"I define globalisation as the freedom of our corporations to invest where and when we want, to produce what we want, to buy and sell where we want, and to keep all the restrictions through labour law or other political regulations as slight as possible."

- Percy Barnevik, Vice President of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum

This is a common public perception of globalisation: a meaningless term acting as a disguise for greedy multinational corporations, a means for the spread of cultural imperialism. A close examination of globalisation and cultural imperialist theory demonstrates flaws in that theory, suggesting that the cultural dominance imposed as a side-effect (or direct result) of globalisation is not as severe as alar

An example of this is the Cuban group Orishas, a young hip-hop crew who have sampled the music of the Buena Vista Social Club, a traditional Cuban band that was popular many years beforehand. Iaan Harris states, "For a youth being illicitly indulged in American music trends - much to the disdain of the older Cubans and indeed the more traditional Cuban musicians - Orishas has massive appeal. They've taken on the trappings of hip hop and its U.S of A attitude - all baggy pants, massive T-shirts and gold jewelery, the hip hop uniform - but brought their culture and reality into the mix by sampling traditional sounds ala the Buena Vista Social Club." (www.afribeat.com)

John Tomlinson suggests that when looking at globalisation one should "look beyond the self evidence of global cultural goods." (1987: 180) What he means by this is that even though Western media (particularly American media) is ubiquitous throughout the modern world, one cannot automatically jump to the conclusion that a supposedly "weaker" culture would willingly accept American culture and ideology over what had existed beforehand. This is a counter-argument to the traditional cultural imperialist theory that assumes that "peripheral" cultures submissively conform to the "dominant" culture. (Tomlinson 1997: 180) Tomlinson argues that cultures do not necessarily always favour American media and products over local media and products.

Although cultures can take or be influenced by elements from other cultures, they can transform the old and the borrowed into a new creation. It has also been shown that it does not necessarily have to be a rich or dominant country or culture that has the power to affect the world on a global scale.

Tomlinson makes clear the importance of recognizing "globalisation as a complex de-centered process," (Tomlinson, 1997, p185). This concept follows on from and argues against cultural imperialism. Cultural imperialists believe that globalisation is occurring when there is only one dominant and powerful culture infiltrating and brainwashing the minority cultures. Tomlinson argues this by saying that globalisation is actually a complex process, where any culture can influence another. It is an interlinking and intertwining network, where the dominant powers are changing and unstable. (Tomlinson, 1997, p85) Tomlinson makes a fine point because it seems unre

Some common words found in the essay are:
John Tomlinson, Italian-American Mitchell, Social Club, , Internet Music, Australian Tomlinson, Iaan Harris, Economic Forum, Puerto Rican, Pauline Hanson, cultural imperialism, tomlinson 1997, cultural imperialist theory, imperialist theory, cultural imperialist, tomlinson argues, mitchell 1996, native cultures, 1997 181, tomlinson suggests, vista social club, examples globalisation, buena vista social, cultures cultural imperialism,
Approximate Word count = 1594
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)