UM Panabo College

Department of Accounting and Business Management Education

P.N. Arguelles St., San Francisco, Panabo City
Telefax # (084) 628-6437

Big Picture in Focus: ULOb. compare the social impacts of different media on the process
of globalization

Metalanguage

This form of learning will be a journey for you since we will start from understanding the
basic terms to help you understand media in relation to globalization. In this particular part, you
will be exposed to essential terms that will be used to understand the content discussions:

1. Media – according to Lule, is a means of conveying something, such as a channel of

communication. It also means technologies of mass communication.
2. Globalism – is a term use to denote value on material wealth. It focuses on the laws
made by human beings, and purports the idea that the ultimate satisfaction in this world
can be made through conscious actions of people living in a certain society.

Essential Knowledge

To be able to grasp the big picture (unit learning outcomes) for weeks 6-7 of the course,
you need to fully understand the following essential knowledge that will be discussed in
succeeding pages. Please note that you may view other resource to have an enhanced
understanding of the content. Thus, you are expected to utilize other books, research articles and
other resources that are available in the university’s library e.g. ebrary, search.proquest.com etc.

Media and its Functions

While technically, Lule thinks that media is a means to convey something in various
channels of communication; other people might just think of it a channel of information for the
benefit of the general public. From merely understanding the denotation of the term, to how it is
being understood, media has gained its popularity as contributory factor enhancing the spread of
globalization worldwide. According to the media theorist Marshall McLuhan, “the medium is the
message”, this tenders an understanding of the media being a technology used to reshape the
society. He explained that the existence of media can bring the general mass dual effect. It can
either enhance something, or dull something on the other hand. For instance, in the medieval
period, people used different channels to communicate like oral and written sources to transfer
knowledge. However, with the influx of technology pertaining to communication, like cellular
phones, its enhanced communication activity between communities, but it dulled the people’s
ability to focus on the communication process due to distractions of multitask using the technology
(Claudio et al., 2018).

The Global Village and Cultural Imperialism

In the works of McLuhan, he emphasized the role of technology pertaining to media in

reshaping the society and in influencing other people’s culture. For instance, he used the
“television” as a tool that shapes or turns the society into a “global village” (Claudio et al., 2018).
Since time immemorial, people from across society, used varied channels of communication to
transfer knowledge and/or stories from one generation to another. At present times where
technology is dominating, people would just sit in front of “bright boxes”, to get information
worldwide. This has led to McLuhan’s assumption that, these forms of technology can facilitate
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 UM Panabo College
Department of Accounting and Business Management Education
P.N. Arguelles St., San Francisco, Panabo City
Telefax # (084) 628-6437

homogeneity of culture, which might cause “cultural imperialism” later on. For instance, ever
since the television become a popular media influencing the cultural practices of the people around
the world, which is dominated by American programs in the year 1960, it somehow
“Americanized” the practices of people who have access to the technology (Claudio et al., 2018).
This form of cultural imperialism has devastated local cultural practices, as people from other
countries embrace “American Culture”, during those times.

Critiques of Cultural Imperialism

Advocates of the idea of cultural imperialism singled out the fact that media and its
messages are not just created by media creators; they are also absorbed completely by the
receivers. In the 1980s, people who study media started to understand the paths of how people
interpreted the messages thru varied media platforms. In the works of Ien Ang, he emphasized the
idea on how people from the Netherlands, interpreted the messages depicted by “Americal Soap
Operas”. He discovered that the people watching the soaps, did not just passively accepted the
“American Culture”, but related the experience they saw to their local experiences, tendering the
impossibility of the definite effect of cultural imperialism (Claudio et al., 2018). Other scholars,
Elihu Katz and Tamar Liebes, enhanced the idea of Ang, through doing similar study in different
cultures. They found out that people from across countries vary in their reaction and understanding
towards the programs aired by the American producers. Others view the programs as a sort of
propaganda, while others treat them as shows for entertainment purposes only. These complexities
in the absorption of the “direct message” from various media channels, fuel the idea that may be,
though there may exists such idea as cultural imperialism, there is more to it than meets the eye.
For the most part, we might just consider these phenomena, as part of the period of cross-cultural
forms of culture sharing.

Conclusion

This lesson presented that diverse media have diverse effects on globalization processes.
At a glance, it looked that global television was generating a “global monoculture” (Claudio et al.,
2018). Now, it is more likely that social media will fragment cultures and ideas into lathers of
people who do not interrelate. Societies can never be entirely equipped for the quick changes in the
schemes of communication. Each technological modification, after all, makes numerous
unpremeditated significances. Consumers and users of media will have a inflexible time revolving
the clock. Though individuals may independently try to keep out of Facebook or Twitter, for
example, these media will linger to stimulate social changes. Instead of dreading these deviations
or entering a state of moral panic, everyone must cooperatively discover ways of dealing with
them correctly and decently.

Self-Help: You can also refer to the sources below to help you further understand
the lesson:

* Claudio L.E. and Abinales, P. A. (2018). The Comtemporary World. Quezon City Philippines,
C & E Publishing Incorporated.