Cultural Imperialism

Persuasive Essay # 109031

Computer and Technology > Internet
Economics > Globalization
Sociology

A discussion on whether the U.S. has conquered Australian culture.

1,884 words () | 8 sources | MLA | 2008 Australia

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how cultural imperialism is the voluntary absorption of one culture by another. In particular, it looks at the particular case of the absorption of American culture by Australia. It examines how the advent of technology has made the world more accessible to huge numbers of people and how this increased accessibility exposes countries to more of other countries' cultures and ideas. The paper argues that Australia should not take steps to try and limit the amount of American media and popular culture that is being imported and that rather than being detrimental to Australia, cultural imperialism is merely a bi product of globalization.

From the Paper:

"In Australia the issue of American dominance is a popular topic of debate. Terms like "Americanization" and "McDomination" are thrown around opinion columns and talked about in the media. People are referring to the influx of American popular culture that despite peaking in the 1960's, is still going on today. In "the early 1960s as much as 98 per cent of television drama was imported, while today 55 per cent of television drama is local content." (Sheil) The majority of this imported television was of American origin. However by no means does this say that America is losing its influence in popular culture because American music and movies still dominate Australian airways and movie theatres. Currently only thirteen of the fifty songs on the ARIA (Australia Record Industry Association) top 50 singles chart are Australian with the rest being imported, foreign music. "

Sample of Sources Used:

Arwon, "Australia is not becoming Americanised." <http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1298557>.
"Internet Usage Statistics." <http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm>.
Karlin, Adam. "Cultural Impressions." <http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travelstories/article/workingholiday2_0108/interest/working/>.
Rothkop, David. "In Praise of Cultural Imperialism? Effects of Globalization on Culture." <http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/cultural/globcult.htm>.
Sheil, Christopher. Globalisation: Australian Impacts. UNSW Press, 2002.