globalisation of media and culture

• what is globalisation?


  the increased social, political and economic interconnectedness across the world
• sociologist definitions of globalisation

  cochraine and pain (2000): lives of ordinary people shaped increasingly by decisions/actions made away from them

  - drugs, disease, crime, goods etc cross national boundaries at unprecedented speed and scale

  
  

  cohen and kennedy (2000): societies used to be disparate, distant and independent, now increasingly interconnected by globalisation

  
  

  crothers (2012): globalisation caused by combination of econ, political and cultural factors
• economic causes of globalisation

  financial market is global. stock exchanges around the world mean buying and selling 24/7 between different nations

  
  

  growth in TNCs that can move production from one country to another. people around the world can be employed by same TNC

  
  

  economic problems in one part of the world impact the rest of the world

  - e.g. 'credit crunch' in 2008, began in USA and rapidly spread to financial markets across the world

  
  

  emergence of global consumerist culture

  - sklair (2003): e.g. people worldwide eating mcdonalds, drinking coca-cola, and using apple phones

  - links to cultural
• cultural/political causes of globalisation

  some sociologists argue that social networks e.g. twitter + facebook give people in repressive societies the confidence to dissent and demand change

  
  

  speed of communication now due to technology has made local issues global issues

  - e.g. ISIS taking advantage of satellite TV channels e.g. al-jazeera and social media networks

  
  

  beck (1992): we live in a global risk society, global risks cross national boundaries

  - e.g. global warming, pollution, deforestation, depletion of fish stocks, oil spills, AIDs, international terrorism, chernobyll

  
  

  new and increased relationships between people + social networks spreads ideas in dif countries e.g. democracy, equality and tolerance; alternative medicine
• role of media in globalisation

  1) technology

  - mass communication and digitalisation = change to time/place

  - info in many forms e.g. finance, film, music etc transmitted instantly 24/7

  
  

  2) TNCs

  - globalisation of media outlets + products = assisted by econ growth of media TNCs e.g. newscorp, apple: world's media is more concentrated

  - mcchesney (2002): world's film, TV, books, music etc dominated by less than 10 global media corps
• what is culture?


  scott and marshall (2009): culture is all that is in human society that is socially rather than biologically transmitted

  - learned from others in society

  - shared beliefs, values and norms

  
  

  3 types:

  - high culture

  - popular culture

  - folk culture
• high culture


  elite in society regard this as intellectual achievements, products seen as cultural superior

  e.g. ballet, opera, museums, classical music

  
  

  aimed at upper and professional MC, seen as 'good taste
• popular culture


  products of mass media in capitalist societies, enjoyed by majority of people

  - easy to understand

  - mainly focused on entertainment but new forms include exchange of info e.g. twitter

  - highly commercialised, sold to make profit

  - may lack lasting cultural impact

  
  

  e.g. pop music, magazines, reality TV e.g. love island

  
  

  barnett and seymour: superficial candyfloss culture, dumbs down intelligence, creativity and critical thinking
• folk culture


  traditions and rituals of a society passed down through generations via word of mouth

  - e.g. irish dancing, maypoles, bagpipes, traditional dress

  
  

  argued folk culture = becoming increasingly globalised as tourists demand to see performance of traditional song/dance when visiting