The topic of cultural diffusion is planned to be explored in the research paper by examining the diffusion of American culture within the processes of globalization and Americanization. The relevance of the identified issues is validated by the increasing level of expansion of American popular culture, business-related concepts, and lifestyle approaches that influence other nations through globalization. The argumentative essay will claim that the process of cultural diffusion in the form of global Americanization adversely impacts local cultures by devaluing national identity and diminishing cultural diversity.
The primary outside source that provides evidence for the argument is a recent book entitled Globalization and American Popular Culture written by Lane Crothers, a professor of politics and government at the Illinois State University. This source provides an in-depth analysis of the modern tendencies in the global diffusion of American culture as they impact the lives of people abroad.
The potential counterarguments to possible objections pertaining to the positive developmental triggers Americanization provide through globalization are as follows. Firstly, development in different spheres of national functioning might be achieved without damage to cultural identity but through adaptation of ideas while preserving the uniqueness of the local culture. Secondly, the enforced and encouraged acceptance of the diffusional influences of Americanization might lead to the increase of nationalist movements for purifying national identities, which is a dangerous outcome that should be avoided.
Introduction
The USA has significantly influenced and shaped the cultural domains of many countries of the world, primarily in the spheres of popular culture, business, consumerism, technologies, and daily activities. The Western or American culture is a product of a capitalist and neoliberal mindset that translates to all aspects of life and tends to dominate the world within the context of globalization. The overall development of industries and technologies allows people to travel more easily and to engage in communicative contacts using the Internet with people from various countries and environments. Such a process of cultural exchange as the outcome of international ties intensification is logical and natural.
However, it has long been evident that the USA dominates the process by diffusing its culture across its borders, thus creating a background for considering cultural imperialism. Referred to as McDonaldization or Westernization, Americanization has been observed in multiple corners of the world, with the significant impact caused to Asian and European countries whose local cultures are different from those traditional for the USA.
The present paper aims to argue that despite the fragmented positive implications of globalization dominated by the American cultural diffusion, this process damages the national identities of the receiving nations, blurring their differences and uniqueness. The evidence in the form of changes to the language, popular culture, technologies, business, and everyday lifestyle is retrieved from recent scholarly publications to validate the claims and address counterarguments.
Americanization as a Case of Cultural Diffusion
The transformational processes related to culture in the modern world are bound to the advancements in connectedness opportunities. Borders and distances have become easily challenged using airplane traveling and Internet technologies. People in the twenty-first century are more internationally connected than ever before in the history of humanity. Such an active engagement in international communication and the interaction of individuals and groups between one another implies a substantial exchange of cultural concepts, ideas, and trends. Cultural diffusion is one of the processes that describe the principles of cultural exchange.
In particular, cultural diffusion is a one-way “dispersion of ideas, practices, technologies, techniques, language, or other cultural attributes throughout space” (Muehlenhaus 237). As a type of cultural diffusion, Americanization might be characterized as an expansion diffusion, which implies that a dominating core culture expanses the periphery with large numbers of people accepting the imposed cultural attributes (Muehlenhaus 237-238). Indeed, since the neoliberal and democratic society of the USA managed to produce significant advancements in business and technologies, the global dominance of the economic empire is undeniable.
However, when it comes to culture and national uniqueness, the globalization trends themselves impose a significant threat to nations that are less advanced than the USA. In such a manner, the US’ economic leadership becomes a trigger for its global expansion that causes cultural shifts. People across the world do not need clarifications concerning the origin of such brands as McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Apple, Google, and others because these strictly American cultural attributes have invaded mass’ everyday lives globally (Vucetic 1-2).
In an attempt to endorse the American lifestyle, nations neglect to cherish their own cultures and traditions, substituting them with more popular and more progressive ones originated in the developed and successful Western world. As a result, Americanization devalues national cultures and deteriorates cultural diversity in the world by imposing the same standards and cultural codes on a global scale.
The Adverse Impact of Americanization on Domestic Cultures of European and Asian Nations
The American influence on domestic cultures globally is associated with the economic, political, social, and cultural progress in the country that gained its peak around World War II. The scholars engaged in research of American cultural diffusion state that “the presence of the American way of life, including cultural representations (literature, music, cinema and pop-culture products such as TV shows, computer games, etc.) can be felt all over the globe” (Goncalves et al. 12). Therefore, these representations are particularly related to language, popular culture, business, and technology.
Language as one of the most significant cultural phenomenon particularly vividly demonstrates the shifts toward Americanization. According to Goncalves et al., due to “the rise of the US as a global actor, the English language enjoys an undisputed role as the global lingua franca serving as the default language of science, commerce, and diplomacy” (1). In particular, the American variant of the English language is taught and learned in various corners of the world, with the priority set on this language as a global language.
However, even when considering the English language, the leaning toward American pronunciation, vocabulary, and spelling is noticeable across the world, especially in countries where the British ancestry is least evident. As stated by researchers, the cultural rise of the USA over other countries, including Great Britain, that finalized during World War II is significantly associated with the exportation of the American variant of English across the borders (Goncalves et al. 1-2).
