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Introduction to Communication Science week 6: 6.7 Globalization: Village vs. Tribes

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    A few students asked me to say something
    about cultural globalization.
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    What is cultural globalization and what kind of
    trends do we see?
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    We discussed that culture, and in fact our own
    perception of reality,
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    is both formed and maintained by
    communication.
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    Cultural communication is basically all
    communication,
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    because we always implicitly communicate
    values and ideas, even when we
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    are listening to seemingly meaningless music,
    or watching an entertaining soap opera,
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    or reading a simple comic book:
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    they all communicate something about the
    culture in which they were produced.
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    Well, cultural globalization is, simply put, an
    international reach of cultural ideas and values,
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    as a result of a global communication of
    messages.
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    According to most scholars there was always
    some extent of globalization
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    as people travelled throughout history.
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    Historical developments, like wars, colonization,
    increased international trade,
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    increased education, increased international
    tourism. These trends were all reasons for
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    a growing interest in international affairs and
    created the context
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    in which an international communication
    landscape could develop.
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    But the rate of globalization has increased with
    the reach of our mass media
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    It started slowly with cultural carriers that
    travellers took home,
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    like little statues, jewelry or coins.
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    The globalization pace quickened with the rise of
    print media.
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    Books, pamphlets and newspapers made
    international travel of cultural messages
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    more widespread.
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    In the nineteenth century for example,
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    English and American newspapers were read
    throughout the world.
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    Perhaps this is also the start of a dominance of
    an Anglo American culture
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    in global communication.
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    Movies and television programs were again a
    new step in the globalization trend.
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    A picture can say more than a thousand words.
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    Well, these new audio visual media brought
    pictures and sounds.
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    And again, they were mostly Anglo-American TV
    shows and movies
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    that travelled the world.
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    These cultural messages did not only travel the
    world,
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    they also influenced the people they
    encountered.
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    People felt culturally connected through movies
    and television series and such
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    with people on the other side of the globe.
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    The globalization trend has only increased in
    recent years,
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    mainly due to the rise of digital and mobile
    media
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    that a) give us immediate access to a rich
    assortment of cultural content
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    from basically every country in the world
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    and b) allows us to communicate with people in
    other countries easily and instantly.
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    It is quite clear that today we have an
    international communication landscape
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    that exists in a variety of media
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    like books, magazines, newspapers, radio,
    television, cinema and the internet.
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    But what exactly is its effect on the formation of
    culture throughout the world?
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    As you know, culture creates a feeling of
    belonging.
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    That cultural messages are now spread
    internationally is, according to some,
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    reason to believe that a ‘global village’ is
    emerging,
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    where people feel connected with each other,
    regardless of their country of origin.
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    The global culture that is communicated through
    our mass media is the
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    binding force of this village. It connects us.
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    Optimists believe that all this cultural sharing
    will lead to 1) greater understanding and 2)
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    a lessening of cultural misunderstanding and
    conflict.
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    However, other scholars see a very different
    trend.
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    Yes, people are now forming groups with others
    from other countries,
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    but at the same time, societal cohesion in
    general is weakening as a result.
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    Members of these groups feel more connected
    to the group than to society.
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    This trend is called tribalism, and in fact means
    that as smaller groups become
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    culturally stronger they become more and more
    isolated from larger society.
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    These groups form modern day tribes.
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    Their strong group culture is carried by their own
    specific channels
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    with their own culturally approved content.
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    The group identity becomes increasingly
    different from mainstream society
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    that it in fact starts to oppose it. Therefore,
    scholars that believe in this new tribalism trend
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    actually predict more cultural misunderstanding
    and more conflict as a result of this.
Title:
Introduction to Communication Science week 6: 6.7 Globalization: Village vs. Tribes
Description:

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1. not in the Coursera site:

Transcript of all Week 6 videos: https://d396qusza40orc.cloudfront.net/commscience/transcripts%2FTranscript_Week_6%20Coursera.pdf

This lecture in .webm: http://d396qusza40orc.cloudfront.net/commscience/recoded_videos%2F6.7.075841b8cb07ce2a272857f3a2f04e3b.webm

2. In the Coursera site, but apparently unaffected by the login block, for this lecture:

Subtitle text: https://class.coursera.org/commscience-001/lecture/subtitles?q=103_en&format=txt
Video mp4: https://class.coursera.org/commscience-001/lecture/download.mp4?lecture_id=103

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Week 6 description:
Student questions and debate
This week I will be discussing student questions from the forum and subjects that we did not have time for during the lectures, such as metaphors. I will also tell you a bit about the upcoming exam.

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Video Language:
English
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