Madison Gilbert

Professor Ray Brown

Humanities 104

23 June 2016

Popular Culture in Madrid, Spain

“Everything is global now. It’s not London, it’s not Spain, it’s not Italy – everything is

everywhere”. This quote, by Spanish fashion designer Manolo Blahnik, sums up the idea of

popular culture on a global scale. Blahnik implies that in order to be successful he not only has to

design clothes favored by those in his home country, but clothes that will be universally

accepted. This concept can be applied to all aspects of culture through globalization.

Globalization is the spread of ideas, cultures, beliefs, people, and innovations usually in the form

of advanced technology. Today, there is a worldwide concern that popular culture (associated

with the North Western hemisphere) is encroaching on the local cultures of indigenous peoples.

So, to what extent does globalization, specifically the spread of popular culture, affect local or

folk culture in the city of Madrid?

To those who have never visited Spain, there appears to be a common stereotype: that the

country of Spain is bilingual (favoring both English and Spanish), but this is incorrect.

According to The World Factbook, sponsored by the CIA, Castilian Spanish is the only official

language of Spain. In addition to their official language, the Spanish government also recognizes

multiple regional languages, including: Catalan, Galician, Basque, and Aranese. This may

suggest that globalization has had no impact on the original languages of Spain, but this is not

the case. On November 5, 1992, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe ratified the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (Council of Europe, 2014). “The Charter

aims to maintain and to develop Europe’s cultural traditions and heritage, and to promote the

respect for an inalienable and commonly recognized right to use a regional or minority language

in private and public life” (Finland State Party, 1999). Seven languages in Spain are recognized

under the Charter, including: Aragonese, Aranese Asturian, Basque, Calo, Galician, and

Valencian (CIA, 2016). Due to their presence on the Charter, it can naturally be assumed that

these languages, and the cultures associated with them, are being threatened on some scale.

Tourism makes up a significant portion of Spain’s economy. During “the last three

decades, economic growth in Spain has been sensible to persistent expansion of international

tourism. The increase of this activity has produced multiplier effects over time” (Balaguer &

Cantavella-Jorda, 2002). The multiplier effects of tourism on the Spanish economy can simply

be recognized as the increase in jobs within the tourism sector, and the increased monetary flow

associated with decreased unemployment. “According to the United Nations World Tourism

Organization (UNWTO), there were 56.7 million international visitors to Spain in 2011”

(Canepa, 2012). With so many people completing the trip to Spain each year, it’s easy to see just

how much of an impact tourists have on the country’s economic status. However, what does the

tourism industry in Spain consist of?

The commodification of Spanish culture is a driving aspect of tourism throughout the

whole country. Specifically, the city of Madrid is known for being a hot-spot in the tourist

industry. Commodification is the act of giving a monetary value to something intangible; in this

case, the Spanish culture. Cases of cultural commodification are all around you. For example,

every time you order “Chinese” takeout, have a family dinner in a “Mexican” restaurant, or meet
friends in an “Irish” pub you are experiencing cultural commodification firsthand. However, this

is not just an American or Spanish problem.

Peter Sirr, an Irish poet and member of Aosdána, discussed the commodification of Irish

culture throughout his feature in The Irish Times. His feature discussed the gifts given to Barack

Obama and his family by the Taoiseach (or the prime minister of Ireland), which included some

iconic Irish poems and literature. According to Sirr, this “indicates that songs, music, and poetry

are a valuable form of currency”. He concluded his thoughts on the topic by stating that culture is

powerful (Sirr, 2009). Indeed it is because, while the prime minister may not have been

intentionally selling his culture, he did inadvertently give away the Irish culture for others to

appropriate.

