Whats wrong with

globalization?
Colin Sparks
Communication and Media
Research Institute
 Introduction
Discuss some problems with globalization
theories
Construct the globalization paradigm from
the main theories
10 points underlying the different theories
Discuss whether they account for the
evidence
What do current theories miss out?
Communication and Media Research Institute 2
 The realities of globalization
There is little point in denying the realities
of globalization in the face of massive
evidence
The term is used by politicians,
businessmen, journalists and everyone
else
Also used by scholars, and we should be
precise about what we mean by a term
Communication and Media Research Institute 3
 Many theories
Many leading theorists have analyzed globalization in
contradictory ways
E.g. some say it is generalised modernity, some say it is post-
modernity, some say it is something else entirely
Most theorists operate at a very abstract level and do not
produce much evidence
Need to construct the globalization paradigm from the
work of leading theorists
Need to see whether the evidence supports or
contradicts the theory
Need to distinguish between strong theories of
globalization, that mean something new and weak
theories that are simply versions of the imperialism
paradigm in new language
Communication and Media Research Institute 4
 1 - A new kind of theory
Globalization is a radically different from
preceding theories
It is strikingly new (Appadurai 1996)
The sociological laws operating in the the period
of globalization are different from earlier periods
Different from capitalism and imperialism
Different from high modernity
Different from industrial society
The act together to make understanding the
dynamics of the new society different
Communication and Media Research Institute 5
 2 - Methodological innovation
Sharp contrast with Marxist theories (e.g.
imperialism)
Marxism reductivist
Globalization theory recognises irreducible complexity
the complexity of the current global economy has to
do with certain disjunctures between economy,
politics and society (Appadurai 1996)
Globalization characterised by various
autonomous logics (Beck 2002), for example in
culture
Communication and Media Research Institute 6
 3- Theory and practice
Earlier theories we have examined demonstrated
a close link between theory and practice
Dominant paradigm and policy science
Participatory paradigm and social movements
Imperialism paradigm and NWICO
Globalization has no such link
There are no privileged actors in this paradigm
Development no longer an issue
Perhaps entrepreneurs are the real agents?
No practical tests of the theory

Communication and Media Research Institute 7

 4 - Media and communication
New technologies permit media to operate with a
wider scope
Greater importance of symbolic commodities in
global economy
Symbolic commodities less bound by place than
are physical ones
It follows that the globalization of human society is
contingent on the extent to which cultural
arrangements are effective relative to economic and
political arrangements (Waters 1995)
Communication and Media Research Institute 8
 5 Growth of supra-national
organisations
Westphalian state being weakened from
above
Increased importance of supra-national
organisations
United Nations, WTO, European Union
States no longer able to control media
circulating within their borders
Development of global media organisations
Developments towards a global culture

Communication and Media Research Institute 9

 6 - The rise of the local
States are being undermined from below by
local pressures
Failure to achieve a unified national culture
Movements for autonomy and independence
Many notable European examples
Two sense of the local
The small place
The new localities

Communication and Media Research Institute 10

 7 - The absence of a centre
There is no single controlling force in the global
world
Globalization is not the result of the domination
of one culture over others
the United States is no longer the puppeteer of a
world system of images. (Appadurai 1996)
Existence of many centres of symbolic
production

Communication and Media Research Institute 11

 8 - Multiple production centres
Audiences almost invariably prefer local
productions
US, however, still the second choice provider
Many other centres than Hollywood, for
example TV Globo and Televisa
Develop unique forms
Win export successes

Communication and Media Research Institute 12

 9 - Regional markets
There is not one single uniform world
market for media products
Regional markets have developed,
South America
East Asia
Audiences increasing identify themselves with
cultural proximates

Communication and Media Research Institute 13

 10 - Global media products
To the extent that some media products do
circulate globally, they can originate anywhere
Production is now mobile
Personnel are now mobile
Global media products are not purely US
products marketed on a global scale
Disney
CNN
The emergence of hybrid cultural forms
Communication and Media Research Institute 14
 Conclusion: a new paradigm
No single author really fits all of these 10
elements
Perhaps Appadurai comes closest
The elements frame a paradigm within which
discussion of the media and globalization take
place
They are open to development into testable
proposition
What is the evidence?
Communication and Media Research Institute 15
 1 - A new epoch in human
history?
Not something we can answer in advance
Only when we have seen whether the
component elements of theory are valid can we
judge how they combine
If a significant number of them are invalid, then the
claim is invalid
On the other hand, many of the features that are
claimed as new were observed long ago

