My column from today offers my latest thoughts on globalization and culture, drawing on the very interesting work of Omar Lizardo, a sociologist at Notre Dame. We are often interested in culture for its symbolic value, and its ability to signal where we stand in local hierarchies. The more egalitarian a society, the less important this signaling function becomes. Here is one bit:
Hollywood movies are popular in Europe in part because of the successes
of European welfare states and of European economic integration.
Western Europe has become more equal in its treatment of citizens, it
has moved away from an aristocratic class society, and it has strong
global connections. All those factors favor an interest in American and
global popular culture; Hollywood movies often capture 70 percent or
more of a typical European cinematic market. Social democracy, which
the Europeans often hold up in opposition to the American model, in
fact aided this cultural invasion by making Europe more egalitarian.
Here is Omar’s home page. Here is Omar’s essay which I drew upon. Here is one further bit:
…the data supplied by Professor Lizardo show that the poorer a country,
the more likely it will buy and listen to its own domestic music. This
makes sense given that music is a form of social networking and the
relevant networks are primarily local.
…the data supplied by Professor Lizardo show that the poorer a country, the more likely it will buy and listen to its own domestic music. This makes sense given that music is a form of social networking and the relevant networks are primarily local
I haven’t read the paper yet but I don’t think it is just economics. I grew up in Bangladesh and Bollywood music/film has a big market there. The local music industry in certain way grew using that industry (pirated bollywood music) and also
finding alternative to that (rock bands, folk fusion).
People will likely to buy its own domestic music if they are exciting and innovative. In Bangladesh, you can get pirated copy of any foreign music sometime cheaper than local music.
Of course the big exception to the music example is the US, which buys and listens to only a tiny sample of foreign music (and much that is of foreign origin has been heavily ‘Americanized’.) It’s nearly impossible to find a radio station that plays even half non-american music here (discounting Spanish only stations, perhaps) but in Russia the majority of the pop and rock stations play less than half, I’d guess, Russian songs.
“Hollywood movies are popular in Europe in part because of the successes of European welfare states and of European economic integration. Western Europe has become more equal in its treatment of citizens, it has moved away from an aristocratic class society, and it has strong global connections.”
What about language? High school students in Europe, especially in the Scandinavian and Low Countries, are taught English from a very early age, making them very susceptible to English language culture. But in a country like France, which is a very egalitarian society, English language culture is frowned upon (seen for example in the laws making manatory radio broadcasts in French).
I have rarely ever read a more intellectually primitive analysis of cultural consumption. Of course, one does not expect anything better from the Pravda of New York but one does expect better from a teacher/professor.
Why would an average Indian want to see pasty white faces when he/she goes to the movies? As an Indian I don’t see any of my friends and their kids finding the typical themes in Hollywood movies particularly interesting.
As for music, the less said the better. There is a continuity in music and performing arts in cultures such as India which is bound to transcend phenomena like the introduction of new media like the film or the CD. People adopt the media wholeheartedly not the content. It’s like saying that since America started Internet, everyone everywhere must be interacting and emailing in English. Surprise surprise.
The ultimate object of a cultural product is to entertain (not to enable networking with your social peers or if you are upwardly mobile , with your ‘superiors’). American movie and music can not entertain because they can’t be placed in the continuum of the performing arts.
Your article on the other hand seems to think if a product is priced right and the distribution channels are right, the product ought to sell. Well if they are selling in Sweden, how come they’re not selling in India? Enter the strawman – hierarchical societies vs so called democratic societies.
The myopia of such analysis is staggering and all I can recall in recent times is something like ‘Iraqi people will welcome American soldiers with flowers’ ‘we are ushering in democracy’ etc . I reluctantly introduce this political parallel because of the scale of ignorance, hypocrisy etc..
Perhaps Prof Cowen should take sabbatical leave and go do some field work.
Forget paying! Hardly anyone is paying for cultural products in poor countries. The Indonesian star Inul is an example of how to profit in that environment, give away music and videos, and clean up on concert tickets.
The real question is why people, given the chance to download anything for free (or equal cost thanks to piracy), choose to download foreign cultural material. The obvious reason is because it’s entertaining. The popular American movies among young people in China tend to be sci-fi, horror, comic book, and action films (and those movies typically are made with the export market in mind). WWF is popular in the net bars, and lots of young women studying English like Sex in the City. Foreign heavy metal takes up as much space as foreign pop music in record stores.
Another reason why American movies are popular is because Americans produce a lot of movies. It is a dominant form of entertainment in the U.S. and the industry is well developed. Why is European soccer popular? Japanese cartoons?
Korea has been producing a lot of high quality movies for several years now after the Korean government targeted the industry for investment and development.
zai writes
As someone who grew up in India, I do see an increased uptake of western ideas in cinema, fast-food, courtship, weekend entertainment, and most other cultural signifiers I can think of.
I would seriously question how much of an uptake each one of your above list really represents and how much of a market this uptake has really captured.
Speaking of Hollywood exports, isn’t Dr. Lizardo the space-alien villain in “Buckaroo Banzai”?
I have to take issue with issue with your implication that opera and heavy metal are diametrically opposed. Opera is actually very popular among metal fans and lots of metal bands cite opera among their influences (mostly Wagner, but not entirely).
thank you very much for this article
Comments on this entry are closed.