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The rural/urban divide is as much a cultural divide as it is an economic/development

divide.

Urbanization has led to a shift of culture. Cities are fast-paced (compared to rural
areas), have many shops, and the people have disposable income (income that can
be spent on wants, not just needs). As such, people are able to participate in
whatever the most recent trend is, and when it runs its course, they move on to the
next thing.

Rural areas, in contrast, are less connected overall, and tend to maintain a more
traditional way of life – new stuff isn’t always as readily available, there are often
limited incomes (especially in LDCs and NICs) compared to the (relatively) higher
income levels of the cities. Even here in the United States, internet access isn’t as
accessible in rural areas as it is in the cities, which leads to a degree of isolation (not
as isolated as rural areas in less economically developed countries, though).

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Globalization is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and
governments worldwide.

It involves all aspects of life and culture.

Economic globalization is the process by which businesses or other organizations develop

international influence or start operating across multiple countries – most major corporations
are global by necessity – products are designed in one (or more) country, raw materials are
sourced in varying countries, manufacturing takes place in other countries, and the final
product is assembled in yet another country, and then it’s all shipped to the stores to be sold
(also multiple countries) – we will spend quite a bit of time on this international division of
labor in our Industry unit. All of this economic activity requires communication across
cultures and different languages – and the product may be something as simple as the shirt
you are wearing. Businesses are also agents of cultural diffusion (i.e., McDonalds, Starbucks,
Walmart, Disney, etc.). The diffusion of culture for profit is sometimes referred to as “cultural
imperialism”.

Cultural globalization refers to the transmission of ideas, meanings, and values around the
world in such a way as to extend and intensify social relations. This process is marked by the
common consumption of cultures that have been diffused by the Internet,
popular culture media, and international travel. To see a larger version of the infographic
shared above and read more about Cultural globalization, please visit
https://sites.psu.edu/comm411spring2015/2015/03/17/mediaglobalization-and-cultural-
imperialism/

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Prior to communication technology, the only way to share ideas around the world
was to either physically travel and speak to people, write letters, or distribute print
materials. As you already know, the invention of the printing press was a major
innovation that helped to overcome distance decay (the time-space convergence).
Transportation technology was another major innovation in overcoming barrier of
distance for diffusion. People and their ideas (print form, such as letters and books)
are transported much faster in the last century than they ever were before (sailing
ships took weeks (or months) to cross the oceans) – today a shipment of books can
be moved halfway around the world in about 19 hours.

The maps above illustrates the time-space convergence due to air travel. The map on
the left is a standard map of the Pacific basin (the areas surround the Pacific Ocean).
The map on the right is a cartogram that shows the relative time accessibility by
airline schedules in 1975 – and the technology has improved and the cost is more
accessible today (almost 45 years later). The ocean is no longer a barrier to travel as
long as you have the money to purchase airfare.

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The rapidly increasing access to communications technology has led to a rapid increase in the rate of cultural
diffusion by virtually eliminating distance as a barrier to spreading ideas. Communication is instantaneous over
most of the globe. Places connected via the internet rapidly share popular culture, thought, and knowledge.
Prior to the 1950s, most global communication still occurred with letters or by telegraph (beginning in the 1850s -
Morse code signals were sent by operators at the two ends of the line, the operators would decode and write the
message down for the recipient. The first trans-oceanic telegraph cable was strung across the Atlantic Ocean
became operational in 1858 – but still, the communication was limited to those who had access to the telegraph
stations (urban areas) and who could afford the cost.
Being able to read the words, but not hear the pronunciations, led to different sounds even within the same
language (known as sound shifts, which will be discussed in much more detail in the notes “Diffusion of
Language). This is why the United States, England, Australia, and India all have very different sounding versions of
the English language.
After the 1950s, telephones became common place. These first phones were hard wired (now known as landlines)
and had to by physically connected – urban areas were connected to the phone networks first, and, naturally,
rural areas last (with remote areas remaining unconnected). But for the first time, communication across great
distances was instant – someone with a phone could talk (in real time) to someone on another continent who was
also connected to the network.
Mobile phones were revolutionary, because for the first time phone calls could be made without that physical
connection to another place. Now, to communicate your phone just needs to be able to “see” a communications
tower, which are much easier and less expensive to construct than physically running wires to remote locations.
Rural and remote locations are able to access the wireless networks where they previously were unconnected.
The internet is a system of interconnected computer networks world-wide. It has its origin in the efforts of wide
area networking that originated in several computer science laboratories in the United States, United Kingdom,
and France. It originally operated through the phone networks, but over the past few decades fiber optics and
other transmission medium have made transmission of data much faster. Today the “web” can be accessed
virtually anywhere you have a mobile phone signal or satellite transmission (including the International Space
Station).
Today, lack of connectivity to any of the existing communications networks is a major barrier to diffusion.
Distance is no longer physical, there is a digital divide – those who have access to communications technology,
and those who do not.

