Globalization and A mericanization

Abstract Globalization implies a world reconfigured economically, politically, and culturally. Crucially implicated in this process are media and communication technologies, which are widely accepted as sine qua nons of globalization. A substantial thrust of the globalization debate within communications research has thus centered on examining the role of media and communication in the transformations of cultural landscapes all over the world. On one side of this debate are scholars who argue that globalization results in the growth of global cultural uniformity and homogeneity. On the other are theorists who argue that globalization reduces cultural coherence in all societies and gives rise to cultural hybridization. Since the late 1990s, however, some scholars have sought to move away from this polarized debate by suggesting a middle ground between these positions by linking local dynamics manifest at the micro level to the operation of macro forces, notably the workings of global capitalism.