Title: 13.7 Cultural Imperialism – Understanding Media and Culture
Headings: 13.7 Cultural Imperialism
13.7 Cultural Imperialism
Learning Objectives
Cultural Hegemony
Spreading American Tastes Through McDonaldization
McDonaldizing Media
Cultural Imperialism, Resentment, and Terrorism
Freedom, Democracy, and Rock ’n’ Roll
Key Takeaways
Exercises
End-of-Chapter Assessment
Critical Thinking Questions
Career Connection
References

Content: According to Tomlinson, “No one really disputes the dominant presence of Western multinational, and particularly American, media in the world: what is doubted is the cultural implications of this presence (Tomlinson, 2001).” There are, of course, by-products of American cultural exports throughout the world. American cultural mores, such as the Western standard of beauty, have increasingly made it into global media. As early as 1987, Nicholas Kristof wrote in The New York Times about a young Chinese woman who was planning to have an operation to make her eyes look rounder, more like the eyes of Caucasian women. Western styles—“newfangled delights like nylon stockings, pierced ears and eye shadow”—also began to replace the austere blue tunics of Mao-era China. The pervasiveness of cultural influence is difficult to track, however, as the young Chinese woman says that she wanted to have the surgery not because of Western looks but because “she thinks they are pretty (Kristof, 1987).” Cultural Imperialism, Resentment, and Terrorism
Figure 13.7
After September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush framed the issue of terrorism as a cultural conflict as much as a military one. Wikimedia Commons – public domain. Not everyone views the spread of American tastes as a negative occurrence.