Media Culture and National Identity

Task 1

Meaning of cultural industries and media

Cultural Industries basically refer to the activities which primarily deal with the symbolic goods. Those goods that have primary economic value are being derived from their cultural value. The concept of cultural industry was proposed by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer in 1944 and they both belong to Frankfurt school. They both describes that cultural industry is the standardization and false-singularity of cultural items and also about the regulations of cultural items. This concept depicts that people have become standardized due to which now a days; companies produce those goods and products which satisfy the needs and meet out the demand of customers in the best way. Cultural industries include those products which belong to the category of creative arts such as clothing and decorative materials for books, movies, music, etc. Overall, it can be explained that cultural industries sell those goods which have specific attribute, specific purpose and convey cultural expressions. These products have no link with the commercial value which it possesses.

On the other hand, media refers to the medium which communicates the information to mass. This includes books, magazines, newspapers, TV, radio, movies, etc. There are numerous uses of media such as it is used in almost any discipline in order to enhance learning. Moreover, media also contributes in the understanding of national identity. Thus, it is said that media plays a major role in the building of notions of national identity.

Role of cultural industry in the growth of a nation, history and socio-cultural context

It is already defined that cultural industries sell those goods which depict the cultural aspect of nation. Further, it plays a major role for promoting the culture of country in the whole world. Industry sells the goods such as clothes, products of a monuments, etc. These products show culture of a country and it helps in promoting the nation. Moreover, this type of industry attracts tourists towards nation and help in growing national economy. This helps on increasing the national identity of nation due to which more tourists visit that particular place. Here, the example of America can be taken where cultural industry plays a significant role in the development of a national economy and national income. It is because; if there is the sale of goods which shows national identity then there will be an increase in the footfall of tourists to this place and thus, if more people will visit America then there will be a generation of more income. However, during economic or financial crisis, people would be less willing to travel to USA.

Thus, that time, national income may get reduced and this impacts the whole economy of a country. At that time, cultural industry will help the nation to grow and thus, this industry only helps in generating the income for country. Through this, it can also be conferred that cultural industry is one which attracts a lot of income and employment opportunities. It is because; this sector is growing at a fast pace and thus, more firms are getting established under this sector. This is the reason; this has helped the government of USA to create more jobs in these firms which will contribute in the economy and GDP of a country.

Similarly, cultural industry also describes the history of country because culture is related with the history of nation only. Example of this type of industry is cultural tourism sector in which museums and heritage helps in describing the history of country and the commercial value of these buildings have no link with the culture it depicts. For example, the history related to Latin America where many museums are there and people mainly visit to those places in order to gain knowledge and experience about the culture. It is essential for the country to showcase its history in front of the world so that the nation can attract more visitors to its nation in order to enhance the knowledge of people.

On the other hand, cultural industry also describes the social and cultural life of people of that particular country. In this case, way of living and social life of American people can be described. Thus, it can be said that products of this industry helps in demonstrating the way of living of people. For example, the clothing and decorative items which are made in America for the US people will be sold in the other country also and thus, it shows that the social life of natives of USA. Many people get inspired to the culture of US and adopt it in their own culture. This will help in raising the national identity in the whole world. Moreover, the American society is of individualism and this can be described through cultural industry that is when they depict the lifestyle of people through social media, TV, books, etc. When MNC is developed in other countries, that time the way in which human resources are managed is understood and this shows a clear picture of the social life of people of the country America.

Role of media in the growth of a nation, history and socio-cultural context

Media have been described in the former question as the measures through which information and data is communicated to the whole mass. Media is of several types that is books, magazines, newspapers, TV, internet, etc. These mediums help in gaining knowledge about several aspects of the information. Moreover, media plays a significant role in the growth of a nation that is through books for example, “The Exploring Spirit”, “American Exceptionalism”, etc. which describes the complete information regarding America which enhances the knowledge of people or reader and also, it attracts the researchers and other visitors to the country that will ultimately raise or grow the economy of nation. It is because; currency exchange will be done and moreover, researchers will do more investigation about the nation which will ultimately showcase the actual wealth and status of country that will lead to the development of country. This in turn will result in the link with high authority people and finalization of the deals with the business people that will help in the development of economy because many new jobs will be created that will maintain the equilibrium in economy. Thus, there are less chances of economic crisis in the country. Moreover, TV is the high authenticity media which will show the news related to country America. This will allow people to gain knowledge about the nation and due to this; many people will visit the country and start doing business with the US companies. This will help in the inflow in the currency of different nations in the country and eventually, it leads to economic development.

