Culture and Communication in the Age of Globalization Introduction to Culture and Communication...

Culture and Communication in the Age of Globalization

Introduction to Culture and Communication Studies


• What is globalization?Economic globalizationPolitical globalizationCultural globalizationTechnological globalization

• The state of culture and communication in the age of globalization


• Globalization – a phenomenon involving the integration of economies, governmental policies, values, technologies and cultures

• Trans-national integrations over centuries: large empire and religious movements - agents of earlier forms of globalization

The Roman Empire, ca. AD 117Geographically continuous

The British Empire 1912Geographically discontinuous and extensive

The Japanese Empire, 1942Geographically continuous and limited

Christendom: Islamic Nations

East-Asia Company Trading AreasEconomic, Exploitative and Unilateral

Globalization

• How is the recent globalization different from the earlier forms of globalization?

• An exponential (quicker, more drastic, more ubiquitous) progress of the integration process.

• Revolutionary advancement in transportation and telecommunication

• The electronic age will turn all humanity into a ‘global tribe,’ in a ‘global village’.

Marshall McLuhan, 1962

Economic Globalization

• Each stage goes to the most advantageous location regardless of the nationality of corporate

• Economic welfare of individuals controlled by market forces and international organizations such as WTO, World Bank and IMF

Economic Globarization

• Production carried out where labour cost is lower, no or little work regulation exists and good financial arrangement comes

• Exploitation in wages and working condition• Widening gap between the rich and the poor

The top 1 % owes the 40 % of the world wealthThe bottom 50 % owes only 1 % of the total wealth

The international debt of the developing countries: $ 618 billion in 1980 and $ 3,300 billion in 2007The US cost of the Iraqi War (2003-08) was $3,300 billion

Similar products for similar prices sold all over the world

A Nepalese boy wearing a Hard Rock Café T-shirt, Hong Kong T-shirt and a Gap cap, while a Togo woman listening to music by a Sony Walkman

Globalization of Governmental Policies• Laissez-faire – policy of minimum governmental

intervention in the economic affairs of individuals and society.

• Uncertain origin – Louis XIV’s finance controller, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, asked industrialists what the government could do to help their business. He was told, ‘Leave us alone.’

• Classic economist – Adam Smith • Invisible hand of the market – a metaphor to

describe the self-regulating behaviour of the marketplace. Market Fundamentalism

Globalization of Governmental Policies


• Thatcherism in economic policies • Monetarism: the government controls money

supply to combat inflation• Supply-side economics in which government

intervenes market only to create a free market through privatizing state industries, deregulation and liberalization of the market


• Reaganomics – (1) Reduction in government spending and money supply, (2) reduction in taxes, (3) reduction in government regulation, (4) reduction in government regulation

• All achieved by the reduction on government spending

Globalization of Governmental Policies• The economic policies of the UK and US

governments globalized – global policies• Endlessly increase liberalization of the economy

and decreasing barriers• Trade liberalization (removal of tariffs) • Liberalization of ‘capital accounts’ – allow people

to invest overseas and foreign funds to be invested at home

• Privatization of state enterprises• Deregulation• Neoliberalism; Trade Agreements: FTT, TPP


• Negative outcomes of globalization

• Laissez-faire creates great economic and financial instability

• High unemployment in developed nations

• Economic exploitation of workforce in develop and developing nations


• Greater inequality • Increasing poverty and alienation• Rapid and extensive deterioration of

environment• Unending consumerism

Globalization of Values

• Some values originally developed in the West are globalized

• Liberal democracy; social justice; basic human rights; world peace; sustainable energy and development

• Qualifications for becoming a member nation in the European Union – 1) democracy 2) market economy 3) basic human rights

Globalization of Values

• After the end of the Cold War, the Western liberal democracy became the only ideology and universal form of government

• Francis Fukuyama, The End of History (1992)

• These values are globalized but not universalized

Globalization of Values• As response to and critique

of Fukuyama’s The End of History, Huntington claims that cultural and religious identities and values, instead of political ideologies will be the primary source of conflicts. Samuel Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations (1996)

Globalization of Culture

• English as a “world language” or the lingua franca of the modern world

• The language the most often taught as a foreign language

• Official language for aeronautical and maritime communications; one of the official languages of UN and the IOC


• 95 % of science journal articles written in English• In 2011 28 % of all books published and 30% of

web content (50 % in 2000)• 360 million native speakers• 38% of Europeans think they can speak English• Language imperialism?