Yuko Aoyama, an economic geographer with expertise in global economic change and

cultural economy, successfully explains that “contemporary cultural change is not a unilateral

process of the global invading the local. Rather, it is a process of consumers interpreting,

appropriating, and adopting a cultural commodity in their own terms”. Aoyama’s explanation of

cultural commodification best fits with the situation in Spain. Spaniards that make a living off of

tourism are selling cultural commodities, such as the flamenco dance and other perceived

Spanish customs. According to Natascha Pröschel, an honors student obtaining her Bachelor

degree from MODUL University Vienna, “our highly commodified society can in fact provide a

means of bringing economic and cultural aspects together in a united framework without

allowing culture to be purely commercialized”. In her thesis, Pröschel discusses the idea that the

combination of culture and the economy can still be beneficial, as is the case with the country of

Spain. Though this combination can improve Spain’s economic status, it also takes a toll on the
folk culture associated with the country. So, what’s the connection between cultural

commodification, the tourism industry, and language in Madrid?

Since tourism is such a large part of the Spanish economy, many partake in cultural

commodification. This takes place in order to sell the Spanish culture to travelers visiting the

country. However, there is still one idea that would prohibit interaction between native Spaniards

and tourists: a language barrier. According to Jessica Benavides Canepa, a freelance journalist

featured in BBC Travel, Hemispheres, and CNN, “in larger cities like Madrid and Barcelona,

tourist-friendly businesses are incorporating multilingual options onto their websites and menus,

as well as adapting opening hours to tourists’ schedules” (Canepa, 2012). Throughout Spain, and

especially in Madrid, these “multilingual options” are expressed most commonly through the

English language. This is done so because English is one of the world’s most recognized

universal languages. The increased popularity of the English language, and really the

commodification of the Spanish language as a whole, leads to the struggles of indigenous

peoples in Spain who want to preserve their smaller regional languages.

In conclusion, the local Spanish culture is not heavily affected by the spread of popular

culture through globalization. Instead, the real threat lies within the commodification of the

Spanish culture. The vast amount of tourists leads large cities in Spain, such as Madrid, to

prioritize the tourism industry. This is done by commercializing the Spanish culture, or at least

what others perceive to be Spanish culture, by putting a monetary value on something intangible.

Cultural commodification is necessary in Madrid due to the wide variety of jobs it creates for

natives within the industry. The only risk that cultural commodification poses is the increased

popularity of the English language (due to its global importance), and the lessened usage of
threatened regional languages. These languages do play a role in folk culture. So, it’s important

to recognize these endangered languages, and encourage natives to become fluent, or at the very

least, aware of them. If Madrid attempts to solve this problem, the government should create

new jobs based outside of the tourism industry. Therefore, cultural commodification would not

be necessary, and the English language would not have such a strong presence within the

country. The absence of English would allow threatened regional languages to become much

stronger throughout the city of Madrid, as well as the country of Spain as a whole.

Works Cited

Aoyama, Yuko. "The Role of Consumption and Globalization in a Cultural Industry: The Case

of Flamenco."
Geoforum 38.1 (2007): 103-13. Science Direct. Elsevier B. V., 2016. Web. 23 June 2016.

Balaguer, Jacint, and Manuel Cantavella-Jorda. "Tourism as a Long-run Economic Growth

Factor: The Spanish Case." Applied Economics 34.7 (2002): 877-84. Taylor & Francis

Online. Web. 22 June 2016.

Canepa, Jessica Benavides. "How Spain Is Trying to save Its Tourism Industry." CNN Travel.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., 13 Nov. 2012. Web. 22 June 2016.

CIA. "The World Factbook: Spain." Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency,

16 June 2016. Web. 22 June 2016.

Council of Europe. "European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages." Council of Europe.

Council of Europe, 2014. Web. 22 June 2016.

Finland. State Party. Council of Europe. Ed. Council of Europe. Finland State Party, 12 Apr.

1999. Web. 22 June 2016.

Pröschel, Natascha. Commodification and Culture. Thesis. MODUL University Vienna, 2012.

Vienna: MODUL U Vienna, 2012. Print.

Sirr, Peter. "Putting a Price on Culture." The Irish Times. The Irish Times, 11 Aug. 2009. Web.

23 June 2016.