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Axel Specker: European Culture in the Age of Googlisation
Top level English version CULTURE AND ART

Author: Axel Specker

Date of publication: 2005.07.08 09:21

Cultural globalisation is a very complex process that is very likely to change the relative weights of "American culture", "European culture" and "Asian culture" in the future. More specifically, it brings about challenges as well as chances, and it will also lead to the emergence of one global civilisation.


What would you answer if you were asked about the relations between American, European and Asian culture? Maybe you would do a search on www.google.com and discover the astounding result that the entries of "American culture" outnumber those of "European culture" by five and those of "Asian culture" even by fifteen. What can these search results tell us? Admittedly, their significance is limited since innumerable forms of culture cannot be put into websites and internet search engines. Nonetheless, our experience of culture can be put into words and letters, and such a communication to others is in fact a constituent element of any form of culture. Google covers approximately eight billion websites and therefore an uncountable number of such cultural expressions. Against that background, the above search results can indeed be seen as a strong reflection of the relative weights of American, European and Asian culture.

But what are the reasons for these weights and how will those cultures be interacting in the future? What challenges and changes are brought about by their interaction and how should we Europeans position our own culture in that process? In the following, an answer to these questions will be attempted on the basis of a wide concept of culture as defined by the UNESCO as a "set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group", encompassing "art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs". Furthermore, it will be argued that the age of civilisations is over and that one global civilisation is emerging instead.

American culture > European culture > Asian culture

The top rank of "American culture" is based upon a variety of reasons, in particular upon America's large and unfragmented domestic market (290 million consumers), the innovation and marketing genius of its business (Ford, McDonald's), a common feeling of living in America (e pluribus unum), America's trend-setting abilities (blue jeans, rock 'n' roll), its world-wide image campaigns (Hollywood) and its sense of mission (we lead the free world). In addition, America has achieved a unique multicultural aesthetics because its immigrants not only adapt themselves to America's mainstream, but also redefine and enrich that mainstream by contributing something of their own (melting pot). America's language finally has become a global tongue: English already accounts for two thirds of all web content, and it is predicted that by 2050 half of the world will be proficient in it.It is for all these reasons that America has become the centre of our world, not only politically and economically, but also culturally as "the source of a score of fundamental values: freedom, entrepreneurial spirit, the apotheosis of the human personality, new ideas and concepts, new movements, lifestyles, hope". (Hankiss)

This strength of the American culture is in sharp contrast with the situation in Asia: In fact, the Asian continent is home to a multitude of different ethnic cultures, languages, religions and markets. Because of this heterogeneity, people in Asia have hardly developed a feeling of belonging to one common culture. Also the Asian States have so far limited their co-operation to pure economic issues (ASEAN instead of political integration since "they still have so much to do with their own nation-building". As neither languages nor religions or institutions serve as a common basis for "Asian culture", it has been tried to grasp Asia by defining Asian values such as "Confucianism, the rejection of individualism and soft authoritarianism" (Huntington) that "give preference to the community over the individual" (Glyn Ford). However, such descriptions have very often focused on East Asia only and have completely ignored countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as well as Russia. (Stephanie Lawson) Furthermore, many of the advocates of "Asian values" or "Asian human rights" were actually political elites in East Asia and not experts on Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism or the history of Asian ideas. (Yasauki Onuma) Most probably, the Asian states will therefore achieve greater political, economic or cultural power not by pooling their sovereignty, but by unilateral strengthening of national cultures such as the Chinese, Japanese, Indian or Russian culture. China's values and model of development for example have recently been described as having the soft power to shape the world". (Mark Leonard, How China is wooing the world, The Guardian))

European culture is - as its Google position as well as the EU's motto "unity in diversity" suggest – somewhere between American coherence and Asian heterogeneity. Indeed, Europeans share a common feeling of belonging together that is expressed through a set of cultural values and a modern, rational and secular identity based on human rights and democracy. (Stephanie Lawson) Furthermore, the genesis of European culture is facilitated by a common Christian tradition and a huge internal market. However, that market is still highly fragmented when it comes to culture as most European citizens prefer national newspapers, TV channels and internet services.Moreover, in view of the inner linguistic hurdles to be overcome, European culture is indeed a non-existing live culture (at least outside song contests and football championships).

