Who is right, Globalization sceptics or Globalization radicals - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Globalization is most commonly defined as the emergence of a country’s political and socioeconomic culture to the point of becoming significant for people in other parts of the world. In this analysis of the global media’s role in cultural globalization, focus will be on the role of the global media since the beginning of the wired electronic stage up until the present day. with the proliferation of digital technologies that allow for instantaneous two-communication on a global scale. Although it is argued that cultures have interacted and therefore cultural globalization has taken place since the beginning of human history, it is the technology of instant communication that truly forged a new frontier for cultural interaction and cultural globalization. The role the global media has had on cultural globalization has steadily increased and in recent years we have seen a paradigm shift in the way global media is managed. This new shift has changed the tradition top-down role of the media, dominated by governments and corporations and placed more power back into the hands of individual citizens allowing for a bottom-up approach to media. This ‘new media’ is given life by the easily-accessible, ubiquitous world of the Internet. As Andrew L. Shapiro (1999) argues that the "emergence of new, digital technologies signals a potentially radical shift of who is in control of information, experience and resources", the natural effect as Internet becomes more user-friendly and more available globally will be apparent in all factions of life. To fully understand the role that global media has had on culture we must first understand how media and communication has evolved. In her book The Media and Globalization, Tehri Rantanen explains the evolution media and communication through her identification of six stages of media and communication throughout human history. According to her, the stages of development are as follows: Oral Communication, Script, Printed, Wired Electronic, Wireless Electronic, and Digital Communications. Globalization truly began with the use of newspapers and pamphlets. Beginning with newspapers and pamphlets drawn up by the printing press and typewriter innovations, the media sent word of new events, new ideas and calls for aid to constituents throughout their respective countries. The next technological innovation was the telegraph, which gave people across large stretches of land the ability to communicate instantly. This brought about a complete transformation in terms of global communication. For the first time communication across distances takes place at an immediate level. Next came the invention of the telephone, which broadened the range of media influence even further than the telegraph. Finally, in the twentieth century, the technology revolution that swept the nation brought phones, cell phones, and internet into the homes of average citizens. The ease of access to the latest means of communication helped to bring more people into the know. With convenience as simple as the click of a button, millions of people had access to the information super-highway known as the Internet. This was the greatest shift of power to the common people and provided the greatest source of bottom-top influence in media coverage. It was Rantanen’s six stages of progress in the area of media and communications that resulted in expansion of ideas and Theories on cultural globalization can be divided into one of three ideologies on the subject. The first ideology subscribes to the view that the world has historically been dominated by many cultures and as history has progressed we have seen the world being dominated by fewer and fewer cultures. This view on cultural globa ...Download file to see next pagesRead More