In today’s modern societies there are a diverse range of many cultures and subcultures, all with differing values, beliefs and traditions. Within this large diversity, the one culture that dominates is that of the western society, with its strong views and focus on economic development, consumption and production. Wolfgang Sachs (2010, pg. xviii) explains that “across the world hopes for the future are fixed on the rich man’s patterns of production and consumption”. This poses a major challenge for all societies, as the western dominant mass media of communication values are centered on profit and are continuously being imposed on other cultures. This has enormous implications on our future, such as losing native, indigenous cultures and traditions; losing vital natural resources and animals, and losing our individuality. This sole focus on profit directs us down a dangerous track of becoming a “global monoculture”. However, there are alternatives to the dominant model of communication, with its sole focus on economics. In this essay I will detail an alternative to this, being the Maori culture in New Zealand and how this culture’s view differs to the dominant westernized view. We should all continue to encourage alternatives to this dominant view as, according to Wolfgang Sach (2010, pg 11) “A global monoculture spreads like an oil slick over the entire planet”.
The dominant culture is defined as “being able, through economic or political power, to impose its values, language, and ways of behaving on a subordinate culture or cultures. This may be achieved through legal or political suppression of other sets of values and patterns of behaviour, or by monopolizing the media of communication”. The values that the western society...
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... because the dominant culture that we live in is so orientated to the immediate payoff”. According to Hunt (1989) “from the perspective of the alternative movements, there is a clear cut choice, either development has no future, or the people of the world who are the “alternatives to economics” will have no future.
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(1987). Should we say no to development, Interculture #95, Vol. XX, No 2
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Hunt, S (1989). The Alternative Economics Movement. Interculture #102, Vol XXII, No 1, Winter 1989.
of Native American Culture as a Means of Reform,” American Indian Quarterly 26, no. 1
This paper addresses the results of interviews, observations, and research of life in the Ottawa tribe, how they see themselves and others in society and in the tribe. I mainly focused on The Little River Band of Ottawa Indian tribe. I researched their languages, pecking order, and interviewed to discover the rituals, and traditions that they believe in. In this essay I revealed how they see themselves in society. How they see other people, how they see each other, what their values were, what a typical day was etc. I initially suspected that I would have got different responses from these questions but in reality the results in the questions were almost completely the same. I studied this topic because mostly all the people that are close to me are associated in the Ottawa tribe. I additionally love the Native American culture, I feel it is beautiful and has a free concept.
Banks, D., Erodes, R. (2004). Dennis Banks and the Rise of the American Indian Movement. Ojibwa Warrior. Retrieved January 20, 2005, from http://www.oupress.com/bookdetail.asp?isbn=0-8061-3580-8
A Native American Encyclopedia: History , Culture, and Peoples by Barry M. Pritzker –Page 425 —accessed through books.google.com
Pritzker, Barry. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000. Print.
Josephy, Alvin M. The Indian Heritage of America. New York, 1968. Pp. 53, 116. _________. Through Indian Eyes. New York, 1995, Pp. 330-332, 383.
Lippert, Dorothy Thompson, and Stephen J. Spignesi. Native American History for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Pub., 2008. Print.
The term “culture” refers to the complex accumulation of knowledge, folklore, language, rules, rituals, habits, lifestyles, attitudes, beliefs, and customs that link and provide a general identity to a group of people. Cultures take a long time to develop. There are many things that establish identity give meaning to life, define what one becomes, and how one should behave.
To understand culture’s impact on a country’s economic development, it is important to understand what culture is: a system of values and norms that are shared among a group of people and that when taken together constitute a design for living (Hill 98). Furthermore, it is about the way the people live, and how the quality of their lives can be improved. It shapes “the way things are done” and our understanding of why this should be so. Culture is concerned with identity, aspiration, symbolic exchange, coordination, and structures and practices that serve relational ends, such as ethnicity, rituals, heritage, norms, meanings, and beliefs. It is not a set of primitive wonders permanently embedded within national, religious, or other groups, but rather a set of contested attributes, constantly changing, both shaping and being shaped by social and economic aspects of human interaction.
Globalization is becoming one of the most controversial topics in today’s world. We see people arguing over the loss of a nation’s cultural identity, the terror of westernization, and the reign of cultural imperialism. Through topics such as these we explore the possibilities or the existence of hybridization of cultures and values, and what some feel is the exploitation of their heritage. One important aspect that is not explored is that such influences can also be more than just a burden and an overstepping of bounds. These factors can create an educational environment as well as a reaffirmation of one’s own culture.
Sullivan, A., & Steven M., (2003). Economics: Principles in action. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey : Pearson Prentice Hal
Phones have changed over the past twenty years and have had a positive and negative effect on people. Man kind as find many ways to communicate and stay connected with each other and the most common way is by a cellphone. Phones Cellphones have become one apart of our daily lives and some people just cannot live without them. In fact people use them more like computes than an actual phone itself. Most people let their phones control their lives and if their not carful it could have some serious consequences. Phones continue to get more and more advanced as time moves forward. However, in the beginning phones had a tough time getting out to the public however, if it was not for the first step into technology we would not have the phones we have today.
Sayre, Henry M., Discovering the Humanities: Culture, Continuity & Change. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.
Before I had attended this module, my biggest aim was to understand how we communicate with each other and how we adapt our speech to fit the situation we are in. As I am combining Communication, Media and Culture with Film Studies, I wanted this module to help me build my confidence so that in the future, I can pitch my film ideas confidently. It was important for me to develop my communication skills as this would enable me to express myself clearly and concisely.
Communication is an interdependent process of sending, receiving, and understanding messages. The definition implies that the components of the communication process cannot be examined separately. Rather, the relationship exists between the sender and the receiver, as well as the environment of the communication event, must be viewed as a whole. According to this perspective, if any of the components and circumstances change (that is, the number of individuals involved in the interaction, seating arrangements, or the time of the day) the communication event is altered. Communication is an ongoing process; we never stop sending and receiving messages. As we will discover, communication is a dynamic process, a process that changes from one communication setting to the next. Although it is difficult to predict, the ways of interpreting communication, certain components are always present in the communication process.