Communications and Culture Transformation Please note: This project is © by Stephan Dahl. Feel free to use it for educational purposes, provided that the source is clearly stated (http://stephweb.com/capstone). If you wish to use this project for commercial purposes, which includes all forms of reproduction, please contact me! ( [email protected] ) Any feedback is, of course, encouraged and appreciated. Table of Contents INDEX OF TABLES AND FIGURES .....................................................3 PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..............................................4 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................5 DETERMINANTS OF CULTURE AND IDENTITY ....................................8 WHAT IS CULTURE?.........................................................................................................8 THE NATIONAL CHARACTER/BASIC PERSONALITY..............................................................10 PERCEPTION .................................................................................................................10 TIME CONCEPTS............................................................................................................11 SPACE CONCEPTS..........................................................................................................13 THINKING.....................................................................................................................13 logic and prelogic.......................................................................................................13 inductive and deductive..............................................................................................13 abstract and concrete.................................................................................................13 alphabetical and analphabetical...................................................................................14 LANGUAGE ...................................................................................................................14 NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION.......................................................................................15 Kinesics...................................................................................................................15 Proxemics.................................................................................................................16 Appearance..............................................................................................................16 Posture....................................................................................................................16 Oculesics.................................................................................................................17 Haptics, tacesics.......................................................................................................17 Paralanguage............................................................................................................17 Symbolism and Passive Non-verbal Communication.........................................................18 VALUES........................................................................................................................18 BEHAVIOUR: NORMS, RULES, MANNERS, ROLES................................................................20 SOCIAL GROUPINGS AND RELATIONSHIPS..........................................................................20 Communications and Culture Transformation Axioms of the previous section.....................................................................................21 CULTURE ACQUISITION AND MODIFICATION................................... 22 Axioms of the previous section.....................................................................................23 TRENDS IN CROSS-BORDER AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION. 24 GLOBAL BUSINESS.........................................................................................................25 Free Trade and Common Markets................................................................................25 Foreign Direct Investment , TNCs, Oligopolisation..........................................................25 Capitalism and Western Culture Export.........................................................................26 POLITICAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMICAL CHANGES..................................................................26 From colonial power to neoliberal Europe.....................................................................26 European Integration..................................................................................................27 Revolt and Social Change: May 1968............................................................................27 Extension of power: the fall of Franco............................................................................29 Extending the neoliberal world view to the East...............................................................29 Yugoslavia................................................................................................................30 New Democrats, New Labour and Neue Mitte................................................................30 Western politics and commercial influence....................................................................31 Conclusion...............................................................................................................32 MEDIA TRENDS .............................................................................................................32 Influence of the media on society..................................................................................32 Decline of the public broadcasting in Europe..................................................................33 The emergence of commercial broadcasting...................................................................34 Commercial, global media content................................................................................35 Co-operation and global distribution.............................................................................36 Diversification into multimedia services........................................................................37 Cinema globalisation..................................................................................................37 Localisation of focus..................................................................................................38 Resistance towards globalisation..................................................................................39 Global content, produced locally.................................................................................40 Conclusion...............................................................................................................41 THE INTERNET...............................................................................................................41 The Emergence of the Net............................................................................................42 Internet Users and Usage.............................................................................................43 Critical Mass Levels..................................................................................................44 The Commercialisation of Cyberspace..........................................................................45 Axioms of the previous section.....................................................................................46 THE NEED FOR AN INTERACTIVE MODEL OF CULTURAL Communications and Culture Transformation TRANSFORMATION ...................................................................... 47 TOWARDS EXPLAINING INTERCULTURAL TRANSFORMATION ............ 49 THE CULTURE SHOCK.....................................................................................................50 FROM SHOCK TO SELF-REFLECTION .................................................................................51 SHOCK, REFLECTION, ADAPTATION.................................................................................51 FROM THE INDIVIDUAL TO THE SOCIETY...........................................................................53 DEFINITIONS.................................................................................................................53 ASSUMPTIONS...............................................................................................................55 AXIOMS .......................................................................................................................58 CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION..................................................... 60 APPENDIX 1 - GLOBAL MEDIA PLAYERS.......................................... 63 REFERENCES .............................................................................. 66 Index of Tables and Figures TABLE 1 MONOCHRONIC AND POLYCHRONIC CULTURES.....................................................12 TABLE 2 VALUE ORIENTATIONS.......................................................................................19 TABLE 3 THE FIVE LARGEST MEDIA CONGLOMERATES.........................................................34 TABLE 4 PRODUCTION PRICES.........................................................................................35 TABLE 5 HOSTCOUNT DEVELOPMENT................................................................................42 TABLE