Lesson 9: MEDIA AND GLOBALIZATION

https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/406098091376071103/

OBJECTIVES:

At the end of this lesson you are expected to:

1. Determine the relationship of media, culture and globalization

2. Discuss one’s stand on notions about media, culture and globalization
3. Exemplify the three perspectives on global cultural flow
4. Reflect on the effect and role of media to culture

Activity 8.1

The image below shows a community built with many familiar icons of today. Using this
illustration, give the relationship between media and culture and how the two shape a globalized
society.

Image Source: Center for the Study of Globalization and Cultures

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com
Activity 9.2

Read the article about Globalisation and Media to help you compare and broaden your
perspectives along the questions posted on the previous activity.

Click on the link: https://www.hilarispublisher.com/open-access/globalisation-and-media-2165-

7912.1000105.pdf

Activity 9.3

Are you done reading? Below are some of the points mentioned in the material. Let’s try
to find out if you agree or disagree with the following points. Elaborate your answer.

1. The media have become the chief transmitters of culture.

2. Youth are the subject of a massive cultural assault from the unending flow of American
television, magazines, books, films and music which bombard them daily.
3. The smaller culture is to be absorbed by the bigger, economically, militarily or politically
stronger one.
4. The Internet is an especially appropriate medium for the transmission of cultural
contents, including that for even the smallest minority, given that it notably increases the
possibilities for choice for the public and offers immediate access.
5. There is no globalization without media.

HELPFUL POINTS

CULTURAL GLOBALIZATION

Cultural Globalization is a phenomenon by which the experience of everyday life, as

influenced by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, reflects a standardization
of cultural expressions around the world.

➢ Globalization entails the spread of various cultures.

➢ Globalization relies on media as its main conduit for the spread of global culture and
ideas.

The relationship between globalization and media must be unraveled to further

understand the contemporary world.

MEDIA and CULTURE

Culture refers to the unified style of human knowledge, beliefs and behavior from which
people learn, and the ability to communicate knowledge to the next generations. Its
development has been mainly influenced by media.

Accordingly, media is a carrier of culture. Lule (2014) describes media as “a means of

conveying something such as a channel of communication”. Technically speaking, a person’s
voice is a medium. However, when commentators refer to “media” (the plural of medium), they
mean the technologies of mass communication.
 Five Stages of Media Development (Lule, 2014)

1) Oral Communication. Language allowed humans to communicate and share

information. Moreover, language became the most important tool for exploring the world
and the different cultures. It helped people move and settle down. Oral communication
led to markets, trade and cross-continental trade routes.
2) Script. Distance became a hindrance to oral communication. Script allowed humans to
communicate over a larger space and for a much longer duration. It allowed the
permanent codification of economic, cultural, religious and political practice. Knowledge,
beliefs and behaviors were written and made available for transmission to the next
generation and to other nations and cultures.
3) Printing Press. The introduction of the printing press allowed the continuous production,
reproduction and circulation of print materials. Written documents were mass produced
which gave everyone access to information that was once available only to the rich,
powerful and religious. This period of media development affected globalization by
transforming various institutions such as schools, markets, businesses, churches,
governments, and armies among others.
4) Electronic Media. Electronic media is characterized by the use of electricity. Electronic
media includes the telegraph, telephone, radio, film and television. The wide reach of
these media continues to open up new perspectives in the economic, political and
cultural processes of globalization. Radio was the avenue for global products to be
advertised like Marlboro and Coca-Cola. Television, the analogue type, was primarily
used so countries could watch US Presidents’ delivery of speeches and UN Security
Council meetings. Both radio and television became medium to observe international
events.
5) Digital Media. This media relies on digital codes. It can be created, modified and stored
in any digital electronic device. Digitalized content is transmitted over the internet and
computer networks. In politics, candidates use this media to campaign and advance their
platforms. In economics, it allows the advertisement of products and online business
transactions

The five stages of development of media have greatly influenced the globalization of culture.
From pamphlets to Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat, media has produced and reproduced
cultural products around the globe. Moreover, the increase in cultural interactions generated by
media results in outcomes that exhibit the vigor of local cultures influenced by the global culture.

While culture does flow comparatively easily across the globe, not all cultures and forms of
culture flow as easily or at the same rate. For one thing, the cultures of the world’s most
powerful societies (most notably the US) flow around the world much more readily than the
cultures of relatively weak and marginal societies. Similarly, some types of culture (pop music,
for example) move quickly and easily around the globe, while others (innovative theories in the
social sciences) move in slow motion and may never make it to many parts of the world.
Pieterse (2004) identifies cultural differentialism, cultural convergence and cultural hybridity
as outcomes of the influence of globalization on culture.

