Cultural Imperialism

Overview

Cultural imperialism is a modification of the original concept of imperialism. Imperialism is the notion that certain nations or cultures possess an innate wisdom and superiority and that this entitles them to conquer other territories and impose their way of life on the inhabitants. Imperialism dominated social and political thought in Europe starting in the time of the Renaissance and led to centuries of exploration and conquest, as countries in Europe sent out ships all over the world. At first these voyages were intended only to establish trade routes and bring foreign goods back to the home country, where they could be sold at immense profit. Expeditions ventured far to the east, bringing back valuable cargo from China, India, and other distant lands. Because the journey was so arduous, explorers also sailed westward in search of an easier way to get to the Far East. This led to the European powers learning of the Americas, and although no easy passage to the "Indies" was found, Europeans were elated to find that the "New World" had riches of its own.

Many of the regions visited by European explorers were less technologically advanced in terms of weaponry and tangible societal infrastructure. As a result, expeditions that were ostensibly focused on trade quickly became exploitative, as Europeans used their military superiority to extract vast amounts of resources from the areas they found, with little or no compensation offered (Simpson, 2017). In this way, what has been called the age of exploration gave way to an age of empire. European nations established colonies all over the world, laying claim to the resources found there and either removing the Indigenous population or making them subservient to the conquering nation's will.

Part of the process of subjugating Indigenous peoples was to force them to adopt the colonial power's way of life in order to survive. For example, a culture that had for thousands of years survived by fishing and small-scale agriculture might be forced to give up this way of life when colonists arrive and begin working as servants on their estates or as laborers gathering resources (e.g., gold, gems, timber) for the colonists to send home. In essence, the imposition of political power by one nation onto another amounts to imperialism, and the imposition of one nation's values and way of life onto another is cultural imperialism. In the past, cultural imperialism was always accompanied by actual imperialism; in the modern world, cultural imperialism can be found existing independently from any desire to take physical control of territory (Bhattacharjee, 2017).

Further Insights

Cultural imperialism is widely seen as extremely negative behavior, because its effect is to erase from existence many of the distinctive qualities that make a culture unique, and replacing them with foreign customs and values that are often at odds with millennia of history and tradition. Cultural imperialism can be even more insidious than outright military rule, because it has both conscious and unconscious aspects to it (Özeki̇n & Ariöz, 2014). Conscious aspects include the colonizer's belief that Indigenous people are primitive, backward, or otherwise in need of some kind of outside force to intervene and show them the path they should follow. This attitude ignores the true nature of an Indigenous culture, assuming that those aspects of it that are unfamiliar must necessarily be negative. A powerful example of this can be found in the way that Native American children were often treated in schools, when in classes taught by members of the dominant culture. Many teachers noticed that when they spoke to a Native American student, the student would not look them in the eye, instead staring at the floor or off to the side. Most teachers took great offense at this, assuming that the students were bored, distracted, or simply indifferent to the direction they were being given, and it was not uncommon for the students to be punished for this behavior and told time and again to stop it. Contrary to the teachers' own cultural practices, which they took for granted as universal, Native American children had been brought up to believe it would be the height of disrespect to make eye contact with an authority figure while being addressed by that figure. In these children's culture, keeping their gaze downward when talking to parents, elders, and others in positions of power was ingrained, so in fact they were demonstrating the very deference their teachers demanded, though its form appeared to demonstrate the opposite—albeit to adults who were in a better position to bridge the communication gap than their young pupils (Voinea & Filip, 2012). As this example illustrates, the quintessential features of cultural imperialism are misunderstanding and ignorance, scorn directed toward the cultural norms of others, and the assumption that others should follow one's own expectations and practices.

Cultural imperialism plays out in many different areas of life. As the example above demonstrates, one of these is education. A pattern that has often been repeated in history is for an Indigenous culture that passes down its heritage to the next generation through stories and folklore, to fall under the control of a colonial power that imposes its own educational system and forces all to participate in it. Typically, a colonizer's curriculum will focus on its own perspective and exclude Indigenous influences. This has the effect of cutting off children from their own heritage, often erecting an invisible barrier between themselves and their elders; in a culture that had been based on stewardship of nature and balanced coexistence with the environment, a colonial education might teach that such an outlook is backward or even primitive. Instead, the colonizer might instruct students about the need to acquire natural resources and exploit them for economic gain. Instead of encouraging students to work together and collaborate as their heritage would indicate, they could be tacitly urged to compete with one another, each student trying to outdo the others as a kind of preparation for the sort of conflict-based interactions that characterize life in a capitalist context (Mathiesen, 2016).

