CHAPTER IV
A World of Ideas
Lesson 1: Global Media Culture
a. Evolution of Media and Globalization
b. Cultural Globalization Processes
c. Globalization of Culture and Media
d. Cultural Imperialism
Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of this topic/chapter, you must be able to:
1. Explain and understand the evolution of media
2. Determine how global media influences different cultures and affects
global integration
Lesson 1: Global Media
Culture
The media have an important impact on cultural globalization in two mutually
interdependent ways: first, the media provide an extensive transnational
transmission of cultural products and second, they contribute to the formation of
communicative networks and social structures (Hjarvard,1999).
The rise of the “new” global media (e.g. Apple’s iTunes, Facebook, Twitter, Google,
Microsoft), with great power has imposed their systems on large portions of the world
(McChesney 1999: 11 – 15). The global media (this applies to traditional media such as
newspapers, TV, and movies, as well as to the newly emerging media on, or related to, the
Internet) are increasingly dominated by a relatively small number of huge corporations. The
impact of the global media order is complex as reception of the cultural products is never
uniform. Media flows and contra-flows create part of the wider struggle over information
flows which define power relations in the global information economy.
A. Evolution of Media and Globalization
Media is part of everybody’s life today and in the past. Development of
speech and communication is a great breakthrough in the lives of the people. Lule
(2014) gave five periods to the study of globalization and media: oral, script, print,
electronic and digital.
EVOLUTION of Media
• Oral Communication- Language was developed around 1.75millions years
ago. Language helps man to settle down, improve social, economic, and
political life. Man, through language is not only confined within his territory but
created a cross-continental trade which created cities and later, civilization.
• Script- It is any particular system of writing/ the written means of human
communication. First writing was recorded over 4,000 years ago. With its
discovery, it makes communication easier, wider in scope and can last longer.
• Print (Printing Press)- Invented around 4th and 5th century AD. Its discovery
led to two important consequences: first, it changed the very nature of
knowledge. It preserved and standardized knowledge. Second, it encouraged
the challenge of political and religious authority because of its ability to
circulate different views.
• Electronic Media- It was introduced in the beginning of 19th century. This
requires electromagnetic energy – electricity to use. Examples are: telegraph,
telephone, radio, film, and television. In 1973, invention of cellphones
dominated the world.
• Digital Media- Refers to audio, video and photo content that has been
encoded (digitally compressed). Computer is considered the most popular
and influential digital media to globalization.
B. Cultural Globalization Processes
Cultural globalization refers to the sharing of ideas, meanings, hobbies, and
values around the world in such a way as to extend and intensify social relations.
This process is marked by the common consumption of cultures that have been
diffused by the Internet, popular culture media, and international travel.
This has added to processes of commodity exchange and colonization which have a
longer history of carrying cultural meaning around the globe. The circulation of cultures
enables individuals to partake in extended social relations that cross national and regional
borders. The creation and expansion of such social relations is not merely observed on a
material level. Cultural globalization involves the formation of shared norms and knowledge
with which people associate their individual and collective cultural identities.
Cultural globalization is a phenomenon by which the experience of everyday
life, as influenced by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, reflects a
standardization of cultural expressions around the world. Propelled by the efficiency
or appeal of wireless communications, electronic commerce, popular culture, and
international travel, globalization has been seen as a trend toward homogeneity that
will eventually make human experience everywhere essentially the same (Watson,
2015).
Hybridization - Jan Pieterse suggested that cultural globalization involves human
integration and hybridization, arguing that it is possible to detect cultural mixing
across continents and regions going back many centuries.
Homogenization - emphasizes the transfiguration of worldwide diversity into a
pandemic of Westernized consumer culture. The dominance of American culture
influencing the entire world will ultimately result in the end of cultural diversity which
lead to a human monoculture. This process, understood as cultural imperialism is
associated with the destruction of cultural identities, dominated by a homogenized
and westernized, consumer culture.
Conflict intensification - "Clash of Civilizations" Samuel Huntington emphasizes the fact that
while the world is becoming smaller and interconnected, the interactions between peoples
of different cultures enhance the civilization consciousness that in turn invigorate
differences. The differences in culture sharpened by this very process of cultural
globalization will be a source of conflict.
C. Globalization of Culture and Media
The globalization of culture is often chiefly imputed to international mass
media. After all, contemporary media technologies such as satellite television and
the Internet have created a steady flow of transnational images that connect
audiences worldwide
The mass media are seen today as playing a key role in enhancing globalization,
facilitating culture exchange and multiple flows of information and image between countries
through international news broadcasts, television programming, new technologies, film and
music. If before the 1990’s mainstream media systems in most countries of the world were
relatively national in scope, since then most communication media have become
increasingly global, extending their reach beyond the nation-state to conquer audiences
worldwide. International flows of information have been largely assisted by the
development of global capitalism, new technologies and the increasing commercialisation of
global television, which has occurred as a consequence of the deregulation policies adopted
by various countries in Europe and the US in order to permit the proliferation of cable and
satellite channels.
D. Cultural Imperialism
The idea of cultural imperialism (Tomlinson, 2012) indicates that one or more
cultures are imposing themselves, more or less consciously, on other cultures
thereby destroying local culture, in whole, or more likely in part. There are many
examples of cultural imperialism in the world today, with local cultural practices being
threatened, or even being destroyed, by the flow of culture from other parts of the
world, especially from the North to the South.
Cultural imperialism occurs when the traditions and way of life of a group of people,
whether an ethnic minority or an entire nation, are displaced by those of another. This may
be a conscious process, in which a dominant group intentionally suppresses another culture
by suppressing its language, music, religion, symbols, or other practices. More often,
however, it results from global market capitalism’s drive to increase profits through
rationality, homogeneity, and parsimony.(Ritzer, 2011)
CORE CONCEPT of Cultural imperialism:
Based on theory of cultural imperialism the less economically prominent cultures
essentially import examples of culture from wealthier countries mainly from Western
countries, which have the economic means necessary to produce a majority of the world's
cultural media mostly via the global transmission of media. As one society exerts cultural
influence over another, the latter society adopts its customs, philosophies, worldviews and
general ways of life.
Examples of Cultural Imperialism
An examples of American cultural imperialism include brand name products,
mass-produced food and, perhaps of primary importance, video media. While this
have some positive effects showing women's rights or racial equality, potentially
exerting a negative effect on the viewer's perception of his own country or other non-
American cultures. Herbert Schiller's book “Communication and Cultural Domination”
first coined the phrase in 1976, the concept of cultural imperialism is often used to
refer to the idea of America exerting cultural influence over the rest of the world, with
a particularly powerful imposition on Third World countries.
Critiques of Cultural Imperialism
The concept assumes that human beings lack of free will, describing them as
mindlessly assimilating what they absorb through media without retaining their own
personal frame of reference. Other critics note that while economic aspects of cultural
imperialism can be concretely measured, the cultural component is subjective and difficult
or impossible to quantify.
