Globalization and Communication

The uprooting of human activities – political, cultural, economic, social

or:
interconnectedness -> interdependencies of many different parts in the world.
From a communication studies perspective:
Why globalization? – because it is possible to communicate on a global scale
”Only in the past couple of centuries, as every human community has gradually been drawn into a single web of
trade and a global network of information, have we come to a point where each of us can realistically imagine
contacting any other of our six billion conspecifics and sending that person something worth having: a radio, an
antibiotic, a good idea.”
Tracing the History of the Globalization of Communication
 Thompson, J. (1995). Media and Modernity – ch. 5 ’The Globalization of Communication’
Main points:
- Today communication is increasingly global
- This promotes a ’reordering’ of time and space
- This in turn, promotes global interconnections interdependencies = globalization.
- Globalization is a progress, not an end state. Started mainly with three processes during the 19th century:
- 1.) 1830’s. The telegraph – electric communication via transatlantic underwater cables. No more
messengers.
1843 – Washington and Baltimore connected
1865 – Britain and India connected
1870s – Europe linked to large parts of the world
1924 – King George V sends a message to himself that circulated the globe in 80 seconds
- 2.) 19th century. Emergence of global news networks. Significant in three ways
1.) News over large territories
2.) Global in scope
3.) Reached big audiences
- 3.) Electro-magnetic waves. The emergence of organziations with the mission to dissiminate radio
frequencies.
Different globalization[s]
– The dimensions of globalization
 Cultural: ’Global images’, global audiences, value-spreading, ’neo-imperialism’/’media imperialism’. World
culture.
 Social: Global social relations, mobility, tourism, sense global of community.
 Political: Supra-national organizations: UN, WTO etc. Supra-national governance: ’world-police’, Obama
phenomenon, regionalization: EU. Cosmopolitansim
 Economic: Common discourse. Trade links, instant money transaction - global business. Global exploitation
of labour.
Common thread: they all depend on global communication infrastructure.
Conceptualizing globalization
 Appadurai, A. (1996). ’Scapes’ that capture the globalization of all human activity: ethnoscapes,
financescapes, mediascapes, technospaces etc.
 Castells, M. (1996). In globalization – new logic of space: from ’space of place’ to ’space of flows’

’Flows’ (= purposeful, repetivite, programmable sequences of exchange and interaction between physically
disjointed positions)
Flows are ”expressions of processes dominating our economic, political and symbolic life.” (p. 442).
’Expression 1’: The Rise of Global Cities
Mainly located and considered within the economy-dimension of globalization
According to Castells’ ’trilogy’, in globalization cities have become increasinlgy important nodes for all human
activity.
Questions/Activities.

Q1. If cities have turned into cultural, social, economic, and political centers.is the rural rendered dysfunctional?

Q2. How is the organization of our world different now (in the midst of the process of globalization) compared to
’before’?

Q3. How do we notice globalization in everyday life?