Cultural Imperialism And Globalization

Globalisation has become a fashionable term used for numerous years amongst humanities and social sciences. Usage of this term has been driven by an academic fascination with the world as an increasingly interconnected place, in which localized forms of culture have become increasingly subject to homogenizing global influences (Maguire, J)

The term cultural imperialism has often been used when describing certain aspects of the media industry. Cultural imperialism can be seen as the imbalance of culture, power and representation, favouring the socially dominant and influential. The cultural hegemony of these powerful industrialised or economically influential countries is thought to be able to both determine general cultural values and homogenise different societies globally. Although not restricted to media, cultural imperialism is in theory aided by the media’s ability to express culture. Many would argue, however, that this term in many ways no longer applies to contemporary media culture. Although media power structures from the past still have a certain amount of influence, recent trends suggest that relationships between different global media producers and consumers is more complex than what is implied by the term cultural imperialism. Media does not simply flow in a single direction in the present-day, but is often a complex ocean of inter-related currents and counter-currents. Thus, while the balance between cultures is not entirely equal, the term cultural imperialism is not an entirely adequate word to describe today’s media cultures.

The Kiowa are a Native American people who have been greatly impacted by cultural imperialism. They were forced to adapt to western culture, and in this many of the Kiowa people were converted to Christianity. Christianity is said to be a very important aspect of many Native American cultures still today, but the way in which Christianity is portrayed and practiced in such societies, including that of the Kiowa, stays true to both the religion itself and their Native practices. The Kiowa are said to have "kiowanized" Christianity. The Kiowa version of Christianity is said to differ from "' the white man's way.'" This means that they believe in God, integrate their culture and lifestyles into Christianity, and they also relay the importance of their religion in a different manner. They use their native language in their hymns, and these hymns are comprised primarily of those elements that pertain directly to Kiowa culture. In the text Lassiter states, "Kiowa hymns 'give life to a unique Kiowa experience, preserve the language, and affirm and ongoing (and continually unfolding) Kiowa spirituality.'" This reveals the effectiveness and importance of the integration of Christianity and native Kiowa practices.

The role of globalization has had a major influence on society and the world, and this essay will argue it has resulted in cultural homogenization. This can be illustrated through an introduction to globalization, the consolidation of media, ownership and vested interests, world standardization and neoliberalism, politics and the media and public service media. Examining the different views of globalization, including Appadurai and McChesney as well as other sources it can be clearly understood the negatives arising due to

During my time in Guatemala, I believe that the social issues I came in the most contact with were hegemony and cultural imperialism, or in other words, the influence the United States has over Guatemala. No matter where I was, whether it be the streets of the small town of San Miguel or the larger, more developed city of Guatemala City, I could not help but notice how much of an impact the United States has. Throughout the course of a month we learned a lot about the root causes of poverty- America as a hegemon- through both readings and discussion. The footprint the U.S. has left in Guatemala was apparent not only while reading and learning about the history of Latin America, but while visiting the country itself. In addition, we had the

In my opinion I do believe that U.S. cultural imperialism exist. Many countries in a way look up to the United States. There are maybe a variety of people that wish they could live in the United States. Especially since it is always advertised as a free country. People come to the United States and change their culture and there believes just to fit in. Another sign of U.S. imperialism is the food. McDonald’s started in the United States and now there are a variety of restaurants around the globe. It is little by little that things that start trending in the U.S. later begin to trend in other countries. A product that was first major in the U.S. was the soda Pepsi and now it is all over the world. Another example is fashion trend work places

This will lead to the mass media homogeneity that will dissolve cultural differences. Cultural imperialism started right after decolonization when political or military control of another country could not be practiced. Psychological forms of control began to be used and were facilitated through the rapid integration of global telecommunications systems. They pushed American culture that promoted the ideas of consumption and instant gratification that would spread global capitalism and increase profits. The cultural imperialism argument has several strengths as well as weaknesses. It’s main strength is based on the idea that mass media from larger nations negatively affects the smaller nations because the national identity of smaller nations is lessened or lost due to media homogeneity inherent in mass media from the larger countries. Sometimes local interpreters keep some cultural diversification by transforming the imported media to meet local demand. The media is still influenced by the core but is also still unique and successful. Examples of this include the success of Korean pop music and Bollywood cinema in their respective “geolinguistic region.” The media imperialism theory fails to fully understand the internal historical and social dynamics within periphery countries. The West may have implanted the model of television consumerism, but the West is not required to sustain it and today many US programs lead the world in their transportability across cultural boundaries but are rarely the most popular when viewers have reasonable local options. (L&B p340-342)(Peripheral Vision) The social construction of reality theory attempts to explain how and why individuals view the world in a certain way and what role the media plays in shaping that view. It suggests that the media actually

Cultural Imperialism refers to an unequal relationship between civilizations where the civilization who is more powerful by having a higher economic status and better armed forces is the dominant ruler over the society. Cultural Imperialism started with the rise of Empires in the 18th century. Empires derive from waging war and enforcing laws (Howe 2002, 13). Empires normally have more minorities because it is easier to rule. Minorities are not always treated equally in society.