On the other hand, media also plays a major role in the depiction of history of a country. There are many media such as books for example “The Exploring Spirit” which describes the complete history of foundation of country by Columbus. Moreover, the movie which is also a type of media also helps in describing the history of a country, for example, “Dances with Wolf” has demonstrated the epic history of America. This attracts more people to gather knowledge about the US. Also, there are some channels in the TV such as traveler's channels which show the complete historical aspect of USA. For instance, many channels shows historical monuments and museums which are build in the country so that cultural tourism can be enhanced and people can be attracted towards country by promoting the nation as rich in heritage and culture. Overall, this helps in providing knowledge about the country and also, it promotes the nation to the whole world.

Similarly, media plays a vital role in the demonstration of social and cultural aspect of country. For instance, the book of “Art and Westward Expansion”, “The Western Tradition”, etc. describes the western culture of country. Along with that, it describes the artistic side of nation to the whole world. Moreover, the book of Individualism and American Democracy also describes the individual life style of the society of America. The news channel and traveling channel shows food habit and other social life of natives. This attracts the people and they adopt this culture and change their lives accordingly. This helps in spreading the culture in the whole world and thus, America is promoted likewise.

Thus, it can be said that media plays the most significant role in the growth of nation, history and social-cultural life of country.

Task 2

Role of media in creating a national identity

From the affirmative section, media has been described as a medium for communicating the information and data related to every aspect. In this report, use of media is for demonstrating the information about country or nation. On the contrary, national identity is the person's identity or sense of belonging to one state or to one nation. Media plays a vital role in the building of a national identity of people (Durham & Kellner. It is said that communication is the cement of a national identity that is communication provides support in creating a national identity. It is because; an individual builds its personality by getting influenced by the media only. Here, TV is one of the media which is most commonly used and it plays a major role in the creation of national identity of nation and its natives.

The most important source of a national identity is the shared political culture of public domain. Every nation has different culture and its own way of living style. Country has their national society, religion and language which are different from that of the other nation. This national identity can be demonstrated by the use of effective media that is TV through which people of whole world comes to know about the culture of particular country. Media aids the nation in showcasing their living standard, their routine, their way of life, society description, beliefs, religion, food habits, etc. For instance, American people have high standard of living, they have individual society, religion is mainly Christian, routine life is working and there is no masculine and feminine. Also, they eat burgers and pizzas and mainly believe in self dependent. All these aspects are described by the TV shows and news. This helps the nation to promote their country and also, tourists will get attracted towards the culture and will be keen to visit the place.

Moreover, media influence the people to adopt culture and society of America. In reality, the same is happening in the world. By getting influenced by TV shows and traveling channels, people in the whole world are keen towards the adoption of western culture which includes food habits, social changes, routine working life, getting self dependent, etc. This also influences the business corporations as they get attracted towards the society and do deal with the companies of USA. This is the way in which media helps in raising the economy of a country by creating job opportunities for the unemployed people of USA and it helps in maintaining equilibrium in the national economy. Media let companies to do more business by exporting the goods to other nations. This allows the inflow of currency exchanges in the economy which aids in the growth of economy. Overall, it can be said that media helps in building national identity of a country and its citizen.

