Cultural Imperialism

By Abid Zafar

MS-3rd - Fall 2015International Islamic University Islamabad

SLOs

• Understanding Culture• Culture & Communication• Classical Dominant Approaches of Communication &

Culture• Imperialism• Which Motives Caused Imperialism?

SLOs• Cultural Imperialism• Media & Cultural Imperialism• Two Models of Cultural Imperialism• Contributions to Cultural

Imperialism• Defense of Cultural Imperialism by

Response Theorists• Post Structuralism Approach of

Cultural Imperialism

• Theory of Globalization• Critics of U.S Cultural

Imperialism Revised Their Earlier Reproaches (World System Theory)

• New Face of Imperialism• The Media Monopoly by Ben

Bagdikian • Cultural Imperialism in Pakistan

Culture• For peaceful survival, human beings have to live in a society

with politeness, peace and with somewhat compromising behavior

• All members who live in a society have to face many difficulties, problems and realities; e.g., they need shelter and food for life

• They transmit, what they have, to their coming generations• This transmission of problems, beauties and liabilities to the

future generations is known as ‘culture’. This feature makes the culture known as social heritage

According to Bannet, (1982)

• Culture is used to refer to all the activities of life whether these are social, physical, external or internal

• Its material components include buildings, furniture, clothing, musical instruments and other tangible stuff. It is the sum total of all the tangible and intangible things including art and craft, customs and traditions, ideas, values, social and political norms and habits etc.

• Technology and development are also components of a culture

These two concepts are simultaneously cause and effect for each other and play a vital role in the transformation of a culture from tradition-oriented society to a modern one. And, this transformation happens due to the cultural industries; i.e., mass media

According to Dhal (2000) • Culture is a human medium that translates and governs man’s actions

and give meanings to what he does or consciously refrains from it• It has roots in a Latin word ‘colere’, which means ‘to build on, to

cultivate, and to foster’• The meanings of the Latin word apparently indicate that ‘culture’ is

somehow opposite to ‘nature’ as ‘culture’ is built and cultivated while ‘nature’ has an intrinsic value.

• In other words, ‘culture’ is constructed while ‘nature’ is innate, and a society is the mix of ‘culture’ and ‘nature’.

Cont…

• Jalibi, (1984) Man, by nature, is a cultural animal who prefers to live in a social system that has the attributes distinguishing it from other societies or social groups

• Watson, (2003) saying that ‘culture is made up of language, history, tradition, climate, geography, art, socio-economic values and every nation sizes its current prosperity with the nature of its culture’

• Loss of culture, loss of identity

• Culture exists in the minds and habit patterns of the member of a society. It is invisible in the behaviour of individual as they are engaged in various forms of socially learned ways of doing things.

• Individuals may not be conscious of what they do and the way they do, but their behaviour is streamlined accordingly to the socially approved ways of society; hence, no deviance, and no cognitive dissonance

We can say that culture:

• is the product of social interaction• Offers socially approved patterns for our biological and

social needs• is a social heritage that gets transferred from one

generation to other in a given society• is learned by every individual in the course of his personal

development

Relationship Between Culture & Communication

• Cultures are created through communication• Communication is the means of human interaction

through which cultural characteristics— whether customs, roles, rules, rituals, laws, or other patterns—are created and shared

• Without communication and communication media, it would be impossible to preserve and pass along cultural characteristics from one place and time to another.

Cont…

• One can say, therefore, that culture is created, shaped, transmitted, and learned through communication. The reverse is also the case; that is, communication practices are largely created, shaped, and transmitted by culture

• Cultures are complex and multifaceted• Cultures are subjective• Cultures change over time• Cultures are largely invisible

Classical Dominant Approaches of Communication & Culture

• There are 4 approaches1. Classical Marxist Theory2. The Frankfurt School3. Althusser’s Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs)4. Gramsci’s Hegemony

1. Classical Marxist Theory• According to classical Marxist’s approach, mass media are

the ‘means of production’ which are controlled and used by the ruling class. Curran et al. (1982) quotes: “The class which has the means of material production at its disposal has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it.”

