Role of Communication in the Development of Cultural Imperialism - Essay Example

Role of Communication in the development of Cultural Imperialism The communication is a phenomenal functional process. Without proper communication process no community or culture can enjoy the sustainable existence. Cultural imperialism is one of the most debated topics. And Communication has a great involvement in developing the cultural imperialism. With the advancement of technology the communication process has been upgraded many times and now the development of the cultural imperialism is supported or debated by all kinds of mass media communications like TV, radio, news paper, internet and even sometimes by word of mouth. Introduction: Communication has great virtue towards the development of culture. Whether it is a business or the social culture the society has become a multilingual and harmony of different culture. The communication caters importantly towards the development of the Cultural Imperialism. With the noble phenomenon called globalization the people and cultures have come up with a perfect blend for a successful society and for this metamorphosis the communication has a great role. Communication is the process by which messages can be conveyed to many people and the proper communication process is supported by the 360 degree communication process. It means the communication processes are supported by mass media like television, news paper, radio and definitely the internet. Media and communication processes run parallel to meet the successful outcome of the communication processes towards the development of the cultural imperialism. This particular academic work would take an attempt to find out the contributions of the communication process towards the development of the cultural imperialism. The concept of cultural imperialism: There are many definitions of the cultural imperialism, but, the whole concept of the cultural imperialism is still being argued by many scholars’. According to the Schiller’s definition the cultural imperialism is the accumulation of processes by which a society is being exposed to the modern society. (Golding, and Harris, 1997, p 49). Sometimes it has been seen that to implement the cultural imperialism force and bribes have been given to shape the society in the required manner. There have been many arguments have taken place for the subject cultural imperialism. Some scholars’ think that the cultural imperialism is that which must be configured out of its discourse (Tomlinson, 2001, p 3). There have been many debates have taken place in the international televisions about the cultural imperialism. All the debates are related with the explicit participations of the television media in setting up the cultural imperialism. There are US programs which focus on the cultural imperialism. The international coproductions of the television programs are mostly dominated by the American themes, most of the TV programs are supported with the US dominated information system and the local adaptations of the American format of the society and culture. The domination is pretty much visible in all kinds of media (Barker, 1997, p 183). The cultural imperialism theories focus on the domination of the powerful socio-cultural influences on the less powerful society. Most of the times the powerful socio-political groups dominate the weaker socio-cultural groups within the society or sometimes they dominate globally. And, these dominations are mostly supported by the mass media and the other practices of the institutions (McPhail, 2009, p 22). The virtue of the cultural imperialism and the communication: The society is driven by the media, the new styles and new cultures in been portrayed mostly with the help of the television and other mass medias. The global advertisers for different advanced products have chosen the 360 degree media option to agitate the socio-economic factors within the societies. The virtue of the cultural imperialism is very prominent for the global marketers but, it might be very demoralizing effects for many cultures globally. The media should bare the responsibilities for a creating a global culture which would be beneficial for all the cultures. The virtue of the cultural imperialism is very much visible in most of the developing countries. But, the virtue of the cultural imperialism has never been told boisterously. The popular American show Dallas has been the most studied program in the past to find out why people of different countries loved the program (Fiske, 1990, p 44). It has been seen that most of the third world countries people used to love it emotionally. This is very ironical to know that even after many debated and many opposes against the cultural imperialism the people who are opposing it they get addicted to TV soaps or other things which have the influence of the Americans or British culture. The virtue of cultural imperialism has always been opposed with the cultural pluralism. However, it is very hard to neglect the cultural imperialism as far as the improvement of the human society is concern. Most of the media products are originated from the United States of America and USA has always played the pivotal role in the distribution of western culture globally (Fiske, 1990, p 44). Due to the fast pace of the globalization the world has become a local market to all irrespective of orthodox cultural barriers. There are many countries are there where US and British organizations have put up their offices without effecting the local culture. There are many US companies have their overseas offices in Asian countries like Korea, China, India and many more. But, these US organizations have maintained the cultural harmony irrespective of the cultural imperialism in these countries. For an example in South Korea women are not treated very professionally in the corporate world there are very few women are there who are in top management position (Genzberger, 1994, p 137-139). Now, in US the men and women are treated almost in a same manner in socially as well as in the corporate world. But, what would these organization do while they open their business points in South Korea? Well, they have always maintained the justice for both men and women with regards to their education and ability to perform well. The cultural imperialism is basically an ideology in the minds of the people but subconsciously most of the third world countries follow the trend of the western culture. It can be put strongly that media has put America as the cultural imperialist but, it is the responsibility for the viewers to incline their culture towards western culture or to be with their own culture. No one had forced for the cultural imperialism. But, the silent virtue is the global expansion of the globalization and anti war polices among most of the countries in the world. The communications and the imperialism: The concept of cultural imperialism was a very popular international communication in the 1980s. Scholars’ from different disciplines took initiatives to study the virtue of cultural imperialism (Min et al; 2003, p 160). However, it has been seen that many countries have denied the domination of the United States in the process of cultural imperialism. The Korean films rejected the influences of the Hollywood conventions in 1990s. But, the argument was the fact that it was very tough to neglect the influences of the Hollywood film industry (Min et al; 2003, p 160). During the 1960s and 1970s there were many critical scholars were there who produced a series of literatures on the subject of cultural imperialism. These scholars focused on the role of the US for the global expansion of the media and the subsequent effects on the cultural imperialism. Irrespective of the global cultural imperialism it was worth to note that there was simply no