Chapter 10 Concept Map

Reflection of Learning

Creating this concept map definitely helped me further understand the differences between Cultural Imperialism and Cultural Proximity.  It also helped me pick out the most important information in chapter 10 and gave me a further understanding of the globalization concepts we talked about during class. While I have learned about globalization in my business classes, it was interesting to look from a more communicative viewpoint at the different theories of globalization. Before, I had a vague definition of globalization in my mind – I only know what implications it had in the marketing and business world. In particular, my international marketing class touched on how businesses must be culturally sensitive when going abroad in order to gain customers through appealing to their cultural beliefs and lifestyles. I now realize that this act of changing an ads messaging and/or adapting a product to suite a different culture is related to the theory of Cultural Proximity – people like what they know, and like to feel familiar and connected with products being sold to them. They want to feel understood, whether that be through a storyline, or through a product.

On the other hand, learning about Cultural Imperialism also made me think more deeply about the ads and messages I have been exposed to in the past and how they relate to this concept. In particular, I recalled the commercial Coke created for the 2014 Super Bowl. There has been a heated debate (both in the mass media and within our class discussion board) about what the true meaning and message of the commercial is. By having people of different cultures sing “America the Beautiful” in their own languages, is Coke celebrating cultural diversity, or highlighting the strength of American influence in other cultures? Basically, is this ad an example of Cultural Imperialism, or of Cultural Proximity? This question could be answered in many ways, but brings up the idea that these two concepts may become intertwined. While Cultural Imperialism is too narrow of a theory, and does not account for other culture’s media produced outside the United States, there are still instances where we see cultures trying to infiltrate foreign cultures through imperialistic means, whether to increase business or bring about political change.

While I do not have any further questions about the concepts at this time, I find myself pondering if there is a better theory that could be created to describe the globalization of media today. This book was published in 2009, before Twitter, Instagram, and other forms of social media really emerged and thrived, all of which add to the sharing of media across cultures. What power do these new media channels have? Right now, Twitter has the power to share international news instantly, and “trend” political movements. I would argue that the currently accepted concept of globalization, Cultural Proximity, should be looked at and changed a bit in order to account for these new powers within the mediascape of our society.