In one particular point, however, the European model of integration is even more "aesthetic" than America's: America may have changed the regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, but EU membership has transformed its new members and candidate countries in a peaceful and much deeper way; a further 1.3 billion people in 80 countries have the EU is their main source of credit, foreign investment and development aid, and nation states world-wide draw inspiration from the European model of peaceful integration. (Mark Leonard)

Changes brought about by cultural globalisation

Google entries, however, deliver a static picture only. They cannot tell us how European culture looks like and how it interacts with its American and Asian counterparts. Cultures are indeed dynamic and constantly influencing each other. New technologies such as the internet and satellite communication have made them increasingly interconnected, and the intensity with which images, symbols and cultural worlds are being circulated around the world has reached a new dimension. This phenomenon is often referred to as "cultural globalisation" in contrast to other dimensions of globalisation. (Other major dimensions of globalisation include financial, technological, economic, cultural, political, ecological, geographical, and sociological globalisation.

Cultural globalisation is a very complex process that is very likely to change the relative weights of "American culture", "European culture" and "Asian culture" in the future. More specifically, it brings about challenges as well as chances, and it will also lead to the emergence of one global civilisation.

Cultural globalisation: challenges

Economic globalisation is driven by America, Europe and Asia that together account for almost 90% of all exports world-wide. But are they the motors of the cultural globalisation as well? It appears that there is no strict correlation between the exports of merchandises and the export of culture. Europe exports about twice as many goods as Asia and four times as many as the United States. It is however the United States that clearly export their culture, leading to an almost global dimension of the American way of life. It has often been argued that this "McDonaldization" (George Ritzer), "CocaColization" (Zdravko Mlinar) or "McWorld" (Benjamin Barber) will swash over all the cultures world-wide and replace them with a monotone mass culture.

Hand in hand with this cultural homogenisation goes a destruction of local and national cultures that has been described as the "Wal-Mart effect: Small retailers are driven off the market because consumers prefer to do their shopping at the superstore for lower prices. (Radley Balko) Put differently, local culture "is being battered out of existence by the indiscriminate dumping of large quantities of slick commercial and media products, mainly from the United States". (Clemens Six)

There is a danger that Google will also lead to a cultural homogenisation and the destruction of local cultures: As it has become a de facto standard for internet search, most internet surfers will not be aware of internet content other than that listed in Google or, even better, in its top categories. In other words, demand for cultural content will depend heavily on whether that content is indexed or not. The same danger exists with respect to two further innovations that are currently being developed by Google: Video.google.com enables internet surfers to search an archive of thousands of daily TV programs world-wide and to watch their contents. Furthermore, Google is digitising libraries to enable digital copies of books to be searched via Google; this initiative only covers Anglophone libraries and is therefore bound to lead to an overwhelming dominance of Anglo-Saxon literature. In the far future, students could be convinced that world literature has been published in hardly any other language than English.

Chances

Nonetheless, cultural influence can also be seen as a complementation of national cultures and as an enrichment of cultural diversity, a so-called "cultural globalisation de luxe". Japan is a prime example of how Western ideas, science, technology and industry have complemented a national culture. (Joseph Nye)

Furthermore, globalisation also encourages people to rediscover their local culture. Underlining cultural particularities is in fact one way to cope with the increasing global influences. This phenomenon has been described as "glocalisation", and it also means that the global can be found in the local just as the local can be found in the global.

It is for these reasons that many global firms have conformed to local culture and not the other way round: MTV has abandoned plans for one global MTV channel and instead created 35 different channels world-wide; in Italy, for example, 80% of its content is Italian-made. CNN now counts 22 different versions and has de-Americanised the English-language version of CNN International from 70% American content in 1996 to 8% in 2002. Also McDonalds regularly alters its regional menus to conform to local tastes and serves for example McFelafel in Egypt, seaweed burgers in Japan and no beef at all in India.

Furthermore, globalisation has also reinforced rather than reduced cultural diversity: The internet global marketing might involve a "Walmart effect" on French cheese for example, but it also encourages niche markets, including many websites dedicated to French cheese. Similarly, many rediscoveries of local culture are only a reaction to globalisation and might not have happened autonomously. Tradition rediscovered in such a manner may rather be a trademark than the "real thing", but it may flourish nonetheless.

In addition to this strengthening of local cultures, there are also new hybrid forms of culture emerging when different cultures meet each other. Cultures have always been meeting and mingling, but cultural globalisation makes this happen in much shorter intervals. Such cross-cultural interaction has created countless new styles and forms of culture which are very often absorbed and integrated by the recipient cultures into the patchwork of their cultural landscape. Examples of these new hybrid forms of culture include pop and rock music with its impulses and colourations from every continent. And even human identity can be hybrid: Tiger Woods, the shooting star of the international golf scene, identifies himself as "Cablinasian" in reference to his Caucasian, African, Indian and Asian ancestors. However, hybrid cultures can, of course, also be a source of tensions and contrasts. People in France and Germany point to the danger of "Franglais" or "Denglish" as they are concerned about the influence of English on their languages. And in Lebanon, Hezbollah's TV station Al-Minar ("the lighthouse") broadcasts the pictures of martyrs in order to ask for donations just after having broadcasted the smurfs as part of its children program.