Globalization of Culture• American domination of

popular culture• Americanization - Popular and rock music- Television dramas and

programmes- Movies- Fast food- Other cultural products

such as Disney Land and its characters


• Global culture penetrates • A Japanese youth simulates to be a rapper. • A Coca-Cola stall in a shopping mall of Shanghai


• Occasionally global cultural form come from outside USA

• Unexpected hit of Gangnam Style and long popularity of Lupin III


• Football and the world cup is the most globalized form of culture, at least, among men.

• There were few who fail to recognize Pele and Beckham

• The 2010 World Cup was shown in every single country and 46.4 % (3.2 billion people) watched

Globalization and Culture

• Through the integration of economies, governmental policies, values and cultures, has globalization made the world homogenous?

• Are we ‘global tribes’ in a global village?

Culture and Communication in the age of Globalization

• Tokyo is integrated into global markets, but none of them makes it Western, American or British

• Tokyo is not homogenous ： 160k Chinese; 100k Korean; 28k Philippine; 16k American; 8k Indian; 8K Nepal; 7k Thai; 5k British; 4.5k Burmese


• Major native dialects: British Isles dialects; those of North American and Australasia

• Numerous forms of English language• Pidgin – Franglais, Spanglish, Chinglish, Engrish,

Higlish, Kongrish, Manglish, Singlish, Tinglish


• Even under cultural integration and globalization, local, traditional cultures still survive – cultural differences

• T-shirt is a global fashion item, but America’s local tradition, prom taxedo


• Traditional and local cultural forms are more resilient, if no longer genuine or authentic and confined to specific occasions.

• Kilts were worn in special occasions in Scotland• Hakama on college graduation in Japan


• A pretty headdress is still worn by a Zao woman in Vietnam, while in the city children were a baseball cap


• For French people, cinema is their indispensable national culture. Films are made with subsidies and quotas for American films were frequently introduced to protect the French film market.

• Constant battle between the French government and WTO for protectionism and liberalism


• Is globalized culture a threat to local cultural differences? Is its spread a cultural imperialism?

• Herbert Schiller claimed: ‘the imagery and cultural perspectives of the ruling sector in the center that shape and structure consciousness throughout the system at large.’


• Other researchers found that it is not the case.• If there is a local product, people prefer it to

America products (1st finding)• Dallas was one of the most popular TV shows in the

1980s, in Japan hardly anybody was interested in that and Oshin was one of the most popular shows.

• The last episode of Dallas was watched by 72 % of Americans

• Average viewing rate of Oshin 52.6% and the highest 62.9 (12 Nov. 1983)

• People tend to prefer to the TV programming that is close to their own culture.


• 2nd finding – People’s response to American TV programmes depend on their cultural context

• Many Muslims find the ways women behave in American soap operas unacceptable and many Dutch viewers were not impressed with conspicuous spending in Dallas


• Since 2007 more Japanese than Western films have been shown (417-404) in the Japanese cinemas and since 2008 have earned more profits.


• What is happening in the age of cultural globalization?

• Not cultural homogenization and uniformization, but cultural diversification, hybridization, and intermingling

• ‘Mongrelization’ Salman Rushdie: Loss of purity • Contamination vs. Purity• Is ‘contamination’ a negative term and ‘purity’ a

positive term?• Our cultural history is history of ‘contamination’


• Alexander’s empire molded states as well as sculptures of Egypt and North India


• The Bantu migrations populated half the African continent


• The Islamic states stretch from Morocco to Indonesia; Christianity reached Africa, Europe, and Asia

• Buddhism migrated from India into much of East and Southeast Asia; Jews, Indians and Chinese have long lived in vast diasporas.


• The traders of the Silk Road changed the style of elite dress in Italy

• A form of cultural hybridization and ‘globalization’


• By the 17th century, oriental porcelain had become important commodity in Europe. Most provided by the Dutch East India Company, porcelain from China and Japan represented wealth and status.

• Locals attempted to produce procelain

• Maissen imitation of Kakiemon


• The bagpipes started out in Egypt and came to Scotland with the Roman infantry

• Hybridization and ‘contamination’ is not modern but in the age of globalization they are more extensive and pervasive


• Cultural purity is an oxymoron• Everyone is already live a hybrid and

‘contaminated’ life, enriched by literature, art, and film that come from many places and contains influences from many more.


• Those who believe in cultural purity and homo- geneity finds ‘other’ cultures in their community threatening.

• Antiforeignism and exclusivism


• True cosmopolitans or global citizens think human variety matters

• “People are entitled to the options they need to shape their lives in partnership with others”

• John Stuart Mill on diversity: though he talks about diversity in a society, his argument also serves for diversity across the globe.

• To respect diversity – to respect others and to be respected by others

• Importance of communication

Culture and Communication in the Age of Globalization Introduction to Culture and Communication...

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