We all live in a globalized world; due to technologies being rapidly made it has driven globalization. Now we are well informed about other countries across the entire world and able to communicate internationally. Globalization has created a framework for cooperation among homelands. Generally, it has affected our nations and, indirectly we, the citizens in various ways; economically, politically, and socially, however it is a fast integration and association of various nations, which shapes the world affairs on a global level. The concept of globalization is evident in the many difficult challenges that come with it, involving our cultural differences, and the regulating challenge of globalizations. The phenomenon of globalization has affected many cultures around the world, resulting in the Americanization of other nations.

Cultural imperialism is the dominance of one culture over another leading to the diminishment or annihilation of one or the other.The term was used for the first time in the sixteenth century, describing the colonial, economic, territorial and military dominance and influence over smaller countries. Imperialism brought about industrialization, and by extension, globalization. This brought great infrastructure and machinery to the countries that were colonized. Moreover, imperialism brought benefits to cultural ideologies resulted in the exchange of cultural ideas, traditions, language, food, religion, in which case both countries were made aware of their varied cultures and norms, making nations to broaden their horizons and keep having an open mind.

Europe swept into many underdeveloped countries and colonized them. Europe introduced these nations to modern technology and Christianity. Some would even say that Europe saved these underdeveloped nations. What those people don’t understand is that these countries were overthrown. These nations were the unwilling victims of imperialization.

Although the first use of the term ‘globalization’ can be traced back to the 1940s, it was only after half a century that this concept stormed the public consciousness. The buzzword ‘globalization’ exploded into the ‘Roaring nineties’ because it captured the increasingly interdependent nature of social life on this planet. Earlier the concept of globalization was viewed as a techo-economic juggernaut spreading western culture and the intellection of capitalism and quashing local beliefs and national traditions. Thus, it was viewed as a ripple of Americanization. One corollary of the propagation of this perspective created fears in the minds of people, who had utter love and affection towards their own culture.

As Martin Luther King had said, ‘It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated’1. Globalisation is a term that can be defined in various ways. It is a complex process that does not have a clear beginning or end, rather it is something that has developed, strengthened and deepened over time. Globalisation is a process of integration, interconnection and exchange between peoples from different parts of the world. It is the connection and expansion of international, cultural, economic and political activities. Globalisation is a concept that transforms the various relationships across and between countries, regions and continents. Having a long history within the world, globalisation and the interconnection process can be divided into three main periods including archaic globalisation, proto-globalisation and modern globalisation. So, was there globalisation before the 1600s? This paper aims to explore the concept and context of globalisation along with some of its historical roots prior to the 1600s in order to provide a definitive answer.

In today’s world and economy there have been many factors that affect us all at a global level. Being as technology is increasingly growing at an all-time high and cultures are changing because of these changes, this has led to the world being more globalized. Globalization is the process of interaction amongst people, businesses, governments of different countries and nations, and is driven and or influenced by international trade and international business. Technology has been one of the largest contributing factors to the reason why the world is becoming more globalized. Globalization has both positive and negative effects on the environment, societies, as well as today’s cultures. Cultural globalization refers to the process of spreading one’s cultural values, ideology, and uniqueness on a global level. Cultural globalization can have both positive and negative effects on today’s society as well. A positive effect of cultural globalization is the easy accessibility of different cultural products and commodities. A negative effect of cultural globalization is that smaller, more unique cultures may lose what makes them different and more distinctive from other countries or cultures. Scholars see these changes as part of processes such as cultural hybridity, cultural homogenization and or cultural imperialism. These processes that lead to changes in culture, social order and identity and all of the processes are both similar and different in many ways.

Cultural globalization affects the culture of a country through different ways, such as mass media, Internet and traveling around. It affects the norms and values which is involved in the relationships between the people and their populations and cultural identities. It encourages the connection between different populations and cultures as well. Cultural globalization help diffusing one’s culture through cuisines such as American fast food.Therefore, Ritzer(2008) introduced a word “McDonaldization” which means ”a society adopts the characteristics of an American fast-food restaurant”. Cultural globalization leads to the appearance of hybridization and homogenization. Wang(2007) stated that it helped to bring people closer as globalization has been seen as a trend toward homogeneity that will eventually make human experience everywhere essentially the same. However, Berking(2003) argued that cultural globalization causes the reducing of the cultural diversity. People feel strange to their original cultures.This essay will discuss how cultural globalization affects cultures. The first section will give out China and North Korea as two countries example in order to show out how globalization affects them. Meanwhile, the second section will analyze the two examples and found out whether globalization affects the cultures of the countries in a positive or negative way. The future impact of this phenomenon has yet to be fully studied. This essay will begin such an analysis from a