2. The Frankfurt School • The Frankfurt School has profound contributions towards the

discipline of mass communication and culture, which was initially considered as the leftist-wing of Marxist school.

• Later developments, however, placed its critiques on high grounds. The notions of ‘culture industries’, ‘mass society’ and ‘public sphere’ became the most popular constructs of the discipline.

• Frankfurt School recognized the industrialization of mass-produced culture through ‘cultural industries’ (mass media) and declared them as the most significant agents of socialization

Cont…

• Dialectic of Enlightenment by Horkheimer and Adorno (2002, p.163) is one of the most famous critiques of Frankfurt School on ‘cultural industries’ which condemns the totalitarianism by declaring it the ‘end of individual’ where ‘cultural industries’ (mass media) are employed to eradicate the individual and produce mass society

3. Althusser’s Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs)

• Louis Althusser is a structural functionalist whose work is based on Marxist philosophies.

• He recognizes the mass media as a social institution that has the primary responsibility of creating acceptance of dominant ideologies and values in a social system.

• Althusser refers to the social institutions as the ’Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs)’ that function to legitimize the ideologies offered by the dominant class

Cont…

• Religion, education, family, legal-frameworks, politics, trade unions, culture and communications are some of the ISAs functions in almost every social system

• His views can better be understood in the structural-functionalist perspective, which says that an activity should not be explained on its own, but as part of a larger unit (Menzies, 1982)

4. Gramsci’s Hegemony• Antonio Gramsci theorized that a society is composed of

diverse social groups wherein ‘hegemony’ or ‘dominance’ of a social group over others is achieved through the use of social institutions, particularly mass media.

• Here, ‘hegemony’ represents the dominance of a social group by projecting the ideas of a particular group in a way that they appear as ‘common sense’ and natural for the subordinate groups (Alvarado & Boyd-Barrett, 1992)

Imperialism• A policy of extending a country’s power and influence

through colonization, use of military force (Oxford Dictionaries)

• Colonialism refers to the policy and practice of a power in extending control over weaker peoples or areas

Imperialism:(Encyclopædia Britannica)

• State policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas. Because it always involves the use of power, whether military force or some subtler form, imperialism has often been considered morally reprehensible, and the term is frequently employed in international propaganda to denounce and discredit an opponent’s foreign policy

Imperialism:(Merriam Webster)

• A policy or practice by which a country increases its power by gaining control over other areas of the world

• Formal and Informal ways of Imperialism

Which Motives Caused Imperialism?

• Exploration• Economic• Political• Geostrategic• Ideological• Technological

Exploration

• David Livingstone (1813-73) was a Scottish missionary and medical doctor who explored much of the interior of Africa

• In a remarkable journey in 1853-56, he became the first European to cross the African continent.

• Livingstone’s most famous expedition was in 1866-73, when he explored central Africa in an attempt to find the source of the Nile.

Economic Motives

• Industrial nations needed raw materials/natural recourses (Rubber from Central Africa)

• Markets to sell products (British India)• Overseas investments (constructing railways & ports…)

Political Motives

• National prestige: to be the best and biggest umpires• Different national reasons: France to forget the defeat in

1870, Germany and Italy to become great powers• New rivalries: GB vs Germany, GB vs France, US vs Japan

Geostrategic Causes

• Great Britain fought for controlling the seas by acquiring strategic enclaves (Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus..)

Ideological Motives

• Belief in European superiority• Conflict between nations and races lead to social progress

as superior races outcompete inferior ones• Western civilization undertook the mission of civilizing the

world• Spreading Christianism

Technological Motives

• Technological superiority• Steam engine and railroads allowed easier travel• Increased exploration • Improvements in communication

Cultural Imperialism• Cultural imperialism is defined as the cultural aspects of

imperialism• Imperialism, here, is referring to the creation and

maintenance of unequal relationships between civilizations favoring the more powerful civilization

• Therefore, it can be defined as the practice of promoting and imposing a culture

• Usually of politically powerful nations over less potent societies

Cont…• The fact of the culture of a large and powerful country,

organization, etc. having a great influence on another less powerful country, etc: The brand has become a symbol of globalization and, to some, one of the most vivid examples of cultural imperialism (Cambridge Dictionary)

