Lecture 10

                                Cultural dimension of globalisation

                                       Cultural globalisation

*      Cultural G means intensification and expansion of cultural flows across the globe

*      `culture' is a very broad concept and refers to many things:

*      A) world polity theory: common global norms, cognitive models, scripts

*      B) popular culture: films, dress styles, music

*      C) group culture: shared beliefs, traditions, way of life, worldviews (our focus)

*      Scholars of cultural G raise numerous questions

                                            G of culture

*      Not an entirely new phenomenon because expansive inter-cultural and inter-civilisational
exchanges predate modernity (see Lecture 3)

*      But the extent of cultural transmissions and the volume of intercultural exchange is now far
greater than it ever was

*      Cultural practices, images, ideas, etc. are easily and rapidly transmitted from one place to
another

                                           Global culture

*      Is the emerging global culture making people more similar as the rest of the people around
the world or does it result in more differences?

*      A) rise of homogenising popular culture primarily influenced by the Western `culture
industry' -- cultural homogenisation thesis (pessimistic view)

*      B) cultural G generates more sameness and this is a good outcome (optimistic view)

*      C) there are powerful homogenising tendencies in the contemporary world but this doesn't mean
that cultural diversity will vanish -- new forms of cultural expression; glocalisation, cultural
hybridity, syncretism & Creolisation -- combination or fusion of culture

                                           Glocalisation
                                         (Roland Robertson)

*       Global cultural flows often reinvigorate local cultural niches & local differences still
play an important role in creating unique cultural types (for example Western music styles
incorporated into traditional forms of dance)

*       Cultural G always takes place in local contexts

*       Rejecting the cultural homogenisation thesis, `glocalisation' means a complex interaction
between the global and the local & is characterised by cultural borrowing (the local is an aspect of
G)

*       The result is nothing that would be either `the same' or `different' but a new sort of
cultural hybridity; it means the loss of traditional meanings & creation of new symbolic expressions

*       Other cultures are not simply `replaced' but cultures are merged or blended; Western
elements are incorporated

                                             The media

*      Global media empires & powerful communication technologies influence and enable the global
cultural flows

*      Large TNCs increasingly dominate the global entertainment market

*      - outcomes: rise of infotainment, decline of `cultural innovators' (small independent media),
depoliticisation of social reality, weakening of civic bonds, corporate market oriented priorities
clash with professional autonomy of journalism...

                                         Global languages?

*      Globalisation of languages

*      Shifting global patterns of language use: some languages are used in international
communication much more than others (e.g. English, Chinese, Spanish, French), while some languages
are dying out, disappearing

*      Language use on the Internet (over 80 % in English)