Research Korner: Cultural Implications

CULTURAL IMPERIALISM: YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW

CULTURAL IMPERIALISM: YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW   Introduction             The paper includes a bulk of analysis about the definition and relevance of cultural imperialism.  To dig deeper to the definition of the subject, the writer tried to extract historical account about British cultural imperialism in Jamaica on the last quarter of nineteenth century, and at the same time, looked in the relatively recent Japan’s resistance to the possible threat from the West, particularly the United States, through personalizing Tokyo Disneyland.  As the initial sub-topic was focused in the past view about cultural imperialism, the second sub-topic is aimed to bridge the gap of the past and today’s relevance of the subject.  It highlights the implications of information technology and Internet boom from the West that infiltrates, with speed and accuracy, to the target consumers in the undeveloped, developing and developed countries.  Through the essay, the reader will be tossed to the broad scope of cultural imperialism which might be endless in certain aspects.  However, difficulty could be lessened due to the fact that the basic concepts about the subject will serve as the guide to understanding.   The Historical and Relatively Recent Definition of Cultural Imperialism To define cultural imperialism, one needs to think about a circle and spots within it.  A dominating political ideology, economic principle, legal system, or perhaps the delicate religious order (these are the spots, although the religion can be a large (1997), if not overlapping, spot) descends into people’s way of life through an existing and dominant culture (the circle).  With this, the way to imperialism can be withheld as long as the minority culture should be ended in the history as prerequisite for the consumption of the dominant one ( 1996).  A culture, say of a country, is so valuable to them because of its millennia-old construction that laid down the “spots within the circle”, even perhaps the Almighty One Himself, that cultural imperialism invited resistance from the minute nature of hatred to the revolutionary and patriotism-like aggressions resulted in the past centuries of wars.  This is the dominant versus the minority conflict as the common effect of cultural imperialism.  The major theme of the British rule in Jamaica from 1865 to 1920 was to transform the African-Creole inhabitants to civilized human beings through Victorian conduct teachings.  Because of the persistent culture of the early Jamaicans when it comes to decision-making, especially in aspects concerning their personal interests, the fruits of the mission of Victorian missionaries were slowly consumed and dimly observed until recently.  Before the mission began, morality was then alien to the Afro-Jamaicans that was eminent on their “illegitimate and concubinage” form of building a family, even clergymen were set to have their own families ( 2004 ).                 With the historical event in Jamaica, several conclusions could be derived towards cultural imperialism.  First, it was not strictly “armed-coercion in action strategy” ( 1985 ) to achieve its peripheral objective of material gratification for the part of the dominant country against the human and natural resources of the subject culture.  With the English partly diplomatic way of Afro-Jamaican transformation, they exemplified a constructive result of their mission with little life casualty and armed rebellion.  According to  (1985), some Jamaicans had practiced legal marriage and accepted the Christian doctrines which were attributed to the British endeavors. Second, cultural imperialism was aimed at the most-popular culture in the land that could be concluded as the British strategy to affect the greater number.  For long years, Indians and Chinese were prevalent in Jamaica, although in small number, but the mission was “hardly any effort aimed to civilize them” (1985 ).  Through this, it is clear at how the power of the politically, economically and culturally superior British minority outweighed the greater population of Jamaicans--- a result of the former thriving and visionary culture over individualism and subordination history of the latter. Lastly, the effects of cultural imperialism included adaptation on the part of the subjects over decades or even centuries of exploration if the passed-on culture was worthy to emulate.  The consumption of Jamaicans of the taught civilized manners of the British was lucidly observed not concurrent to the time of the mission but rather after it.  This could be an indication of the resistance of the popular Afro-Jamaican culture to end their history and served as the gravity that pulled the intentions of the mission rather slowly.  In more contemporary view, cultural imperialism is not exactly defined and there are no universal standard that could signal its potential, presence or on the extent of how one culture influences the other.  Such signal is important to protect a culture’s heritage and secure its continuity over time.  As culture could be corrupted by an eager one materially (through artifacts) or immaterially (behavior, norms), several culture around the globe exhibited strong stand to guard their own upon infiltration of the unpopular and implicitly-regarded poisonous foreign cultures.  As (2000) put it, strategy is for the dominant and policy is for the receiving culture.  Viewing these recent developments, a present-day meaning of cultural imperialism could be inferred.  The reign of British settlement in Jamaica was an example of the relatively slower rate of the changes effected by non-material culture than material ones (1998).  On the other hand, the case of Tokyo Disneyland in Japan experienced the latter, although the effects of Western culture transfer were less evident (1993 ).  As Afro-Jamaicans’ cultural expression and protection was hardly observable because of its intangible limitations, Japanese was the reverse.  Tokyo Disneyland was aggressively de-contextualized from the American culture to fit within the context of the receiving Japanese culture. This Japanese initiative resulted to another set of conclusions about cultural imperialism that could be derived from the general finding.  Its occurrence results in a basketball game where opponents exercise offensive-defensive tactics.  The world-wide success of Disneyland made the American influence in offense mode, as the country is known for, and imparts spots of cultural imperialism. However, Japanese defense is so aggressive that the Western representative barely had a buried shot.  This defense was carried out far different and far tough from those showed by the Jamaicans seen in several modifications in the original lay-out and operations of Disneyland as conceptualized by the West. The self-expressionism of Japan brushed into the Tokyo Disneyland was made possible not only because of territorial aspect but more importantly due to the superb characteristics of the country.  Japan is “extremely a homogeneous society” ( 2004).  This fact blended into the economic affluence and political stability of the country in terms of leadership.  Leaders ruled dedicating their service until death like that of six decade-reign of Hirohito while the economic industrialization emerged as early as late nineteenth century ( 2004).  The inherent ideal government and economic structures in Japan made it independent and self-supporting that it needed little imports from the outside.  This could be one of the biggest barriers paralyzing the mechanism of cultural imperialism.     The same cultural modification at Tokyo Disneyland, the adoption of the Western originated Taylorism and Fordism in the Japanese business setting did not taken for granted the inclusion of Japanese theme.  The idea was still in action that required the transfer to suit the taste of the receiving country.  Group-goal orientation of the Japanese workplace was prioritized over the Western individual responsibilities ( 1994).  A sign that defense was present at all phases of Japanese life and the abundance also present in all phases of the country paid-off to elude the effects of cultural imperialism, or at least, to avoid its obvious impact that could damage the millennia-old history of the samurai-based dwelling.        With the Jamaican and Japan examples, the definition of cultural imperialism is timely to unfold.  Cultural imperialism is the “practice of promoting the culture or language of one nation in another.  It can take the form of an active, formal policy or general attitude” (2006).  The limitation of this is the blurred and broad meaning of the phrase “practice of promoting” and the absence of defining the effects of the word itself.  As obtained in the Jamaican and Japanese experiences, the culture promotion could take different mediums that can be cloaked with good intentions (a situation of civilizing the Afro-Jamaicans) or engraved on product patents where imported culture lies (a situation of Western Disneyland).  These media did not include the military-led coercion that ignited the World Wars where cultural differences motivated the extent of conflict.  Other media were unidentified because of the implicit nature of cultural imperialism as cause of war. Also, the effects mentioned here were not drastic and involved long period of adaptation to suit the receiving culture.  As complex and historical as it is, cultural imperialism direct effects to the lives of those affected could be isolated (as in the case of popular and persistent Jamaican personal-decision making) and hardly felt (as in the case of Tokyo Disneyland modification).  The important finding of the analysis is that the extent of the success of cultural imperialism invoked by a dominant culture to the receiving is grounded to the initiative and drive of the former, including its own definition of cultural imperialism, to affect the latter.  