Study of global communication
The study of global communication is an interdisciplinary field focusing on global communication, or the ways that people connect, share, relate and mobilize across geographic, political, economic, social and cultural divides. Global communication implies a transfer of knowledge and ideas from centers of power to peripheries and the imposition of a new intercultural hegemony by means of the "soft power" of global news and entertainment.[1]..
"International" Or "Global"[edit]
With the end of the twentieth century and the turn of a new millennium, the global arena and the field of international communication were undergoing significant changes.[2] Some authors started to use the term global communication because it goes beyond the bounds of individual states and emphasizes communication between and among peoples across borders and, importantly, the rise of transnational media corporations.[3]
International communication traditionally refers to communication between and among nation-states and connotes issues of national sovereignty, control of national information resources, and the supremacy of national governments.[4]
Nevertheless, earlier International communication theories have failed to develop models or research agendas that match the reality of the contemporary role of global communication . The old theories only explain part of the global picture and the theories of modernization, dependency, and cultural imperialism have failed to satisfactorily explain global communication.[5]
The term "global", implies a declining role of the state and state sovereignty. As a term, "international" has within it notions of bilateral or multilateral decisions. "Global" could be seen as an aspiration, also as a fear, of the weakening of the state. In addition, global may imply something more pervasive, more geographically inclusive than international.
Theoretical approaches and perspectives[edit]
Transcultural political economy[edit]
Transcultural Political Economy is a concept that is presented in Global Communications by Paula Chakravartty and Yeuzhi Zhao. This concept looks at global communications and media studies in three major areas: global flows of information and culture, decentralizing the conceptual parameters of global information and media studies, and the normative debates in global communications in the context of neoliberalism. Transcultural Political Economy is a multidisciplinary study that focuses on the tensions between political economy and cultural studies. It "integrate[s] institutional and cultural analyzes and address urgent questions in global communications in the context of economic integration, empire formation, and the tensions associated with adapting new privatized technologies, neoliberalized and globalized institutional structures, and hybrid cultural forms and practices". Transcultural Political Economy addresses the issues surrounding the practice of neoliberalism and its creation of unequal power structures within the world system. [9]
Central debates[edit]
Global power shifts[edit]
Immanuel Wallerstein's world system theory develops a basic framework to understand global power shifts in the rise of the modern world. Wallerstein proposes four different categories: core, semi-periphery, periphery, and external, in terms of different region's relative position in the world system. The core regions are the ones that benefited the most from the capitalist world economy, such as England and France. The peripheral areas relied on and exported raw materials to the core, such as Eastern Europe and Latin America. The semi-peripheries are either core regions in decline or peripheries attempting to improve their relative position in the world system, such as Portugal and Spain. The external areas managed to remain outside the modern world economy, such as Russia.[28]
There are two basic types of global power shifts in the 21st century. One is traditional power transition amongst states, which follows Wallerstein's world system theory. For instance, the global power shifts from the West to the East since the rise of Asia. The other is power diffusion, the way that power move from states to non-states actors. For instance, "climate change, drug trade, financial flows, pandemics, all these things that cross borders outsider the control of governments."[29]
Global public sphere[edit]
Public sphere theory, attributed to Jurgen Habermas, is a theory that in its basic premise conceives of democratic governments as those that can stand criticism that comes from public spheres. Public spheres are places, physical or imagined, where people discuss any kind of topic, particularly topics of a societal or political nature. Global public sphere is, therefore, a public that is made of people from across the globe, who come together to discuss and act on issues that concern them.[30] The concept of global public sphere is linked to the shift of public sphere, from restricted to nation-state, to made of individuals and groups connected across as well as within borders.[31]
Since Plato, it can be argued that philosophers have been thinking about versions of a common space for all people to debate in; however, a global public sphere that can fit the description above began to appear much later. In the second half of the 20th century, the legacy of World War II and technological advancements created a new sense of the global and started the economic and political phenomena that we now call globalization. This includes the expansion of humankind into space, which gave individuals the sense of a global unity, the growth of satellite technology, which allowed for people across the globe to view the same television channels, and the internet, which can provide access to an unprecedented amount of information and spaces to connect with other people.[31]
Cultural industries[edit]
The term "culture industry" appeared in the post-war period. At that time, culture and industry were argued to be opposites.[32] "Cultural industries" are also referred to as the "Creative industries".