ABSTRACT
The world is becoming more international at a breathtaking pace. Global reorganization has reduced the economic importance of national borders and has sparked intense national debates about the dangers to cultural diversity that political and economic reorganizations pose. Technology has expanded opportunities for cross-national communication and understanding, but it has also increased the hegemony of Western, especially U.S. culture in the images presented in advertising, entertainment, and lifestyle. For example, Dixon (1977) contended that, more than any other source of cultural stereotypes, comics published in the United States and Britain promote prejudice toward foreigners and extranationals. Almost three decades have passed since McLuhan’s premonition that the medium of telecommunications would reshape our concepts of the world as a global village and consequently our self-concepts (McLuhan & Fiore, 1967). Yet it remains an open question whether this medium has had a homogenizing effect or has been a means of increasing international understanding and perspective-taking. Has the arrival of the global village had an impact on young people’s interest in other cultures? This chapter provides some insights into that question.