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Historical diffusions set up the underlying global patterns of culture that exist today,
but contemporary (recent/current – since the 1950s) cultural diffusion is rapidly
changing those patterns.

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Cultural convergence means the interactions of multiple cultures – whether they mean to or not, two
people from different cultures interacting with each other will transmit something of their culture to
the other person – even if it is just a perception of the place the other comes from.
Cultural divergence results from isolation – all cultures shift and change over time, and if one group is
isolated from others, these changes will look different in the different cultures.
An example of cultural convergence is a pidgin language. In the “Historical effects of diffusion” notes,
you learned about creolization, which is the blending of multiple cultures to create a new distinctive
culture. A pidgin language is the same concept, but only refers to languages. People speaking different
native languages come together and in order to communicate speak and learn simplified versions of
BOTH languages to create a new language. Well-known examples of pidgin languages are Chinese
Pidgin English (has about 700 words total – again, simplified compromise version of both languages),
Korean Bamboo English, Solomon Islands Pijin, and Spanglish (though this designation is often debated
as Spanglish is not a simplified version of either language, but is rather commonly spoken in areas
where residents are somewhat bilingual and “code switch” between the two languages).
Hawaiian Pidgin originated on sugarcane plantations as a form of communication used between
English speaking residents and non-English speaking Native Hawaiians and foreign immigrants and has
been influenced by many different languages, including Portuguese, Hawaiian, American English,
and Cantonese.
And example of Cultural Divergence are regional isoglosses – an “isogloss” is a boundary for a regional
dialect. It translates as “same word” (iso = same, gloss = word – hence, a “glossary” is a book of words
and their meanings). The isogloss is the line on the map that demarcates where the boundary between
regions where certain words are used. The most well-known example of a regional variation of
language is the word used to describe a flavored carbonated beverage. Here, we typically say “coke”
regardless of brand (shown in pink on the map above). In the Northeast and portions of the West
Coast they call is “soda” (blue), all the yellow says “pop” and the green is a mix between “soda” and
“pop”, and the purple states say “soda” or “coke”

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See the handout “Folk/popular culture” for a comparison between folk and popular culture and
characteristics of each.
The word “pervasive” means “spreading widely throughout an area or a group of people” – BUT it has
a negative connotation as in “an unwelcome influence or physical effect”
Popular culture is fast culture – it is whatever trend is popular at the moment. Its designed to be mass
produced, sold for profit, and consumed before moving on to the next “it” thing. By design, popular
culture is not meant to last – if it were, there wouldn’t be much profit in it. Because of it’s “flash-in-
the-pan” life-span and rapid diffusion, popular culture is sometimes referred to as “Global culture”.
By contrast, folk culture is long-lasting and carries generation to generation. It is based around
tradition. For example, traditional clothing, folk music (traditional songs). Folk culture is sometimes
referred to as “indigenous culture” if it is describing the natives of a place, or “local culture” if the
group is not indigenous but has an isolated and traditional culture compared to other groups.
For example:
Popular culture/Global Culture can be explained by clothing trends – each year, the fashion designers
release new “styles” for each of the seasons, and people around the world pay attention and buy new
clothes. In this process, they may wear an object of clothing only a handful of times before it is put in
the “donate” pile or thrown away.
Compare popular culture clothing with indigenous or local cultural clothing, and there is a stark
difference. Indigenous clothing is often seen in ceremonial garb – in everyday life, they natives may
wear the same types of clothing that everybody else wears (i.e., pop culture clothing), but during
ceremonies and celebrations, the groups will don the clothing of their ancestors (such as the center
picture above of Australian natives, known as “aborigines”). Local cultures, on the other hand, tend to
voluntarily remain isolated from the more powerful cultural groups in order to preserve their way of
life. In the picture on the right, two Amish girls hang quilts to dry on the line. The Amish culture prefers
to remain isolated and shuns modern conveniences such as electricity and telecommunications as a
way to protect their own local culture. Clothing is simple and hand-crafted, which creates a uniform
look across the group – uniformity promotes unity in such cases (centripetal forces).

