Topic 5.

Socio-Cultural Exchanges

The Homogenization of Landscape/ Urban Areas_______________

Clone Towns: Similarities in a lot of places in that brands that have managed to sell their product have distributed their merchandise around the globe

Europe and Asian cities are being encouraged to try and conserve their own identity with a lack of domesticated and local owners. The response has several consequences: Positive Consequences The economy prospers in the community where people will be more inclined to visit something that is more familiar to them. Investments end up to the global pockets instead of the local pockets. Increase in the touristic industry that is visiting places with an increase in these chain stores. Increase in job opportunities where the jobs provided will be stable supports the idea of protectionism Decline in product price Convenient Will get the best choices as they can afford more expensive districts Negative consequences The economic gain from financial areas are severely impacted due to the increase in wealth gained where local shops are not being supported end up becoming bust which causes the local community to suffer Decline in cultural aspects which impacts severely on tourists perspective Choice becomes limited everywhere

Local stores become harder to enter the competitive market and get put out of business Monopoly vs. Ogliopoly revenue Mindsets of the people: Italians with Starbucks Frances strong policies against chain stores

Glocalisation: A way that a way the brand adapts to its local environment. E.g Support the local populations, changing of fabrics to benefit that particularly rural. It cannot be argued in terms of Financial but can be argued in the form of Social/ Cultural aspects.

Uniform Urban Landscapes________________________________

Considered as a more flexible complex and divided city as its predecessor; boundaries between city and country. Different terminology of spatial forms: The splintered city, the edgeless city, the urban galaxy and the spread city. Similarities in landscapes other than businesses: Similarities in infrastructure and layout. CBDs often share the same characteristics : Tall buildings Building materials are often share same materials : Tarmac, samewall Same differences in ethnic groups and their place Areas of affluence vs. Areas of poverty

Topic 5. Socio-Cultural Exchanges Brownfield, suburbs. Increasing over time because of the increase in population. All urban areas are multicultural. We can move beyond the transnational corporations that exist and we can move beyond this pattern there will be an increase in similarities in pattern. Example brands: IKEA, Wal-Mart, Costco, supermarkets, underground systems, car parking, industrial zones Reason for homogenisation: There is a counter fugal movement in cities where suburbanisation, counter-urbanisation, urban sprawl which lead to developments on the urban fringe. Impacts: 1. 2. 3. 4. Globalisation of retailing Domination of chain stores over dependent retailers Prevalence of English in signs and advertising Damage of cultural values ( rise of Cultural Imperialism Sports, Music, )

Place: Unique in such that its characteristics is shared only from its cultural and social. Non-Place: Designed to be efficient and therefore follows a template city. Emerging global culture,

Cultural Diffusions_________________________________________
What is Culture? Culture refers to the way a certain groups of people lead their life. It includes various aspects of life such as language, customs, beliefs, dress, images, music, food and technology. Cultural traits provide an identity for groups. 1. Are we moving towards a global culture? 2. How is culture spread: Media (transnational media; bbc, cnn, fox, sky) Movement of people: Tourism, migration and work, elements of their culture move with them). Tourism People and population have been migrating for thousands of years and as they move they take with them cultural traits. In their new location they are likely to be surrounded by different cultural traits. Often, over time, they will take on some of the new traits and possibly transfer some of theirs to their new community. Migration Tourism has rapidly expanded in the last century in terms of the number of people travelling, but also the number of destinations that they can access. Tourism often involves

Topic 5. Socio-Cultural Exchanges

experiencing aspects of other cultures, the cuisine in local restaurants, styles of dress of the local populations, learning parts of the language. There tends to be a diffusion of the destinations culture as tourists bring with them different music, language, dress styles. This is enhanced through the media images portraying certain styles as fashionable. Technology Technology is very rapidly diffusing cultures as images, films, music and news can accessed online almost anywhere with an internet connection. Services such as iTunes allow users to access new genres of music and choose what they would like to listen to rather than being limited to the selection in traditional shops. In the cases of music, the growth and spread of music has been an exponential trend from the 19th century. Google and other search engines enable rapid spreading of images, news and information around the world. Globalisation Globalisation is undoubtedly leading to a large scale diffusion of most cultures and many people claim that we are heading towards one large global culture. However, as people move to different cultures and classify themselves as third culture kids. They try to support their cultural roots. TNCs are establishing themselves in most parts of the world and selling similar products around the world: Clothing: GAP, Nike, Addidas. Food: McDonalds, Subway, KFC Drink: Coca Cola, Pepsi, Guinness, Stellar Artois Services: HSBC, Visa, DHL. Case Study: Indian Cuisine in the UK
There are plans to expand the course to 100 students this year, and programme director Graham Fleming hopes to persuade local restaurants to fund a city-centre premises, with branded stations where students can learn to cook in the style of the sponsor's kitchen. "We started with no intention of becoming a 'curry academy'," Fleming says. "But because of the cry from the Asian sector we thought we would focus on that and get the restaurants to support what we are doing."