Three Perspectives on Global Cultural Flow

Cultural Differentialism

Cultural differentialism emphasizes the fact that cultures are essentially different and are
only superficially affected by global flows. The interaction of cultures is deemed to contain the
potential for “catastrophic collision.”
 Samuel Huntington’s theory of a clash of the civilizations best exemplifies this approach.
According to him, after the Cold War, political-economic differences were overshadowed by new
fault lines which were primarily cultural in nature. Increasing interaction among different
“civilizations” (such as the Sinic, Islamic, Orthodox, Western) would lead to intense clashes,
especially economic conflict between the West and Sinic civilization and bloody political conflict
between the Western and the Islamic civilizations. This theory has been critiqued for a number
of reasons, especially its portrayal of Muslims as being “prone to violence.”

Cultural Convergence
The cultural convergence approach stresses homogeneity introduced by globalization.
Cultures are deemed to be radically altered by strong flows. Cultural imperialism, wherein one
culture imposes itself and tends to destroy at least parts of another culture, is also analyzed
under the heading of this approach. One important critique of cultural imperialism is based on
the idea of “deterritorialization” of culture. This means that it is much more difficult to tie culture
to a specific geographic point of its origin.

McDonaldization involves the global spread of rational systems, based on the principles
of fast-food restaurants, such as efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. This process
is extended to other businesses, sectors, and geographical areas. Globalization (in contrast to
glocalization) is a process wherein nations, corporations, etc. impose themselves on geographic
areas in order to gain profits, power, and so on.

Cultural Hybridity
The cultural hybridization approach emphasizes the integration of local and global
cultures. Therefore, globalization is considered to be a creative process which gives rise to
hybrid entities that are not reducible to either the global or the local. A key concept is
“glocalization,” or the interpenetration of the global and local resulting in unique outcomes in
different geographic areas. Another key concept is Arjun Appadurai’s “scapes” (global flows
involving people, technology, finance, political images, and media) and the disjunctures
between them, which lead to the creation of cultural hybrids.

SOCIAL MEDIA as the “NEW Media” of Globalization

Apart from the nature of diverse audiences and regional trends in cultural production, the
internet and social media are proving that the globalization of culture and ideas can move in
different directions. Social media have enabled users to be consumers and producers of
information simultaneously.

As consumers of media, users must remain vigilant and learn how to distinguish fact
from falsehood in a global media landscape. Societies can never be completely prepared for the
rapid technological changes which create multiple unintended consequences. Instead of fearing
these changes or entering a state of moral panic, everyone must collectively discover ways of
dealing with them responsibly and ethically.

Activity 9.4

Using the matrix below, exemplify your understanding of the three perspectives on global
cultural flow by providing your own definitions and examples.

Perspectives on Global
Cultural Flow
Cultural Differentialism
Give your own set of
How do you understand this
examples to exemplify its
perspective?
meaning.

Cultural Convergence
Cultural Hybridity

Activity 9.5

Analyze the different cartoons below and give your reflection along the effect, role and impact of
media to the contemporary world. Summarize your responses to a minimum of four sentences.

https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/42923?fq https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/15212?fq
=theme.culture_n_identity =theme.culture_n_identity

https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/33668?fq https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/22376?fq
=theme.culture_n_identity =theme.culture_n_identity

REFERENCES

Kaul, V. (2011). Globalisation and media. Journal of Mass Communication and Journalism,
https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/33845?fq
1(01), 1-8. Retrieved from
=theme.culture_n_identity
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9fa8/f3e1b2d61924c5c67371bd5ea5c0a8c2d0af.pdf on May
28,2020.

Lule, J. (2014). Globalization and the media: Creating the global village. In M. Steger, P.
Battersby, & Siracusa (Eds.). The SAGE Handbook of Globalization (pp.383-378). Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Pieterse, J. (2004). Globalization and culture: Global mélange. Lanham, MA: Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers.

Image Links

https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/406098091376071103/

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com

https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/49003?fq=theme.culture_n_identity

https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/33845?fq=theme.culture_n_identity

https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/42923?fq=theme.culture_n_identity

https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/22376?fq=theme.culture_n_identity

https://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/15212?fq=theme.culture_n_identity