AP Human Geography: Folk and Popular Culture
CRQ 3: Globalization of Popular Culture
Name: ___________________________
1. Discuss with examples the globalization of popular culture in terms the following:
a. the influence of television and the internet
b. the effect of popular culture on the environment
c. cultural convergence (include definition)
d. commodification (include definition)
e. attempts by governments or individuals to limit the effect of popular culture
a. the influence of television and the internet (8 points: include four main points with example or
explanation of each):

television was developed in Europe and the U.S. in the 1930’s and by 2000 had diffused globally:
o The U.S. dominated early diffusion of television (86% of all TVs in the world in 1954 were in U.S.)
o TV ownership in MDCs today is nearly universal.
o With the diffusion of satellite technology, the gap between television ownership in MDCs and LDCs
has diminished greatly but has not disappeared altogether.

television is both the #1 culture trait and #1 means of diffusion for popular culture:
o TV is important both as the most common popular culture trait in and of itself (TV is perhaps the
world’s most common custom…everyone watches TV!) and
o as the primary mechanism of diffusion by which other pop culture traits (the sports, clothing styles,
music, etc. of MDCs) are diffused around the world.

Since almost all television programming comes from only three countries, it is seen by many in LDCs as
a kind of cultural imperialism:
o Most television programming comes from only three countries: the United States (even in Europe
two thirds of television programming comes from the U.S.), Britain, and Japan.
o Both the programming and advertising on television promote western values and lifestyles (upward
mobility, high consumption, promiscuous clothing styles, freedom and empowerment of women,
glorification of youth, stylized violence).
o The imitation of western lifestyles and values depicted on television contributes to cultural
convergence, the process whereby cultures around the world are becoming more similar.

Whereas television took fifty years to diffuse to LDCs, the internet took only a decade. Internet
content raises many of the same issues of cultural imperialism as television, but unlike television,
individuals can create their own internet programming, raising the possibility that the internet can be a
means of celebrating and preserving folk cultures as well as being a threat to them.
b. the effect of popular culture on the environment (3 points: two main points with an example or
explanation of second main point):

Unlike folk culture, popular culture is likely to modify or damage the environment because, unlike
artifacts in folk culture, popular culture artifacts are produced and distributed on a massive scale.

Corporations constantly promote the “latest, greatest” pop culture artifact or custom (popular culture,
unlike folk culture, changes rapidly) as a way of promoting the mass consumption of goods and
services for profit. This mass consumption characteristic of popular culture both depletes scarce
natural resources and pollutes the environment. Some examples (choose one or think of your own):
o Western lifestyle promotes mass consumption of beef, which is an inefficient use of arable land (it
takes ten pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef).
o Industrial agriculture in LDCs created to meet demand for agricultural products in MDCs may
promote deforestation, deplete soils, and disrupt or destroy local cultures.
o The survival of some species (whales, lynx, mink, bears, elephants, rhinos, jaguars) is endangered
due to mass consumption of clothing or food derived from them.
o Golf is an example of popular culture custom which reshapes and often damages the environment
by using scarce water resources and polluting water with fertilizer runoff.
c. cultural convergence (include definition)(6 points: two points for definition with an example, four
points for two main consequences of cultural convergence with an example or explanation of each):

Cultural convergence: the process by which local cultures around the world are growing gradually
more and more similar to one another. The resulting global culture does not represent any single,
particular region or people.
o Perhaps the most important example of cultural convergence is the rise of English as a global lingua
franca (a language used a a second language as means of communication between speakers who do
not share a first language).
o The spread of Christianity into Latin America and Africa, where it replaced traditional folk religions,
was an early example of cultural convergence.

Popular culture has led to a uniform landscape (aka placelessness) so that the buildings, clothing, food
preferences are very much the same in all places. Some examples (or come up with one of your own):
o Skyscrapers are built on a standard blueprint (steel infrastructure with concrete walls) and generally
do not reflect the local environment.
o Businessmen NY, London, and Tokyo are likely to dress in similar business suits.
o Jeans have become a world wide symbol of Western culture even in regions where the are unsuited
for the local climate.
o supermarkets and fast food restaurants everywhere in MDCs and in many places in LDCs offer
almost the same selection or foods.
o Mass marketing of highly processed food in leading to a cultural convergence of dietary habits
worldwide along with associated health problems such as obesity, type II diabetes, and heart
disease
o Urban planning is similar in big cities in MDCs around the world despite very different physical
environments.

As societies seek to develop their economies and as folk people imitate popular culture traits they see
on television and the internet, they may abandon traditional folk culture and embrace popular culture
associated with MDCs. With the loss of folk cultures comes the loss cultural diversity and loss of the
ageless wisdom that folk cultures developed over thousands of years of living in unique natural
environments.
d. commodification (include definition)(4 points: one definition, two main issues with commodification,
and one example):

Commodification: the process by which a cultural trait that was not previously regarded as something
to be bought or sold becomes something to be bought or sold. It is a way of bringing folk and local
culture onto the world market.

The key issue associated with commodification is authenticity. When a folk culture trait is
commodified, it become stereotyped for mass consumption, losing whatever authentic connection it
once had to the values of a local culture.

On an even deeper level, commodification can gradually lead to a change of values in a local culture as
the profit motive of commodification takes the place of the original values associated with a cultural
trait. Some examples (or come up with one of your own)
o Staged folk dances and rituals for tourists recreate folk culture out of the religious context in which
those ceremonies were originally performed to conform with tourist’s stereotype of that culture.
o Victoria’s secret model wearing a native American headdress bikini even though the native
American culture values modesty for women.
o The Redskin’s football team uses the “redskins” name and logo despite objections by native
Americans that the term is racist and stereotypes native American culture as warriors.
o Dreadlocks and Chinese symbol tattoos have become fashion statement completely removed from
their religious or spiritual significance of the original folk hearths.
e. attempts by governments or individuals to limit the effect of popular culture (3 points: two main
points with one example of how a government has attempted to control spread of pop culture)

Governments around the world consider popular culture a threat in two ways. First, popular culture
threatens to overwhelm and wipe out local folk culture and customs.
 Second, international news organizations are seen by governments in LDCs as a threat to their political
control.
o Governments in the Middle East, North Korea, China, and elsewhere have attempted to censor
television, ban satellite dishes, and censor or even cut off internet service as a way of controlling the
flow of information to their citizens and limit the diffusion of pop culture values.
o The “Arab Spring” uprisings in the Middle East began and were fueled by interactions on social
media which governments struggled to control.
o The wearing of western clothing, including business suits by men and provocative clothing by
women, is discouraged or even banned in some Middle Eastern countries. (Women in Middle
Eastern countries are encouraged to wear the black chador a combination head covering and veil.)
o France has required French radio and television to limit the number of English language broadcasts
and has subsidized the French film industry to preserve the French language and culture against the
intrusion of English
o The rise of religious fundamentalism may be seen as a rejection of the values and lifestyles
promoted through the globalization of popular culture.