Globalization of Media

The Contemporary World

Camille Ocampo
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Definition of media
 “ a means of conveying something, such as a channel of
communication.”
 medium – technologies of mass communication
 Print
 Broadcast
 Digital
How media affect societies?
 Extend and amputate human senses
 Creation of “global village”
 Homogenization of culture
 Democratization of access
 “Cyberbalkanization” – eco chambers
Cultural Imperialism
 Media globalization + American hegemony (gahum)
 Homogenization of culture
 Spread of capitalist values
 E.g. consumerism
 Top to bottom approach – unidirectional process
 Critique:
 Media consumers are active participants in the mean-making
process
 Renewed strength of regional trends in the globalization process
 E.g. KPOP phenomenon
Case study: K-POP MUSIC
INDUSTRY
 Commercial combination of:
the global liberalization of music markets in Asia and the rest of
the world; and
The rapid advancement of digital technologies like YouTube
 K-pop is not Japanese or Chinese, even though it is Asian,
Rather, K-pop is global and more Western than ever (Lie,
2012)
 Not a result of its cultural hybridity (China and Japan)
 It alludes to a possibility that there is a new global division of
labor in music production and dissemination.
The dependency model

Periphery

Semi-periphery

Core
The dependency model
 Korean corporations purchase or outsource raw materials,
advanced technologies, and financial resources from the
periphery or the center
 Raw materials are often controlled by, and therefore have to be
purchased from, the center capitalists
 original music scores of Western composers (notably Swedish,
American, and British)
 Finished K-pop CDs, DVDs, music videos, and MP3 music files must
be distributed by center companies (e.g. iTunes, YouTube, vevo, SONY
Music, etc.)
K-pop’s globalization strategy
 G-L-G (global – local – global)
 “L” component must be creative and unique
 Numbers;
 Physique; and
 Voice-dance coordination
Global success of K-pop in the 21st
century
 Korean singers have obtained a distinctive physique, either
through a long process of evolution or mutation
 Political democratization of Korea has lifted censorship
 Technological advancement in the 21st century
 The advancement of global capitalist economy has
successfully opened up markets