ABSTRACT
According to Appadurai, it is no longer fruitful to try to understand the new global cultural economy by using old models of conflict that contrast the centre versus the periphery. In most of these models of ‘cultural imperialism’ an underlying concern or fear of ‘cultural homogenization’ and/or ‘cultural synchronization’ (Hamelink, 1983; Schiller, 1976) is expressed in the wake of growing Americanization and commodification. What is clear is that in the 1990s the international media environment is far more complex than that suggested by earlier models of media imperialism.