At the periphery, the rational dominant culture must demonstrate dominance and the capability to imperialize inferable not only to political, economic and military aspects, but more importantly, in the dominant culture itself (like the millennia-old culture of Japan that made it polished and resistant).  After this establishment, the dominant culture should infused harmony with receiving culture and wait until adaptation is observable.  Until then, cultural imperialism could achieve its purpose.             For the share of the receiving culture in the success or failure of cultural imperialism, the characteristics of the insisting culture of Jamaicans and culture-independence of Japanese were situated to block, at least initially (Jamaica) and focus to eradicate obvious features (Japan), the presence of cultural imperialism and mitigate its effects.  These guardians of culture are on top of the blazing patriotism to one’s country that was proven as reaction to oppression and intention to take away the most-celebrated mark of a civilization--- freedom.  Until the dominating culture does not resort to military imperialism, it will continue to be implicitly engraved within material and immaterial context imported by a receiving culture subject to transformation the latter deemed necessary to maintain the culture of their own. The Present and Future Relevance of Cultural Imperialism             Before the discussion under this sub-topic, it is noteworthy to reiterate the prevention of the above discussions to forward the notion of cultural clashes in the context of nation-to-nation collision strictly, although Jamaica and Japan situation was put into such standard.  This is assumed fitted because subaltern, another term for subordination (1999), culture is happening more explicitly within a country itself prominent with issues concerning cultural minorities voice within the dictatorship of the popular culture.  With the initial knowledge of receiving culture, being subaltern in the international arena destroys its shield that prevents the spread of cultural imperialism.  In the same manner, the concern is the equivalent in the local setting.  The United States, coined as one of the well-described cultural imperialist in history, have subaltern environment that resulted to conflicts across American diversity: homosexuals, black and white, diverging curriculum framework and disagreeing opinions concerning abortion, pornography, and school prayer (1996 ).  As the country is “largely immune to cultural expressions that do not project an American sensibility,” (2002) cultural imperialism could be tapped to unify differences.  Thus, cultural imperialism can be witnessed by people who live on the same soil like the dominant culture.  But for the remaining discussion, the above definition of cultural imperialism () seemed as a useful tool to obtain simplicity, and therefore, a wise move to apply.       The argument of  (1998) reflected the needed evidence that information age brought cultural imperialism into the rest of the world. “The Internet is like an American (or Western) tidal wave coming, and the rest of the world is in kayaks,” is the metaphor of how dominant culture tests its dominance against others through the infusion of Western material and immaterial cultures to produce hardware, software and content of computers/ Internet.  Several implications are accounted to the receiving countries.  Undeveloped and Developed countries are extremely opposite in terms of political and economic attributes but could have parallel stand (defense) against the technological proliferation.  The former can be depicted in most countries of African region (except Botswana, South Africa and Nigeria) that are identified as primarily agriculture-dependent, unstable political system, propagation of health problems like AIDS and occurrence of violent separatist movement like in Casamance ( 2004 , 2006).  As these characteristics are hardly compatible with the advancement of Western technology, cultural imperialism would be ridiculed when initiated.  If however tried, it would involve considerable amount of financing, time and line of programs to infuse dominance and succeed to influence their culture.  For the developed countries like Japan, the above-mentioned national affluence and cultural heritage are the clear obstacles in the Western initiative of cultural imperialism.  Even though, the nation has lucrative features at the extreme of Africa, cultural pillars etched in all facets of life (from the government down to the people) are built against the threat of foreign influence.  In relation to the western technology, Japan 1995 data showed its share was a minimal 2% among the Internet hosts all over the world (1998).  It was not entirely an anti-cultural imperialism intended to mitigate the influence of the West but rather a result of exhibiting “a way of life” that Japanese had treasured through its history.  The country is the world leader in automobile production but consume less of such products than any other G -7 nations (1998).  These unusual data were possible from a country that possesses a “clearly delineated, highly formalized, benevolently paternalistic arrangement of people bound together in predominantly face-to-face dependency relationships” (1998). Apart from these two, developing countries display relatively conducive environment for cultural imperialism.  These countries like the Philippines or China requires the fuel to stimulate the local economy which can be provided by opening the trade barriers from the outside.  With the command of information technology to link different countries, developing nations benefit to the “services not available to them domestically” (1996).  The opening, however, is not exclusively entrenched to trade relations.  It could also provide an entry point to the mechanisms of cultural imperialism.  This claim calls for the policy of the receiving country or its effects can devastate their culture initially at small increments until the foundations are eaten up. Since “fuel” is required to run and make active the developing economy, policy-makers would choose to grant this requirement since international trade is the trend and result of globalization.  Besides, effects to the receiving culture are seen indirectly through artifacts.  However, open-mindedness entails flexibility and flexibility is achieved through stability and strong culture.  Thus, a country lacks flexibility if it cannot support its own supply of local food, except in times of fortuitous disasters, or cannot solve its own internal conflict with the leftist.  With the absence of political and economic dependence like Japan, everything about the exports, including the mechanisms of cultural imperialism, could be consumed because of too much dependency.  The receiving country might end up a puppet by the dominant one who enlarges the restrictions of the trade opening up to the extent of cultural infiltration.  On the other hand, Japan did not modify features of Tokyo Disneyland from the original California- and Florida-type in terms of customer relations of the employees.  The courtesy mind-set blended the Japanese culture and also written in the country’s working standards of employees (1993).  This is an indication that selective approach to the presence and effects of cultural imperialism can achieve optimal benefits.  Good and positive spills of cultural imperialism need not be ignored and prohibited in the strict and myopic ground of cultural insubordination.  Like Japanese, who see themselves having a dominant culture, had accepted the Western influence because it suited their treasured values, although cultural imperialism had presence, its effects were lessened. The concern is now emphasized to Tibet.  There was an admonition of cultural imperialism by the Western countries against China’s mission to uplift the Tibetan cultural defects as the result partly of Cultural Revolution.  Data showed that Tibet has “life expectancy of thirty-six years; 95 percent of Tibetans were illiterate; 95 percent of the population was hereditary serfs and slaves owned by monasteries and nobles, and the cutting of the slaves and enemies’ head is popular” (1999).  Is the provision of good and meaningful life under cultural imperialism worthy to disregard, or at least, set aside for the meantime the popular culture as the developments are ensued?  The answer is a matter of survival on one hand and cultural protection on the other.  Tibetans could choose the two and realize the ideal or select only one and lead to reality.      Conclusion             As the time goes by, the definition of cultural imperialism adapts to the level of changes across different countries.  The purpose is clear as to civilize the Afro-Jamaicans in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.  While the Japan experience recently did not clearly establish the purpose, their ways and actions toward the Disneyland modification was enough to consider their avoidance of possible occurrence of cultural imperialism.              The present and future purpose of such was becoming hi-tech as the emergence of information technology and Internet in the industrial relations.  Its meaning becomes even blurred and broad as the world approach mutation from the historic samurai to the digital age.  For the undeveloped and developed countries, the impact to culture could be prevented.  But for the developing countries, extra-caution should be given into contract entered to identify trade zones or commonly termed as free trade areas.  More importantly, the dynamism of information technology should also be checked because it is capable to transmit information in a blink of an eye.  The giant leap towards development should begin not just with a single step, but more crucially, to carry the pride and heritage of the ancestry.  Such additional burden or constraint to developmental journey is not intended to increase the load alone.  It is an indication that the nation is stable and enthusiastic to achieve its goal.

