Globalisation And Popular Culture Flashcards
1
Q
What is globalisation?
A
The increasing interconnectedness of societies across the globe, through more accessible and advanced technology and travel
2
Q
Globalisation and popular culture - McLuhan
A
- we now have a ‘global village’ in which rapid technological change has lead to space and time barriers in human communication to collapse
- people around the world can now communicate instantaneously on a global scale
3
Q
High vs popular culture
A
- popular culture is linked to passive and unchallenging entertainment, designed to be sold to large number of people
- its dumbed down and demands little critical thought, rarely challenging existing cultural ideas
- high culture should be treated with respect and reverence, because it is of lasting and artistic value, and part of heritage worth perserving
- it is aimed at middle class audiences
4
Q
Globalisation and popular culture
A
- the speed of technological change is now so great that the world is rapidity becoming what McLuhan referred to as a ‘global village’. This term is used to describe how the electronic media such as a satellite technology and the internet, collapse and time barriers in human communication
- people from around the world can now interact with one another instantaneously on a global scale and in sense this ‘shrinks the world’, which has become more like one village or community.
- opened up access to tv, entertainment and information and all cultures around the world
5
Q
Popular culture
A
- is culture linked and enjoyed by ordinary people, such as tv soaps and sometimes called mass or low cultures.
- is enjoyed by the majority, and id highly commercialised, involving mass produced, standardised and short lived products, and seen as many as of no lasting artistic value
- these cultural products are design to be sold on the global mass market to make profits for the large ‘culture industry’ corporations that produce them.
- the term ‘low culture’ is a derogatory term to describe popular culture, it suggests popular or mass culture as if inferior quality to the Hugh culture of the elected
- it is everyday culture - simple, undemanding, easy to understand entertainment
6
Q
High culture
A
- high culture is seen as something set apart from everyday life, something ‘special’ to be treated with respect and reverence involving things of lasting value and park of a heritage which is worth preserving e.g ballet, opera and fine art
- high culture products are often found in special places such as art galleries, museums, concert halls and theatres, and they are aimed at mainly upper class and professional audiences with what might be viewed as ‘good taste’
- such as programmes and documentaries, and quality newspapers, involving comprehensive detail, social and political analysis and discussion. Classical music, opera, ballet, jazz, foreign language
7
Q
The changing distinction between high culture and popular culture
A
- postmodernists argue that the distinction between high culture and popular culture is weakening. The global reach of contemporary media, the mass production of goods on a world scale, and easier international transportation make a huge expansion of the media biased creative and cultural products available to everyone
- such changes enable original music and art and other cultural products to be consumed by the mass of people in their own homes without visiting specialised institutions like theatres or art galleries.
- ## high culture is no longer preserved of cultural choices and products available to them and can pick n mix from either popular or high culture
8
Q
Evaluation of popular culture
A
- popular culture is often attacked for diverting people away from more useful activities for driving down cultural standards and for having harmful effects on mass audiences
- Marxists and critical theorists see popular culture as simply mass produces manufactured products imposed on the masses by global media business for financial profit
- popular mass culture is a form of social control, giving an illusion standardised, trivial and uncritical media infotainment and escapist fantasy, which maintains the ideological hegemony and power of the dominate social class in society. Because consumers are lulled into an uncritical, understanding passivity and mind less social conformity making them less likely to challenge the dominate ideas, groups and intrests in society
9
Q
A global culture - flew
A
- evolution of new media played an important role in the development of global popular culture
- global culture primarily American origin
- globalisation has undermined national and local cultures, making different cultures more and more alike
- cultural homogenisation
10
Q
A global popular culture - sklair
A
- The media blue differences between entertainment, information, and promotion of products
- it then sells across worlds ideas, values and products associated with what is presented as an idealistic western lifestyle
11
Q
A global culture - ritzer
A
- Companies and brands now operate on a global scale, promoting a global culture along with the consumerist lifestyle associated with it
- companies use the transnational media to promote on a global scale, making their logos known to everyone
12
Q
Cultural and media imperialism
A
- cultural imperialism and the media and imperialism are both similar and important terms, but have slightly different meanings
- cultural imperialism - is the idea that western culture is taking over and damaging local culture
- media imperialism - is the idea that western media is becoming popular around the world, and becoming more important than local media
- so media imperialism is a cause of cultural imperialism
- cultural and media imperialism: Fenton argues that most media conglomerates are based in the us, and dominate media communications he refers to this as cocacolisation
- the media led global culture ideology of consumerism has led to western media products and cultural vales being forced on non western cultures
13
Q
Pluralist view
A
- no such thing as popular or mass culture
- wide diversity of cultural choices
- pick n mix
- hybrid cultures
- media effects arguments
14
Q
Postmodernist view
A
- view media globalisation in ways that are more similar to the pluralist than the Marxist view. They regarded the diversity of the globalised media as offering the worlds population more choices in terms of their consumption patterns and lifestyles, opening greater global awareness and access to a diversity of cultures, bringing them more opportunities to form their identities unconstrained by the limited horizons of local cultures
- baudrillard argues that we now live in a media saturated society in which media images dominate and distort the way we see the world
15
Q
Evaluation of postmodernism
A
- assume that people approach the media without any prior experiences of their own, and that they do not discuss, interpret, ignore or reject media imagery and messages.
- media images and representations of gender, age, ethnicity, disability and so on do not open up new choices of identity and lifestyle, but simply present and reinforce stereotypes
- many people, particularly in the poorest social groups and the poorest countries of the world, simply do not have access to new media, and cannot afford to make free choices between media promoted lifestyles and identities, and buy the consumer goods associated with them, no matter how much they might like to
- Marxist emphasises that the choice alleged by postmodernist is a myth, as transactional media conglomerates control the major media and forms of communication and influence
- the media are only one element in shaping our lives. For many of us, our gender, ethnicity, sexuality, age, social class, whether we are able or disabled, our experiences of school, collage, work, friends and family, our political or religious believes all are likely too infulence how we select, interpret and respond to the media
