Topic 7 – Global Culture and Media

1. Topic 7 – Global Culture and Media A – Culture B – Global Culture C – Global Media

2. A – Culture What is Culture? Elements of Culture Surface and Deep Culture

3. What is Culture? • Basic definition • Learned behavior; not biologically inherited. • Shared symbols (reality constructs). • Patterns of basic assumptions. • Invented, discovered, or developed by a given group: • Nation (nationalism, national culture). • Group (fraternities). • Business (corporate culture). • Shapes human behavior to produce intangible (nonmaterial) and tangible (material) components of culture.

4. What is Culture? Explain the difference between nonmaterial and material culture. • Nonmaterial culture • Intangible ideas created by members of a society. • Language, music and literature. • Material culture • Tangible things created by members of a society. • Architecture. • Consumption goods. • Artwork and crafts. • Cultural products • The component of culture that can be consumed. • Require infrastructures. • Art, music: Theater, radio and television. • Literature: Publishing. • Consumption goods: Shopping areas (stores and malls).

5. Culture as a Lens or Filter Culture Representation (Individual and Group) Real World

6. A Slight Distortion…

7. Elements of Culture Discuss the major elements of culture.

8. Elements of Culture • Cultural Traits • Objects: • Tools. • Goods. • Techniques: • Usage of tools. • Architecture. • Beliefs: • Religious. • Ethics. • Preferences: • Food. • Fashion. • Lore: • Stories, songs. 1950s 1980s

9. World’s Most Spoken Languages, 2017 (primary or secondary)

10. A Perspective about Cultural Regions of the United States

11. Elements of Culture • Culture shock • Disorientation due to the inability to make sense out of one’s surroundings. • Common for foreign travel. • Acculturation • A culture group undergoes a major modification by adopting many of the characteristics of another culture group. • Changes in the original cultural patterns of either or both of two groups involved. • Cultural appropriation • One culture incorporating traits of another culture. • Ethnocentrism • Using one’s culture as the standard of reference.

12. Surface and Deep Culture • Surface culture • Traits that are apparent and readily visible to an external observer. • Language • Rituals and celebrations • Clothing • Architecture • Cuisine / Food • Public gender roles • Social manners • Status symbols • Technology Surface Culture Deep Culture

13. Rituals and Social Manners

14. Architecture

15. Food Cultures

16. Surface and Deep Culture • Deep culture • Traits that support the surface culture. • Cannot be known without an experience of the culture. • One may be aware of surface culture traits but not fully aware of “deep culture” traits. • World view • Ethics • Life goals • Social aspirations • Religious assumptions Surface Culture Deep Culture What is the difference between surface and deep culture?

17. B –Global Culture History of Cultural Globalization Is there a Global Culture? Food as a Global Culture

18. History of Cultural Globalization • World Religions • Christianity, Islam, Confucianism, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism. • Cultural forces of homogenization. • None is present everywhere. • Enabled religious and political elites the gain power and resources; ability to mobilize armies and rule. • Religious/Political/Military Power: • Christianity: Reaches a global presence from the 16th century (printing press). • Islam: Expansion from the 8th to the 13th centuries around the Mediterranean, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. • No proselytizing: • Confucianism / Hinduism.

19. The Global Religious Landscape None is present everywhere; none is truly global

20. History of Cultural Globalization • Cultural power and the creation and maintenance of political empires • Empires are inherently unstable. • Difficult to enforce rule at a distance. • High costs of armies and political hegemony. • Applying indirect rule: • Universal ruling class. • Kinship (marriages among rulers), belief, religion. • Diffusion of culture provides cohesion. • Subjects can become citizens.

21. History of Cultural Globalization • Roman Empire • Logistical capabilities and civil engineering. • Political community. • Shared cultural beliefs, rituals and aesthetics. • Literacy was key among ruling class. • Drama and poetry were used to build allegiance (cultural heroes and myths). • British Empire • Most global of any formal empire. • Imperial educational policy. • Elites went to Oxford and Cambridge. • Imperial communications infrastructure. • Diffusion of English among the rulers and high classes of the colonies.

22. Roman Empire, c125AD Read this content Empires collapse because of overstretch: resources to maintain hegemony exceed resources collected. Theft, plunder, taxation and (hyper)inflation (final phase).