CULTURAL IMPERIALISM: YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW

CULTURAL IMPERIALISM: YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW Introduction The paper includes a bulk of analysis about the def...

The Impact of Cultural Globalization

Globalization Bhagwati and Myers (2004) believed that, “globalization is not new phenomenon and further noted that culture is way of life adopted by people in community at specific time and place as globalization adheres to the economic interaction between more than two countries”. Globalization is relative to social collaboration not just integrate society to larger world economy but also roots out its flaws as the process nourishes innovative ideas that are easily implemented in such grounding stature of marketing, tourism as well as advertising media wherein nations and communities have its cultural identity standards upon connecting to individuals for example, the ability to learn certain lifestyle from other cultures do happens in motion. Globalization enables to share and adopt several cultures of other nations being interconnected today by means of such TV, business, tourism and presence of the internet. The assimilation of cultural globalization integrates good way of communication that symbolizes one voice throughout the world.  Globalization is the one voice that represents world-wide communication, increase interdependency and bridge the economic gap between nations and other aspects. Globalization brought forth cosmopolitan approach in global market where countries compete and culture instances with one another. <194 words> Cultural Globalization Cultural globalization refers to the everyday life experience that connects to people and the society at large allowing rapid presence of ideas, values as well as attitudes across borders that leads to interconnectedness and interaction of individuals forming in diverse cultures, and life ways. While, globalization assume type of global village describing in effects that there abilities to connect and exchange ideas bringing in an ideal world. Globalization can best understood as process rather than singular condition. It does not reflect simple logic as rather, globalization reflects emergence of interregional networks and systems of interaction and exchange from any notion of global integration. Furthermore, culture maybe akin to process of structuration as product of individual actions of, and the cumulative interactions between, countless agencies and institutions across the globe (Giddens, 1981; Buzan et al., 1998). Globalization is associated with evolving dynamic global structure of enablement and constraint of stratified structure since globalization is profoundly uneven as generating patterns of inclusion and exclusion (Hurrell and Woods, 1995) accounts of cultural globalization must acknowledge that it is best conceived as faceted process. The impact of culture globalization poses enmeshment, displacing 'notions of sovereignty as exclusive form of public power' such that 'sovereignty is conceived today among national, regional and international nature of culture based plurality' (Held and McGrew, 2007, p. 486). In the more specific sense cultural globalization has occurred due to the spread of global production, but more particularly due to the spread of the consumer society. The one vital impact of cultural globalization is the commercialization of culture. Production and consumption of cultural goods and services have become commodities, along with the essentials of social life that are the crucibles of cultural creations. Culture whether it is music, food, clothes has become a product, sold in the market place (Akande, 2002). The commercialization of culture has disturbing impact on people. What once was an element of their way of life becomes a product, rather than something unique they had made to suit their own specific needs and circumstances as people are continuously bombarded with new images, new music, new clothes and new values. Global media is increasingly in the hands of powerful organizations as is the production of music and films. <373 words> Cultural Globalization and Its Impacts Cultural globalization has positive and negative consequences. On the negative side, as cultures are propagated and advanced, share and mix with one another, and are exposed to one another in fast moving world of media and tourism, marketing and others, vulnerable in the ways they may influence each other and become modified from their original and authentic form. When dominant cultures overtake and absorb marginal cultures in any part of the world, the danger of losing cultural integrity on the part of each culture is evident. In an effort to achieve modernization, societies sometimes fail to protect their own cultural integrity. This should not happen. The finding of ways to increase economic advancement without losing cultural authenticity in the process, Chan and Ma argue that cultural globalization should be “the continual development of multiple modernity on a global scale that trans-culturation should develop many modernities around the globe so that different cultures can be true to their own indigenous strengths and not be swept into similar pattern of only one type of transformation”. Cultural globalization can threaten to wipe out minority cultures if not managed well as the culture holds valuable and unique information, for example, medicines used to treat certain diseases are from plants from the Brazilian rainforest. The extinction of such cultures is a loss for the entire world. The media have brought the world closer by their coverage of international events and activities. The media play a large part in raising general awareness about the impact of global cultures on minority communities. It can also help to prevent unfair encroachment of majority cultures on such communities. <274 words> Marketing and Tourism Impacts The cultural globalization impact for marketing is evident for instance, market led globalization create challenges and opportunities for marketing centered business as there impacts towards stable opportunities such as the access to new markets in regulation as well as ability to tap resources such capital, knowledge on market base as well as opportunity to participate in global production networks that are prevalent in many industries such as automotive, electronics, toys and textiles in HK. There is a challenge from competitors entering markets, reducing market sanctioned costs through global sourcing, and moving production offshore or gaining economies of scale by expanding in better markets. The other impact places in adoption of internet market, as firms manage operations and coordinate culture based chains across nations (Cavusgil, 2002; Williams et al., 2001; Globerman et al., 2001). The pressure of culture globalization is having an impact on SMEs that adheres to tourism industry as globally acting suppliers, decreasing transportation costs and emerging new destinations have put pressure on SMEs in usual destinations. As many countries are economically very dependent on tourism, need for effective policy support arises. There can be implementation of flexible operating network alliances and holistic destination management techniques geared to meet modern tourism demands as there have alleviated certain impacts of culture oriented globalization on SMEs and its marketing ways (Smeral, 1998 p. 371). Sugiyarto, Blake and Sinclair (2003, p. 683) have indicated “ References and further reading may be available for this article. To view references and further reading you must purchase this article. issue of culture globalization is beneficial remains controversial as because globalization policies are examined without consideration of their interactions with key sectors of the economy, notably tourism”, as for example, through equilibrium model of Indonesian economy to examine impact of globalization in conjunction with tourism growth as the growth amplifies to positive impact of culture led globalization and have few adversities. Thus, production increases and welfare improves, while impact on government deficits and the trade balance is being reduced. Globalization of tourism is utilized to improve quality of life of the people and their communities within tourism destinations. <334 words>   References and further reading may be available for this article. To view references and further reading you must purchase this article. Advertising and Media Impacts In addition, van Raaij (1997, p. 259) have mentioned that, “globalisation of markets leads to global products, global brands as well as global advertising, the presence of global communication advertisements does imply high level of culture standardization as the latter might be in conflict with diverse cultures among nations”, there accounts for standardized advertising as it does not optimally fit within cultures. There outcomes to a global adaptation, differentiation, as well as consumer based communication strategies from such adverting products and services, from within globalize paradigm of advertiser culture formation. References and further reading may be available for this article. To view references and further reading you must purchase this article. The one aspect of globalization is convergence of media and Technology as Bullmore (2000) expected media convergence to lead to homogeneous consumer needs, tastes and lifestyles. For example, some music channels as Music TV, travel, global communications have encouraged the notion of global teenager, notion that teenagers possess similar values, regardless of country of origin (Assael, 1998). The global media includes CNN and MTV television networks, programming of which is directed at and consumed by what might be called horizontal audiences, rather than vertical ones. Thus CNN is consumed by middle-aged and older viewers, business people, government officials, policy makers, and local news services around the world. Similarly, MTV disseminate similar non-local identity, but one directed at global youth and mediated largely by music videos. Moreover, Levitt (1983) argued that new technology would lead to homogenization of consumer wants and needs because consumers were expected to prefer standard products of high quality and low price. Upon ignoring cultural globalization influence lead to various companies to centralize advertising, media operations as well as marketing stance which outcomes in declining sales and profit gains. Henceforth, business firms have seen sales and profits decline because centralized control lacks local sensitivity and are consequently changing their strategies from global to local for example, Coca Cola decided to move closer to local markets because of declining issues in lieu to business profitability. Coca Cola have stated that the “firm’s ‘big successes have come from markets where they read the consumer psyche every day and adjust the adverting media and market model every day” (Byrnes 2000, p. 221). <356 words>   Some Examples Disneyisation and McDonaldization Indeed, there impacts towards Disney infrastructure of communication in support of economic and social organization transcending in nation based boundaries of aspects of contemporary economic and social life (Sandel, 1996). Globalization in culture essence is being associated with transformation as unbundling of relationship among sovereignty and state power (Ruggie, 1993; Sassen, 1996). Cultural globalization impacts does imply to stretching of certain social, political and economic activities across communities for example relating to events, decisions and activities of the nation come together in having significance for individuals in far nations of the globe.  There has been impact of globalization linking to Westernization, modern concept developed because of impacts of western expansion and colonization as globalization spreading its roots to make communication easier wherein cultural globalization matters to achieve global production and consumer society on the positive domain.  The existence of communication technology and mass media placers a valuable tool for cultural globalization dominance for example, Disneyland in HK have impacted the global culture in the sense that it serves as a factor bringing in connective values to customers and the marketing community in the wider perspectives which provides universal communications to other nations outside HK. Cultural globalization is perhaps linked to the existence of pop culture for instance, there is Disneyland musical and theater shows which is not only known in HK but in some other nations mostly in US and Europe countries also, Japanese anime’ is being watched in HK, while soap operas of other nations are frequently watched and popular in the Philippines. There is homogeneity in culture as becomes easy for business companies to sell services and products globally good example, is McDonaldization as meals are sold in several countries linking to same food choices and properties. Globalization strikes in deepest core of business operations wherein the most known process integrates to cultural globalization generally affecting markets, media and other infrastructures that connects to people and his community successfully along which the community connects to the nation and its pressing idealism and value assimilation. There possibilities that globalization is in danger of becoming as there encompasses everything from global financial markets to the Internet but which delivers little substantive insight into the contemporary human condition. <370 words>   Cultural Imperialism Moreover, there can be impact of cultural globalization resulting into cultural imperialism issue as there cultural imperialism argument of certain penetration and make leap of inference from presence of cultural goods to the attribution of deeper cultural impacts. Culture simply does not transfer in this nonlinear way. Movement between cultural areas always involves interpretation, translation, mutation, adaptation and ‘indigenization’ as the receiving culture brings its own cultural resources to bear, in dialectical fashion, upon ‘cultural imports’ (Lull, 2000; Tomlinson, 1991) from global ubiquity of capitalist consumer goods or Western media products towards the vision of a uniform capitalist culture are to be doubted precisely because they trade on an inadequate concept of culture. If the critical understanding of cultural globalization seems haunted by the tendency to assume either an implausibly utopian or dystopian scenario, then the lesson may be that we need to approach cultural processes not via the macro perspective of globalization but by understanding the effects of globalization as felt within particular local stance. Culture is no longer tied to the constraints of local circumstances and not that globalization destroys localities but that cultural experience in anchoring particular community and nations by connectivity of globalization. Societies have successfully produced just systems of social protection and provided opportunity and economic growth for their citizens as complementary. The social and cultural impact of globalization has also been widespread. It is manifested most clearly in the worldwide presence of certain patterns of consumption and lifestyles. These include cars, television, videos, fashions and designer clothing, popular music, films, television and video shows, dance, alcohol, beverages and fast foods, just to mention a few of the more prominent symbols of world culture. The social and cultural impact is especially noticeable on two sections of the population affluent minorities and youth. While many consumption goods and services are available only to affluent minorities in developing and former communist countries, others such as television programs, videos and fast food reach much larger proportions of the population in these countries. The demand for government services increases because of laid off workers and their families and the increased wage pressure on low income families. Governments try to care for these workers and have to run expansionary fiscal policies. Unfortunately, if they do so, they face a number of problems. Governments have difficulty raising taxes in general and cannot raise taxes on corporations because that will only encourage firms to move offshore. This accelerates the impact of globalization on deindustrialization by discouraging capital formation. Governments have to be careful about running large budget deficits because over time, world currency markets will force down the value of their currency. There will be increase the costs of financing deficits by world debt markets who will demand higher interest rates. High interest rates will translate into slower economic activity. Governments are therefore trapped by not being able to respond to globalization which produces deindustrialization and more inequality. Globalization from within several impacts as some government can only run economic policies that promote low inflation, low tariff barriers, and cut back on protection for workers and their families in the hopes of attracting foreign investment to stimulate economic growth. The only positive thing culture imperialism adheres into is, effective globalization processes that impedes to the functionality of individual as part of the community and communities being part of the nations. <560 words>   References Akande W (2002) The Drawbacks of Cultural Globalization, Yellow Times Assael H (1998) Consumer Behavior and Marketing Action (6th edn). 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Sovereignty in an Age of Globalization Smeral E (1998) The impact of globalization on small and medium enterprises: new challenges for tourism policies in European countries Tourism Management Volume 19, Issue 4, August 1998, pp. 371-380 Sugiyarto G Blake A and Sinclair T (2003) Tourism and globalization: Economic Impact in Indonesia Annals of Tourism Research Volume 30, Issue 3, July 2003, pp. 683-701 Tomlinson J (1991) Cultural Imperialism: A Critical Introduction. London: Pinter. Van Raaij F (1997) Globalization of marketing communication? Journal of Economic Psychology Volume 18, Issues 2-3, April 1997, Perspectives in Economic Psychology A Tribute to Karl-Erik Warneryd pp. 259-270  Williams A Dale R Visser L and Van der Wiele T (2001) B2B, Old Economy Businesses and the Role of Quality: Part 1 – The Simple Alternative. Measuring Business Excellence, 5(2): 39-44

The Impact of Cultural Globalization

Globalization Bhagwati and Myers (2004) believed that, “globalization is not new phenomenon and further noted that culture is way of li...

