Communication and Culture in Today's Modern Societies

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...

... middle of paper ...

... 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.

Works Cited

Bella, R (1990). The Humanities and the Survival of Community. New York, USA: Paulist Press.

Sachs, W (2010). The Development Dictionary. New York, USA: CLE Print.

154.309 Communications and Culture Study Guide. New Zealand :Massey University.

(1987). Should we say no to development, Interculture #95, Vol. XX, No 2

Vachon, R (1992). The Mohawk Nation and its Communities. Interculture #114, Vol. XXV, No 1, Winter 1992.

Hunt, S (1989). The Alternative Economics Movement. Interculture #102, Vol XXII, No 1, Winter 1989.