Media Imperialism & Cultural Domination

According to Tomlinson, both Marxist and "pluralist" (non-Marxist) scholars tend to oversimplify the phenomena of media imperialism. He claims that the former, in their desire to adhere to rigorous theories, invariably equate media with culture. To Marxists, Tomlinson writes, a deluge of exported Donald Duck cartoons or reruns of "Dallas" is tantamount to a willful and comprehensive manipulation of "dependent" or subaltern cultures. In contrast, he criticizes the pluralist scholars for erring to the other extreme--that is, they are too vague. He asserts that the pluralists, in an effort to steer clear of any preconceived or holistic notion of imperialism, have been too careful to avoid associating media exports with any overall trend or theory of domination.

In fact, Tomlinson writes, the truth about media imperialism lies somewhere in between the two schools of thought. He claims Marxists go too far in assuming that culture and media are interchangeable. He cites the research of Conrad Lodziak, who maintains that, while many people do watch a lot of television, that is not all that they do. In other words, the media comprise only part of one's culture. On the other hand, Tomlinson points out, to separate media imperialism from overall cultural imperialism is unrealistic

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xplanation for imperialism. Tomlinson's down-playing of geography is not shared by everyone. Theodore Von Laue, in his book The World Revolution of Modernization, describes a "Western minority" that imposes its values on the rest of world and almost single-handedly delivers the "revolution" around which the book's thesis is developed. Von Laue cites Japan as an example of a nation that is culturally "compatible" with the hegemonic United States and western European countries, arguing that Japan's particular cultural traits have "miraculously" enabled it to resist the domination and resulting poverty--both cultural and economic--that has befallen so many Third World nations. 2.If Mexican thinker Octavio Paz believes we are "condemned to modernity," Marshall Berman takes a slightly more optimistic view: he believes we are merely fated to modernity. In Tomlinson's discussion of Berman, we are reminded again and again of the chaos, angst, excitement and unpredictability of the human condition in the modern world. Berman's views are as ambiguous as the vibrant, mad planet he describes. Indeed, there is a tone of resignation evident in the passages that Tomlinson cites. On one hand, Berman acknowledges that the wheels
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Approximate Word count = 1553
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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