China's cultural and national history

cultures The cultures of  and  comprises the rich heritage of China. A significant aspect of China is its long cultural and national history. The Chinese people have shared a common culture longer than any other group on Earth and it depicts the unwavering and unspoiled civilization and traditions of the country. 1) The distinctive feature of the  culture was the high level of skill in pottery making, including the use of pottery wheels. 2) The Neolithic population in China reached its peak during the  culture and toward the end of the  culture, the population decreased sharply; this was matched by the disappearance of high-quality black pottery found in ritual burials. 3) Compared with the  culture, farming techniques greatly improved in the  Culture. Farmers from the culture made great advancements in the area of tool making, and were able to create many tools made of stone that includes stone knives used to drill holes, as well as stone reaping hooks, and stone shovels. 4)  Culture, distributed mainly in the Henan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, southern Hebei and eastern Gansu Provinces, is a culture belonging to the late Neolithic Age. 5) Bronze casting and pottery are much more advanced in  culture than in  and  culture.  Bronze was commonly used for art rather than weapons.

China's cultural and national history

cultures The cultures of and comprises the rich heritage of China. A significant aspect of China is its long cultural and national...

Discuss the impact cultural diversity has on relationships anf families

Globalization and Media Media plays a significant role in our daily lives. Many of our ideas about the world, the sense that what is happening everyday, or even the values come from beyond our individual daily or experiences usually come to us via the media. The media has a very strong influence on individuals and society, as our ideas of the world are derived from ‘packaged’ versions of events and issues in their output (1998). Yet, globalization has become a big and popular topic, therefore this essay will focus on cultural imperialism. The best known model of cultural globalization is cultural imperialism theory. To understand more about cultural globalization, we need to examine the economic organizations and political institution which contribute to it or attempt to respond to it. This essay argues that the success evidence of cultural imperialism can be seen in the marketing strategies of major media compare. Cultural globalization refers to the transmission across national borders of different forms of media and the arts. Mainly the circulation of cultural products appears to be between developed countries, especially those countries which constitute desirable markets for the media. Globalization is seen as a complex and diverse phenomenon consisting of global cultures, initiated from various nations and regions. Assuming that social identities and social relations are constructed and deconstructed by all forms of culture, cultural globalization brings out important issues concerning the affect on national or local cultures and their responses.  (1990), the theory of cultural imperialism emerged in the 1960s. A part of Marxist critique of advanced capitalist cultures, including their emphasis on mass communication and consumerism. The theory of cultural imperialism theory refers to ‘the imposition on the other countries of a specific nation’s beliefs, values, knowledge, behaviour norms and style of life’ ( 1991 ). It is also defined as a kind of cultural domination by stronger and more powerful nations over the weaker ones. Because cultural imperialism corresponds to the political interests of the United States and some other powerful capitalist societies, it is viewed as purposeful and intentional. Reflecting the attitudes and values of the western countries, especially America, capitalist societies, views are very pervasive and are leading to the homogenization of global culture ( 1993). According to an Australian scholar  (1983), the Americanization process becomes much more formidable while the basic concepts of a national identity of a society are remodeled in the American image. The concept of cultural imperialism concept is inherently unclear and includes a negative evaluation of the behaviour and intentions of advanced countries, particularly the United States ( 1995). Some scholars criticize that the term ‘imperialism’ because it implies the imposition of power from rich to poor, from powerful to weak and implies a degree of political control by powerful countries that is no longer exists. The idea of imperialism contains the idea of an intended project, ‘the intended spread of a social system from one center of power across the globe’ ( 1991 ).  contrasts the concepts of ‘globalization’ and imperialism and suggests that ‘interconnection and interdependency of all global areas happening in a far less purposeful way’ ( 1991 ). Despite these arguments, cultural imperialism has been reconceptualized as media imperialism. It is still a helpful perspective because it can be used to analyze which national actors have more impact on global culture, and therefore how cultural values and identities are being shaped and reshaped ( 1995). Moreover, there are some important issues because the influence of the global cultures is expanding rapidly. Next section of this essay will be focus on the changes from cultural imperialism to global capitalism and media imperialism. According to  (1999), economies and organizations are the major forces that lead to cultural globalization. Cultural globalization needs an organization infrastructure. One form of globalization appears as a result of the activities in developed countries of news and entertainment media that produce music, television programs and movies and also distribute them all around the world. In the global media marketplace, the dominance of a particular country is more a function of economic than cultural factors. American corporations have gained considerable benefit specifically from the size of their national market and the availability of funds for investment. Although there is a small number of media groups which are based in some western countries, they still dominate the production and global distribution of the media, such as films, popular music, television program and book publishing. According to  (1999), the new technologies and the deregulation of national media industries have occurred because of the existence of a global media market. The level of the investment needs to be high because of the high production costs and costs of distribution. These combined corporations make a big profit by selling the same product in various media. For example, a film can be shown in the cinema and on pay television, sold in the form of DVDs or even as books. The production of merchandise are mainly based on the film generates additional profits and a spin-off they may be use for a drama series. The US would be incapable of competing in the global market without these corporations.   Although some of the global media conglomerates are European, American media products still dominate in global markets because foreign conglomerate owners invest heavily in American media companies. Although few foreign companies have bought several major American film studios this had some little effects on the nature of the Hollywood movie industry. The Australian-American media magnate Rupert Murdoch, owns more American television stations than the local entrepreneurs. Also he has created a thriving television network, Fox, which competes with three main American television networks. This is a good example of globalization where have an Australian controlling media interests in another country. America companies can earn enormous profits by producing and distributing films because of the huge audience for films in United States. Therefore, American producers are able to spend more on the production of films than their competitors in other countries and this in turn gain more profits. The more expensive a movie is to produce, the more profits are more likely to be make (1998). However, the expensive films represent ‘a type of homogenous, uniform culture permeated by western capitalistic values’ ( 2002,). They are full of elaborate technical effects and focus on stunts, action, and violence instead of character and emotion. Action movies are more easily understood in diverse, non-English-speaking cultures than other type of films. Given the huge cultural differences among the potential audiences for globally marketed films, film producers have to find a common denominator that is universal and will attract different audiences in various countries. Nowadays, Hollywood dominates the international market for films as well as its local market. Compared with local film companies, American film companies have been creating film distribution networks successfully in competitive with these. Therefore film industries in many other countries have declined. However, there are two exceptions, which are India with its big internal market and the other one is France, which has subsidized this form of popular culture. India is the worldwide leading producer of fiction films, and while there are a few exceptions, they circulate entirely within Indian Asia and Indian Africa ( 1997). Over the past year the Australian government has been involved in a series of high-level negotiations with the US for a bilateral trade agreement, Australian have to agree some things the Americans put to them. This is a good marketing strategy by the US film industry to compete successfully globally. Even though the film industry is governed by investment and profit, it does spread cultural imperialism by accident. This support  (1991) means the cultural imperialism is not as purposeful as suggested. The United States also predominates in the production of television programs, which is more to economic factors than to the spread of cultural attitudes and values ( 1997).  and  (1990) claim that the reason of American television programs are so successful in the international market is the conditions under which they are produced. The size and wealth of the country means that successful programs are very profitable. As a result, the high cost of television production can be covered internally so that the programs can be exported at substantially with lower prices. For example, in Latin America, American companies have been sued for flooding the media scene by ‘dumping’ old films and television shows ( 1991). In some countries, United States television represents about 50% of the programs. Many of other countries are not able to invest at the same level as America in television programming because they cannot reach the cost of production through distribution in their own countries nor are they able to afford the distributing and marketing costs in other countries. The cost of an imported television series drama can be less than one-tenth of the costs of producing an original one ( 1990). Therefore, cultural imperialism occurs by default, simply because of the economics advantage provided to producers by the huge US populations,. According to (1990), the technology changing in developing countries has led to an increase in the transnational dissemination of the television program and spread of demand for programs worldwide. International satellites have been a important delivery system, disseminating television programs from advanced countries to some less advanced countries. In Latin America, increases in the number of VCRs, cable TV, and direct satellite reception program facilities has expanded the audiences for United States and European television. In some countries, there are some media restrictions or limitations, however the foreign programming greatly increases the range of the cultural choices. On the other hand, the countries that have powerful capital and resources behind their media,industry, can dominate the dissemination of programs globally. This reduces the profitability of national programming and also limits the range of cultural choices. However, there are many less developed countries which have their own media resources and inadequate resources to buy in media from powerful US conglomerates ( 1996). These countries will not be affected by western cultural imperialism simply because they cannot afford it. The developed world has nearly six times as many radios per capita as the developing world and nearly nine times as many TV sets. The level of communication in many poor countries is also indicated by the fact that approximately half the people in the world have never made a telephone call ( 1998). In conclusion, it is cultural imperialism on just economic imperialism. The essay supports the view that cultural imperialism is an accident of economic power. The enormity of financial support for the media industry in the US, and the US capitalist device for profits has led to the world being swamped with cultural products.

