Media, Globalization & Culture

Ø The Marshall Plan (post-war Europe)

s Organized in 1947 by George Catlett Marshall,

- Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff in WWII

- Secretary of State in 1947 under Harry Truman

Ø Third World Development ("modernization) -- a new "Marshall Plan"? -- emphasis:

s Technological innovation

s Cultural change (westernization)

Ø Two basic principles of modernization theory:

s Opposing fascism and communism

s Secularization

Ø Problems with modernization theory

s Economic dependency (core-periphery; North-South)

s Cultural erosion

Ø Cultural Geopolitics: Challenges to Modernization and Dependency

s Cold War and “Non-Alignment”

s New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO – “en – wee – co”)

- MacBride Report: “Many Voices, One World” (1980)

Report by the International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems)

Began work in Dec. 1977

- US withdrawal from UNESCO (1983)

- General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), concluded in 1993, leads to World Trade Organization (WTO)

Ongoing point of resistance: “The Cultural Exception”

Ø Ben Wattenberg, "The First Universal Nation"

s Immigration

s Intermarriage ("exogamy")

- Melting pot: denying or "dissolving" differences

This view is sometimes referred to as "assimilationist."

- Multiculturalism: recognizing or emphasizing differences

Critics of "multiculturalism," as Wattenberg defines it, feel that recognition or emphasis of difference leads to cultural fragmentation.

Wattenberg defines these two concepts ("melting pot" and "multiculturalism") in a mutually exclusive way. You're either for the melting pot or your for multiculturalism.

s "Universalization" of American popular culture

Wattenberg views American popular culture as the representation to the world of American universalism.

Q: Is American popular culture a global culture?

Q: Does Hollywood accurately represent American culture?

Ø New Concerns, New Interpretations