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Urban areas are hearths of popular culture - especially the very large cities with a lot
of economic and cultural influence, i.e., New York City, Los Angeles, London, Tokyo,
Seoul, etc. Places like Hollywood (movie and TV production hearth), New York and
Los Angeles (music/TV/Movies/Fashion/trends), Nashville (country music hearth),
Detroit (Motown – music hearth), Seoul (K-pop and Korean broadcasting), Tokyo
(fashion, anime, music, cosplay.

Urban hearths, especially the role of entertainment media (TV, movies, radio, etc.)
diffuse culture hierarchically – a few small people of influence/a place of major
influence spreads the culture from the “top” down – it spreads from big city to big
city, then to medium cities, smaller cities, and finally rural areas. For example, new
movies may open at a handful of theaters in the biggest towns, then general release
to movie theaters that run first-run movies in large and medium size cities, before
eventually making their way into smaller-town theaters that often show “discount” or
late run movies, before, finally, people in rural areas see the movies on DVD or via
Netflix/HBO/Amazon Prime or some other streaming service (provided they have
broadband internet that has the capacity to stream videos).

Social media has also changed the way diffusion occurs, which has led to social and
political revolutions in several places. Social media is said to have been the driving
force behind the Arab Spring – a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and
armed rebellions that occurred in the 2010s. The protests began as a grassroots
movements among youth and young adult populations on social media (Grassroots
movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to affect

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change at the local, regional, national, or international level – they are reverse
hierarchical and spread from the bottom level up). As word of successes spread
across social media, other groups were inspired to stage protests and uprisings in
new locations. Governments responded by shutting off access to social media in
hopes to quell the rebellions.

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As discussed earlier, English is an international language of business. This is due to
two reasons: the historical diffusion of the English language with the British Empire
and the contemporary dominance of the English language in internet and popular
culture media. Coupled with the United States’ dominance of global economics, and
English is the language of choice for business. Today, many students around the world
learn English as a second language.

Since English was already a common 2nd language for people needing a lingua franca
(refer back to Historical Diffusions notes), English was an obvious choice for
innovators of the internet and popular culture media to reach the largest audience.
The prevalence of English led to more people learning English to gain access to more
internet content, and a positive feedback loop was formed (one factor promotes the
other).

The map above shows the countries of the world where English is the most popular
language being learned via the online language learning platform Duolingo. The
image on the right is a sign in an airport with English sub-labels. English is also the
international language of travel (and travel is also a business).

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The result of globalization and contemporary diffusion is that the world is more
culturally homogenous (the same) today than it has ever been. Traditional cultures
and ways of life have been erased from existence or relegated to the occasional
cultural celebration. Places are losing their uniqueness - their sense of place.
Additionally, traditional professions and trades are lost as well as local businesses find
it increasingly difficult to remain economically viable as large international businesses
have more resources, power, and economies of scale (the more that is produced, the
cheaper production costs per unit) than small, local businesses.

Increased connectivity has led to a decrease in the number of isolated groups around
the globe. Those wishing to remain isolated have to fight very hard to stay that way –
they must construct barriers to diffusion in order to protect their culture. Some of the
barriers are physical – there are a few isolated tribes that will use deadly force in
order to keep invaders away – but most are virtual. The barriers are no longer
physical, they are social and based on a decision to remain disconnected. Not every
group wants to be exposed to new cultures or ways of life, or even political ideas.
Some governments strictly limit the content that their people can view on the
internet – such as China, North Korea, Egypt, Syria, and others. Other groups shun,
such as the Amish, shun modern technology and communication as a means of
separating themselves from the more dominant outsiders.

Other culture groups, dependent on tourism for economic purposes, put on shows
for tourist showcasing their native cultures. This can lead to the Disnification of the
culture - the presentation of historical or cultural material in an cut down or distorted

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fashion in an effort to appeal to a large number of tourists or consumers.

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