4.4 globalisation, mass media and popular culture Flashcards
1
Q
How does Steger(2005) define globalisation?
A
- ‘a set of social processes that are thought to transform our present social condition into one of globality’
2
Q
What is meant by globality?
A
- Steger = ‘a social condition characterised by the existence of global economic, political, cultural and environmental interconnections and flows that make many of the currently existing borders and boundaries irrelevant’
3
Q
What does Flew mean by a global popular culture?
A
- the evolution of new media technologies, such as satellite TV and the internet, has played an important role in the development of a global popular culture
4
Q
What does Kellner argue about the global popular culture?
A
- the media has the power to globally produce images of lifestyles that increasingly become part of everyday life and through which people form their identities and views of the world
5
Q
What is meant by cultural homogenisation?
A
- a process of a powerful media making the cultures of different countries become more alike and merged into one uniform culture
6
Q
Who argues about the ‘culture-ideology of consumerism’?
A
Sklair(2012)
7
Q
What is meant by the ‘culture-ideology of consumerism’?
A
- it is Western companies such as Microsoft and Google that have dominated the growth of the internet, which increasingly spreads this same Western culture-ideology of consumerism
8
Q
How do companies use globalisation?
A
- companies and brands use the transnational media to promote their products on a global stage and their logos are now global brands that can be recognised across the world
9
Q
What are the two types of imperialism Flew suggests?
A
- media imperialism
- cultural imperialism
10
Q
What is meant by cultural imperialism?
A
- the imposition of Western, especially American, cultural values of non-Western cultures, and the consequent undermining of local cultures and cultural independence
11
Q
What does McChesney argue is the reason for cultural imperialism?
A
- it is the direct result of the world’s media companies in the hands of a few powerful American transnational media corporations
12
Q
What does Kellner argue about the global media culture?
A
- it is about sameness and it erases individuality, specificity and difference
13
Q
Who coined the term ‘coca-colonisation’?
A
Hannerz(1992)
14
Q
What is meant by ‘coca-colonisation’?
A
- used to describe how American cultural products like Coca Cola were penetrating the cultures and consciousness of people in less developed countries to convince them that their wants, desires and even needs should be defined by American pop culture
15
Q
Who uses the term ‘McDonaldisation’?
A
Ritzer (1993)
16
Q
Who uses the term ‘McWork’?
A
Klein
17
Q
What is meant by ‘McDonaldisation’ and ‘McWork’?
A
- they are used to describe the increasing tendency in the developing world for cultural products, whether they are burgers or TV shows, to be delivered as per the American popular culture model in a standardised and predictable way
18
Q
What does Barber (2003) argue about cultural imperialism?
A
- one extreme response has been the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the provoking of what he calls ‘jihad’
- fundamentalists see American popular culture as a threat that undermines their people’s commitment to God
19
Q
What does Fuchs argue about the owners of transnational corporations?
A
- they not only dominate world trade in popular culture, thereby denying true choice to consumers, but they are also able disproportionately to influence governments, thus threatening democracy and freedom of expression
20
Q
How does Held et al criticise the cultural imperialist argument?
A
- it makes the mistake of suggesting that the flow if culture is one-way only
- it fails to recognise ‘reverse cultural flows’ - how Western culture is enriched by inputs from the popular culture of other societies
21
Q
How does Tomlinson (1999) criticise the cultural imperialist argument?
A
- globalisation involves a hybridisation of cultures
- people pick ‘n’ mix and draw on both Western/global cultures and their own local cultures
- there is more cultural diversity in the world, not less
22
Q
What did Josefina Santos argue in her article ‘Globalisation and Tradition’?
A
- in the Philippines, Western values don’t fit with the prevailing cultural norms
- their values are more family and class based and are strongly influenced by their colonial Spanish past
23
Q
How does Cowen criticise the cultural imperialist argument?
A
- he observes that Hollywood movies has done very well in Europe but not so well in Asian countries such as India
- local cultures is a very powerful influence in Islamic societies because religion often underpins all aspects of those societies
- he argues that US cultural imperialism is more likely to occur in Europe
24
Q
What is meant by popular culture?
A
- it is liked and enjoyed by ordinary people
- sometimes called ‘mass culture’ or ‘low culture’
- it is highly commercialised, involving mass produced, standardised and short lived products
- these cultural products are designed to be sold on the global mass market to make profits for the large ‘culture industry’ corporations that produce them
25
What is meant by **high culture**?
- high cultural products are regarded as aesthetically superior to all other cultural products
- e.g. classical and modern art, classical music, poetry and theatre
26
Who are **The Frankfurt School**?
- a group of German-American theorists who developed powerful analyses of the changes in Western capitalist societies that occurred since the classical theory of Marx
27
What term did the Frankfurt School coin?
- ‘**culture industry**’
28
What is meant by ‘culture industry’?
- the process of industrialisation of mass-produced culture and the commercial imperatives that drove the system
29
What is the key argument for the Frankfurt School?
- popular culture is an ideological product aimed at distracting poorer groups from the exploitation and inequality which is a feature of their everyday lives
- it is a forms of **social control**
30
How did **Marcuse** (1964) see the global mass culture?
- a form of **social repression** - a means of locking people into the present system, promoting conformity and a passive acceptance of the way things are as well as undermining the potential for revolutionary action to change society
31
How does the ideas of **Thussu** (2007) back up the Frankfurt school’s view?
- the globalisation of TV and competition between media conglomerates for audiences and advertising has led to TV news across the world becoming tabloidized or more likely entertainment - **global infotainment**
32
What is the general pluralist perspective?
- there is no such thing as popular or mass culture
- there is a huge range of media products which gives consumers a wide diversity of cultural choices
33
What does **Companie** (2005) argue about global competition?
- not all cultures will react in the same way or necessarily adopt the Western culture and consumer lifestyles the global media produce
34
What does **Jenkins** (2008) argue about the globalistation of popular culture?
- **global participatory culture** = ‘the involvement of users, audiences, consumers and fans in the creation of culture and content’
- audience’s participation empowers consumers
35
What are the main observations of the postmodernists?
- media consumption has become more of an individual affair
- globalisation is essential because it increases the consumption choices and opportunities that are now available to media audiences and society in general
36
What does **Strinati** argue about popular and high culture in a postmodern society?
- the distinction between high culture and popular culture has become blurred and this too has increased consumer choice, because popular culture is increasingly assimilating high culture and vice versa
37
What does **Giddens** highlight about high culture in a postmodern world?
- forms of high culture are now often used to produce products for the mass popular culture market
- e.g. video games often bring together art, architecture, classical music, actors and writers which separately might be classified as ‘high culture’
38
How has the postmodernist perspective of mass culture been criticised?
- exaggerating the degree of the social changes that they associate with the global media and popular culture - media influence is not the determining factor in most people’s lifestyle choices
- they tend to ignore the fact that a substantial number of people are unable to make consumption choices because of inequalities brought about by traditional influences such as unemployment, poverty, racial discrimination and patriarchy