monolithic American global media empire (McPhail, 2010, p 187). The monolithic structure of the cultural imperialism can be harmful for many societies and it can lead to the extension of many cultural heritages of the ancient ideologies. The cultural heritage should be the primary focus of most of the communication processes. The media industry is segmented in many languages and I many countries. Each of them has their own perspectives and cultural goal. The development of the cultural imperialism should be such so it can create a global society where the cultural harmony exists. And the global media and the communication industry play a vital role to maintain the balanced cultural imperialism where all the cultures can exist with their sustainable space. Television as the communication media in the global cultural imperialism: Anarchy of the cultural imperialism is unacceptable in this era of globalization. The world has become the global market irrespective of the languages and cultures and in some extent it has taken place due to the cultural imperialism of the United States. But, instead of domination each culture irrespective of the power should respect each other. The mass media has always played the vital role in distributing knowledge and cultural heritages. The television is among the top rated mass media which accessible to most of the people of the world. With the help of the technological improvement and with the rising of the disposable income in most of the developed and developing countries the television has become the main mode of entertainment. The television programs can mold the minds of the viewers and by this virtue the global television media should take the initiative to support the balanced cultural imperialism. However, the television media has become emblematic to the exploitation of the cultural imperialism (Tomlinson, 2001, p 2). The vast cultural imperialism that is the domination of the specific culture over the less powerful culture could be a great threat to many cultures. The television media should act in such a way so it should not be treated as the cultural threat. However, there are many television channels which are focusing on the balanced cultural imperialism and among them the National geographic channel is acting as the cultural bonding among many cultures globally. The television media should focuses on the cultural harmony instead of the anarchy of the cultural imperialism. The television is the media which people consume daily. They believe what they see in the television irrespective of the knowledge of the depth of the impact. Be it daily soaps or the cinemas the culture is portrayed in most of the programs and the imperialism of the US culture is very much prominent in the television. The British culture is also portrayed subsequently. But the imperialism of the American culture in the television is very much prominent. However, in some context the cultural imperialism has helped to set up the global market in the recent scenario. The usage of the advanced technology has shown a great endeavor towards the building of the improved socio-economic conditions. The effects of other communication Medias in cultural imperialism: Before the invention of the noble functional entity called globalization most of the powerful countries used to use gunboats to enforce their imperial cultural heritages to the weak countries, but now the gunboats have taken a new look as the mass media (Newton, and Deth, 2005, p 197). The new flag bearer of the cultural imperialism is the western music and fashion industry. The US and British music has spread to all over the world. And the adaptation of these Rock, Jazz or alternative music is very much visible in the global scenario. It has been argued that excessive import of British and American music has given the space for the cultural imperialism in Brazil (Stroud, 2008, p 98). However, these euphoric music have given a new look to the cultural harmony. News paper is another mass media and it has a very strong importance in the development of the cultural imperialism. News papers are the most easily accessible form of media and people believe in news than any other form of communications. Newspapers work as a very strong stimulant for the cultural metamorphosis. Even in this era of television the newspapers are the most circulated form of media in the world. To distribute the imperial cultures of the British colonialism and the American advanced culture the newspapers play a vital role. Most of the cultural conflicts happen for the media involvements. However, in other hand these news papers play a vital role for the cultural diversification for the improvement of the societies. Newspapers are the main source of knowledge and the global news. But, nowadays, the print media is creating news instead of distributing the true news to increase their circulation for pushing the sales high. But somehow, these newspaper companies are doing this to increase their business. The reader should be wise enough to judge the truthfulness of the news by his or her knowledge. The internet is another form of media which has a great contribution towards the cultural imperialism. The websites available in the internet are mostly of western countries. And they are very much professional enough to use the virtue of the information technology to grab hold of the enormous opportunity of the e business. However, there are many scholars who have dismissed the internet as the mass media for the development of the cultural imperialism. Jacques Attali, a renowned French economist dismissed the World Wide Web or the internet as the prime stimulant for the development of the cultural imperialism (Slevin, 2000, p 207). The internet can treated as the forum of knowledge base. And the main concept of the cultural imperialism lies between the strong countries and the weak countries. Now, the internet facilities are very rare in the third world counties and it cannot be treated as the mass media. However, in the developing countries like Brazil, India and other Asian countries are very much affectionate with the internet. E news, e books and emails are the basic needs of these countries and the enforcement of the western culture is very much prominent is the internet. However, as mentioned before it is the decision of the user to get affected to the western culture or to avoid it. Conclusion: Cultural imperialism is a fictional activity which has been practiced from the day one of the human civilization. Every culture wants to suppress the other culture. But now the time has changes and people have understood the there is only one culture and that it the global culture. However, the effect of the cultural imperialism is doing its work steadily and invisibly towards the development of the human culture. This paper is the attempt to rectify the effects of the communication towards the cultural imperialism. But, the main cultural imperialism is been spread by the people themselves of the weaker nations. References: Barker Chris. (1997). “Global televisión: an introduction” New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell. Fiske John. (1990). “Cultural Studies: Volume 4, Issue 1”. London: Routledge. Genzberger, C. 1994. Korea-business: the portable encyclopedia for doing business with Korea. California: World Trade Press. Golding Peter, and Harris Phil. (1997). “Beyond cultural imperialism: globalization, communication and the new international order”. New Jersey: SAGE. McPhail Thomas L. (2010). “Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends”. New jersey: John Wiley and Sons. McPhail Thomas L. (2009). “Development communication: reframing the role of the media”. New jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Min Eungjun, Joo Jinsook, and Kwak Han Ju. 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