Lecture V

The Role of Communications for

Globalization and
Cosmopolitansim

Johan Lindell, Ph. D Student

Johan.lindell@kau.se
Media and Communication Studies
Karlstad University
 Info
 Take-home exam:
Posted tomorrow night on Kurstorget
Deadline is 12.00 AM, Wednesday, 17th of Feburary
Hand-in – do not mail.

 Wednesday:
Starts 10.15
Jochen Hoffman will visit
Division into 8 groups for presentations
Important information on the individual essays

”Kommunikation och Globala Medier” – students. Jakob

Svensson will visit 11.45 on Wednesday to inform you on
your essays and the course evaluation

 Monday 15/2 Open Lecture. Guest lecturer from

communication agency. All MKV students invited.
 Lecture outline

1.) Technological determinism

2.) Globalization and Communication

3.) The Expressions of Globalization

1.) Technological Determinism
Technological Determinism:

 A philosophical standpoint emphasizing the

impact of technology upon societies

 Technology determine societies (social structures

and cultural values)

 E.g. global communication infrastructure ->

notions of humanity united
Raises questions on what role technology
plays in shaping society and culture

How does a technology impact upon society?

What drives history – human agency vs. technology

Common myths/discourses on technological

impact on societies:
 The technological deterministic
The printing press
discourse1.
(Gutenberg, 15th
century) ->

- Emergence of the
’imagined community
- Formation of nation-
states
- Democratization of
religion -> reformation
- Emphasis on
vernacular
The technological deterministic
discourse 2.
Computer mediated
communcation (cmc) ->

- Re-invention of direct
democracy (’e-
participation’)

- Revolutions in education

- Completely new ways of

thinking

- Knowledge-society

- No social classes
Control. History.

What makes history progress?

Man or Machine?

Human agency vs. technology

 ’Middle-ways’
 Smith, M. R & Marx, L (1994), MacKenzie, D & Wajcman, J (1999):
- Common discourses : ”the automobile created suburbia”, ”the
printing press led to the reformation”.
- Before and after – perspective is fallacious.
- ’Hard’- vs. ’soft’ determinism

 Innis, H (1950, 1951):

- Communication media (technology) as resources to help/promote
human agency that in turn ’bounces back’ as societal effect.

 Castells, M (1996)
- ”technology does not determine society. Nor does society script the
course of technological change. Technology is society”
- Role of the state

 Mosco, V (2006).
- New technologies enter society, myths of great change/improvement
are created around these new technologies. The same political
economy dynamics remain.
2. Globalization and Communication
 Defining Globalization
The uprooting of human activities – political,
cultural, economic, social

or:
interconnectedness -> interdependencies of
many different parts in the world.

From a communication studies perspective:

Why globalization? – because it is possible to
communicate on a global scale

”Only in the past couple of centuries, as every

human community has gradually been
drawn into a single web of trade and a
global network of information, have we
come to a point where each of us can
realistically imagine contacting any other of
our six billion conspecifics and sending that
person something worth having: a radio, an
antibiotic, a good idea.”

(Appiah, 2006: x)
 Tracing the History of the
Globalization of Communication
 Thompson, J. (1995). Media and Modernity – ch. 5
’The Globalization of Communication’

Main points:

- Today communication is increasingly global

- This promotes a ’reordering’ of time and space

- This in turn, promotes global interconnections

interdependencies = globalization.

- Globalization is a progress, not an end state. Started

mainly with three processes during the 19th century:
 Tracing the History of the
Globalization of Communication
1.) 1830’s. The telegraph – electric communication via
transatlantic underwater cables. No more messengers.
1843 – Washington and Baltimore connected
1865 – Britain and India connected
1870s – Europe linked to large parts of the world
1924 – King George V sends a message to himself that
circulated the globe in 80 seconds

2.) 19th century. Emergence of global news networks. Significant in

three ways
1.) News over large territories
2.) Global in scope
3.) Reached big audiences

3.) Electro-magnetic waves. The emergence of organziations with

the mission to dissiminate radio frequencies.
 Different globalization[s]
– The dimensions of globaliation
 Cultural: ’Global images’, global audiences, value-spreading,
’neo-imperialism’/’media imperialism’. World culture.

 Social: Global social relations, mobility, tourism, sense global of

community.

