Globalization Flashcards
Globalization
term that came into common usage in 1980s and 90s to describe:
• increased rates of migration
o Decreased price for airfare, more transportation/travelling
• rise of multinational corporations
o Companies coming above national level, offices in diff parts of the world
• and somewhat linked to the decline of the sovereign nation-state
o Global players, international NGOs becoming players on international forum
• liberalization of global trade (free trade agreements like NAFTA)
• the development of global communications and transportation systems
o romantic stereotypical representations of ppl on planes in the 50s (heels and suits)
o Internet, social media
o Satellite
• increasing post-industrialization
o post-industrialization – less factories and more intellectual capitol; companies less driven by production in factories; more people in the knowledge economy
o production being done in China, Mexico, and mining still happening
o certain sectors in the economy are no longer based on factories
• the “shrinking” of the world through commerce and communication
o more globally connected, interacting with places further away
o high-speed trading
• in electronic realm you can see money zipping across the world in a matter of seconds
The globalization of communications technologies since 2000 has meant that within global image flows there is an increased circulation of concepts, ideas, politics, and images.
• How it shifted: multi-directional flow • Think about news o New centers disseminating info o With improved information communication • Instead of news coming in by horse
It also, somewhat contradictorily, has helped to foster the growth of multinational corporations and the expansion of influence of powerful nations.
Think of America that has become ever more powerful and China being a big player
Globalization has increased the rich-poor divide.
Losing the middle class!
These transnational cultural flows are paradoxical: a homogenization of culture versus diversification, hybridity, and new global audiences.
- Excitement about democratization, equality in ideas
- Push/pull situation → More ppl consuming same stuff vs more stuff happening in different places, coming together of two things to form a new thing/often thought of being separate and becoming one thing, think Bollywood premieres happening in Toronto (audiences outside the Indian community, consumers from other backgrounds); the Hello Kitty example
cultural imperialism
refers to how an ideology, a politics, or a way of life is exported to other territories through the export of cultural products
- i.e. It is what has destroyed the Canadian film industry bc we don’t have our own cultural identity; becoming americanized
- i.e. If you say Coca Cola, everyone knows what you’re saying
limitation of the term “cultural imperialism”
However, the term cultural imperialism is limited because it suggests a one-way flow of influence from powerful to less powerful countries, which does not capture the complexity of global transmission flows since the 2000s.
• Rather, there is a tension between national and global forces
• America → Canada (we just drink it up) = explanation is too simplistic
• i.e. Hollywood vs Bollywood
o think about funding of Hollywood which comes aside form the US (mostly China)
Branding
• Starbucks, McDonalds, Marlboro, Coca Cola, Nike
• Beginning in the 1990s, branding began to overtake advertising
• Branding isn’t about a particular product (i.e. a latte) but about how a company name becomes associated with a lifestyle
o Starbucks selling a culture of coffee-drinking not blatantly selling of coffee
o Branding goes beyond the product, exceeds the can of Coke
o Strategies - get the logo where they want it associated to be with, circulate it
• In No Logo, Naomi Klein describes branding as being a strategy in which brands are “cultural accessories and lifestyle philosophers”
Global brands are both homogenizing forces (wearing the same jeans, drinking the same coffee), AND subject to local habits, strategies, and meanings.
• This kind of dual play
• Starbucks might have a different meaning in another place
o Youth in Tokyo = rejection of the traditional Japanese culture, placing themselves within a cosmopolitan global culture
• McLobster in PEI, global brand connecting with the fish industry in the Maritimes
More examples:
Jingle Mecca Cola
• “Do not drink like an idiot anymore” in French
• proceeds go to Palestine (political reason behind the product)
• sounds like we are family
• The taste of freedom
• You don’t have to buy American; appeal to overthrow American system
Pussy Riot “I Can’t Breathe” inspired by Eric Garner (black man killed by US police)
• Comments on US police brutality
• Russian brand of cigarettes, wearing military uniform
• Takes aim at Russia’s repressive Putin regime
• A band just came out of jail after singing in a church
o They are being silenced (buried into the ground)
o Connecting this between Russian and American context
o Sense of repression in two places
o Homogenizing force or local specific hybrid response?
• Elicits both
• Singing in English
• Using the audio from the video of Eric Garner
Image events
events stages by activists that challenge prevalent frameworks for understanding power relations
