Cultural Imperialism - American Domination of the Internet

Tifani Wiyanto

29 October 2004

Student number: 4846567
Email to: t.wiyanto@student.qut.edu.au

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The term media imperialism emerged as American content is seen as dominating as well as influencing other countries in the world. American brands, popular music, people, businesses, even finance have made only few people disagree that the country’s hegemony can be successfully challenged. Sklair (quoted by Beynon and Dunkerley, 2000, p. 178) argues that the United States or Western countries control over mass media has created the conditions for “conformity to the hegemonic culture and [limited] the possibilities of effective resistance to it.�

== American content on the Internet ==
As the internet was invented in the early 1990s by American scientists [See the Internet key theorist], some people suggest that it would just become another tool for America to impose its products over the world. Scholars such as Stratton (2001, p. 723) argue that the internet has been created as another Western form of industrialisation and colonialisation. “Hyperspace in which distance does not exist…is a product of communication technologies developed in the context of capitalism� (ibid). This argument, moreover, is supported by the World Fact Book (2004) who estimated the number of Internet hosts, the creators or the owners of websites, in each country.

The Top five internet hosts in the world

| Rank	|	Country	|	Internet hosts	|
| 1	|	United States	|	115,311,958	|
| 2	|	Japan	|	9,260,117	|
| 3	|	Netherlands	|	3,137,203	|
| 4	|	Canada	|	2,993,982	|
| 5	|	United Kingdom	|	2,865,930	|

(Source: The World Fact Book, 2002)

This figure suggests that websites created in the United States dominate the information flow in cyberspace. A vast difference between America and the second position, Japan, by more than ten times shows how American content has become the majority on the Internet. In addition, Kim (1998) claims the view of this American power:

[T]he Internet [is] the most recent and the most sinister facet of American cultural imperialism to emerge: the Internet is anchored in the United States; the vast majority of World Wide Web sites are based in the U.S and are in English; most software used to navigate the Internet is in English; and search engines are in English (Kim, 1998).

With most websites written in English [See the Internet top 10 languages] and most American internet companies reaching the highest profits, such as Google, Yahoo, or MSN (NUA, 2002), some people still argue that the Internet may ease American homogenisation over the world.

== The Impacts ==

=== Digital divide ===

American domination on the Internet can be argued as increasing the gap between people who have and have not online, especially those people in Third World Countries. With dominating the Net, America has become more advances both in technology and capitalistic power, thus the digital divide particularly between America and Third World countries is created [See Digital Divide - Race]. This is further explained by Eisenstein:

Cyber-discourse fashions an imaginary vision of an interconnected world that it is only part true. The phrase “World Wide Web images the world accurately as the baseball phrase “The World Series�… – only US baseball teams compete (Eisenstein, quoted by Beynon and Dunkerley, 2000, p.212.

=== Cultural Homogenisation ===

American domination through the Internet also involves economic domination which eventually creates cultural imperialism. Stratton (2001, p. 723) explores the concept that as the Internet becomes an American product of capitalism, America is taking the lead in the construction of a ‘Global Information Infrastructure’. This view highlights the perpetuation of such domination to a ‘single community world’ of cultural homogenisation where “cultural differences [are] erased and cultural sameness [is] super imposed� (Beynon and Dunkerley, 2000, p. 22).

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== References ==

Beynon, J. and Dunkerley, D. (eds.) (2000) Globalization: The Reader, New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-92922-9

Eisenstein, Z. (1998) Global Obscenitites: Patriachy, Capitalism, and the Lure of Cyberfantasy, New York: New York University Press.

Kim, S. (1998) "Cultural Imperialism on the Internet," The Edge: E-Journal of Intercultural Relations, vol. 1(4), no. retrieved August 7, 2004, from http://interculturalrelations.com

NUA (2002) “Google still the world's No.1 search site,� retrieved October 23, 2004, from www.nua.com

Sklair, L. (1991) The Sociology of the Global System, Harvester Wheatsheaf.

Stratton, J. (2000) "Cyberspace and the Globalization of Culture", in D. Bell and B. M. Kennedy (eds.) The Cyberculture Reader, London: Routledge, pp. 721-731. ISBN 0-415-18378-2

The World Fact Book (2002) “Countries of the World,� retrieved October 26, 2004, from www.studentsoftheworld.info

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== Other Topics on Cultural Imperialism and the Internet ==

The Internet Gatekeepers

The Internet Gatekeepers - China

Cultural Globalisation

Online Advertising

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== Related Links ==

• Digital Divide - Leapfrogging
• Digital Divide - Rural Areas
• Delete Digital Divide - Organisations

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Tifani Wiyanto 08:29, 29 Oct 2004 (EST)

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