 Political: Supra-national organizations: UN, WTO etc. Supra-

national governance: ’world-police’, Obama phenomenon,
regionalization: EU. Cosmopolitansim

 Economic: Common discourse. Trade links, instant money

transaction - global business. Global exploitation of labour.

------------

Common thread: they all depend on global communication

infrastructure.
Conceptualizing globalization

 Appadurai, A. (1996). ’Scapes’ that capture the

globalization of all human activity: ethnoscapes,
financescapes, mediascapes, technospaces etc.

 Castells, M. (1996). In globalization – new logic of

space: from ’space of place’ to ’space of flows’

’Flows’ (= purposeful, repetivite, programmable

sequences of exchange and interaction between
physically disjointed positions)
Flows are ”expressions of processes dominating our
economic, political and symbolic life.” (p. 442).
How do we notice globalization
in everyday life?
Break.
3.) Expressions of Globalization

 How is the organization of our world different

now (in the midst of the process of globalization)
compared to ’before’?
’Expression 1’: The Rise of Global
Cities
Mainly located and considered within the
economy-dimension of globalization

According to Castells’ ’trilogy’, in globalization

cities have become increasinlgy important
nodes for all human activity.

Globalization demands infrastructural nodes

If cities have turned into cultural, social, economic,
and political centers….is the rural rendered
dysfunctional?
’Expression 2’ - Cosmopolitanism
 Cosmopolitanism is:
 Political cosmopolitanism: Supra-national
governance, the lessening power of the nation
and the increasing power of supra-national
power. E.g. The United Nations. The world as one
nation, world citizenship. (e.g Kant, 1795,
Habermas, 1996)

 Socio-cultural cosmopolitanism: A global

awareness. Openess towards diveristy and multi-
culturalism. Life-style. Travelling.
”A willingness to engage with the Other”
(Hannerz, 1990; Rantanen, 2005)
’Mediated Cosmopolitanism’

On the one hand:

We can access virtual spaces (internet forums) and

engage with ’Others’ on anonymous basis –
collective efforts and common goals on a global
scale.

’Pop-cosmopolitanism’ (Jenkins, 2005) – ’Softer’

cosmopolitanism e.g. fan-communities.
Watching anime (alternative cultural
experience) -> learn about Japanese culture
’Mediated Cosmopolitanism’

…on the other hand:

What do we actually do online? Trolling, flaming ->

irrationality and inhospitality on online public spaces.
Same 10 websites over and over again. Not
”engaging with the Other”.

(Tomlinson, 2001): Technologies of the hearth: new

technologies are merely new ways in which we
communicate with the same people

(Bauman, 2001): Compassion is still local, not global – we

can see but cannot/will not act
 What do you think?
Does media promote
cosmopolitanism?

- Do we engage with ’the

Other’ through media?

- Do we better understand other

cultures through media?
Thank you!
References and Reading tips
Appiah, A. (2005). Cosmopolitansim – Ethics in a World of Strangers. Penguin Books
Appadurai, A. (1995). Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization.
University of Minnesota Press
Bauman, Zygmunt. (2001). ‘Whatever Happened to Compassion?’ in Bentley,
Tom & Stedman Jones, Daniel (ed) The Moral Universe. Demos
Castells, M. (1996). The Rise of the Network Society. Wiley-Blackwell
Castells, M. (2001). The Internet Galaxy – Reflections on the Internet, Business, and
Society. University of Oxford Press
Habermas, J. (1996). The Postnational Constellation. Polity Press
Innis, H. (1950). Empire and Communications. University of Toronto Press
Innis, H. (1951). The Bias of Communication. University of Toronto Press
Kant, I. (1795). Perpetual Peace
MacKenzie, D & Wajcman, J (ed). (1999). The Social Shaping of Technology. Open
University Press
Mosco, V. (2006). The Digital Sublime – Myth, Power and Cyberspace. MIT Press
Rantanen, T. (2005). The Media and Globalization. SAGE Publications
Sassen, S. (2001). The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton University Press
Smith, M. R & Marx, L. (1994). Does Technology Drive History?: The Dilemma of
Technological Determinism. MIT Press
Thompson, J. (1995). Media and Modernity – A Social Theory of the Media. Stanford
University Press
Tomlinson, John. (2001). Instant access: Some cultural implications of
‘globalising’ technologies. University of Copenhagen