Urban Sprawl

Introduction

In recent years, with the development of modern technology, globalisation has become an increasingly important phenomenon in the world. globalisation means the extending and deepening interdependencies of countries worldwide through economic, political and cultural integration. As the primary driver of globalisation, mass media plays a decisive role in the process of globalisation, spreading Western products, ideas and values around the world, which has created a profound influence on local culture of other countries. Thus, it is important to study how foreign cultures and media influence local cultures, and whether local cultures are eroded by foreign influences and media.

This review examines a number of texts which are devoted to critical analysis of the relationship between foreign influences, media and local cultures. Specifically, this review evaluates how three articles understand the extent to the effect of foreign influences and media on local cultures, and whether this effect leads to local cultural erosion. Local cultural erosion has become a controversial debate in the process of cultural globalisation. Cultural imperialism and cultural homogenization are especially relevant to this issue.

Literature review

An increasing number of studies (Arnett 2002; Morris 2002; The UN 2003) have examined the trend of cultural globalisation and the relationship between foreign influences, media and local cultures. These studies draw on various theories in the fields of cultural globalisation, most notably cultural imperialism. This refers to the promotion of Western culture especially American culture through the export of media products. This flow of commodities and media products is uni-directional, from advanced capitalist economies in the west to the less developed economies, spreading the dominance of Western values and ideologies. Consequently, this leads to some assert to that the huge import of foreign cultural products is eroding local cultures. Although these studies belong to different fields and may conflict in some ways, their contribution is significant because they provide effective evaluation of cultural globalisation.

Based on the theory of cultural imperialism, an important contribution to the study of cultural globalisation is the analysis by the UN (2003) of one way flow of technology and cultural products from West to East, leading to cultural homogenization. The UN note that "France provided Africa with 5,200 hours of free television programming per year as part of a support package in the early 1990s" (p9, para 20), showing how this one-way flow happens. According to the UN, the integration of global elements supplied by western multinational corporations (MNCs) can dominate local culture, to such an extent that this is capitalism which may contribute to cultural homogenization—the process of culture becoming similar. This is a significant study, because it enhances our understanding of the cultural relationship between developed countries and third world countries.

However, what seems to have been largely ignored in the UN's analysis is the resilience of culture and the growing complexity of global flows. This aspect is discussed in detail in the articles by Arnett (2002) and Morris (2002). They both argue that cultures are not fragile, but resilient; foreign cultural elements may not cause uniformity of different cultures, but promote cultural diversity. Arnett shows the example of better educated young people in India, who develop global identity, but still prefer arranged marriage and take care of their parents in old age according to Indian tradition (p22, para 23). This example supports his idea of