Cultural imperialism is a term with a short history. It emerged in the 1960’s alongside many other criticisms that have come to broadly be called postmodernism. While the terms “culture” and “imperialism” each present us with concepts that are hard to define, the combination of the two terms points us to a phenomena that resists being neatly tied into an orderly definition. 

Some would even argue that the power to create and define terms is central to the phenomena this piece is describing, and that definitions to such terms must therefore be assembled not from stilted intellectual jargon, but rather out of the conversations they create in the communities they affect. 

However, since we need words to talk about stuff, this piece will lean on cultural sociologist John Tomlinson’s use of the term cultural imperialism to refer to “the exercise of domination in cultural relationships in which the values, practices, and meanings of a powerful foreign culture are imposed upon one or more native cultures.” (Tomlinson, 2012)

Imperialism is primarily about the ownership of land and acquiring the resources needed to keep the empire running well. But knowing who owns the land and justifying the mobilization of people and resources needed to engage in imperialism is about narrative. There are a few different ways of talking about this narrative. 

One is as a product of the media. This is often called “media imperialism”. This view sees the media, particularly western mass media, as a means for constructing and spreading narrative. This view sees media (TV, radio, internet, etc.) as the crux of modern culture, so dominance in media allows dominance for a dominance of culture.

A second way cultural imperialism is talked about is as a discourse on nationality. This view sees cultural imperialism as the threat of non-western cultures by cultural exports from the US. While this view overlaps with media imperialism, it gives more attention to what national cultures are and how the politics of domination is at play between them.

A third view gives less attention to individual nations and instead sees modern global capitalism as the ultimate force creating narratives of imperialism. In this view, multinational corporations located at the cultural and economic “center” spread a culture of consumerism which creates a desire for their products in the “periphery”. 

A forth view on cultural imperialism is as a product of modernity. This view sees the main direction of global cultural development (i.e. modernity) as a process of global cultural homogenization. Basically, “modern” is a set of values, practices, and meanings and the spread of those values through “modernization” is the process of cultural imperialism.

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