Globalisation And Popular Culture Flashcards
What is high culture?
Expensive, elite, commissioned, time consuming, complex, individual
Seen as ‘good’ for society
What is folk culture?
Cheap, shared, community
What is popular culture?
Mass culture, passed on by the media
What’s the dumbing down debate?
Simplifying media content and avoiding intellectually challenging the audience. Eg more sensationalism and celeb gossip
Popularising high culture and brining it into mainstream culture
What do pluralists argue about popular culture?
They have not been dumbed down, just made accessible to a wider demographic
Thanks to mass media anyone can have a copy of Picasso in their home
What do postmodernists argue?
Various styles and cultures allow people to forge their identities
Online communities allows users to express themselves as they wish to be
What does Furedi argue?
Intentionally simplifying cultural content is an elitist activity- its not done by the masses but for them, assumes they are too stupid to understand complex content
What is a global village?
Comes from McLuhan. He suggests that new technologies bring people closer together- our neighbours aren’t just next door, they’re on the other side of the world
We see news and talk to people all over the world
What has caused media globalisation?
The concentration of media ownership
How do we develop a sense of shared global culture?
Globalisation of the media exposes us all to cultural and social commentaries and news from lots of countries
What is cultural imperialism?
McBride argues that Western media products flow into less developed parts of the world and change local cultures. This makes a ready market for Western consumer goods.
People in many parts of the world share the same consumption patterns as a result of global advertising from companies such as Disney, Coca Cola etc The internet has allowed national boundaries to be broken down
Eg McDonalds has stores in 119 countries
What does Klein argue?
Cultural imperialism leads to increasing cultural homogenisation- everyone’s culture is becoming the same
Technological advancement has made national culture less important
What is Americanisation?
It’s American culture that gets copied
9/10 of the worlds top media conglomerates are in the US
What is cultural hybridisation/flow?
Local, national and global cultures are mixing together.
Stuart Hall (neo Marx)- 3 ways audiences/ governments might respond to an input-
Dominant-accept
Negotiated- partially accept
Oppositional- rejects media message
UK music scene shows cultural flow
Many countries operate state controlled television channels that act as a counterbalance to CNN
How is cultural flow criticised?
The idea of exotic cultural differences is used by big companies to make money - Matos
