“Globalisation refers to an international community influenced by technological development and economic, political, and military interests. It is characterised by a worldwide increase in interdependence, interactivity, interconnectedness, and the virtually instantaneous exchange of information” (O’Shaughnessy and Stadler 2008).
Globalisation has both advantages and disadvantages. The are called the utopian and dystopian views. (O’Shaughnessy and Stadler 2008)
The term ‘global village’ coined my Marshall McLuhan, is a utopian view that describes “the world being brought closer together by the globalisation of communication, no matter how far apart we live” (Appadurai 1996).
There is also a dystopian view of globalisation. Castell (2000) counters the idea of a ‘global village’ by saying “we are not living in a global village, but in customised cottages globally produced and locally distributed”. This dystopian view constantly refers to ‘cultural imperialism’. This terms describes how one spreads its values and ideas culturally. Media theorist John Thompson (1995) says that “the globalisation of communication has been driven by the pursuit of the commercial interests of large US-based transnational corporations, often acting in collaboration with Western political and military interests; and this process has resulted in a new form of dependancy in which the traditional cultures are destroyed through the intrusion of Western values”
America is seen to be the lead cause of cultural imperialism. Many countries recognise the ‘the golden arches’, Mickey Mouse, Bart Simpson and Coca-Cola. This cultural imperialism has continued over to Hollywood movies, as this course further demonstrates, the adoption of Eastern to Western films is expanding at an alarming rate.
An effect of globalisation and the ‘global village’, is that it creates what Benedict Anderson (1991) calls ‘imagined communities’. This means that no matter how far away everyone is around the world, due to globalisation, particularly, technology, people from across the world know what is happening in different countries. It creates a sense of comradeship.
Whilst the negatives of globalisation and globalisation in itself really comes down to technology. Technology has social and cultural impacts all over the world.
References:
Appadurai, A 1996, ‘Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy’, Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalisation, pp. 27-47
O’Shaughnessy, M, Stadler, J 2008, ‘Globalisation’, Media and Society 5th Edition, Oxford University Press, Melbourne VIC, pp. 458-470
Oh Madeline 