Cultural Imperialism

Originated
The term emerged in the 1960s and has been a focus of research since at least the 1970s. Terms such as "media imperialism", "structural imperialism", "cultural dependency and domination", "cultural synchronization", "electronic colonialism", "ideological imperialism", and "economic imperialism" have all been used to describe the same basic notion of cultural imperialism.

Cultural imperialism
One culture can dominate others by its commerce; by its superior products and technologies which create a demand; by its cultural achievements whether they are scientific, literary, artistic, intellectual or social; and negatively, by intimidation of size and nearness, and by forced political and military agreements. When cultural dominance is perpetuated without sensitivity to, and respect for, indigenous ways of life, it is imperialistic and expansionist, feeding on its own success. Where a population is susceptible it may experience cultural invasion from more than one source. For example, it may adopt as an additional language one that is foreign; it may follow consumer patterns from another model; and it may accept ideologies from still a third source. Populations may become culturally dependent on foreign importations, stifling their own development in literature, science, education, mass media, behavior and language, and in economic growth

Theorist
Many of today's academics that employ the term, cultural imperialism, are heavily informed by the work of Foucault, Derrida, Said, and other poststructuralist and theorists.

Michel Foucault
Foucault said that Cultural imperialism is his philosophical interpretation of power and his concept of governmentality. Foucault defines power as immaterial, as a "certain type of relation between individuals" that has to do with complex strategic social positions that relate to the subject's ability to control its environment and influence those around it. Foucault defines governmentality as the broad art of "governing," which goes beyond the traditional conception of governance in terms of state mandates, and into other realms such as governing "a household, souls, children, a province, a convent, a religious order, a family.

Herbert Schiller
Herbert Schiller in his 1976 work "Communication and Cultural Domination" proposed the use of the term "cultural imperialism" to describe and explain the way in which large multinational corporations, including the media, of developed countries dominated developing countries. He has been lauded as one of the major proponents of cultural imperialism theory and his 1976 publication is often cited in studies relating to cultural imperialism.

Critique
John Tomlinson provides a critique of cultural imperialism theory that relies on some of the key points. He argues that one of the fundamental conceptual mistakes of cultural imperialism is to take for granted that the distribution of cultural goods can be considered as cultural dominance. To support this argument, he criticizes the concept that Americanization is occurring through global overflow of American television products.

Other major critiques are that the term is not defined well, and employs further terms that are not defined well, and therefore lacks explanatory power, that cultural imperialism is hard to measure, and that the theory of a legacy of colonialism is not always true.

Examples of Cultural Imperialism

History holds testimony to several instances which serve as excellent cultural imperialism examples. English Cultural Imperialism Right from Cricket to the language itself, English cultural imperialism is a gargantuan chapter in the history of cultural dominance. From replacing Latin with English as the Church's official language to popularizing its national game all across its colonies, the British Empire left no stone unturned to make sure that its subjects adhered to its cultural idiosyncrasies even decades after ceasing to be its subjects. The fact that Cricket is among the top ten most popular sports around the world with an estimated 3 billion fan following, especially in countries like Australia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, New Zealand and certain African and Caribbean countries proves the strength of the English cultural imperialism. Also, the fact that English is the third most spoken language in the world (after Mandarin and Spanish), also re-establishes the same point. Chinese Cultural Imperialism Decade of domination and repressive policies towards Tibet, Taiwan and various other neighboring regions by China has a very significant influence upon the religion and the culture of these regions. The aggressive promotion of a standardized Chinese language across Mainland China and Taiwan indicates towards an attempted cultural imperialism aimed at overtaking regional dialects in these regions.