Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Global Culture
- Followers of modernisation theory viewed traditional cultures as 'pre-modern' and in some ways a barrier to development
- Traditional ethic, religious and kinship cultural ties could be
seen as largely irrelevant to the pursuit of profit and power
- From the standpoint of the USA and the EU, as powerful capitalist economies, the path to power was one where the relationship between businesses and workers was maximised
- We have seen how modernisation might be used to explain the position of the USA and the European colonial superpowers
- The dominance of the USA as an unrivalled superpower since 199, plus the growing power of the EU, has led to some people to identify a global culture
- It is difficult to define exactly what this global culture is, but some characteristics are
commonly linked to it:
- A culture of consumerism
- A culture of capitalism and the importance of attaining wealth
- A white, Anglo-Saxon culture with English
as the dominant language
- A culture that 'cherry picks' and adapts selected parts of other world cultures and absorbs them
- Americanisation
- Global culture is most often exemplified by the ubiquity of consumer icons such as Coca-Cola and McDonalds
- It is fair to say these symbols are global
- In the case of McDonalds, 31,000 restaurants worldwide are serving about 50 million people every day
- The USA is seen as the most powerful force in cultural globalisation, and the process is often referred to as 'Americanisation'
- Cultural globalisation is not quite as straightforward as might first appear
- In India, McDonalds has had to adapt its menu to suit local tastes and the Hindu and Muslim religions
- It does not sell beef or pork and has more vegetarian options than in the West
- Throughout the world this process of local adaption or hybridisation occurs as global trends reach new areas
- Cultural Traffic
- Working against the idea of a global culture is the fact that the cultural traffic is
not all one way, and neither are American or Western lifestyles adopted
wholesale around the world
- In the UK the curry, not the American burger, is the most popular takeaway food. There are 6 as many curry restaurants in the UK as there are Mcdonalds
- Sushi, from Japan, has become increasingly popular food in the West
- Some Cornerstones of American Culture, such as American football and baseball have proved difficult to export to the rest of the world
- One area where Americanisation is strong is cinema, as Hollywood movies tend to dominate the market
- Arguably this is an
effective way of exporting
Western culture to the
rest of the world
- Despite cultural globalisation, people around the world hold very different views on the merits of
Western global capitalism
- Backlash
- The cultural backlash against the world's major superpower is complex
- Anti-Americanism rose in the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq and George W. Bush proved an unpopular president
- The anti-globalisation movement is often
linked with anti-americanisation
sentiment because many global icons
originate in the USA
- It is difficult to separate negative
views of American culture from
negative views of American policies
and foreign policy