23. Intermediate Globalization: The British Empire, 1897 20% of the world’s surface 25% of the world’s population

24. History of Cultural Globalization • National cultures (nationalism) • Non-existent before 18th century: Treaty of Westphalia recognizing the sovereignty of states (1648). • Shared sense of identity going beyond any kinship, clan or even race. • Common historical experience (real, imagined or interpreted). • Complex bodies of real and imagined practice, belief, ritual and attitude. • National cultures invented and developed over time. • Importance of state powers of taxation, mobilization and conscription.

25. History of Cultural Globalization • The creation of nationalism • Official language(s). • National schooling system. • Transportation and telecommunications (roads, rails, postal services, news). • Standing army. • Memories / histories / myths. • Holidays corresponding to historical events of significance (e.g. independence). • Monuments. • National Parks.

26. History of Cultural Globalization • Transnational secular ideologies • European modern culture is secular: • An outcome of the excesses of religion. • Age of Reason (from 18th century). • Enlightenment ideologies based on scientific worldview. • Capitalism is based on the rationalism of capital. • Socialism and Marxism are based on secularism: • Rationalization of the ownership and distribution of resources. • Liberal political discourse: • Civil and political rights. • Limited government. • Self-determination. • Globalization as an extension of the secular ideology. • Conflicts with several traditional societies.

27. Is There a Global Culture? • Hyperglobalizers • The cultural homogenization perspective. • Homogenization of global culture under American / Western popular consumerism. • Political sceptics • Thinness of global culture relative to national cultures; regionalism prevails. • Cultural differences and conflicts along geopolitical fault lines. • Transformationalists • Intermingling of cultures and peoples: hybrids and new forms.

28. Is There a Global Culture? • Scale and scope of global interactions • Flow of goods: • Diffusion of the material culture. • Flow of information: • Diffusion of the nonmaterial culture. • Flow of people: • Diffusion of cultures to new locations. • Limitations • Interactions are uneven: • Unequal cultural relations. • Cultural dependency (dominant culture). • Several material goods are expensive or unaffordable: • Imposes a selectiveness.

29. Consumerism as a Global Culture • Consumerism • Culture of capitalism: • Mass production for mass consumption. • Created a substantial amount of wealth and well-being. • Consumers / producers (retailers) relations. • Final judge in the usefulness of a product. • Pursuit of material goods: • Beyond subsistence. • Role and status through products being consumed. • Luxuries transformed into necessities by marketing. • Critique: • Commodification of life and distortion of values. • Favors irrational and unproductive uses of capital (credit). • Heavy consumption is a form of misallocation away from savings. • A pathology of corporate capitalism?

30. The Three Pillars of Consumerism Explain what are the three pillars of consumerism.

31. Consumerism as a Global Culture • Global Consumer Culture • The setting of global common preferences: • Food. • Fashion. • Media (movies, music). • Electronics. • Automotive. • Many global goods originated from the western world: • Many key technologies (e.g. the automobile, the personal computer). • The United States has been a powerful influence on various other cultures. • Multinational corporations have become key agents in shaping global culture.

32. Fulfillment Curve Other means Luxury Comfort Fulfillment Extravagance Survival Consumption

33. Food as a Global Culture • The human diet • Strong part of group identity. • Diet is organized along models: • Commonly part of a local, regional or national identity. • Minimum caloric requirement: • 2,700 calories for men and 2,000 calories for women. • Changes: • Innovation: New ingredients and preparation (locally). • Diffusion: Spread of ingredients and preparation techniques. • Hybridization: Combination of ingredients and preparation techniques. • Acculturation: Global products.

34. Food Cultures: Hybridization and Aculturation

35. Food as a Global Culture • Food and cultural ecology • About 15 plants and 8 animal species supply 90% of food. • Staple foods: • Commonality of some food components in different parts of the world. • Rice, sorghum, maize, wheat. • Chicken, pork and beef. • Related to an average daily calorie intake. • Linked to agricultural practices: • Also with agribusiness and food processing industries. • Development level and the distribution of agricultural production: • Developed economies: industrial techniques are increasingly present in the diet. • Third World countries: the diet remains often very simple and did not change for several hundred of years.

36. Food as a Global Culture • Changes in the diet • Nutritional shift: • From a diet dominated by grains and vegetables to a diet dominated by fats and sugars. • Natural human desire for fat and sugar (energy dense foods; low satiation). • Between 1980 and 2000 calorie intake in the US has risen nearly 10% for men and 7% for women. • Increased corporate involvement in food supply: • From agriculture, processing and retailing. • Low protein content of fast food. • Homogenization of global diets: • Global cultural diffusion. • Outcome of trade. • Fast food industry. Explain what are the main changes in the diet brought global food culture and some of their consequences.

