Cultural Imperialism

By Loi Wei Zheng (47448)

The-nization of Modern Culture

Definition

The word "Americanization" originally came to mean the movement of American immigrants in developing their American identities (Berghahn, 2010). However, the word is later used synonymously with the domination of the global market. Besides that, Americanization have also take the form of a cultural imperialism which is seen as America impose its culture on other countries. 

History

Thanks to a recent lecture that I attended regarding "History of Development", I'm able to understand that: During post-World War II period, America came to rise in political and economical power. This is due to the position that America played in the WWII that has distanced the country from the post-war effect, which has left most of the powerful European countries in ruins. Many factories in the European countries were destroyed and this present Europe as a good market field for America as the nation took the opportunity to place its national products in Europe (see Marshall Plan). This further aided United States (US) in gaining economic power. As a result, US has rose to become a powerful country with a strong economic background.

During Cold War period, US has began to spread their ideology which condemned against communism. The effort was further actuated during post-Cold War as US has made the projection of American values abroad as one of the three National Interest of the American Strategy (Tignor, et al,, 2011). As Us disseminate these propaganda and ideology to many countries, US grow to be an example of a strong country with human and economic freedom, the re-owned Land of the Free. US also became a symbol of the human rights defender who fights against tyranny in order to achieve peace in the world and to prevent World War III.

The Americanization of Malaysia

Looking at the influence of American culture on other nations' cultures. Malaysia is no exception. This can be seen through the various representation of America in Malaysia. Here are some aspects of Malaysian culture that I found have been Americanized.

1. Audio Representation (American Hip Hop & Breakdancing)

American music industry has influenced the youth to the rap and break dancing since early 1980s (Halim, 2007). The earliest recollection of hip-hop music in popular culture can be traced to the movies Breakin’, Breakin’ II: Electric Boogaloo and Beatstreet. All of which came out in 1984. These movies may not have had an impact musically, but they did spawn a generation of breakdancers. (see history of hip-hop in Malaysia) 

Musically, hip-hop was basically unknown to many until 1989 when a group of four people – Najee, Jakeman (yup, the same man behind hitz.fm Malaysian English Top 10), DJ Gabriel and a vocalist called Suresh – released a mixtape under the moniker Krash Kozz. The man behind the whole thing was Joe Siva, who was also the main person behind Valentine Sound Production (VSP), one of the early hotbeds for local fringe acts and releases.

During the early 1990s rappers have seemingly transited from using English to Malay Language. Rap groups such as KRU, 4U2C and Les Enfant, their music may be leaning more towards pop than hip hop but no one can deny the fact that songs like Kami Rappers and 2BD#1 gave us the first taste on how rapping in Bahasa Malaysia would sound like. 

As of today, there are many local hip hop dancers and rappers that have acquired world-wide recognition. Many of whom, had great influence from American artists. For instance, back in 2011, the song Malaysian Boy was a remixed Malaysian (Malay, Chinese and Indian) version of the popular Estelle feat Kanye West song, American Boy. The song depicted the cultural influence of US hip hop and the Malaysian Version of the American culture.

1. Visual Representations

a) Food & Drinks

Another example of Americanization is how people accept the culture of fast food. McDonaldization, Burger Kingization, Starbuckization, Coffee Binization and Coca Colanization; the term as however you may phrase it - the process by which the principles of the fast food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world. Americanization has caused changes in food culture and eating habits of the Malaysian.

b) Language

Malaysia is an ex-British colony and many of us pride ourselves for being able to speak the language as well as those in Britain. However, the invasion of American English has since changed this notion. It somehow created a dual standard whether to follow one or the other. I have been taught since I was young that in Malaysia we follow the language spoken and written in Britain, yet American or US English has become the lingua franca among those under 30. No surprise, they were mostly influenced by American media. (see 

British or America)

c) Fashion & Dressing

American has outfitted the world in blue jeans, T-shirt and sneakers. Jeans and T-Shirt are the both formal and informal wear that fits into all occasions. Besides that, American fashions like Calvin Klein, GAP, Ralph Lauren, Nike, Tommy Hillfiger, Victoria’s Secret, Levi’s, Timberland has long since entered the nations market (Amriah, 2005). Moreover, there is an increase of American’s notion of fashion and beauty being advocated through advertisement boards and television commercials.

d) Entertainment

Americanization of entertainment industry is the most obvious. No doubt, American is the home to the production of major blockbusters -Hollywood, from music, dance to movie. Moreover, as Hollywood movies are frequently screen at Malaysian’s cinema, these form of mass culture are capable of imposing their ideologies on the unsuspecting Malaysian audiences.

Malaysia is not only Americanized, but also Koreanized/Japanized

Due to the decline of traditional social institutions (family and religion) and bodies of values that originally provided for stable identity sources, the youth are searching for surrogate role models and references in order to make meaning of their life and to define themselves. Popular culture reflects this fragmentation of the social and personal identity. The diversity of  popular culture, mass media culture in particular, seems to offer a large spectrum of alternative identity sources and meaningful references. Therefore, today we see not only American culture that has great influence in our society, but many other nations' culture too (Korean, Japanese). This is also revealed by the contemporary celebrity cult.

Foreign cultures bring both good and bad influence to our society.  By choosing other culture to practise in our life we should take into consideration whether the culture contradicts to our own especially during this fast-paced era of globalization. See the good in others' culture and apply them but avoid those of deplorable influence. 

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References:

Amriah, B. (2005). Economic globalization and its impact on Malaysia’s urban cultural space. Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 1, 46-55.

Berghahn, V. (2010). The debate on 'Americanization' among economic and cultural historians. Cold War History. 10(1), 107–130.

Halim, A. (2007). Cultural globalisation and its impact upon Malaysia teenagers. Journal of Communication, 8, 179-193.

Tignor, R., Adelman, J., Aron, S., Kotkin, S., & Marchand, S. (2011) Chapter 20: the three-world order. Worlds Together, Worlds Apart 3^rd Edition. Retrieved from:

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/worlds-together-worlds-apart3/ch/20/summary.aspx