Study On Western Cultural Imperialism Theory

During the economic globalization and cultural globalization, the developedcountries who seek for the cultural hegemony are grasping the opportunity toimplement cultural imperialism. They are outputting Western culture and values to thedeveloping countries, such as China. China’s core value system clashed with Westerncore value system. What kind of values and cultural identity do the Chinese have,whether Chinese have confidence of Chinese culture or not, and whether the Chinesehave ability to withstand the attack of Western cultural imperialism or not? All theseelements will directly establish the future of China. It has a close relationship withChinese spirit, Chinese nation’s future and destiny. With the development oftechnology, information networks push human turn into the "digital" and "virtual" era,so does the cultural patterns of the world have undergone major changes. Also itcreates a best opportunity for the expansion of cultural imperialism. With the help ofinformation age, Cultural imperialism’s spread becomes more convenient, has diverseforms and more secretive nature, and causes more subtle danger. Faced with newchallenges of the situation, China should continue to strengthen cultural securitysystem, improve cultural soft power, and improve the cultural discourse, and enhancecultural self-confidence.This dissertation traces the origin and development process of culturalimperialism. Firstly, the research analysis of the process of cultural imperialism. Basedon the theoretical origins of cultural imperialism, it divides cultural imperialism intoseveral period by different cultural imperialism theorists. Then it examines thetheoretical origins of Lenin, Gramsci, Fanon and the Frankfurt School culturalimperialism theory, and discusses the typical representatives of cultural imperialism.Secondly, the reaearch analyze the results of the different levels of manifestation ofcultural imperialism, and discusses the “change” of cultural imperialism in theInformation Age. Thirdly, the paper chooses the "leader" of cultural imperialism------American cultural hegemony as a case study and try to reveal its dangers. At last, thethesis offer some advise about how to resist the cultural imperialism of China-related strategies, and its own cultural development strategy.The dissertation is divided into six chapters:Chapter Ⅰ: Introducation. It contains the basic ideas and the meaning of articletopics, literature review, research innovation and research shortcomings, as well asresearch methods.Chapter Ⅱ: Theoretical Framework. This section analyzes the origins of Westerncultural imperialism. It consists of four chapters. There are many historical factors andrealistic background to produce cultural imperialism, while Lenin’s generateddiscussion of "leadership" has played an important role on cultural imperialism andGramsci Cultural Leadership Chauvinism. We use three chapters to clarify theGramsci’s cultural hegemony theory, post-colonial theory Fanon’s critique and theFrankfurt School critique of the culture industry. Gramsci believed that obtain culturalleadership is the primary for proletariat to get the power; Fanon, as a representative ofpost-colonial critique theory, he had a critical thinking of the Western cultural invasionof whites and racial discrimination, and he opened criticism of colonialism precedentat the culture level; Frankfurt School criticized the "cultural industries" and point outthat the culture industry control the public’s daily life and inner consciousness, andmake the public dependent on mechanical technology instead of the essence of art.This is an ideological control of modern capitalist. They use this approach toconsolidate its rule.Chapter Ⅲ: Historical Stage. This section analyzes the history of Westerncultural imperialism and its representatives view. This chapter focus on the historicalbackground and development process, and its representatives. The representatives’sview promote the development of cultural imperialism. It is very complicated, only byinspection process can we figure out their true attitude. Some theories seem to opposethe theory of cultural imperialism on the surface, but in fact secretly supported theattitude of Western cultural hegemony; some theories adopt a discourse analysisapproach, seemingly in the digestion of cultural imperialism, but they did construct adiscourse of cultural imperialism. In this chapter, in terms of the People of of culturalimperialism, Edward Said’s Orientalism theory of cultural imperialism has a criticalnegative attitudes of cultural imperialism; Tomlinson’s cultural imperialism,Fukuyama’s End of History and Samuel Huntington’s clash of civilizations are tacit support of Western cultural imperialism.Chapter IV: Deep analysis. This chapter analyzes specific forms of Westerncultural imperialism. Through the analysis of the manifestation of cultural imperialism,and then discover prevention method. Expression of cultural imperialism wassystematic, category and diversification. It is all-pervasive. This paper discussescultural imperialism in three aspects. At first, ideological, it investigates the roots,ideas and values of Western cultural imperialism. Secondly, the media, it discusses theway of carrying on the carrier and Western cultural imperialism. Thirdly, informationage, it explores the changes of cultural imperialism manifestation during the newsituation and a new era, then it elaborates a new trend of expansion in the erosion ofcultural imperialism.Chapter V: Case Study. This chapter clarifies the roots of American culturalhegemony and its impact on China. In Western cultural imperialism, the United Statesis the "leader". If we want to analyze cultural imperialism at a deep level, we have tostudy the American cultural hegemony. Therefore, deconstruction of American culturalhegemony can help us understand the real Western cultural imperialism. This chapterdiscusses related questions in three aspects. First aspect explores the roots of Americancultural hegemony, only know history can we deconstruct reality, it helps us to explorethe roots deconstruction of Western cultural imperialism. The second aspect is theanalysis of the cultural characteristics of American power. We learn the Americancultural hegemony’s characteristics and architecture, which help prevent the culturalaggression. The third aspect is the impact of American cultural hegemony on China, ithelp us understand the impact of American cultural hegemony, then is helping us tobuild on our own cultural security system.Chapter VI: Conclusion. This section explores how to build a security systemwith Chinese characteristics. China is the world’s largest socialist and developingcountries. Therefore, there are numerous differences of values, social systems, thinkingstructure, ideology and national interests between Western countries and China. Chinaexperiences a long period of potential security risks, since several imperialist countriesspread values, cultural penetration and subversion of hidden thoughts to China for along time. The United States even has a complete strategic scheme specifically forcollapsing the ideology and values of Chinese. Faced with tough challenges, we mustfull use of Marxist theory as the theoretical basis, and develop economically. Then China should focus on enhancing China’s cultural soft power, and make full use of theinfluence of Chinese traditional culture to develop cultural undertakings, improve thelegal system, and increase anti-corruption efforts. Only in this way, can Chinaconstructive a cultural security system with Chinese characteristics.