Globalization and media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Globalization and media - Essay ExampleIn an important 2006 article, Schiller asserted that we should reassess any notions we have that the era of ethnic domination is over. He looks back over the last quarter century, and draws parallels between the situation faced then, and that with which we ar right off confronted. On the whole, he concludes that very little has actually changed. Revisiting this affinity is a worthwhile exercise in attempting to distil the essential nature of the debate between those who give birth cultural imperialism to be a relevant concept, and those who would have it dismissed as archaic. Schiller noted that in the 1980s, thither was a clear division between the western and industrialized First foundation, a spot World made up largely of the countries aligned to the socialist blocs led by the Soviet legal jointure and the Peoples Republic of China, and a Third World made up of those countries which had gained independence in recent decades (295). A cross all of these categories, the United States was, politically and culturally, the most powerful state, with the Third World measuredly being targeted with American cultural exports, and a vision of an American lifestyle to aspire to. As Schiller himself concedes, there have been some important alterations to the global cultural landscape in the intervening decades. For one, the Second World has practically disappeared. Those countries which might still be grouped in this category, such as China and Vietnam, are increasingly open to American and other Western cultural imports, while some, such as the countries of the author Soviet Union in Eastern Europe, became an area in which American-style cultural norms flourished after the collapse of establishment from Moscow. Furthermore, we are now consciously witnessing the political and economic decline of the United States, in relative terms, when compared to the strong-growing economies of China and India. The Chinese economy, fo r example, has just overtaken the Japanese in order of size. This raises pressing questions about whether American cultural dominance can be sustained in a world where its political dominance in diminished. Schiller argues that Cultural submersion to American norms remains powerful, and this term has in fact been broadened beyond just reflection American television programs and movies, to shopping in American-style malls and going to theme parks. There is, of course, a change in the cultural sphere which has been even more important than all of this, and that is the broadening of the definition of media, to cover what we now collectively refer to as the social media including the blogosphere and the social networking websites which have proliferated in the past decade. This issue volition be discussed in more detail below, but Schiller argues that despite the rise of new media, television retains its origin importance. He claims that the emergence of satellite and cable networks has prevented this happening (297). At this point his argument becomes less powerful. In the early 1990s, as the Soviet bloc collapsed and American culture seemed triumphant all over the world, Schillers contention stands firm, but in the present decade, with revolutions and uprisings, as well as broader internal debate and contrary being fuelled by websites and forums that are independent of any political authority, the