Media & Cultural Imperialism

• The concept of media and cultural imperialism was made prominent by a number of Latin American thinkers including Antonio Pasquali, Luis Ramiro Beltran, Fernando Reyes Matta, and Mario Kaplun. In addition, Dallas Smythe, Herbert Schiller, Oliver Boyd-Barrett, and Armand Mattelart have been instrumental to the development of this theory

• Adherents of the media imperialism tradition held that a small group of Western countries not only controlled the international media trade but used it to transmit their particular cultural and economic values, particularly individualism and consumerism, to large numbers of developing nations around the world

Cont…

• According to Barret (1997), the country which is affected by media influence either adopts this influence as a deliberate commercial or political strategy, or simply absorbs this influence unreflectively as the result of the contract

• According to Herbert Schiller (1976), ‘The concept of cultural imperialism today best describes the sum of the processes by which a society is brought into the modern world system and how is dominating stratum is attracted, pressured, forced, and sometimes bribed into shaping social institutions to correspond to, or even promote, the value and structures of the dominating center of the system.’

Two Models of Cultural Imperialism

• Boyd-Barrett provides a useful distinction between the “Schiller Model” of cultural imperialism and the “Generic model”.

• The generic model, developed in Europe (and heavily influenced by Boyd-Barrett himself) integrates time/space considerations, so is more widely applicable than the Schiller Model. It acknowledges the “multidimensionality” of media forms and degrees of dependence and imperialism – so it is not as important if the focus is on the third-world of the developed world. The model can be used to analyze, for instance, the domination of American television in the UK.

Contributions to Cultural Imperialism

• Stuart Hall argues that the global mass culture is actually predominantly American culture. Hall looks at the global cultural sphere as being “dominated by the visual and graphic arts . . . dominated by television and by film, and by the image, imagery, and styles of mass advertising.” (Disney)

Cont…

• Edward Said writes that Europe has constructed its identity by “relegating and confining the non-European to a secondary racial, cultural, ontological status.”

• According to Herbert Schiller, globalization is a process whereby all global cultures are inexorably drawn into the sphere of influence of one single ‘capitalist culture’. Schiller also connects the capitalist culture argument with the “Americanization” thesis – the diffusion of “homogenized North Atlantic cultural slop.”

Criticism• A number of scholars have claimed that the cultural

imperialists "have shown remarkable provincialism, forgetting the existence of empires before that of the United States

• The British in India and the Middle East, the Germans in Africa, and the French in Indochina all imposed their own culture abroad as a powerful tool to strengthen trade, commerce, and political influence and recruit intellectual elites for their own purposes

Cont…

• In addition, new studies on U.S. policies in Asia and Europe have demonstrated that American policymakers did not hesitate to sacrifice economic (and ideological) objectives in order to realize geopolitical interests

• The State Department as well as Congress were often reluctant to develop a full-fledged policy of cultural diplomacy

Defense of Cultural Imperialism by Response Theorists

• Yet by far the most emphatic attacks against the critics of cultural imperialism came from Tomlinson, Frederick Buell, and others, who reproached authors such as Schiller for falling into the very trap they originally wished to avoid

• Schiller and others had assumed an imperialist perspective that viewed the Third World as made up of fragile and helpless cultures while at the same time serving the interests of Western modernity

• It was said that the critics of cultural imperialism employed a theory suffering from a vague language of domination, colonialism, and imposition

Cont…

• Cultural imperialism, according to John Tomlinson, consists of the spread of modernity

• There never were groups of conspirators who attempted to spread any particular culture

• Instead, global technological and economic progress and integration reduced the importance of national culture

• It is misleading to put the blame for a global development on any one culture

Cont…

• James Ettema, D. Charles Whitney, and others suggested in their studies of the media that audiences make conscious choices concerning what they listen to, read, and watch. Studies of underground movements in China and Eastern Europe in 1989 also demonstrate that in many cases, Western television programs inspired audiences to start a revolution against their own political leaders

