Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Global Interactions
5. Socio-Cultural
exchanges
Cultural Stereotype
Use the sheet to draw a cultural
stereotype ... consider the
language(s) they speak, the customs
they follow, the beliefs they hold,
how they dress, the music they listen
to, the food they like to eat and the
technology they use.
World according to
Switzerland
Key Terms
Cultural diffusion
Consumerism
Sociocultural integration
Diasporas
Homogenization
Indigenous
Where is home? video
Language
Beliefs
Music
Dress?
It is an annual ritual in Iran. As summer approaches, many women in
the affluent north Tehran start wearing short and tight coats, and
small head scarves, called hijab, showing more hair than usual. This
violates the 1981 Islamic Dress Law, which applies to all women,
Muslim or not, and which requires them to cover their hair,
considered erotic, and wear long loose clothes to mask the contours
of their body. A black head-to-toe chador, covering the whole body
except hands and face, is regarded as the ideal.
To preserve the strict morality required by the Islamic regime,
policemen and policewomen accost "immodestly" dressed women at
major squares and underground stations in the capital, and treat
them with varying degrees of severity: a verbal warning; requiring
the violator to sign a letter promising not to appear in public wearing
"bad hijab" - a term commonly used to denote un-Islamic dress again; or rustling the law-breaker to the police headquarters where
she is fined the equivalent of $2 to $20.
Technology
Work time!
1. Produce notes on the diffusion of selected
cultural traits by the international movement of
workers, tourists and commodities. (pages 680682)
2. Are we approaching a single, dominant 'global
culture'? Is such a thing desirable?
3. Answer question block 16B page 682 and 16C
page 684
4. Examine the international diffusion of three
cultural traits. [10 marks]
11 September 2012
After almost 60 years, Coca-Cola is on sale again
in Burma. It's one of the world's most recognised
brands, so are there any countries where the
drinks giant still remains unsold?
The answer:
Only two countries where Coca-Cola is not
officially bought or sold - Cuba and North Korea
This is due to trade embargoes with the US
Coca-Cola says if any drinks are being sold in
these countries, they are coming in via
"unauthorised third parties"
But not all countries have embraced the American-ness that seems to be
embodied by Coca-Cola.
It was the French who first coined the pejorative term "coca-colonisation" in
the 1950s. Trucks were overturned and bottles smashed, says Standage, as
protesters saw the drink as a threat to French society.
During the Cold War, Coca-Cola became a symbol of capitalism and a faultline
between capitalism and communism, says Webster.
It was not marketed in the former Soviet Union due to the fear that profits
would go straight into communist government coffers, says Standage.
Pepsi filled the gap and was widely sold.
When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, many East Germans bought Coca-Cola by
the crate-load, says Standage. "Drinking Coca-Cola became a symbol of
freedom."
Other than the former Soviet Union, the main region that Coca-Cola has
struggled in historically is the Middle East, largely due to a boycott
implemented by the Arab League from 1968-1991, as a punishment for it
selling in Israel.
Tricky markets
China: After 10 years of negotiation, Coca-Cola re-entered
the market in 1979
USSR: Official sponsor for the World Ice Hockey
Championship in Moscow in 1979
East Germany: Coca-Cola employees handed out free cans
of Coke during fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and re-entered
market a year later
India: Coca-Cola re-launched in 1993 a parade through central
Calcutta
Vietnam: The US lifted its embargo in 1994 and Coca-Cola
returned soon after
Burma (Myanmar): Began selling in Burma in 1927 but stopped
in the 1960s after military junta took power, now sent its first
shipment there
Diasporas
These are often known to preserve
culture
It is officially the
scattering or dispersal of a community
of people or a cultural group from its
homeland to another part of the world.
Examples?
Jewish people
Irish
African
Indian
And many others!
and culture
Describe the role of TNCs and the media in spreading
consumer culture.
Select two different branded commodities and examine the
spatial and temporal pattern of adoption on a global scale.
Examine the role of diasporas in preserving culture in one
country and the adoption of minority traits by host
societies.
Examine the impact of cultural diffusion on one and remote
society through the influence of international interactions.
Examine the ways in which international interactions may
result in the homogenization and dilution of culture.
Define and exemplify the concept of cultural imperialism.