Since the recession took place in 2008, millions of the British population lost their job. The desire to remain in competition with corporate countries increased demand in fast-track food supply during lunch hours. Increase in people wanting to sell food that will be acceptable by all markets. Therefore large proportions of British chefs learn to cook curry. the trade magazine Spice Business, for instance, suggest that, every week, 2.5 million customers eat in one of 10,000 restaurants employing 80,000 staff, making the industry worth 3.6bn (not all sources are so generous the industry authority the Curry Club puts the sector's turnover at 2.5bn, while food industry analysts Horizons FS put it at 777m). And by 2002, Indian food in supermarkets alone was worth 600m 80% of which was ready-meal curries.

Topic 5. Socio-Cultural Exchanges

By 1982, there were 3,500 Indian restaurants in Britain and "going for a curry" became a standard

evening out. Today it may be more fashionable to profess a love for south Indian dosas or Kashmiri rogan josh, but specialist regional restaurants are still a minority. Bangladeshis run 85-90% of the Indian restaurants in the UK, most of which rely on tried and tested Anglicised favourites such as vindaloo or tikka masala. Organisers were told of waiters, chefs and porters paid below minimum wage and made to work extraordinarily long hours, with no paid holiday and no sick pay. One former restaurant worker who joined up points out this was possibly, in part, because so many of the workers were vulnerable, recent immigrants. "Some owners treat workers like animals," he says. "Sometimes they just pay 3.50 an hour. If, after one or two years, they ask for more maybe minimum wage they are told to leave. They can't speak English, so they take this opportunity to work. I have friends all over the UK who are from Bangladesh and they face the same conditions."

Question: Examine the ways in which the international movement of workers, migrants and commodities can lead to cultural diffusion (10 marks).

Consumerism and Culture___________________________________

Brainstorm: School of thought Theory Economic growth Socio-historic patterns of consumption Branded commodities Tool to identify demand Trends Capitalism Companies increase demands Environmental impacts Consumerism: Consumerism is the opposite and enemy of culture. Whereas culture is embodied in history, tradition and continuity, goods are manufactured for the profit they make. Consumerism represents the triumph of economic value over social worth. Everything can be bought and sold. Everything has a price. Case Study- McDonalds: On average, 30 million customers are served in one of the 31,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries. First places of the outlets: America, Canada, Europe, Japan and Australia during the 1970s.

Topic 5. Socio-Cultural Exchanges

1980s: S. America ( Brazil), New Zealand, Parts of Europe, South East Asia, China, Russia and certain parts of the Arab world. More than half of the 31,000 chain stores lie in America. UK has more than 600 outlets, Brazil over 250, China nearly 200 and Thailand nearly 50. Every 3 hours, a new McDonald restaurant opens somewhere in the world. They are famed for their uniformity (Same decor, basic menu with very minute adjustments such as the MC Spaghetti.). McDonalds may not be just the force for cultural homogenization. McDonalds has been localised, Indigenized and incorporated into traditional cultural forms and practises. It has adapted some of its menu to accommodate changing perspectives of healthy food and introduced McCafes in most stores. McDonalds is often cited as one of the most obvious symbols of globalisation and diffusion of culture, occupying high street locations and having distinctive branding. Sao Paolos decision Banning advertisements from his city. 20 000 people lost their jobs. President was sick of visual pollution- he wanted to change the consumer culture. He wanted to set an example of how a city should really look; architecturally wise. Extreme.

