Cultural Imperialism Culture, Power, And Representation

The term cultural imperialism has often been used when describing certain aspects of the media industry. Cultural imperialism can be seen as the imbalance of culture, power and representation, favouring the socially dominant and influential. The cultural hegemony of these powerful industrialised or economically influential countries is thought to be able to both determine general cultural values and homogenise different societies globally. Although not restricted to media, cultural imperialism is in theory aided by the media’s ability to express culture. Many would argue, however, that this term in many ways no longer applies to contemporary media culture. Although media power structures from the past still have a certain amount of influence, recent trends suggest that relationships between different global media producers and consumers is more complex than what is implied by the term cultural imperialism. Media does not simply flow in a single direction in the present-day, bu t is often a complex ocean of inter-related currents and counter-currents. Thus, while the balance between cultures is not entirely equal, the term cultural imperialism is not an entirely adequate word to describe today’s media cultures. Historically, global media flows have moved in a singular direction from the developed west to other less developed nations. This unidirectional and unbalanced flow of media could be seen as a form of cultural imperialism. 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