggests that the meaning of a text is not inherent to that text
Instead media representations are interpreted by audiences, who can challenge, accept or negotiate meaning (a symbolic interaction)
Thus audiences do have some influence over cultural flows rather than being passive receptors
Conversely, these interpretations occur within a limited framework – corporate media provide a limited representation of global events from which it is difficult to escape
Does everyone who plays violent video games kill people?
Media Pluralism
Media pluralism emphasises both the existence and importance of a plurality of media sources
It positions the centralised, and commercialised, ownership of global media as the cause that results in global homogeneity
A plurality of media sources and forms protects local cultures and freedom of expression
The spread of digital technology has led to the possibility of a larger range of voices in the media
Local Audiences
Whilst the global communications system produces structural tendencies, it does not directly control audiences
These audiences are inherently local and remain embedded within cultural traditions
Audiences may view the same media content but interpret and appropriate it in different ways
Social media allows for much greater range of audience interpretations and appropriations
Local Content
In 2012 China lifted its limit on foreign films from 20 to 34
Many Western nations, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK have significant funding for local media
Of course, the success of these programmes is based on local demand
Concentration of Film Production
Source: UNESCO, INTERNATIONAL BLOCKBUSTERS TO NATIONAL HITS ANALYSIS OF THE 2010 UIS SURVEY ON FEATURE FILM STATISTICS
Do you prefer British media content?
Cultural Pluralism
Cultural pluralism occurs when local (or minority) cultural identities are able to coexist within larger cultural forces
Cultural pluralism does not assume an equality of cultures, but an equality of potential expression
The clash of cultural expressions can often result in ‘hybrid’ social practices
Linking Cultures
The clash of global and local has led to a range of cultural adjustments Hybridisation Indigenisation Glocalisation
“Put another way, globalisation does not necessarily produce cultural uniformity but stimulates cultural reinvention” (Lee, 1994,p.33)
Indigenisation
Arjun Appadurai (1998) defines indigenization as the local appropriation of global forces
Global media may appeal to local consumers, but they bring cultural traditions or ‘memories’
These ‘resources’ create differing interpretations and reproductions of culture, either through existing channels or by creating new ones
Conversely, corporate global media also appropriate this process
Hybridisation
Hybridisation is, according to Rowe and Schelling (1991, p.231, cited in Rantanen, p.93) ‘the way in which forms become separated from existing practices and recombine with new forms in new practice’
Active audiences are able to take on a foreign cultural practice and make it their own
This can be a process of retaking control of the local, or the majority appropriating the minority
Do you participate in any cultural practices that originated elsewhere?
Glocalisation
Glocalisation describes the process of adapting products for local markets
Glocalisation occurred as capitalism sought to be more flexible in its approach to global consumers
This allows for the reproduction of the commodity form through the appropriation of local content
Local Culture, Global Commodities
Herman and McChesney (1997, p.8-9 in Rantanen, p.95) argue that globalisation does not mean more cultural sameness, just an extension of the ‘commercial model of communication’
This means that global media will adapt to local culture in order to generate profits
But this adaption is based on a profitable interpretation of the local
The globalisation of culture is less about one cultural dominating another, but about the constant stimulation of change
Self-Summary
Is global media creating an increasingly homogeneous global culture?
ASK Week – Spring 2014
10-14 February A whole week of academic skills workshops, events, appointments and drop-ins See ASK web site or BBL for details http://www.brunel.ac.uk/services/library/ask The Academic Skills Service (ASK) is located in the library. We provide advice and support on writing, learning, maths and statistics
19th February Globalising socialising: from the global to the personal Textbook reading: Cohen and Kennedy, Chapter 13.
Group 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 Starter question: What exactly do we mean by ‘family’?