Discuss the impact cultural diversity has on relationships anf families

Globalization and Media Media plays a significant role in our daily lives. Many of our ideas about the world, the sense that what is happ...

Can you think of any cultural items which have persisted and which probably no longer gratify any human desire? 2) Do you think becoming more culturally relativistic can be conducive to understanding? Explain why? Why not?

1) Can you think of any cultural items which have persisted and which probably no longer gratify any human desire? 2) Do you think becoming more culturally relativistic can be conducive to understanding? Explain why? Why not? A cultural item which has persisted to this day but no longer really gratifies any human desire is “titles”.  Titles conferred a status symbol.  The acquisition of such an item must be terribly expensive or very difficult to come by otherwise it holds no meaning.  Pride in ancestry is something which is no longer widely accepted as grounds for self-esteem.  These days, people’s worth is judged on the basis of personal merits.  Another sample of a cultural item which no longer fulfills any human desire is the horse and carriage.  In the 18th, 19th and early 20th century, this was a very popular form of transportation.  People used this method of conveyance to travel short distances and to carry cargo to and fro.  During the Great Depression in the United States in the 1930’s, the horse and buggy was the choice transportation.  “Today, the term "horse and buggy" is often used in reference to the era before the advent of the automobile and other socially revolutionizing major inventions. By extension, it has come to mean clinging to outworn attitudes or ideas, and hopelessly outmoded, old-fashioned, non-modern, or obsolete. (Horse and buggy.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_and_buggy, retrieved 9 April, 2011.)  The automobile has surpassed the horse and carriage. Yet another example of a cultural item which no longer gratifies human desire is the use of Gris-gris.  “Gris-gris originally were dolls or images of gods, but are now in the form of a small cloth bag containing herbs, oils, stones, small bones, hair and nails, pieces of cloth soaked in perspiration and/or other personal items gathered under the directions of a god for good luck or to protect the owner.  (Gris-gris.  http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/g/gris-gris.html, retrieved 9 April 2011.)”  People nowadays do not place their beliefs in such practices.  “The gris-gris originated in Dagombha in Ghana and was associated with Islamic traditions.[3] Originally the gris-gris was adorned with Islamic scripture and was used to ward off evil spirits (djinn) or bad luck.[3] Historians of the time noted that they were frequently worn by non-believers and believers alike, and were also found attached to buildings. The practice of using gris-gris, though originating in Africa, came to the USA with African slaves and was quickly adopted by practitioners of voodoo.  However, the practice soon changed, and the gris-gris were thought to bring black magic upon their 'victim'. Slaves would often use the gris-gris against their masters and gris-gris can still be seen adorning the tombs of some slave owners.  During this period, there were also reports of slaves cutting, drowning or otherwise manipulating the gris-gris of others in order to cause harm.  Although in Haiti gris-gris are thought to be a good amulet and are used as part of a widely practiced religion, in the Cajun communities of Louisiana, gris-gris are thought to be a symbol of black magic and ill-fortune.  (Gris-gris (talisman).  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gris-gris_(talisman), retrieved 9 April, 2011.)” “Cultural relativism is the view that no culture is superior to any other culture when comparing systems of morality, law, politics, etc. It's the philosophical notion that all cultural beliefs are equally valid and that truth itself is relative, depending on the cultural environment. Those who hold to cultural relativism hold that all religious, ethical, aesthetic, and political beliefs are completely relative to the individual within a cultural identity. Relativism often includes moral relativism (ethics depend on a social construct), situational relativism (right or wrong is based on the particular situation), and cognitive relativism (truth itself has no objective standard).” (Cultural relativism.  http://www.cultural-relativism.com/, retrieved 9 April, 2011.)  Cultural relativism is conducive to understanding many things in our rapidly changing world society.  Various cultures are in closer interaction with each other.  This interaction can have either positive or negative effects depending on the level of sensitivity and respect people have for other cultural groups.  “If people are going to be successful in today’s multicultural, information age, world society, they will need to develop a culturally sensitive frame of reference and mode of operation.  Cultural relativism is an approach to the question of the nature and role of values in culture.  If values are shared ideals which give rise to beliefs and norms of behavior around which a people or a group organizes its collective life and goals, cultural relativism declares that these values are relative to the cultural ambiance out of which they arise.  (Cultural Relativism.  https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rosado.net%2Fpdf%2FCultural_Relativism.pdf, retrieved 9 April, 2011.

Can you think of any cultural items which have persisted and which probably no longer gratify any human desire? 2) Do you think becoming more culturally relativistic can be conducive to understanding? Explain why? Why not?

1) Can you think of any cultural items which have persisted and which probably no longer gratify any human desire? 2) Do you think becomi...

