Twelfth lecture

Globalisa(on, Sustainability & the media

richard.miles@leeds-‐art.ac.uk

Defini(ons of Globalisa(on

•  Socialist The process of transforma(on of local or regional phenomena into global ones. It can be described as a process by which the people of the world are unified into a single society and func(on together. This process is a combina(on of economic, technological, sociocultural and poli(cal forces.

•  Capitalist The elimina(on of state-‐enforced restric(ons on exchanges across borders and the increasingly integrated and complex global system of produc(on and exchange that has emerged as a result

Globaliza(on ‘Covering a wide range of dis(nct poli(cal, economic, and cultural trends, the term “globaliza(on” has quickly become one of the most fashionable buzzwords of contemporary poli(cal and academic debate. In popular discourse, globaliza(on oKen func(ons as liLle more than a synonym for one or more of the following phenomena: the pursuit of classical liberal (or “free market”) policies in the world economy (“economic liberaliza(on”), the growing dominance of western (or even American) forms of poli(cal, economic, and cultural life (“westerniza(on” or “Americaniza(on”), the prolifera(on of new informa(on technologies (the “Internet Revolu(on”), as well as the no(on that humanity stands at the threshold of realizing one single unified community in which major sources of social conflict have vanished (“global integra(on”)’

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, hLp://plato.stanford.edu/entries/globaliza(on/

‘If we are talking about the “cultural”, we are concerned with the symbolic construc(on, ar(cula(on, and dissemina(on of meaning. Given that language, music, and images cons(tute the major forms of symbolic expression, they assume special significance in the sphere of culture … Yet cultural globaliza(on did not start with the worldwide dissemina(on of rock ‘n’ roll, Coca-‐Cola, or football’

Manfred B. Steger, Globaliza(on: A very Short Introduc(on, page 69

‘American sociologist George Ritzer coined the term “McDonaldiza(on” to describe the wide-‐ ranging sociocultural processes by which the principles of the fast-‐food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world’


Marshall McLuhan

‘Today, aKer more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system in a global embrace, abolishing both space and (me as far as our planet is concerned’ (1964: p.3)

Rapidity of Communica(on echoes the senses We can experience instantly the effects of our ac(ons on a

global scale

Global Village Thesis

•  ‘As electrically contracted, the globe is no more than a village. Electric speed at bringing all social and poli(cal func(ons together in a sudden implosion has heightened human awareness of responsibilty to an intense degree’ (1964: p.5).

The Internet

•  We live mythically and integrally... In the electric age ,when our central nervous system is technologically extended to involve in the whole of mankind and to incorporate the whole of mankind in us, we necessarily par(cipate... in the consequences of our every ac(on. (1964: p.4)

•  ‘Electric technology... would seem to render individualism obsolete and... corporate interdependence mandatory’ (1962: p.1)

‘Does globaliza(on make people around the world more alike or more different? … A group of commentators we might call “pessimis(c hyperglobalizers” argue in favour of the former. They suggest that we are not moving towards a cultural rainbow that reflects the diversity of the world’s exis(ng cultures. Rather, we are witnessing the rise of an increasingly homogenized popular culture underwriLen by a Western “culture industry” based in New York, Hollywood, London and Milan’


Cultural imperialism

•  If the 'global village' is run with a certain set of values then it would not be so much an integrated community as an assimilated one.

•  Key thinkers-‐ – Schiller – Chomsky

Rigging the ‘Free Market’

•  MEDIA CONGLOMERATES OPERATE AS OLIGOPOLIES

News corpora8ons divide world into ‘territories’ of descending ‘market importance’

•  1. North America •  2. Western Europe, Japan & Australia •  3. Developing economies and regional producers (India, China, Brazil,

Eastern Europe) •  4. The rest of the world

US MEDIA POWER CAN BE THOUGHT OF AS A NEW FORM OF IMPERIALISM

•  Local cultures destroyed in this process and new forms of cultural dependency shaped, mirroring old school colonialism.

•  Schiller-‐ dominance of US driven commercial media forces US model of broadcas(ng onto the rest of world but also inculcates US style consumerism in socie(es that can ill afford it!

Chomsky & Herman (1998) ‘Manufacturing Consent’

Chomsky & Herman (1998) Propaganda Model-‐ 5 basic filters

•  Ownership •  Funding •  Sourcing •  Flak •  An( Communist ideology

Ownership

– Rupert Murdoch, selected media interests •  News of The World •  The Sun •  The Sunday Times •  The Times •  NY Post •  BSkyB •  Fox TV

Sourcing

Funding

Flak

•  US-‐based Global Climate Coali8on (GCC) –

•  comprising fossil fuel and automobile companies such as Exxon, Texaco and Ford. The GCC was started up by Burson-‐Marsteller, one of the world's largest public rela(ons companies, to rubbish the credibility of climate scien(sts and 'scare stories' about global warming.

•  flak is characterized by concerted and inten(onal efforts to manage public informa(on.

An(-‐ Ideologies

Al Gore, (2006) ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ dir. Davis Guggenheim


•  Retreat of Glaciers •  Since 1880 temp on the rise

•  Keeling Curve-‐ CO2 rising

Flat earthers

Jim Inhofe ‘Global warming is one of the biggest hoaxes ever perpetuated on the American public.’

Nigel Lawson ‘It is a propagandist’s term. It trips off the tongue nicely’

Compe((ve Enterprise Ins(tute

Source: The Guardian Source: The Guardian, 30/11/09


•  Release less CO2 •  Plant more vegeta(on •  Try to be CO2 neutral •  Recycle •  Buy a hybrid vehicle •  Encourage everyone you know to watch this film!

Sustainability

•  ‘sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future genera(ons to meet their own needs’

Brundtland Commission, (1987) ‘Our Common Future’

•  Needs (par(cularly of the worlds poor) •  Limita(ons of technology

•  Sustainable development, sustainable growth, and sustainable use have been used interchangeably, as if their meanings were the same. They are not. Sustainable growth is a contradic(on in terms: nothing physical can grow indefinitely. Sustainable use, is only applicable to renewable resources. Sustainable development is used in this context to mean: improving the quality of human life whilst living within the carrying capacity of the ecosystems.

Erin Balser, 'Capital Accumula8on, Sustainability and Hamilton, Ontario: How Technology and Capitalism

can Misappropriate the Idea of Sustainability'

•  BIOX Biofuel plant, Canada

•  Alterna(ve ‘clean’ fuel

•  Renewable •  More expensive to produce

Erin Balser, 'Capital Accumula8on, Sustainability and Hamilton, Ontario: How Technology and Capitalism

can Misappropriate the Idea of Sustainability'

•  BIOX-‐ Largest produc(on plant, 2004

•  Situated in the Poorest area of Ontario, Hamilton

•  Nega(ve social & environmental consequences

Greenwashing

Ford Taurus SHO Ecoboost

McDonalds Europe

•  Environmentalism •  Ecologism •  Socialism / Communism

‘Most things are not designed for the needs of the people but for the needs of the manufacturers to sell to people’ Papanek.V, 1983, p46

(1971) ‘Most things are designed not for the needs of the people but for the needs of manufacturers to sell to people’ (Papanek, 1983:46)

VICTOR PAPANEK

Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey

G20 PROTESTS

Police in ac(on at protest against G20 Summit, London, March/April 2009

Documents

Twelfth lecture