Islamic Society’s Opposition to W.C

• Another group of scholars concluded that audiences not only simply accepted the fruits of Western cultural imperialism but developed a strong resistance to American products and culture. Scholars of Islamic societies have consistently emphasized the stark opposition of orthodox Muslims to Western influences. Individual studies in cinematography, drama, literature, and cultural studies in Latin America, Asia, and Africa demonstrate that, notwithstanding the influence of Western goods, since the mid-1970s local audiences began to reject individual aspects of Western culture

French Opposition to U.S Culture

• French opposition to U.S. culture "was (and is) about both America and France," because it intensified French fears of losing their cultural identity

• Kuisel concedes that the French underwent a process of Americanization

• But at the same time, they succeeded in defending their "Frenchness." • French consumers found some American products appealing but they

also continued to cherish and idealize French national identity, notably the idea of a superior French high culture

German Opposition to U.S culture

• The average German citizen traditionally tended (and tends) to adhere to a more exclusive image of culture than his or her American counterpart

• The arts, music, and performance dependent on state funding

Conclusion of Response Theorists

• The response theorists concluded that the model of a unilateral attempt to force consumer products and ideas on foreign nations is fundamentally flawed

• Resistance and cultural identity played a powerful role in the perception of American culture abroad

Post Structuralism Approach of Cultural Imperialism

• Informed by the poststructuralist approach, scholars from a variety of disciplines suggested in the late twentieth century that the term "cultural imperialism" be replaced with another term that seeks to circumvent the simplistic active-passive, dominator-victim dualism

• For Example: Rock music in Italy and the reception of Disneyland in France. Cultural Transmissions describes the various avenues of acceptance, rejection, and alteration that audiences may choose when confronted with American culture

Theory of Globalization• Spurred by the vision of a "global village," another group

of scholars has advanced a theory of "globalization." • That term alludes to the compression of the world as well

as to humans' increasing perception of the earth as an organic whole.

• Many understand this phenomenon simply as an economic development. Yet globalization is multidisciplinary in its causes and its effects.

Cont…

• Its vague meaning allows researchers to interpret the term broadly; thus, it includes many features of modernization, including the spread of Western capitalism, technology, and scientific rationality.

• In late 20th century, this theory constructed the conceptual framework of universalism

Cont…

• Sociologist Roland Robertson, one of the most prominent advocates of a global theory, proposed that a new concept replace the prevalent social scientific system of mapping the globe into three different worlds after the end of colonialism in the 1960s. Instead of a tripartite worldview, he outlined a vision of the globe as a more organic, interconnected, single network.

The Future• Scholars such as Karen Fog employed the global approach to

reflect on the tension between local and supranational cultural and political developments. Some of these analyses presented a despairingly bleak picture of the future cultural world order

• Huntington, for example, invoked the specter of a "clash of civilizations," a World War III, where Western and Eastern societies would battle not for political and ideological reasons but as a consequence of cultural conflicts

Critics of U.S Cultural Imperialism Revised Their Earlier Reproaches by these Lines

• Herbert I. Schiller, reframed his argument in terms of world-systems theory. In an article published in 1991, he portrayed an expansive, transnational corporate authority that has replaced an autonomous United States in influencing all economic and cultural activity

World System Theory

• World Systems Theory, like dependency theory, suggests that wealthy countries benefit from other countries and exploit those countries' citizens. In contrast to dependency theory, however, this model recognizes the minimal benefits that are enjoyed by low status countries in the world system

Overview

• In the 1960s and 1970s, the topic became part of the nascent discussion of U.S. imperialism, which stressed the economic and psychological implications of culture; there was too much American culture abroad, scholars implied

• But under the impact of worldwide resistance against American cultural imperialism and the influence of poststructuralism in the late 1980s, leading scholars in the field reconsidered their findings or developed new approaches

Cont…

• As the twentieth century ended, many no longer viewed the spread of American and Western culture exclusively as unilateral "imperialism" but as an ongoing process of negotiation among regional, ethnic, and national groups.

News Face of Imperialism• The New Face of Imperialism say that ‘‘human beings

tend, in whatever part of the world they may live, to watch the same television programs, see the same movies, listen to the same music, and read the same, or indistinguishable, newspapers and magazines.’’