CULTURAL IMPERIALISM

CULTURAL IMPERIALISM: YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW   Introduction             The paper includes a bulk of analysis about the definition and relevance of cultural imperialism.  To dig deeper to the definition of the subject, the writer tried to extract historical account about British cultural imperialism in Jamaica on the last quarter of nineteenth century, and at the same time, looked in the relatively recent Japan’s resistance to the possible threat from the West, particularly the United States, through personalizing Tokyo Disneyland.  As the initial sub-topic was focused in the past view about cultural imperialism, the second sub-topic is aimed to bridge the gap of the past and today’s relevance of the subject.  It highlights the implications of information technology and Internet boom from the West that infiltrates, with speed and accuracy, to the target consumers in the undeveloped, developing and developed countries.  Through the essay, the reader will be tossed to the broad scope of cultural imperialism which might be endless in certain aspects.  However, difficulty could be lessened due to the fact that the basic concepts about the subject will serve as the guide to understanding.   The Historical and Relatively Recent Definition of Cultural Imperialism To define cultural imperialism, one needs to think about a circle and spots within it.  A dominating political ideology, economic principle, legal system, or perhaps the delicate religious order (these are the spots, although the religion can be a large (1997), if not overlapping, spot) descends into people’s way of life through an existing and dominant culture (the circle).  With this, the way to imperialism can be withheld as long as the minority culture should be ended in the history as prerequisite for the consumption of the dominant one (1996).  A culture, say of a country, is so valuable to them because of its millennia-old construction that laid down the “spots within the circle”, even perhaps the Almighty One Himself, that cultural imperialism invited resistance from the minute nature of hatred to the revolutionary and patriotism-like aggressions resulted in the past centuries of wars.  This is the dominant versus the minority conflict as the common effect of cultural imperialism.  The major theme of the British rule in Jamaica from 1865 to 1920 was to transform the African-Creole inhabitants to civilized human beings through Victorian conduct teachings.  Because of the persistent culture of the early Jamaicans when it comes to decision-making, especially in aspects concerning their personal interests, the fruits of the mission of Victorian missionaries were slowly consumed and dimly observed until recently.  Before the mission began, morality was then alien to the Afro-Jamaicans that was eminent on their “illegitimate and concubinage” form of building a family, even clergymen were set to have their own families ( 2004).                 With the historical event in Jamaica, several conclusions could be derived towards cultural imperialism.  First, it was not strictly “armed-coercion in action strategy” (1985 ) to achieve its peripheral objective of material gratification for the part of the dominant country against the human and natural resources of the subject culture.  With the English partly diplomatic way of Afro-Jamaican transformation, they exemplified a constructive result of their mission with little life casualty and armed rebellion.  According to  (1985), some Jamaicans had practiced legal marriage and accepted the Christian doctrines which were attributed to the British endeavors. Second, cultural imperialism was aimed at the most-popular culture in the land that could be concluded as the British strategy to affect the greater number.  For long years, Indians and Chinese were prevalent in Jamaica, although in small number, but the mission was “hardly any effort aimed to civilize them” (1985 ).  Through this, it is clear at how the power of the politically, economically and culturally superior British minority outweighed the greater population of Jamaicans--- a result of the former thriving and visionary culture over individualism and subordination history of the latter. Lastly, the effects of cultural imperialism included adaptation on the part of the subjects over decades or even centuries of exploration if the passed-on culture was worthy to emulate.  The consumption of Jamaicans of the taught civilized manners of the British was lucidly observed not concurrent to the time of the mission but rather after it.  This could be an indication of the resistance of the popular Afro-Jamaican culture to end their history and served as the gravity that pulled the intentions of the mission rather slowly.  In more contemporary view, cultural imperialism is not exactly defined and there are no universal standard that could signal its potential, presence or on the extent of how one culture influences the other.  Such signal is important to protect a culture’s heritage and secure its continuity over time.  As culture could be corrupted by an eager one materially (through artifacts) or immaterially (behavior, norms), several culture around the globe exhibited strong stand to guard their own upon infiltration of the unpopular and implicitly-regarded poisonous foreign cultures.  As  (2000) put it, strategy is for the dominant and policy is for the receiving culture.  Viewing these recent developments, a present-day meaning of cultural imperialism could be inferred.  The reign of British settlement in Jamaica was an example of the relatively slower rate of the changes effected by non-material culture than material ones ( 1998).  On the other hand, the case of Tokyo Disneyland in Japan experienced the latter, although the effects of Western culture transfer were less evident (1993).  As Afro-Jamaicans’ cultural expression and protection was hardly observable because of its intangible limitations, Japanese was the reverse.  Tokyo Disneyland was aggressively de-contextualized from the American culture to fit within the context of the receiving Japanese culture. This Japanese initiative resulted to another set of conclusions about cultural imperialism that could be derived from the general finding.  Its occurrence results in a basketball game where opponents exercise offensive-defensive tactics.  The world-wide success of Disneyland made the American influence in offense mode, as the country is known for, and imparts spots of cultural imperialism. However, Japanese defense is so aggressive that the Western representative barely had a buried shot.  This defense was carried out far different and far tough from those showed by the Jamaicans seen in several modifications in the original lay-out and operations of Disneyland as conceptualized by the West. The self-expressionism of Japan brushed into the Tokyo Disneyland was made possible not only because of territorial aspect but more importantly due to the superb characteristics of the country.  Japan is “extremely a homogeneous society” ( 2004).  This fact blended into the economic affluence and political stability of the country in terms of leadership.  Leaders ruled dedicating their service until death like that of six decade-reign of Hirohito while the economic industrialization emerged as early as late nineteenth century ( 2004).  The inherent ideal government and economic structures in Japan made it independent and self-supporting that it needed little imports from the outside.  This could be one of the biggest barriers paralyzing the mechanism of cultural imperialism.     The same cultural modification at Tokyo Disneyland, the adoption of the Western originated Taylorism and Fordism in the Japanese business setting did not taken for granted the inclusion of Japanese theme.  The idea was still in action that required the transfer to suit the taste of the receiving country.  Group-goal orientation of the Japanese workplace was prioritized over the Western individual responsibilities ( 1994).  A sign that defense was present at all phases of Japanese life and the abundance also present in all phases of the country paid-off to elude the effects of cultural imperialism, or at least, to avoid its obvious impact that could damage the millennia-old history of the samurai-based dwelling.        With the Jamaican and Japan examples, the definition of cultural imperialism is timely to unfold.  Cultural imperialism is the “practice of promoting the culture or language of one nation in another.  It can take the form of an active, formal policy or general attitude” (2006).  The limitation of this is the blurred and broad meaning of the phrase “practice of promoting” and the absence of defining the effects of the word itself.  As obtained in the Jamaican and Japanese experiences, the culture promotion could take different mediums that can be cloaked with good intentions (a situation of civilizing the Afro-Jamaicans) or engraved on product patents where imported culture lies (a situation of Western Disneyland).  These media did not include the military-led coercion that ignited the World Wars where cultural differences motivated the extent of conflict.  Other media were unidentified because of the implicit nature of cultural imperialism as cause of war. Also, the effects mentioned here were not drastic and involved long period of adaptation to suit the receiving culture.  As complex and historical as it is, cultural imperialism direct effects to the lives of those affected could be isolated (as in the case of popular and persistent Jamaican personal-decision making) and hardly felt (as in the case of Tokyo Disneyland modification).  The important finding of the analysis is that the extent of the success of cultural imperialism invoked by a dominant culture to the receiving is grounded to the initiative and drive of the former, including its own definition of cultural imperialism, to affect the latter.  