As a result, the world now speaks American English except for the places where British English is spoken as a native language (these are primarily Great Britain and its former colonies). The adverse impact of such a manifestation of cultural diffusion in the form of Americanization is the potential for neglecting local native languages in the pursuit of speaking English. Furthermore, the inevitable invasion of so-called Americanisms in the languages of other nations blurs the borders between languages and causes ambiguity to language clarity, as well as its correctness (Vucetic 135). The invasion of linguistic phenomena of the USA into the national cultures of receiving nations is also manifested through the popularization of pop culture.
Popular culture introduces new trends to the overall media space around the world. In particular, the emergence of MTV, sports channels, news broadcasting, and other media-related phenomena is inherent to the USA, from where they spread across the world (Crothers 193). While these tendencies triggered the development of media in other countries, they have also diminished the contribution of local trends by standardizing and unifying the global pop culture.
The most popular musical genres, for example, such as rap and rock, “have American roots” and might be fully appreciated by natives only (Simelyte et al. 3). However, as they become transferred abroad, the mixed cultural baggage of these cultural phenomena fails to serve its initial purpose and obstruct the potential for generating qualitatively new but nationally unique cultural ideas by non-American societies.
The characters of Disney World, Hollywood stars and cinema in general, and other domains of popular culture generate Americanized icons that consequently diminish the opportunities of domestic culture to become mainstream. Even China, a country with one of the richest histories and cultures in the world that has a unique solid cultural background, endorses American cultural trends (Crothers 1-3). As Vucetic argues, Yugoslavian culture shift under the influence of Americanization is an example of how through literature, music, films, and other media, people’s consciousness and self-perception is deteriorated and changed from national to global (ix-x). In such a manner, the lines dividing one culture from the other become blurred, with non-native influence dominating over the original.
Similar and even more powerful implications are observed in the spheres of business and technology. Global corporations originated in the USA engaged in both technological and consumer industries globalize their businesses by franchising their brands and localizing their businesses with the preservation of standard corporate approaches. In such a manner, the American way of running a business is implemented globally. Moreover, the theoretical business and leadership schools are also originated in the USA, which is powerful enough to disseminate its cultural influence through business (Simelyte et al. 1-2).
The business of informational technologies and artificial intelligence also originate from America, where such corporations as Google, Microsoft, Apple, and others were launched. The Internet has become one of the most influential channels of American cultural diffusion since through the US-based social media, people communicate on a global scale using concepts and language that unites all of them (Crothers 3-4). The more globalized the contemporary societies become, the more they face the invasion of Americanization into their daily lives. There is a significant threat to preserving national identity, especially for younger generations, if the distinction between domestic and foreign is not timely clarified.
Opponents’ Validation of Americanization as a Positive Process
Despite an array of evidence demonstrating the scope of Westernized cultural impact on receiving countries, there are potential benefits of globalization and the US cultural diffusion that might be used to oppose the argument of the paper. In particular, globalization is viewed as a positive issue in the context of business opportunities of corporations and small businesses. Indeed, as claimed by Simelyte et al., globalization provides a developmental opportunity for economic and technological changes by increasing reflexivity, standardization, control, and predictability (4). Moreover, it is implied that globalization and Americanization, in particular, might be considered sources of progressive knowledge for individuals and groups.
Response to Opponents and Concluding Points
However, the few listed benefits that cultural diffusion might provide to several domains of life, including business and technology, are incomparable with the scope of a long-term negative impact it presumes. The predisposition of the worlds’ forces where the USA is a leader and others are followers leads to implicit inferiority of other countries. Such a tendency might provoke neglectful attitudes toward domestic cultures through prioritization of a foreign one.
Another significant adverse outcome of cultural diffusion as it is in the contemporary world with the emphasis on the invasion of everything American in the lives of nations abroad is the potential appearance of nationalist groups. Since such organizations often function as terroristic entities, their performance aimed at purifying national identity from cultural diffusion of American ideas might result in adverse consequences for national security in general and the safety of individuals in particular.
Therefore, the process of cultural diffusion through Americanization or McDonaldization that implies worldwide dominance of the US culture through globalization is destructive to local cultures of receiving nations. Societies are exposed to American standards, values, and lifestyles through business models, technologies, and mass media. The active cultural diffusion substitutes values of domestic societies and cultures with foreign ones, thus further deteriorating the opportunities of next generations for identifying themselves as unique representatives of a distinctive ancestry and not a product of globalization.
Works Cited
Crothers, Lane. Globalization and American Popular Culture. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2021.
Goncalves, Bruno, et al. “Mapping the Americanization of English in Space and Time.” PloS One, vol. 13, no. 5, 2018, pp. 1-15.
Muehlenhaus, Ian. Geography Today: An Encyclopedia of Concepts, Issues, and Technology. ABC-CLIO, 2019.
Simelyte, Agne, Renata Korsakiene, and Deniss Sceulovs. “Americanization in Lithuania as a driving force for globalization.” Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, vol. 3, no. 16, 2017, 1-13.
Vucetic, Radina. Coca-Cola Socialism. Americanization of Yugoslav Culture in the Sixties. Central European University Press, 2018.