Diasporas and Cultural Imperialism___________________________

Diasporas: A population of a country who has migrated abroad and keeps strong identity ties with the homeland. A permanently displaced and relocated collective. The forced or voluntary dispersal of any population sharing common racial, ethnic or cultural identity, after leaving their settled territory and migrating to new areas. [Source: IB Course Companion: Geography]

Positive impacts: Diasporas spread ideas, money, languages, motivated to work more, benefits migrant country with increase in skills. Negative impacts: Diasporas drain public funding, (increases brain drain from home country), Cultural Imperialism The practice of promoting the culture/language of one nation in another. It is usually the case that the former is a large, economically or militarily powerful nation and the latter is a smaller, less affluent one Case study: Ikea Klaus Kjller, Assistant Professor in Political Communication and the Danish Language at the University of Copenhagen, told The Local.

Topic 5. Socio-Cultural Exchanges

"Ikea has chosen the objects with the lowest value and given them Danish names," he added. - See more at: http://www.thelocal.se/10054/20080220/#.UTAfJjcft3U Swedish and Norwegian place names are always associated with the shiniest, comfiest furnishings in the Ikea catalogue, while the names of Danish towns are reserved for doormats, rugs and carpets - See more at: http://www.thelocal.se/10054/20080220/#.UTAfJjcft3U

Cultural diffusion and indigenous groups______________________

Uncontacted tribe means tribes that live without the influence of the dominant and mainstream society nor do they interact with people from such society. There are approximately 100 tribes of uncontacted tribes left in the world. Stance against contacting indigenous tribes: Those leading such expeditions ended up regretting them. They believed that contact was necessary to save the Indians, but the tribe often ended up destroyed anyway. Our world is getting so small that our development is impacting non-contacted people. 70 Isolated groups in the rainforests Indian affairs department Funai Many do not wish to be contacted as the consequences are severe. Some abandon their lands as they are nomadic or there is high amounts of noise/pollution happening. Vulnerable to diseases such as influenza, measles etc.

Threats
Cattle ranchers + illegal loggers destroy tribes as they do not speak the language and as their land could be used for economic profit. Culture does not come into play Disease leads to a large amount of depopulation as the tribe has not developed immunity to such diseases since birth. Missionaries from Christian religion believed to enter these areas believing that the natives live pitiful lives and need saving. They consider them primitive and hold no consequences as their aim is to convert these non-contacted tribes to Christianity.

Case Study: Zo e of Brazil first contact Members of the New Tribes Mission, a fundamentalist missionary organisation based in the US, carried out a clandestine mission to make contact with the Zo of Brazil to convert them to Christianity. Between 1982 and 1985 the missionaries flew over the Zos villages dropping gifts. They then built a mission station only several days walk from the Indians villages. Following their first real contact in 1987, 45 Zo died from epidemics of flu, malaria and respiratory diseases transmitted by the missionaries. The Zo''s population is now increasing. The New Tribes Mission was totally unprepared and did not provide proper medical care to the Zo. Their policy to sedentarise the Zo around

Topic 5. Socio-Cultural Exchanges

the mission meant disease spread rapidly, and the Indians diet suffered because the game they hunted became scarce due to the concentration of Indians in one area. As the Zos health suffered, they began to lose their self-sufficiency, and became dependent on the missionaries for everything. In response, the government expelled the missionaries in 1991. Since the Zo have been left in peace and now receive proper medical care, their population is increasing. Colonists/ Roads meant that contact would divide the landscape allowing more people to wonder near their habitat. The result would cause more soliciting and trafficking to these indigeonous tribes as well as great amounts of exposure to the tribe.

Solution
Isolating large plots of lands to the Amazon forest place large fencing around these areas to stop the outside world from entering in ( such as illegal loggers). Even if Portuguese isnt spoken perhaps it would a beneficent to place a sign up from an indigenous contacted language saying, this fence is to protect you from us. Create permits to enter the forests to control where and what is logged Large plots of land ( wouldnt solve the illegal logging problem though. Make contacted tribes warn tribes to attack if under threat. Send our warnings via the government of the military action being used against such threats.

Benefits to contacting with indigenous tribes

Missionary Perspective: The impacts were well accepted within the Dani tribe such as: The burning of charms and fetishes Adopting Christian names Eliminating ritual warfare and cannibalism Trading using money instead of cowrie shells Raiding the age of marriage of girls Discouraging polygamy Touristic Perspective: Tourists bring gifts and novelties for the Dani, who then expect them to cargo cult attitude. The Dani have become exposed to new forms of dress Work as guides and porters to gain cash Profits are being taken by Indonesian businessmen that own hotels/ hostels and restaurants. Rituals and tribal tradition is often mocked and degraded to be a human zoo or a peepshow.