• In a similar vein, Pitchon observes: ‘‘The same types of buildings go up in Kuala Lumpur as in California; the same food can be eaten in Mexico and Mongolia; the same violent Hollywood blockbusters can be seen in Scandinavia and South America.’’

The Corporate Age• The development of mass communication technologies in

recent decades has led to rapid exchange of ideas and information throughout the world, turning the world into a ‘‘global village’’ --- a term made popular by Canadian media theorist Marshal McLuhan

• During the last two decades, transnational corporations and financial institutions have globalized their activities and forced governments to abandon controls on foreign exchange (trading) of their currencies

Cont…

• Transnational corporations have come to dominate the world economy.

• Operating in dozens of countries and producing for an increasingly globalized marketplace

• The political domination of the United States, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the development of new techniques for production and new forms of organization have also contributed towards the globalization of economy

Cont…

• The most influential organizations on the international level --- the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization --- are actively promoting the emergence of a global market

Enormous Extension of Private Power in the Information and Entertainment Sphere

• The production of the mass culture today is in the hands of a few mega-corporations, most of which are located in the United States. These corporations often merge, creating an even smaller circle of power and eliminating any real and fair competition

Cont…

• Ben Bagdikian wrote in his book The Media Monopoly, first published in 1982, that 50 corporations are controlling half or more of the media including movie studios, newspapers, magazines, book publishing, and radio and television stations.

• By December 1986, when he finished a revision for a second edition, the 50 had shrunk to 29.

• When the latest edition of his book was published in 1993, the number was down to 20. According to Bagdikian, narrow corporate control of mass communications

The United States Information Agency (USIA)

• The civilian governmental broadcasting establishment, makes a point to reach foreign audiences.

• ‘‘The Voice of America, the radio arm of USIA, transmits some 845 hours in 38 languages weekly to overseas an audience of unknown size.

• The Agency also distributes taped programs and scripts to local stations throughout the world and estimates that its materials are broadcast by more that 5000 stations some 15000 hours week.’’

Cont…

• A USIA official Wilson Dizard expressed clearly that this penetration was intentional and planned when he spoke to Congress about how difficult it was for the Agency to penetrat China:

• ‘‘You know the Chinese mainland is in effect the toughest nut for us to crack in terms of getting in.... The only way we can get in these days is through the Voice of America. We are beefing up our facilities in the Far East right now for this purpose. Unfortunately we are not permitted to go in and put up our own wall posters.’’

Example• Another example is the case of Indonesia, which once was

Asia’s largest film producing region. • Today it is slowly withering away due to the dramatic

influx of foreign films. • One of the major reasons for its demise is that, in 1991,

Indonesia was blackmailed by the United States to give the US Motion Picture Export Association greater access to its domestic market

Cont…

• . In return, Indonesia was to receive a thirty-five percent increase in US quotas for its textile producers.

• Giant media corporations destroy local cultures throughout the world primarily by targeting the young.

• This is not only because the young are the most vulnerable to the influence of mass media, but also because of the fact that, once the younger generation is persuaded to abandon the traditional ways in favor of the new consumer culture, the future generations will inevitably follow in its footsteps

Media Control• In the United States, six global media corporations control 90% of what we see, hear

and read.

1. Comcast (NBC / Universal)

2. News Corp (Fox News / Wall Street Journal)

3. Time Warner (CNN)

4. Viacom

5. Disney (ABC)

6. CBS

Food For Thought

• First and foremost, these corporations fully realize that what they are selling to the world are not life necessities, but rather lifestyles. Coca-Cola, for instance, understands this well, for one of its executive admitted: ‘‘American culture broadly defined --- music, film, fashion and food --- has become culture worldwide.’’

• In order to sell these products which are often totally irrelevant and alien to other cultures, transnational corporations must create artificial ‘‘needs’’ and build loyalty to their brand names

Cont…

• Nike, for example, is able to sell its shoes on a grand scale not because they are more comfortable, but because of the images of popularity and glamour associated with its brand name. Thus, when these shoes are bought for their brand name rather than for utility or comfort, they become ‘‘a lifestyle choice arising out of the manipulation of emotions linked to sports and winning, rather than to satisfaction of needs linked to walking and shoes.’’

