Stella Lamari 1

http://www.battleofideas.org.uk/index.php/2009/session_detail/2596

“We don’t do Mc Donald’s”: America and World Culture, is the title of the web page Battle of Ideas 2009. This article address to people from all over the world, because we are all affected by American culture!

The American culture is not everywhere welcome. The Notre Dame University in London points out that many nations are suspicious of American culture and was seen as “Coca-Colonization.” In Torino, a group tried to remove Coca Cola from the city hall and countries like Canada and France took measures to stop the influence of American culture. If we look back to our chapter, we will find other measures that were taken to ban American culture with the example of Coca Cola.

“For Le Monde Coca Cola threatened the moral landscape of France. A Catholic newspaper warned that Coca Cola was the avant-garde of an offensive aimed at economic colonization.” (Cambell, Neil, Alasdair Kean, American Cultural Studies, page 314)

Another example is that many countries like France and Spain do music quotas on radio.

Why do they do that?

Do they think that their own culture is endangered by the Americans?

The answer is: YES!

Countries like France and Spain try to keep their own culture, but they do not see the advantages which American culture brings with. Every country has the possibility to benefit from America. We eat burgers and drink Coca Cola, because the taste is good! We watch MTV and hear American music, because we want to! America does not do Mc Donald’s. We do Mc Donald’s by ourselves. We are not forced to use products from the American industry. Using American products, does not mean that we are going to deny our own culture! Many countries forget that their economic development was only possible due to America. Without the Marshall Plan after World War II the reconstruction and development of many countries had never been possible.

Another aspect is that America was seen as a country with no past and no real culture. (Page 314)

But is that true?

The American culture consists not only of Coca Cola and Mc Donald’s. There are many artists like Leonard Bernstein or the engineer Henry Ford who affected the lives of millions of people. We should not forget that America saved many lives. While World War II many excellent people like Marlene Dietrich or Albert Einstein immigrated to America, because of religious and political persecution. They were disregarded and maltreated in their own country. America did not refuse them and gave them the possibility to be free and to realize themselves. All different nationalities in America are part of its culture, because they shared their knowledge, their experiences and their inspiration.

Every individual has a hand in American culture! 

Claudia Otto 1:

http://www.forbes.com/global/2011/1205/opinions-current-events-thought-leaders-american-culture-paul-johnson.html

Johnson's article on "America's grip on the world" is a great example for the transmission of American culture. American products and exports influence people all over the world. Just like Paul Johnson most people probably know an American song that brings back positive memories.

American music in particular has always been a great American influence in countries all over the world and cooperations from the United States still dominate music markets world wide. But does that mean that the popular music culture is boring and homogenous, a threat to national cultures? Is popular music just another means for America to impose their own culture and values on other nations and thus keep their hegemony in the world? Is it that easy?

I think the answer to this has to be "No!".

Of course it is true that American popular music is dominant in the world music industry and has been in the last century. Artists from the United States are the best-selling musicians in the world but it would be wrong to conclude from these facts that national and local music is stifled or oppressed. Studies have shown that alternatives to American music have always existed and that American popular music is not consumed uncritically. On the contrary consumers, especially young people have always adapted American popular music changing and incoorporating it into their own music and life styles that suited their current national and cultural circumstances. These music genres and styles have in turn influenced and transformed other nations including the United States themselves (Think of "The Beatles"!).

This shows that the crutial point when looking at the influence of American popular music is that in other countries the audience of this music is not a passive recipient of anything that is forced onto them but rather questioning the music that is offered and selecting those elements that have a value for their own life and music and rejecting those that have not.

One might argue that American record companies still dominate the music business and therefor have the power to promote certain music and styles but again it is up to the recipients to decide whether these promotions actually have the big impact on the music market they would like to have. Especially since new forms of communication like the internet have taken over a great part of the distribution of popular music the resistance to mainstream music has grown.

Maybe Johnson's views of the influence of American culture are true to some extend but his explantions, in particular his thoughts on the song "These Foolish Things", also demonstrate the adaption of American popular music as well as the influence of very different cultures and heritages that create great popular music.

Lioudmila Berlejung 1

http://gsevenier.online.fr/culturalImperialism.html

This article deals with the phenomenon American Cultural Imperialism. Its title already points at the ambivalence of the Transmission of the American Culture. The opinions to this point are so very different. Cultural Imperialism is nothing but  imposing of cultural values of one nation to other countries.

Through the media America is spreading some universal values and human rights. In the study of Cultural Studies we deal with definition(-s) of the Americanisation. The English Journalist W.T.Stead defined it in the year 1901 as “ the growing power of the United States not only in military and economic terms but also in the area of ideas, values and culture. “ If we think of the values we think first of all about American ideals of equality, freedom and democracy. Most of the countries in the World especially  in Western Europe take them for granted. Authoritarian states that disregard human rights and undervalue women and children see these ideals as evil. Consequently is America for them a foe.

In the article of Gaelle Sèvenier two definitions of American Cultural Imperialism are presented. The first one is of Irving Kristol “ the emerging American imperialism presents imperialism as an unintended consequence of market expansion rather than of a conscious goal”. The second definition of Christopher Dunkley states that with the help of this phenomenon that America provides some of the best available anywhere in the world. One of the reasons that American series are so successful in the world is that “ thanks to its immigration policies, the US has a population with the mixture of Anglo Saxons, Scandinavians, Asians and so on that provides American broadcasters with a domestic audience which is , to all intents and purposes international”. Christopher Dunkley underlines in his definition the immigration aspect.

MacQuali’s theory states that not only was United States influencing other cultures, but other cultures were also influencing the US. In this context we are talking about the interpretation of cultures instead of American invasion.

The USA exports worldwide not only the information but also its good. There is hardly a person on our planet who is not familiar with Pepsi, Coke, McDonalds. Who is not aware of Hollywood that dominated the international film industry? As for me I take these goods for granted. But lots of people who I am acquainted with I very angry about this fact . They see the expansion of the American goods as threat for the national economy.

Today, the spread of American culture goes through every communication medium: 90 % of the information available on the internet is in English, CNN is seen in 120 countries.

The American dominating involvement on the political scene is treated ambivalently. Some people see it a rescuing act for our planet but the others ( mostly authoritarian states ) treat the interference of the United States as threat.