The Cultural Consequences of Globalization. A Production-related Perspective

Cultural policy discussions and discussions informed by the social sciences frequently find fault with the cultural uniformisation of different regions, supposedly engendered by the global expansion of profit-oriented cultural industries. In the present contribution this assumption will be subjected to critical scrutiny. It will be divided into two sections. In the first one, the available empirical material will be sifted for signs of homogenisation and/or heterogenisation. There will be four distinct observation levels: Cultural globalisation can be assessed at the level of legal institutions, of product diffusion, of symbolic product content, and of product reception. The second section is devoted to identifying the extent to which cultural globalisation patterns are rooted in characteristics of the cultural industries. Three explanation attempts are presented, which differ widely in both range and plausibility: imperialism theories, media-economics and sociological approaches to the economy.