Cont…

• Benjamin Barber accurately explains the influence of consumer products on lifestyles with regards to McDonald’s:

• When a person in a Third World nation consumes a McDonald’s burger with a bottle of Coca-Cola, enjoying the stylish environment of a typical outlet, he or she also imbibes the spirit of America. What is being consumed is much more than junk food; it is the symbol of the power, privilege, and affluence of the United States that is being taken in

Cultural Imperialism in Pakistan

• PTV founded on 26 November 1964• Live Broadcasting

Pakistani Dramas in Past 70’s

• Khuda ki Basti by Shaukat Siddique• Close to life (Reliability)• Highlighted the problems of society

Pakistani Dramas in 80’s

• Waaris (early 80’s) by Amjad Islam Amjad• Absence of women representation• Highlight the problems of rural areas• Strong content

Pakistani Dramas in 90’s

• Neelay Haath (1988) by Shahid Nadeem• True depiction of what goes on in our society• This play was responding to President General Zia-ul-Haq,

who in the name of religion had introduced laws of discriminatory to women

Pakistani Dramas in 2000’s

• Mehandi (2003) by Seema Ghazal• Like Indian Soaps• Glamour and based on wedding events• Good Visuals• No message

Private Channels & Cultural Imperialism

Foreign Contents

1. Indian films, dramas, TV Shows, Theater 2. Hollywood films3. Turkish films & Dramas4. Social Media

Impact of Foreign Contents on Clothing Language Religion Food Customs Family Visual Arts Performing arts Recreation and Sports Celebrations

Foreign News Channels in Pakistan

BBC World News South Asia CNN International South Asia Aljazeera English International Sky News International Fox News International NHK World Asia Channel News Asia Euro News DW-TV Bloomberg Television

Effects of Cultural Imperialism on Society

• Traditional Food replaced by Fast Food• Urdu language replace by English (Youth feels ashamed of

specking urdu)• Spreading Westernization through Enlightenment• Islamic values and “Adaabs” have been faded away (Call for

prayers, Ramdan, Alcohal, Smoking)• Relationship before Marriage• Dresses

Cont…

• Dating (People have come forward with this western culture of going out together and dating in the “Cafe's”

• Celebrations ( Eids are losing its charms while majority is interested in Holi, Diwali, Christmas and New Year celebrations )

Solution• The solution lies in producing local programs to protect

the people from foreign influence. • This is supposed to promote local culture and therefore

provide a shield against the onslaught of the more dominant one.

•

Cont…

• For instance, Anwar Ibrahim, former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, said in a speech:

• ‘‘We are already on the way to gaining control of the communication technologies to empower ourselves with the means, as it were, to mount a counter offensive. Yet that so-called empowerment would be meaningful only if we ourselves could offer cultural products that could successfully compete for the attention of a discerning universal audience. In other words, not only do we have to fortify ourselves against negative cultural bombardment, we must be able to make positive and lasting contributions to a new world civilization which is just and equitable.’’

Cont…

• Need to rebuild this system

• Need to create alternative models which represents Islamic culture and values

• Need to develop their own national communication policies

• Need Muslims Unity

Bibliography• Zafar, I., Khan R. F. & Gazzaz (2012), Communication and culture:

Reflections on the perspectives of influence. Wulfenia Journal, 19(8); 197-212• Cultural Imperialism and Pakistani Media by Ejaz Ahmad Notes• http://aabidzafar.blogspot.com/2015/01/problems-with-current-mass-media-

in.html• http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/imperialism• http://www.britannica.com/topic/imperialism• http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imperialism• http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/cultural-imperialism

Cont…

• http://www.uky.edu/~drlane/capstone/mass/imperialism.htm• http://www.slideshare.net/sajid93/impact-of-turkish-and-western-

culture-in-pakistan• http://www.slideshare.net/MUDESER/influence-of-western-culture-

in-pakistan• http://www.slideshare.net/owaiskhokhar/impact-of-indian-media-on-our-

culture• http://www.slideshare.net/historiasiglo20/colonialism-and-imperialism• http://www.slideshare.net/andywallis/cultural-imperialism-15568071