37. Food as a Global Culture • Nutrition Transition • Urban and sedentary: • People are more often away from home. • 1970: 75% of all food expenses spent to prepare meals at home. • 2000: 50% of all food expenses for restaurants. • Element of time. • More woman in the labor force: • Away from the traditional role of food preparation. • Both members of a couple are often working. • Less preparation time available: • 90% of the money spent on food is spent on processed foods.

38. Body Mass Index of Selected Countries (% of population over 25 with a BMI of 30+)

39. Food as a Global Culture • “Supersizing” • Larger containers and quantities: • Larger package size can increase consumption up to 55%. • 1950s: The standard Coca-Cola container was 6.5 ounces. • 1990s: The standard Coca-Cola container was 20 ounces. • Little cost for the supplier: • Brand name, packaging and marketing are dominant in pricing. • Larger quantities directly means higher profits. • Skew the perception of normal nutritional intake.

40. Food as a Global Culture • Wine • Production based on environmental factors. • Temperate climate (colder; white wine. Warmer; red wine). • Hillsides allow drainage and sunlight. • Coarse, well-drained soil. • Appellation • Place-of-origin label. • Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy, etc.

41. Vodka Belt Beer Belt Wine Belt

42. Is There a Global Culture? Possible Outcomes Medium (MNC, Media, Social norms) Rejection / Backlash Cultural Homogenization Cultural Hybridization

43. Essay: The Emergence of a Global Culture Do we observe the emergence of a global culture and if so under which premises this emergence is taking place?

44. C – Global Media Global Music Global Media Systems

45. Global Media • Media • All the tools used to store and distribute information. • Historically information was stored in memory and diffused orally. • Media was invented to assist and make the diffusion of information more effective: • Writing and art forms (paintings, engravings, sculptures, architecture). • Modern technology impacted the media substantially: • First phase: Mass printing (newspapers) and long distance telecommunication (e.g. telegraph). • Second phase: Analog telecommunications (radio, early telephone systems and TV broadcasts). • Third phase: Digital telecommunications (computer-mediated communication). Explain what is the media and how technology impacted its development.

46. Global Music • Classical music • The first form of global music (after 1750s). • “Language of music” standardized (musical notation). • No lyrics; can be decoded by anyone. • Linked with European expansion through colonialism. • Rock music • Late 1950s and early 1960s. • Began in the Anglo-Saxon world (UK and US). • Favored the emergence of global music industry: • Underlines the preeminence of English. • Domesticated by ‘authentic’ local musical forms: • Numerous sub-genres (heavy metal, punk, alternative, grunge). • Numerous languages. • From shallow to political messages.

47. Global Media Systems • Global broadcasting • Began with short wave and wireless services (radio). • Moved into televised (cable) broadcasts. • Promote national prestige, culture and interests. • Sell advertising for global products. • Sell access to paid broadcasts. • Radio: • BBC World Service, Voice of America, Radio China International, Deutsche Welle (“German Wave”), Radio France International. • Growing rapidly: • Global news, sports, and music channels (CNNi, CNBC, BBC World, MTV, ESPNi).

48. Global Media Systems • Sitcoms • Prevalent throughout the world. • Focus on a specific age / socioeconomic group. • High production costs. • Audiences are fragmented. • Because of language and culture they are very difficult to export: • Exports often involve an adaptation (e.g. The Office). • Music videos • Started in the 1960s (live performance recording). • Exploded in the 1980s as a new media (e.g. MTV): • Drop in radio market share favored a “visualization” of music. • Essential part of music industry; virtually all recordings released with a video. • Replaced by video streaming.

49. Global Music • Digital Music • Advantages: • Higher quality (compression, increased storage capacity). • The signal does not degrade. • Not linked with a specific media (portability). • Customization (songs instead of albums; play lists); individuality. • Lower costs (affordability). • Global diffusion (internet). • Support niche markets (low entry costs). • Break oligopolistic control from record companies and media cabals. • Drawback: • More songs sold, but less albums. • Piracy; loss of revenue for the media and artists (?). • Less “superstars”?

50. Music Sales in the United States, 1975-2017