3. The Media, Globalisation and Popular Culture Flashcards
Global village
Developed by McLuhan
Refers to how the electronic media collapse space and time barriers in communication so people can now interact instantaneously on a global scale.
The speed of technological change is so great the world is rapidly becoming a global village
Popular culture (5)
Culture liked and enjoyed by ordinary people and is sometimes called mass culture
Passive entertainment, designed to be sold to a large audience
Highly commercialized
Seen by many as not having lasting value
Simple, undemanding and easy to understand
What does popular culture involve?
Mass produced, standardized and short-live products, sometimes of trivial content
Examples of popular culture
Mass-circulation magazines
Red-top tabloid newspapers
TV soaps
Reality TV
Social media
High culture
Seen as something set apart from everyday life, something ‘special’ to be treated with respect, involving things of lasting value and worth preserving
Who is high culture aimed at?
Mainly upper class and professional m/c audiences
Examples of high culture
The ballet
Opera
Fine art
Daily Telegraph
Who argues that the distinction between popular and high culture is changing?
Postmodernists. They believe the distinction between the two is weakening
Why has the distinction between popular and high culture become meaningless according to postmodernists?
The global reach of contemporary media, mass production of goods on a world scale, and easier transportation make a huge range of media an cultural products available to everyone.
This paired with the expansion of the media-based industries (E.g. film, TV, advertising and music) makes distinction meaningless
How has the new media weakened the distinction between high and popular culture?
Original music and other high culture products can now be consumed by the mass of people in their homes due to the new media
Exclusivity of high culture in postmodern society
High culture is no longer exclusive to cultural elites and people can now pick and mix from either popular or high culture
Negative evaluation of popular culture: Marxism
Popular culture is used to maintain the power of the dominant social class in society
Negative evaluation of popular culture: critical theorists
They believe mass-produced products are imposed on the masses by businesses for financial gain
Negative evaluation of popular culture: key criticism of popular culture
Attacked for diverting people away from more useful activities, for driving down cultural standards and for having harmful effects
Negative evaluation of popular culture: Marcuse believes it’s a form of social repression. What does this mean?
It locks people into the present system, promoting conformity
Positive evaluation of popular culture: how did writers and producers see popular culture according to Livingstone?
Livingstone found that the writers and producers of TV soaps saw them as educating and informing the public on issues that aren’t commonly shown on TV news (E.g. domestic abuse)
Positive evaluation of popular culture: response to Marxuse’s belief that it’s a form of social repression
Strinati rejects his claims and points to the choice and diversity in the media, which people freely choose from and critically respond to
2 sociologists that talked about the global popular market
Flew
Sklair
Consequence of globalisation according to Flew
Globalisation has undermined national and local cultures, as the same cultural and consumer products are now sold across the world
New digital media breaks down cultural distance between countries
What does Flew claim is the process of powerful media making the cultures of different countries become more alike?
Cultural homogenisation
The global popular market according to Sklair
The media blue the differences between information, entertainment and the promotion of products, and sell across the world ideas, values and products associated with the consumerist American lifestyle
Sklair’s “culture-ideology of consumerism”
Dominant ideology of western capitalist societies is becoming the ideology of the world
Cultural imperialism
Idea that western culture is taking over and damaging local culturen
Media imperialism
Idea the western media is becoming popular around the world and is becoming more important than the local media
Cocacolonisation
Fenton argues that most media conglomerates are based on the US and dominate media communications
Existence of popular culture according to pluralists
There’s no such thing as popular or mass culture
Do media audiences have choice according to pluralists?
The huge range of media products available gives consumers across the world a wide diversity of cultural choices
Consequence of global competition according to pluralists
Global competition is expanding sources of information and entertainment, rather than restricting them or dumbing them down
What does pluralist Tomlinson believe is happening rather than cultural imperialism from the western world?
Tomlinson argues hybridisation or the mixing of cultures is occurring rather than cultural imperialism from the western world
Rather than being passive victims of the west, what does new media technology enable according to pluralists?
New media technology enables consumers to create and distribute their own media products, rather than being passive victims of the west
How is the globalisation of popular culture of great advantage to media owners according to critical sociologists?
The globalisation of popular culture is of great advantage to media owners as they can gain huge profits exporting and advertising their products across the globe
What has diverted people’s attention away from more serious issues like global inequality according to critical sociologist Thussu?
The globalisation of TV and competition between media conglomerates for audiences and advertisers has led to TV news across the world becoming tabloidised, designed to entertain and inform
What do postmodernists regard the diversity of the globalised media as offering?
They regard the diversity of the globalised media as offering the population more choices in terms of their consumption, opening up a greater global awareness and access to a diversity of cultures
Key postmodernist of the globalisation of media topic
Baudrillard
What society do we live in according to Baudrillard?
A media-saturated society in which media images dominate and distort the way we see the world (E.g. news reporting of war makes it seem like a video game)
What does Baudrillard call the distorted view of the world?
Hyperreality
The media and reflecting reality according to postmodernists
The media no longer reflect reality, but actively create it
How is blurring the distinction between reality and hyperreality according to postmodernist Garrod?
Reality TV shows and social networking sites are blurring the distinction between reality and hyperreality, leaving audiences confused about what’s real and what’s media created
Evaluation of postmodernism: Marxist critcism
Marxists emphasise that the choice alleged by postmodernists is a myth as media conglomerates control the major media