Birth of a global civilisation

Different from new hybrid forms of culture that may be integrated by their recipient culture(s), cultural globalisation also leads to a self-standing global culture. Indeed, a Google search unveils the surprising result that there are almost as many entries for "global culture" as there are for "Asian culture". The Chinese version of Google even shows eight times more entries for "global culture" than for "American culture". How can this global culture be grasped? The following examples might be helpful:













These examples show that we are witnessing the birth of a culture/civilisation. This concept of a global civilisation emerged in the late 20th century and is increasingly shaping the conscience of people of all cultures world-wide. It cannot be reduced to technoscience in the civilisationary sense used by Schäfer because - as is widely accepted among Anglo-Saxon scholars - any civilisationary achievement is also culture and the two terms cannot reasonably be separated.

The use of the term "civilisation" in distinction to "culture" is therefore very often confined to describe "a person's broadest cultural identity". But does it still make sense to speak of several "civilisations" as broadest cultural identities when the broadest cultural identity of people all over the world is now becoming more and more global? And should we not use the term in the singular only as "global civilisation" or simply "civilisation" to underline our common project of humanity instead of underlining what separates us as members of different civilisations that have been delineated in a "one size fits all" approach and that potentially clash? It can be concluded from all the above that the age of civilisations is over and that one global civilisation is emerging instead.

How should we Europeans position our culture?

Against that background of cultural globalisation and global civilisation, we Europeans are well advised to reconsider our cultural policy. Such a readjustment should in any case include the following fields of action:

1. Avoiding the destruction of local cultures and enhancing Europe's contribution to our global civilisation

Art. 151 of the EC Treaty states that cultural policy by the European level should be limited to encouraging the co-operation between Member States and, if necessary, to supporting and complementing their action. This principle makes sense in the light of subsidiarity: Why should the EU promote national or regional cultures when its Member States are in the same or even in a better position to do it?

European action is however indispensable where cultural globalisation threatens to destroy the diversity of cultures in Europe and where the Member States are not capable to prevent such a destruction on their own. In this context, the EU should for example support the cultural production of less affluent European countries.

Furthermore, national cultural policies should be complemented by action on the European level in order to enhance Europe's contributions to our global civilisation. In fact, the genesis of that global civilisation has so far been dominated by America (leaving aside exceptions that originated in Europe such as the movement for open source software). For that purpose, Europe could selectively promote elements of European culture(s) with a view to not only commercialising them in international markets but also to contributing them to our global civilisation. In support of this, the EU could for instance create an international distribution network for European films similar to United International Pictures that has been set up by the American film industry.

2. Building up a European identity

Beyond the mere supporting and complementing of European cultures, our common European culture itself should be strengthened. Measures to build up our culture and identity include for examplethe teaching of history in school from a European perspective or the setting up of European digital libraries and European museums such as the Musée de l'Europe in Brussels.

As far as possible, we Europeans should strengthen our culture not by regulation and cultural protectionism but rather by innovation and technology: The low-budget Danish Dogma-films for example "have managed not only to beat American big budget films on the national market, but also to get a large European audience and a growing American market". (Ib Bondebjerg) Such artistic innovation can be supported by technological progress: The DVD for instance makes it possible to provide a film with several subtitled versions and thus enables producers from any cultural and linguistic environment to reach a European as well as a global public. In addition, a lot can be learnt from googlisation itself: The digitisation of European museum and library content as well as the development of networks and platforms such as a European version of video.google.com could be new ways of how to live European culture and identity.

3. Making a case for English as a cultural lingua franca

Finally, both Europe's contribution to our global civilisation and the strengthening of European culture itself would be greatly supported by an increased use of English:

As far as the genesis of our global civilisation is concerned, the key role of English can be illustrated by a further Google search for "American culture", "European culture" and "Asian culture", but this time on the French, German and Spanish versions of Google and in the relevant languages. In all cases, the entries for "European culture" outnumber those for "American culture" by far. A non-European internet surfer however will not be aware of all that European culture not published in English because he is very likely to use the English Google version only. Here, a large part of the potential of European culture to contribute to our global civilisation remains unused. We Europeans would therefore be better off to accept the role of English as the world's lingua franca and to produce more culture in English with a view to contributing to our global civilisation. This policy is already successfully implemented by Deutsche Welle that publishes news from a German perspective, but in English for a global audience.

