Globalisation N Popular Culture

• Globalisation

  The increasing interconnectedness of societies across the globe, through more accessible and advanced technology and travel.
• MCLUHAN:

  ●We now have a ‘global village’ in which rapid technological change has lead to space and time barriers in human communication to collapse.●People around the world can now communicate instantaneously on a global scale.
• SKLAIR:

  ●The media blur differences between entertainment, information, and promotion of products●It then sells across the world ideas, values, and products associated with what is presented as an idealised Western lifestyle.
• RITZER:

  ●Companies and brands now operate on a global scale, promoting a global culture along with the consumerist lifestyle associated with it.●Companies use the transnational media to promote products on a global scale, making their logos known to everyone.
• Criticisms Of Global Media

  ●Cultural and media imperialism: Fenton argues that most media conglomerates are based in the US, and dominate media communications. He refers to this as cocacolonization.●The media-led global culture-ideology of consumerism has led to Western media products and cultural values being forced on non-western cultures.
• Eval Of Global Media


  This assumes non-western audiences are passive.

  AO3: Local media and culture still exist in the non-western world (e.g. Bollywood)
• Cultural imperialism and media imperialism are both similar and important terms, but have slightly different meanings:

  •Cultural imperialism is the idea that Western culture is taking over and damaging local culture.

  So media imperialism is a cause of cultural imperialism.
• •Media imperialism is the idea that Western media is becoming popular around the world, and is becoming more important that local media.
• ●High culture should be treated with respect and reverence, because it is of lasting and artistic value, and part of a heritage worth preserving.●It is aimed at middle-class audiences
• ●Popular culture is linked to passive and unchallenging entertainment, designed to be sold to a large number of people.●It’s dumbed down and demands little critical thought, rarely challenging existing cultural ideas.
• ●Pluralists believe that there is no such thing as popular or global culture, because today’s media has led to an increase in consumer choice.●Tomlinson argues that globalisation does not involve a direct cultural imposition from the Western world, but instead there is a hybridisation of cultures whereby individuals can ‘pick and mix’ between local and global culture.