Global Networks and Local Values A Comparative Look at Germany and the United States (2001) / Chapter Skim
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9 Information Networks and Culture
9 Information Networks and Culture
Pages 205-223
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From page 205... ...
Other chapters in this report have dealt with local differences on such matters as privacy, pornography, and hate speech subjects that can properly be viewed as manifestations of local cultural differences. Not only do different cultures attach different weights or varying levels of importance to each of these issues, but they even give alternative meanings to Me terms we use to identify them.
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From page 206... ...
In contrast, most people elsewhere in the world live in cultural settings far different from those of the United States or Germany. Their differences make clear that the introduction of global networks in many of those settings challenges, and is challenged by, a variety of local cultural values that are not relevant to the American or German cases.
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From page 207... ...
To what extent do cultural factors merely have an effect in the short term say, in slowing the adoption of or accommodation to global networks and to what extent do they influence or entail permanent cultural changes? And of course, how much are particular cultures economically or politically disadvantaged relative to others in the short or long term?
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From page 208... ...
Those who raise the issue of cultural hegemony point out that the effect could go even deeper. With native speakers of English being the single largest linguistic group of network users,5 market considerations dictate that a large fraction of the software written for use in conjunction with networks will also be developed in English.
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From page 209... ...
To the extent that the Internet, through its efficiency and ubiquity, begins to dominate the social and intellectual life of a community or nation, this would be tantamount to cultural hegemony. If technological path dependence reinforces this pattern, the hegemony could be long lasting.
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From page 210... ...
. Furthermore, because Minitel is a "payby-the-minute" service, some analysts argue that the transition from Minitel to the Internet will be "gentler" for Minitel users than the transition for most Internet users from "free" content to "for-pay" content.9 Thus it appears likely that the use of information networks will reflect local values rather than replace them wholesale with foreign ones.
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From page 211... ...
In the newly industrialized countries of East Asia, economic globalization is considered a key to development; rather than being seen as a threat to local culture, global networks are considered a tool that will be advantageous for those societies. Moreover, Asian leaders have often argued that their hierarchical societal structures facilitate the kind of educational system and disciplined behavior that make rapid adaptation of new technology relatively easy, without leading to social disruption or undesired changes in cultural values.
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From page 212... ...
Many East Asian leaders have argued that the proclaimed political agenda of Western nations, and of the United States in particular encouraging the spread of democracy is in fact a manifestation of cultural hegemony. At issue is whether the selfproclaimed hierarchical nature of many East Asian nations is a consequence or a determinant of their political structure (as well as their educational systems, research goals and productivity, legal structures, and the like)
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From page 213... ...
Because English is so accessible to the educated classes in India, including the large cadre of technically trained software developers, there is little motivation to localize software. Indeed, the dominance of the United States in computer hardware and software, as well as in network content, creates a ready market for the talents of Indian software engineers precisely because of their familiarity with the English language.
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From page 214... ...
There is still another scenario, different from the East Asian and South Asian examples. It is essentially a reactive and narrow nationalism even a zealous isolationism brought about by the perceived fear of the threat to traditional cultures that economic globalization represents.
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From page 215... ...
Some have argued that the vigor of the reaction in these Asian societies is driven by leaders' concerns that their culture will be perceived as inferior because it cannot produce the same economic results as the invading network-dominated culture.~3 Challenged in this way, they seek not to adapt the new technologies to their circumstances but to look inward; their hope is that a purer adherence to their own cultural values not only will be a successful strategy but also will demonstrate its superiority to Western culture. This scenario, then, is not so much one in which cultural hegemony is at issue; instead, it is one of cultural conflict based on a clash of values.
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From page 216... ...
More worrisome, networks may give rise over time to increasing disparities between those with access to them and those without such accessthe so-called "digital divide." The most obvious potential effects have been described: more economic activity mediated by networks means less activity in traditional markets and fewer linkages with traditional society. Networks confer power to organize politically and to gain access to information, education, and even health care, thereby increasing the autonomy of the privileged relative to the less privileged and decreasing the interest of the privileged in the institutions that serve the less privileged.
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From page 217... ...
The proximity of computers and networks to the everyday life of the society gives rise to a resurgence of power for experts, creating a new elite and enormous rewards for technological innovation. And the ability of many technologically literate professionals to master the new systems i5Jacques Arlandis, 2000, "The Clerk, the Merchant and the Politician," in Governance of Global Networks in the Light of Differing Local Values, Christoph Engel and Kenneth H
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From page 218... ...
9.4 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPACES Not all of the cultural phenomena affected by global networks relate to groups or classes. The shifting relationship between public and private spaces, essentially an issue concerning individuals in the society, is one of the most interesting and complex brought about by the cyberworld.
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From page 219... ...
Information networks present a challenge to these cultural norms in a number of ways. First, the technologies themselves have the potential to shift the boundary between public and private space in either direction, depending on circumstance and the sophistication of the user.
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From page 220... ...
But the larger cultural question concerns the effect of decoupling one's physical presence and geographical location from the world of bits, in which ideas, opinions, and virtual intimacy can flourish disembodied. An often-referenced New Yorker cartoon shows two dogs conversing in front of a computer monitor with one saying, "Yes, but on the Internet, they don't know you're a dog." This is a world in which "local space" is not equivalent to "private space," where the safe expression of candor in speech or the embarrassment-free expression of intimacy to strangers is possible.
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From page 221... ...
These pioneers embraced an absence of structure, which has meant that the evolution of network culture has not been controllable by any group; the resulting culture is, and will continue to be, far from homogeneous. 9.5 GENERATIONAL PHENOMENA To what extent are other cultural conflicts primarily issues of transition that will resolve themselves over time?
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From page 222... ...
Cultural resistance may be a phenomenon of the "senior" generation, cultural distortion a characteristic of the "middle" generation, and social and cultural construction the final stage in the transition. That optimistic scenario would be constrained by two phenomena: "technological lock-in," the phenomenon of path dependence in which initial technological choices limit future flexibility, and "technological unsuitability," the essential conflict between the structure and dynamics of a new technology and the cultural/social system on which it is being imposed.
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From page 223... ...
This requires both attention to the interactive effects as they occur and the capacity to make adjustments in response. Examining the impact of global networks on local cultural values must therefore be viewed as an ongoing challenge.
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