The Contemporary World

UNIT 2: Media and Globalization

Introduction:
In the previous lessons, it is given that globalization is a process which is currently occurring as
of now. On its impact, it is easily seen in culture and technology. With the movies from Hollywood
and Pop songs from South Korea that circulates across the globe, people now can explore various
cultures and way of living in the world. The development of technology even made way for more
accessible in food industry. Foods from the other country is not anymore exclusive to them such
as McDonalds from United States dominates the world food chain and the obsession to South
Korean’s Samgyeopsal. In this lesson, we tackle more of the development of media and culture
in the globalizing world.

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this unit students must be able to:
1. Analyze how global integration form through various media
2. Explain the process between local and global cultural production
3. Derive cultural consumption and consumer pattern from the impact of globalization in
media

Sections of the Unit:

1. What is media?
2. What is global village and imagined community?
3. Impact of globalization in media and culture

It can be true that globalization fueled the spread of values culture, but it can also be true that via
media, globalization was pushed through. By any means, such as oral, script, print, electronic,
and digital, media influenced globalization and even the way of living of the people. With the
invention of the television, people start sitting around their homes just watching the pictures and
stories across the globe. The global village, an imagined community, emerged merely because
of the television. People start seeing how other people live, eat, or work as if we knew everyone
without seeing each other face to face. They imagined themselves acting the things other people
do. Since then, the interaction of cultures was intensified than ever before. Lule (2012) claimed
that we cannot imagine globalization occurring without the media which is crucial to human life.
Media, as defined by Lule (2014), is “a means of conveying something, such as a channel of
communication”. Medium is the plural word and it is the technologies of mass communication. As
we have mentioned above, globalization enabled the large amount of interaction of cultures and
it tends to influence each other. In the Globalization and Culture: Global Mélange of Jan
Nederveen Pieterse (2004: 41–58 cited in Lule, 2014) argues that there are actually three aspects
to consider the influence of globalization on culture:
• Cultural differentialism - suggests that cultures are different, strong, and resilient. It
can suggest that cultures are destined to clash as globalization continually brings them
together

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• Cultural convergence - suggests that globalization will bring about a growing

sameness of cultures. A global culture, likely American culture, some fear, will overtake
many local cultures, which will lose their distinctive characteristics.
▪ ‘cultural imperialism’, in which the cultures of more developed nations ‘invade’ and
take over the cultures of less developed nations. (homogenized)
● Cultural hybridity – suggests that globalization will bring about an increasing blending
or mixture of cultures.
With the greater amount of interaction of cultures due to globalization, the term glocalization
existed. It specifies for the media and globalization as the facts of life in local cultures (Lule, 2014).
Media’s role in glocalization
o Site – i.e. American Idol
o Agents – i.e. KPop music spread globally through television, radios and magazines,
Philippine starts producing girl/boy band group

Korean song’s fame from Psy’s Gangnam Style craze

Surely, local culture was the result of multiple interactions with the other previous culture.
Influencing the local culture, in the times of globalization, is inevitable.
How media affect societies?
• Extend and amputate human senses – dulled our capacity to remember because of
digital development; with this development, people can now communicate easily but with
lesser intimacy.
• Creation of “global village”
• Homogenization of culture – as culture tend to homogenize, the spread of dominant
culture (e.g. American hegemony could create cultural imperialism where their values
and culture is spread and even manifested in consumer patterns nowadays as if it was
dictated by the Americans to them.)
❖ Cultural imperialism is criticized because consumers/audiences are active
participants and stressed that they are not passive thinkers in accepting/watching
media messages. Also, not all of the popculture refers to American culture, such
as Hello Kitty, Pokemon, and Korean novelas, this was due to Renewed strength
of regional trends in the globalization process.
• Democratization of access – knowledge can now easily access even using a smart
phone.

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• “Cyberbalkanization” – eco chambers (e.g. people tend to make their own world by
hiding some post from their news feed. With this, people prevent other users from
listening to or opinions and information that challenges their viewpoints, thus, making
them more close-minded as if they are placed in a chamber. This can even manipulate
political events manifested in the film The Great Hack which discussed how Trump
organization influenced voters through Facebook algorithms.

LESSON 5: GLOBAL DEMOGRAPHY

UNIT 1: Global City

Introduction

The global structure is reflected upon the cities itself. Global and local are merging forming
global cities. These cities represent the interconnection and interrelation of nations in constant
exchanging of resources. This chapter provides discussions on the relationship of the global and
local. This chapter discusses the image of progress that cities portray and the contrasting poverty
within it.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this unit students must be able to:

1. Defining the Global City

2. Relate the contemporary global issues and local problems and
3. Explain how local context affects the global ideas and vice versa.
4. Demonstrate critical thinking in comprehending contemporary issues and problems of
modernity

Sections of the Unit:

1. Global Cities Global cities are strategic for new types of operations
2. Different Societies appropriate the materials of modernity differently
3. Global Issues, Local Perspectives
4.Globalization and Urban Problems

Defining the Global City

Globalization is spatial, you can see it when foreign investments and capital move through
the city and when skyscrapers are built by companies. Bridges connect the flow of goods and
services and many infrastructures assist or mediating exchanges. Accompanied by these events
are jobs generated by the demand created by this economic flow. As all these happen, the poor
are driven to city centers to make way for opportunities.

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