Another aspect of life that has often been a medium through which cultural imperialism has been enacted is that of religion. Religious beliefs are central to the identity of almost all cultural groups and have been throughout history. As such they have played a major role in determining how colonizers and Indigenous peoples have interacted with one another. A central objective for a colonizing power is to transform the Indigenous way of life so that instead of being something foreign and independent from colonial understanding and control, it becomes something familiar that may be manipulated and forced to conform to accepted standards. Phrased another way, if a colonial power were to permit Indigenous peoples to maintain their traditional belief system, rituals, and sacred practices, this would be equivalent to allowing them to remain separate from those in power, and to some extent not subject to their directives. For most colonizers, this represents a threat too great to be tolerated, so instead they do their utmost to ensure that their own belief system replaces or is imposed on top of the Indigenous one. Examples of religious cultural imperialism are easily found at least as far back as the ancient world. As Christianity spread across pagan Europe, churches were built upon sites that had been devoted to the worship of older gods, and many pagan holidays were recast as Christian festivals, such as Easter and Christmas. Similarly, when Spain undertook its conquest of the Americas, it sent missionaries to establish Catholic churches and to convert the Indigenous peoples to their faith. There is no denying that many of those who participated in these efforts were sincere in their desire to help others by converting them, yet it is also true that for others, religious conversion has been not so much a matter of salvation as of political expediency (Jin, 2017).

Cultural imperialism is a phenomenon the effects of which can be subtle and pervasive in many areas of everyday life. In addition to the ways it has manifested in the spheres of education and religion, its presence also emerges when one studies the economic structure of colonial territories. Because regions subject to colonization are for the most part less developed technologically than the regions the colonizers originate from, it is often the case that the systems of value and exchange being used are less sophisticated as well. Financial institutions such as banks may be entirely absent, or may exist only in rudimentary form, and in some cases there is no system of currency being used at all, with transactions being conducted using a barter system—that is, individuals trading goods and services with one another.

Colonial governments usually wish to make use of the local labor force, and because they are not equipped to operate according to the traditional method of exchange, they require Indigenous peoples to adapt to the colonial system (Anchan, 2012). This is problematic in a number of ways; it forces Indigenous peoples to abandon skills, occupations and practices and to begin working according to the needs and desires of the government. A blacksmith with decades of experience might suddenly be asked to work as a delivery truck driver, for example. This takes him away from his chosen occupation, but it has longer lasting effects as well. The blacksmith is unable to train an apprentice to carry on the trade, and even if he were able to train someone, he might be unable to find any students interested in his knowledge; young people in search of a trade might feel their time would be better spent working in the new factories that have been built by the colonists. The blacksmith would also be faced with a dwindling demand for his services as more and more people purchase their goods from stores rather than directly from his shop. Ultimately, his expertise is removed from his community. All in all, cultural imperialism has the effect of disrupting existing patterns of craft, knowledge, and value exchange, with major consequences for Indigenous peoples' security and traditions (Davie, 2017).

Issues

In the modern world, the most dire threat posed to traditional societies is that of popular culture and its many influences. Popular culture is something of a catchall phrase that encompasses television, books, movies, music, dining habits, and many other areas of life that together define modernity. People can share interests in aspects of popular culture even if they are from different parts of the world and from sharply contrasting backgrounds; anime films, for example, are enjoyed not only by teens in Japan but also by adults from every corner of the globe. This sort of widespread influence is possible due to the Internet and other forms of media that allow people in different regions to have shared experiences. While at first this might seem like a positive development—and it does have noteworthy advantages—it is also cause for concern. This is because the influences of popular culture are not in balance. These influences tend to flow in only one direction (from richer, developed countries toward less developed ones) and as a result, a small number of countries exert a disproportionate influence over their neighbors (Plotkin, 2015).

In particular, the entertainment industry of the United States has come to dominate cultural discourse all over the world—regardless of where one travels, people are interested in the latest Hollywood blockbusters, the behavior of American celebrities, and the music of American pop stars. While it is true that there are also many popular local artists who receive as much attention in their native countries, many of these have become well-known precisely because of their ability to imitate American stars. The problem with this is that it constitutes an invasion of a sovereign country by the cultural influences of another (usually richer) nation, threatening to replace local culture with influences that are completely out of their natural context. When this occurs on a large scale and over a long period, it has the tendency to transform the culture in ways that are not entirely desirable. A culture's music, art, dance, folklore, and other forms of expression can wind up fading from memory as people prefer other forms of entertainment and expression that appear more appealing or modern because they come from another country (Demont-Heinrich, 2011).

It is important to keep in mind that the objections to cultural imperialism should not be dismissed as simply representing the attitudes of those who are opposed to change, and who unrealistically want everything that is familiar to them to remain the same. All cultures change over time, as changing circumstances demand that people adapt to new challenges. The issue with cultural imperialism is not with the fact of change, but with the manner in which it occurs. Cultural imperialism causes changes that are usually faster than would otherwise occur, and in a direction that benefits those from the dominant or influencing culture. The faster pace can mean that the changes have a destabilizing effect on other aspects of the culture, and the association of the changes with benefits accruing to members of the dominant culture, taken together mean that one party is benefiting from actions that are harmful to others.

Bibliography

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