Culture and globalization

Liliya Kiriyanova

The View on Cultural Change from Globalization Frameworks Hyperglobalizers: homogenization of world

under American popular culture or Western consumerism. Global civil society

Sceptics: thinness of global culture relative to national cultures.Clash of civilizations: Cultural differences and conflicts along geopolitical faultlines.

Transformationalists: intermingling of cultures and peoples: hybrids, glocalities and new forms

What is culture? An order of life in which people construct

meanings through the practice of symbolic representation. This symbolic representation revels in values, images, notions, ideas, and behaviors. Culture cannot be meaningfully extracted from the economic, political or social realms and it is also “ordinary” in so far as it is describes a whole way of life and includes all manner of everyday social practice (Jones A., 2006)

What is culture?Social construction, articulation ad reception of

meaning (Held, et al 1998): The arts Commodified output of the culture industries

(Film, TV, Music) Spontaneous expressions of everyday life Complex interactions between all of these Religion Ethnicity Nationalism Language Other forms of Identity

Local culture is a system of shared values, views, style

of life, behavior models, attitude to the environment which belongs to a group of people existing in a more or less defined bounded space and time.

National culture Non existent before 18th century: Treaty

of Westphalia National cultures invented and developed

over time Cultural preconditions:

Literacy National histories, myths and rituals, Importance of state powers of taxation and

conscription

National culture Task undertaken by diverse institutions

Official language National schooling system Postal service and Communications structures (NBC,

ABC etc.) National press Standing army

Suppression or eradication of competing identities and peripheral nationalisms

Key factors Memories/histories/myths Role of land/landscapes/places:

Monuments National Parks sites of battle

Cultural globalization the transmission of culture globally Facilitated by the movement of people,

objects, signs and symbols. Travel Movement of books and cultural artifacts

Key factors: new forms of communication and transportation

Stretching Diffusion Deepening Diverse encounters:

Homogenization Contestation Hybridization Indifference

Cultural Globalization: Historical Perspective World Religions Empires Modern national cultures Transnational secular ideologies Contemporary cultural globalization

Global culture as universal culture Since ancient time some philosopher

consider people as a single humankind current globalization processes are

objective tendencies on the path to the formation of a common culture based on universal values

global culture is interpreted as universal culture common for all humankind, neglecting the base of cultural conflicts

Do universal values exist? Asian collectivist conception of human

rights vs European and American individualistic conception

freedom vs liberty the right to life in western cultures vs

right to worthy death in some Eastern (hara-kiri ritual, euthanasia)

universalism is «one of the least useful and indeed most dangerous aspect of the western intellectual tradition…the metaphysical faith that local western values are authoritative for all cultures and peoples» (Grey J.)

following the traditions of Enlightenment western cultures understand their mission to promote universal values – Rights of Man and democracy. «These values and…promotion of the individual against the constraints of prejudices, beliefs and the loyalties of traditional societies…allow the foundation of universal peace» (Latouche S.)

Global culture is…? Global technologies and global flows (of

images, people, goods, symbols) penetrate local cultures and make them more open to each other

This common global cultural space and aggregate of global cultural forms can be considered as global culture

Globalization determines world-wide dissemination of similar set of values, images, aims, ideologies

Global culture content Global culture is common global cultural

space constituted by global flows of global cultural forms. Bat what is inside? What is the content of these global flows?

Can we consider global culture as “mosaic” of elements of different local cultures where each culture has equal opportunity for representation?

In theory, each local culture has chance to be globally dissemenated

Americanization, westernization, McDonalization? one particular local culture plays leading

role in global processes, and this particular local culture is American one. The content of cultural flows mostly have American provenance

Global Graph of Starbucks and McDonald Monopolies

the USA is an indisputable leader of the modern global media market The bulk of the world’s production of

“signs” is concentrated in the US or made according to its rules and methods.

19 of top 40 global audiovisual companies have the US origin.

The USA is also a leader in media content production and export. 44% of overall television programming in the EU countries is the US import; in Latin America it runs up to 75%.

Global consumer culture The main share of the global consumed

goods produced in the US, or by the corporation with US HQ, or according to their standards.

These are not just material goods; these are strong images and brands which bring certain values, style of life, behavior models

Universal values systems of socio-political values which are

disseminated all over the World via global institutions and organizations (governmental and nongovernmental) and which considered as universal (human rights, democracy, liberal market) have western culture provenance. The USA is the main articulator and promoter of these values

The USA has the great power in world economy and politics. Many cultures and individuals attribute such position with the corresponding system of values and deliberately follow them.

American culture has “greater technical capacity”: greater information, communication and social technologies, which make American cultural “goods” much more competitive.

Most of modern TNC have the US origin. The level of American economy and effective management give much more possibilities to transformed local companies into global corporations.

Why do they need it? Logic of capitalistic production (effect of “scale of

production”) needs mass production which can only be based on similar demand. For creation of this similar demand the West (with a help of global mass media) has to create similar tastes, needs, and values.

Cultural expansion can be determined by the certain geopolitical purpose. Culture has become more potent than armaments. Commonalities in tastes make it easier to find common ground politically

Is it so? Do this mean that other cultures are passive participants? Inflowing cultural elements do not meet

cultural tabula rasa, but meet existing system of cultural values, traditions, views, practice and experience.

Cultural interaction “always involves interpretation, translation, mutation, adaptation and indigenization as the receiving culture brings its own cultural resources to bear… upon cultural imports”

Cultural flows come from many directions. It is not just one way flows of images, values and traditions from the West to the rest; non-western cultures are also disseminate their cultural goods all over the World

We can wear American jeans with Arabic ornaments, we can watch BBC after Brazilian serials, we can dine at Chinese restaurant in New York, and so on. As Robertson said it is globalization of local

Culture can’t be reduced to material goods. When we consume mass products it does not

mean that it always more then just simple presence, but has deeper cultural ideological affect.

When consumption of goods become a usual every-day practice (such as drinking coca-cola, wearing jeans) this consumption become “non-concerned”. “Hamburger is just hamburger”.

“When goods cross borders, then the culture they substantiate is no longer the culture in which they circulate”

we have to distinguish between technologies, functional facilities and culture.

International airports, hotels, offices, internet network do not make all place the same, it is just “functional proximity”

There are a lot of “but” concerning the above-mentioned facts Western culture has a lot of very strong

and fetching cultural patterns which save their meaning even after adaptation to local context.

Some of cultural products are consumed with out any adaptation at all.

It is not one way flow of information and images, but flow from the West to the rest is totally dominating.

Even in the EU more then 70% of films have the US origin, and only about 2% from the rest of the World.

Most world-wide elements from non-western cultures (Indian food, Arabic dances, Chinese New Year) are usually consumed as simulakrs, people don’t go to the deeper meaning of this events or traditions