Communication and Media Research Institute 16

 2 - A new complexity
The claim that there are autonomous logics
can be operationalised as:
Is culture becoming more independent of economics?
Discussion of international communication
issues has moved from Unesco to WTO
No sign if weakening of organisations like the
MPAA
Broadcasting in many places more dependent
on economics today than in the past
BBC, Doordarshan, CCTV
Communication and Media Research Institute 17
 3 - Theory and practice
Different practical and political conclusions have
been drawn from the paradigm
Acceptance of globalization
Attempts to restate the Social-Democratic perspective
Outright rejection of globalization
Attempts to reshape globalization to benefit the
worlds poor
None of these flow logically from the paradigm
They are all more or less personal opinions about
society

Communication and Media Research Institute 18

4 - The scale of symbolic content
What is the relative size of media corporations and how far
are their products relatively global?
Media corporations are large but not significantly larger than
the Fordist industries
Even in a very open economy and post-industrial economy
like the UK:
It exported finished manufactured goods (e.g. cars, aircraft
petrochemicals and so on) to the value of 101,252m in 2004
It exported services (e.g. royalties, financial services, licenses and so
on) to the value of 99,100m
Of these services, the royalties and licences earnings of the film and
television industry amounted to 6,564m
Symbolic products are not more global than material
products
Cars and television programmes

Communication and Media Research Institute 19

5 - Withering away of the state?
Are states (any states) still viable entities?
Max Weber on the monopoly of violence
Military spending dipped at the end of the cold war, but is now rising
again
USA accounts for 40 per centUSA, Japan, UK, France and China
together account for more than 60 per cent
The internal coercive power of the state is not withering away
In 2002, the US government jailed more than 2 million of its citizens
More than 4 times as many as in 1980
Border controls have become much tougher since 9/11
In the media, the state remains to control of television operations
ITC and Ofcom have banned porn channels and Med TV
Al Jazeera is a state financed and owned operation
China controls access for satellite channels

Communication and Media Research Institute 20

 6 - Is the local a problem
Are local media a new development?
There have long be geographically local media
Newspaper operations in most countries were and
remain local
Chain ownership is usually national rather than global
Broadcasting tends toward the national at the
expense of the local if left to itself
The new localities and their media based on
ethnicity are not recent phenomena
Communication and Media Research Institute 21
 7 - A world without a centre
Surely this is quite incredible given the
preponderance of the USA?
Military strength and relative economic
weakness
Global media companies are in fact
overwhelmingly US companies from an
economic point of view
The USA has challengers, but is still by far the
most important
Communication and Media Research Institute 22
 8 - Multiple production centres
There are multiple production centres
In the cinema they are much less significant than
Hollywood
In 2002, accounted for more than 70% of film
investment
In major markets, Hollywood films account for the
majority of box office takings
Other media have different dynamics
In TV production, some national centres remain
important
In music, many national centres exist
Communication and Media Research Institute 23
 9 Regional media markets
What is the relative proportion of traded
media products from different sources?
Some evidence of regional specificity
Korean wave in East Asia
On the other hand, Europe dominated by
US imports
Regional markets still subordinate to global
market
Communication and Media Research Institute 24
 10 - Global media products?
How far can we claim that global products
can originate anywhere?
The case of Winnie-the-Pooh
In order to become global, media products
must first be adapted to suit the needs of
consumers in the large and wealthy
markets
Communication and Media Research Institute 25
 In summary
1 - The claim that there are new autonomous logics in culture is false
2 - The claim that the globalization paradigm does not lead to practice is
correct
3 - The claim that media are central to globalization is false, or at best very
weakly supported
4 - The claim that the state is becoming weaker is false
5 - The claims that the local is undermining the national is false
6 - The claim that there are multiple production centres is true, but the
powerful centres are in the developed world and primarily the USA
7 - There are regional markets in TV production, but intra-regional trade is
relatively weak compared with imports from the USA
8 - Global media products do exist, but the exist only insofar as they are
adapted to the tastes of consumers in the rich countries
10 - Taken together, there is very little evidence that globalization constitutes
a new epoch in human history

Communication and Media Research Institute 26

 Why does this matter?
Too many of the claims currently made by theories of
globalization are empirically false for us to accept them
A false theory leads to a false understanding of the world
Globalization theorists have concentrated on diasporic
audiences
These experience are important
They are very visible in the metropolitan centres
In terms of human significance, they are relatively marginal
Perhaps 5 million people have come to the UK in the last 20
years, maybe 50 million internationally
More than 1,000,000,000 have moved inside states from the
country to the city

Communication and Media Research Institute 27