On the other hand, media also helps in building and showcasing the culture of a country so that people would get the intense knowledge about the culture and tradition of that particular nation. This is the way in which it impacts the country's popularity. In this aspect, media has a vital role to play that is through TV, magazines, advertisements, books; it displays and promotes the cultural tradition of a particular nation. Here, the example of America has been taken where people visit to capture the knowledge and experience of country because they are highly influenced by their tradition and rich culture through TV shows, advertisements in magazines, history detailed in books by famous authors, etc. In the present scenario, people have become highly influenced by the culture of USA and they have started adopting it in their regular life such as the living style, food habits, their traditions, etc. All these have been possible through the use of effective media which has communicated the information through people that are living in the whole world.

However, national identity cannot be created without use of media. From past many centuries, media is playing an essential role in the creation of national identity. Whenever a person who belongs to America visits other country, his/her identity can be revealed in an easier manner. Their standard of living, their food habits, their way of speaking, their language, their culture, their race, their belief, etc. can help in distinguishing the person from that of other nation. This has been possible through media only because media has communicated the national identity of American people. In the past years, famous authors used to write books about the culture and tradition of America and also about the national identity of people of America. Those books were available at the large libraries of different countries and the readers would come to know about the lifestyle and tradition of American people. However, this media has some limitations such as few people can come to know about the traditions, culture and national identity of US people. Many people use to remain unaware about the national identity of USA because all people were not readers and also, the books were used to be available at central library only. Later, radio was introduced and on that media, national identity was depicted and it has targeted mass people. On the contrary, people cannot view on the radio and thus, it cannot clearly depict the national identity of US people.

Later the evolution of media was done and then TV and magazines came into light. TV has become the most significant media as it shows audio and video which directly influence the mind of people and attracted towards the culture, tradition of nation and created a separate national identity of US natives. Magazines also used to describe the lifestyle and cuisine of this nation so that people would come to know about the lifestyle of citizens which helped in developing the identity of people living there. These types of media used to deliver the information to the whole mass in the most attractive manner. This has aid the American nation to develop its economy because many people will visit the country and this will grow American tourism industry that will contribute in the GDP of national income. Many companies will like to join hands with this nation for business activities and thus, this will increase the inflow of foreign currency in the country which will benefit in the decision making about the currency value. This is the way in which media helped the American nation to reach at the top most nations in the whole world. This is the reason, it is being called as “A Gunfighter Nation”.

Media has become an important source of communication about the information of national identity. None of the nation can imagine their growth without media. The national growth will become stagnant with the absence of media. Media is considered as a potential force in shaping the national identity of a country. For democratic countries, media plays a role of powerful instrument for shaping public opinion in context of politics, culture and economics. The presence of media has been so imposing that native of democratic countries that is America takes it as a part of life. Thus, the absence of media can be devastating for the citizens of country. If there will be no media that is books, TV, magazines, etc., the nation would not be able to communicate about the information based on culture, lifestyle and tradition. In other words, it can be said that country will not be able to create its national identity in the whole world. If there will be no media then the economy of nation cannot grow and also, the country's economy will go down. Moreover, there will be less employment opportunities and morale of the citizens will go down as well.

It can be inferred that media plays a significant role in the creation of a culture and national identity of a nation and its native.

Conclusion

As per the study conducted on media, culture and national identity, it can be concluded that cultural industries and media have played a major role in the national, historical and social-cultural context. They have promoted the national identity of people of a particular nation. There are many types of media which helped the nation to communicate its identity to the whole world. Moreover, if there is no media then a country cannot grow and thus, it leads to stagnant growth of the national economy. It helps in showcasing the culture which invites more people to the nation for visiting which enhances the wealth of an economy.

References

• Colley, L. (1992). Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.
• Durham, M. G., & Kellner, D. M. (Eds.). (2009). Media and cultural studies: Keyworks. John Wiley & Sons.
• Huddy, L., & Khatib, N. (2007). American patriotism, national identity, and political involvement. American Journal of Political Science.
• Lizardo, O., & Skiles, S. (2009). Highbrow omnivorousness on the small screen?: Cultural industry systems and patterns of cultural choice in Europe. Poetics.
• Maier, C. S. (2009). The unmasterable past: History, Holocaust, and German national identity. Harvard University Press.

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