An increased use of English would also be helpful for us Europeans ourselves to overcome a certain "European speechlessness", as can be exemplified by an anecdote from 9 may 2005 in Bruges, Belgium: During the break of a Europe Day concert in the Royal City Theatre, a chorus of the College of Europe in Bruges was singing in English, Spanish and French before a primarily European audience of Belgians, college students and tourists. The students' performance was outstanding and they were prepared to perform one more song after the official program if asked. The audience however preferred being silent, presumably because nobody was certain in which language to ask for one more song.

In more general words, an increased use of English seems to be most helpful if not indispensable for creating a European public sphere where European experiences can be debated in real time and for enabling a European live culture beyond Eurovision song contests and Champions Leagues. English as a cultural lingua franca certainly bears a risk of losing diversity in Europe, but how much more we Europeans lose if we do not communicate with each other at all! On Europe Day, the audience in Bruges lost at least one song performed by the chorus of the College of Europe, and this is only the beginning.

Conclusion

European culture can be located somewhere between American unity and Asian diversity. These relative weights of American, European and Asian cultures are however very likely to change in the course of cultural globalisation. The increased interaction of cultures world-wide might lead to monoculturalism and to an extinction of local cultures, but it is also a chance for us Europeans to strengthen our own culture. Googlisation with its indexation and digitisation of cultural content is a prime example of the challenges as well as the chances for our culture in Europe and in the world. A reinforced European culture would not only enrich our everyday lives as European citizens, but would also strengthen Europe's cultural soft power to shape the age of global civilisation that has just started.

Bibliography

I. Books and essays

Balko, Radley: Globalization & Culture: Americanization or Cultural Diversity?

Bondebjerg, Ib: European Media, Cultural Integration and Globalisation, Reflections on the ESF-programme Changing Media - Changing Europe, Nordicom Review, Volume 22:1, June 2001

Breidenbach, Joana / Zukrigl, Ina: Widersprüche der kulturellen Globalisierung: Strategien und Praktiken, Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, B 12/2002

Burke, Peter: Globale Identitäten aus Sicht eines Historikers, Drei Szenarios für die Zukunft, Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, B 12/2002

Ford, Glyn: EU-Asia versus the USA?, EurAsia Bulletin, Volume 8, No. 3 & 4, March-April 2004

Hankiss, Elemer: Symbols of Destruction, Social Science Research Council, after September 11 archive

Herzog, Roman: Preventing the Clash of Civilizations, ed. by Henri Schmiegelow, New York, St. Martin's Press, 1999

Huntington, Samuel P.: The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order, New York, Simon & Schuster, 1996

Kosztolányi, Gusztáv: Hungarian Identity, Globalisation and EU Accession, Central Europe Review, Volume 2, No. 6, 14 February 2000

Lawson, Stephanie: Europe and the Asia-Pacific: Culture, Identity and the Representation of Region, Paper prepared for the Workshop on Asia-Pacific Studies in Australia and Europe: A Research Agenda for the Future, Australian National University, 5-6 July 2002

Leonard, Mark: How China is wooing the world, The Guardian, 11 September 2004,

Leonard, Mark: Europe's Transformative Power, CER BULLETIN, Issue 40, February/March 2005

Nye, Joseph: Globalization is not Americanization, Taipei Times, 22 October 2004

Olsen, Stephanie: Google adds major libraries to its database, ZDNet News,

14 December 2004

Onuma, Yasauki: A Transcivilizational Perspective on Global problems in the Twenty-first Century, A way to Overcome West-Centric Discourses on World Affairs, 29 April 2004

Schäfer, Wolf: Global Civilization and Local Cultures, A Crude Look at the Whole, International Sociology, September 2001, Volume 16 (3)

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Six, Clemens: Globalisierung und Kultur, in: ders.: Hindu-Nationalismus und Globalisierung. Die zwei Gesichter Indiens: Symbole der Identität und des Anderen, Frankfurt/M./Wien, 2001

Wagner, Bernd: Kulturelle Globalisierung, Von Goethes , B 12/2002

II. Other sources

A question of identity, The Economist, 4 March 2004

Asia-Europe Dialogue on Cultures and Civilizations: A cultural divide? Appreciating one another better report of an event organised by the New World Order Forum & the Asia-Europe Foundation at St. George's House, Windsor Castle, UK, 21-23 September 2003

Babel runs backwards, The Economist, 29 December 2004

Globalisation of the media industry and possible threats to cultural diversity, Final report of the Directorate General for Research of the European Parliament, July 2001

Controversies and culture, The Economist, 3 December 1998

The triumph of English, A world empire by other means, The Economist, 20 December 2001

Think local, The Economist, 11 April 2002

UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, 21 February 2002

The author is a student at the College of Europe, Bruges.

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