At the periphery, the rational dominant culture must demonstrate dominance and the capability to imperialize inferable not only to political, economic and military aspects, but more importantly, in the dominant culture itself (like the millennia-old culture of Japan that made it polished and resistant).  After this establishment, the dominant culture should infused harmony with receiving culture and wait until adaptation is observable.  Until then, cultural imperialism could achieve its purpose.             For the share of the receiving culture in the success or failure of cultural imperialism, the characteristics of the insisting culture of Jamaicans and culture-independence of Japanese were situated to block, at least initially (Jamaica) and focus to eradicate obvious features (Japan), the presence of cultural imperialism and mitigate its effects.  These guardians of culture are on top of the blazing patriotism to one’s country that was proven as reaction to oppression and intention to take away the most-celebrated mark of a civilization--- freedom.  Until the dominating culture does not resort to military imperialism, it will continue to be implicitly engraved within material and immaterial context imported by a receiving culture subject to transformation the latter deemed necessary to maintain the culture of their own. The Present and Future Relevance of Cultural Imperialism             Before the discussion under this sub-topic, it is noteworthy to reiterate the prevention of the above discussions to forward the notion of cultural clashes in the context of nation-to-nation collision strictly, although Jamaica and Japan situation was put into such standard.  This is assumed fitted because subaltern, another term for subordination ( 1999 ), culture is happening more explicitly within a country itself prominent with issues concerning cultural minorities voice within the dictatorship of the popular culture.  With the initial knowledge of receiving culture, being subaltern in the international arena destroys its shield that prevents the spread of cultural imperialism.  In the same manner, the concern is the equivalent in the local setting.  The United States, coined as one of the well-described cultural imperialist in history, have subaltern environment that resulted to conflicts across American diversity: homosexuals, black and white, diverging curriculum framework and disagreeing opinions concerning abortion, pornography, and school prayer (1996).  As the country is “largely immune to cultural expressions that do not project an American sensibility,” (2002) cultural imperialism could be tapped to unify differences.  Thus, cultural imperialism can be witnessed by people who live on the same soil like the dominant culture.  But for the remaining discussion, the above definition of cultural imperialism () seemed as a useful tool to obtain simplicity, and therefore, a wise move to apply.       The argument of  (1998) reflected the needed evidence that information age brought cultural imperialism into the rest of the world. “The Internet is like an American (or Western) tidal wave coming, and the rest of the world is in kayaks,” is the metaphor of how dominant culture tests its dominance against others through the infusion of Western material and immaterial cultures to produce hardware, software and content of computers/ Internet.  Several implications are accounted to the receiving countries.  Undeveloped and Developed countries are extremely opposite in terms of political and economic attributes but could have parallel stand (defense) against the technological proliferation.  The former can be depicted in most countries of African region (except Botswana, South Africa and Nigeria) that are identified as primarily agriculture-dependent, unstable political system, propagation of health problems like AIDS and occurrence of violent separatist movement like in Casamance ( 2004  , 2006).  As these characteristics are hardly compatible with the advancement of Western technology, cultural imperialism would be ridiculed when initiated.  If however tried, it would involve considerable amount of financing, time and line of programs to infuse dominance and succeed to influence their culture.  For the developed countries like Japan, the above-mentioned national affluence and cultural heritage are the clear obstacles in the Western initiative of cultural imperialism.  Even though, the nation has lucrative features at the extreme of Africa, cultural pillars etched in all facets of life (from the government down to the people) are built against the threat of foreign influence.  In relation to the western technology, Japan 1995 data showed its share was a minimal 2% among the Internet hosts all over the world (1998).  It was not entirely an anti-cultural imperialism intended to mitigate the influence of the West but rather a result of exhibiting “a way of life” that Japanese had treasured through its history.  The country is the world leader in automobile production but consume less of such products than any other G -7 nations (1998).  These unusual data were possible from a country that possesses a “clearly delineated, highly formalized, benevolently paternalistic arrangement of people bound together in predominantly face-to-face dependency relationships” (1998). Apart from these two, developing countries display relatively conducive environment for cultural imperialism.  These countries like the Philippines or China requires the fuel to stimulate the local economy which can be provided by opening the trade barriers from the outside.  With the command of information technology to link different countries, developing nations benefit to the “services not available to them domestically” (1996).  The opening, however, is not exclusively entrenched to trade relations.  It could also provide an entry point to the mechanisms of cultural imperialism.  This claim calls for the policy of the receiving country or its effects can devastate their culture initially at small increments until the foundations are eaten up. Since “fuel” is required to run and make active the developing economy, policy-makers would choose to grant this requirement since international trade is the trend and result of globalization.  Besides, effects to the receiving culture are seen indirectly through artifacts.  However, open-mindedness entails flexibility and flexibility is achieved through stability and strong culture.  Thus, a country lacks flexibility if it cannot support its own supply of local food, except in times of fortuitous disasters, or cannot solve its own internal conflict with the leftist.  With the absence of political and economic dependence like Japan, everything about the exports, including the mechanisms of cultural imperialism, could be consumed because of too much dependency.  The receiving country might end up a puppet by the dominant one who enlarges the restrictions of the trade opening up to the extent of cultural infiltration.  On the other hand, Japan did not modify features of Tokyo Disneyland from the original California- and Florida-type in terms of customer relations of the employees.  The courtesy mind-set blended the Japanese culture and also written in the country’s working standards of employees (1993).  This is an indication that selective approach to the presence and effects of cultural imperialism can achieve optimal benefits.  Good and positive spills of cultural imperialism need not be ignored and prohibited in the strict and myopic ground of cultural insubordination.  Like Japanese, who see themselves having a dominant culture, had accepted the Western influence because it suited their treasured values, although cultural imperialism had presence, its effects were lessened. The concern is now emphasized to Tibet.  There was an admonition of cultural imperialism by the Western countries against China’s mission to uplift the Tibetan cultural defects as the result partly of Cultural Revolution.  Data showed that Tibet has “life expectancy of thirty-six years; 95 percent of Tibetans were illiterate; 95 percent of the population was hereditary serfs and slaves owned by monasteries and nobles, and the cutting of the slaves and enemies’ head is popular” ( 1999).  Is the provision of good and meaningful life under cultural imperialism worthy to disregard, or at least, set aside for the meantime the popular culture as the developments are ensued?  The answer is a matter of survival on one hand and cultural protection on the other.  Tibetans could choose the two and realize the ideal or select only one and lead to reality.      Conclusion             As the time goes by, the definition of cultural imperialism adapts to the level of changes across different countries.  The purpose is clear as to civilize the Afro-Jamaicans in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.  While the Japan experience recently did not clearly establish the purpose, their ways and actions toward the Disneyland modification was enough to consider their avoidance of possible occurrence of cultural imperialism.              The present and future purpose of such was becoming hi-tech as the emergence of information technology and Internet in the industrial relations.  Its meaning becomes even blurred and broad as the world approach mutation from the historic samurai to the digital age.  For the undeveloped and developed countries, the impact to culture could be prevented.  But for the developing countries, extra-caution should be given into contract entered to identify trade zones or commonly termed as free trade areas.  More importantly, the dynamism of information technology should also be checked because it is capable to transmit information in a blink of an eye.  The giant leap towards development should begin not just with a single step, but more crucially, to carry the pride and heritage of the ancestry.  Such additional burden or constraint to developmental journey is not intended to increase the load alone.  It is an indication that the nation is stable and enthusiastic to achieve its goal.

CULTURAL IMPERIALISM

CULTURAL IMPERIALISM: YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW Introduction The paper includes a bulk of analysis about the def...