Cultural Globalization

Cultural GlobalizationWhat is Culture?

Social construction The artsCommoditized output of the culture industries (Film, TV, Music)Expressions of everyday life

Religion Ethnicity Nationalism LanguageOther forms of Identity

Cultural Globalization

• Definition:• An economic phenomenon?• A social phenomenon?• A cultural phenomenon?

• The movement towards the expansion of economic and social ties between countries through the spread of corporate institutions and the capitalist philosophy that leads to the shrinking of the world in economic terms.

Globalisation

Globalization involves all these things!

National Cultures• Task undertaken by diverse institutions

• Official language• National schooling system• Postal service and Communications structures (NBC, ABC

etc.) National press• Standing army

• Suppression or eradication of competing identities and peripheral nationalisms• Key factors

• Memories/histories/myths• Role of land/landscapes/places:

• Monuments• National Parks• sites of battle

Cultural Globalization/Global Culture Markets

• Technologically driven• Economic liberalization driven: mergers and

acquisitions, deregulation, free trade barriers reduced concentration of ownership• Dominated by US, but Japanese, UK, and others are

present (see chart)

Global Media• Radio and the music industry• Political instrument: Voice of America, Radio Venceremos • Instrument of Localism• Major source of communication in developing countries

for community/political/entertainment• Music is highly compatible with globalization: no need for

translation• Musical diaspora: religious, African, American • Modern forms are more mixed: Orquesta de Luz, El Vez,

World Music

Cinema and Television

• US Dominates Film• Increasing growth of new film industries • Television: more recent, higher level of individual

capital investment• Public quality initially, now Satellite and Cable have

changed control to private.

Tourism• Issues: • Expanding Awareness • Cultural Survival

• Tourism as an economic generator

• 1950: 25.3 million tourists/$2 Billion• 1995: 561 million tourists/$380 Billion• International Tourists:• Country % of Tourists• Europe 53%,• Americas 17%• Asia (Japan, Taiwan, Korea) 17%• Africa 2.5%• Middle East 1.2%• South Asia .6%

Corporate Expansion

• Multi-national or trans-national corporations (MNCs or TNCs) – businesses with a headquarters in one country but with business operations in a number of others.

No matter where you go in the world, certain businesses will always have a presence.

Corporate Expansion

• Characteristics:• Expanding revenue• Lowering costs• Sourcing raw

materials• Controlling key

supplies• Control of processing• Global economies

of scale

                                                                                                                                                 

 

Controlling supplies may be one reason for global expansion.

Corporate Domination• Key Issues:• Damage to the

environment?• Exploitation of

labour? • Monopoly power• Economic degradation• Non-renewable

resources• Damage to cultures

Shell and Nike’s activities have come under severe criticism in some quarters.

Other Issues:• Accountability

of Global businesses?• Increased gap between rich

and poor fuels potential terrorist reaction• Ethical responsibility of

business?• Efforts to remove trade

barriersThere are plenty of people who believe that globalisation is a negative development, protests at the G8 summits, pollution, poverty and concern over GM crops are just some of the issues.

Ethnic Conflict • In a globalizing world of standardization, people cling even

more fiercely to whatever local customs impart distinctiveness, in some cases pushing the primacy of these differences to the brink of conflict• Ethnicity is defined as a shared awareness of perceived

ancestral differences as a basis for reward, recognition or relationships• A commitment to ethnicity allows an escape from feelings

or irrelevance, powerlessness, alienation and impersonality• Ethnically-bases nationalism: has been singled out as major

contributors to international conflicts as well as a threat to societal integrity • State-based (civic) nationalism: seek cultural uniformity• Ethnic (cultural) nationalism: endorses cultural uniqueness,

to the detriment of social cohesion