The media and globalisation | AQA A-Level Sociology
Updated: Aug 31
For Specification 7192
AQA A-Level Sociology | Free Revision Notes
Estimated study time: 75 minutes
Globalisation has transformed the scale and speed at which media content can circulate, connecting producers and audiences across national boundaries. This The media and globalisation A-Level Sociology revision page examines the growth of global media, global culture, changing audience relationships and competing explanations of whether globalisation increases cultural diversity or strengthens powerful corporations. It builds on new media [The new media] and media ownership and control [Media ownership and control], while preparing you for the relationship between globalisation and popular culture [Media and popular culture]. AQA specifically requires sociological explanations of the media, globalisation and popular culture.
Learning Objectives 🎯
By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:
Define globalisation and explain how it applies to the media.
Explain how technological developments and global media corporations contribute to increasing interconnectedness.
Analyse how globalisation may affect global culture, local cultures, news and audiences.
Explain concepts including global culture, cultural homogenisation, cultural imperialism, cultural convergence and the global village.
Compare optimistic, postmodernist, pluralist and Marxist interpretations of global media.
Evaluate the extent to which globalisation has increased diversity and audience choice rather than strengthening corporate media power.
Revision Notes 📚
The media and globalisation A-Level Sociology revision: what you need to know
The AQA Media specification requires students to understand sociological explanations of "the media, globalisation and popular culture". This sits alongside the new media, ownership and control, news production, representations and audiences.
Globalisation should therefore not be learned as an isolated definition. In the Media topic, you need to be able to connect it to:
media corporations;
new technologies;
audiences;
global culture;
local cultures;
popular culture;
ownership and control;
the content of news.
AQA examination questions have directly tested the relationship between globalisation and audiences, global culture and the content of news.
What is globalisation?
Globalisation refers to increasing interconnectedness between different parts of the world.
In relation to the media, this means that media production, distribution, ownership, content and audiences increasingly operate across national boundaries.
Media globalisation can involve:
media corporations operating internationally;
audiences accessing media produced in other countries;
ideas and images circulating rapidly around the world;
new technology allowing international communication;
media products reaching global audiences;
people producing and sharing media across national boundaries.
AQA assessment material specifically connects globalisation with technological and cultural change and with increasing communication between audiences around the world.
Media as a cause and consequence of globalisation
The relationship between the media and globalisation works in both directions.
Globalisation changes the media
Increasing international connections allow media corporations to operate across different countries and reach audiences on a global scale.
This may result in:
larger international audiences;
more globally distributed media products;
greater consumer choice;
increasing international media ownership and control.
Media contribute to globalisation
At the same time, media technologies make global interconnectedness possible.
Digital media can allow:
rapid communication;
information to cross national borders;
ideas and lifestyles to become internationally visible;
audiences to interact across geographical distance.
A useful analytical chain is:
technological development → faster international communication → greater circulation of media content → increased awareness of other cultures and societies → greater global interconnectedness
This builds directly on new media [The new media].
The global village
The concept of the global village describes a world in which developments in communication make geographically distant people and societies increasingly connected.
AQA mark schemes recognise the global village as a relevant concept when explaining the role of new and global media.
The idea captures the way that media can reduce the importance of geographical distance.
Audiences may be able to experience events occurring elsewhere through rapid media communication rather than waiting for information to travel through slower traditional channels.
Sociological significance
The global village may mean that:
audiences are increasingly aware of events outside their own society;
cultural products can circulate internationally;
political and social issues can become visible to international audiences;
people can communicate with others beyond their local community.
However, being connected does not necessarily mean everyone participates equally.
The digital divide, inequalities in access to new media, means that global communication is not equally available to all groups. AQA specifically recognises the digital divide as a limitation of optimistic accounts of new and globalised media.
Global media corporations
One major feature of media globalisation is the ability of large corporations to operate across national boundaries.
AQA's 2021 assessment material explicitly linked globalisation with large corporations operating on a global scale and having consumers around the world.
Global media corporations may:
produce content for international audiences;
distribute the same or similar media products in different societies;
operate across different media markets;
influence what content audiences can access.
This means globalisation is closely connected to media ownership and control [Media ownership and control].
Global corporations and media power
Globalisation can strengthen the power of media corporations because their operations are no longer limited to one national market.
AQA mark schemes recognise the argument that global media corporations can control the content to which audiences have access.
Globalisation of new media can also produce greater international control of media.
From this perspective:
global reach → larger audiences → greater corporate resources and influence → increased potential control over media content
This provides an important basis for Marxist interpretations of global media.
Evaluation
Greater global reach can also create greater competition.
Audiences may have more sources and products to choose from than when their media consumption was restricted mainly to locally or nationally produced content.
Globalisation may therefore increase both:
corporate power, and
audience choice.
These two developments can occur at the same time.
Globalisation and audience choice
AQA has directly examined the argument that globalisation has increased consumer choice.
The 2021 mark scheme recognised the idea that audiences can access more media products and that this may force media corporations to respond more closely to what audiences want.
Pluralists can use this to argue that globalisation weakens media power.
If audiences can choose among a greater range of media, they can:
reject particular products;
seek alternative sources;
switch between media organisations;
influence producers through consumer demand.
A possible relationship is therefore:
globalisation → more media choices → increased competition → corporations must attract audiences → greater audience influence over content
However, Marxists question whether apparently greater choice necessarily means greater audience power.
Global culture
Global culture refers to cultural ideas, values, lifestyles, products and media forms that circulate across national boundaries and become familiar to people in many different societies.
AQA directly assessed how media corporations may contribute to the growth of global culture in 2020. The mark scheme identified the spread of consumerism, global brands, common media products and the weakening of local cultures as relevant explanations.
Global media can therefore contribute to people in different places encountering:
similar products;
similar images;
similar lifestyles;
similar cultural ideas.
This is closely connected to popular culture [Media and popular culture].
How media corporations may create global culture
AQA's 2020 mark scheme identifies two particularly important processes.
The spread of similar lifestyles and values
Media corporations can produce representations of lifestyles that circulate internationally.
If people encounter similar images and ideas, this may encourage common forms of:
consumption;
aspiration;
identity;
lifestyle.
AQA specifically recognised the argument that Western or American media may spread consumerist ideas so that audiences in different societies aspire to similar products and lifestyles.
The spread of global products
Media corporations can promote products and brands to audiences in many societies.
This can increase cultural similarities because people in geographically distant places may consume or recognise the same cultural products.
At the same time, this may reduce the relative importance of some locally produced cultural forms.
Cultural homogenisation
Cultural homogenisation is the process through which cultures become increasingly similar.
If audiences around the world encounter the same media content, consumer products and lifestyles, distinctive national or local cultural differences may become less pronounced.
AQA examiner material specifically recognises homogenisation as a concept students can use when analysing relationships between globalisation and popular culture.
The process can be expressed as:
global media distribution → exposure to common cultural products → increasingly similar patterns of consumption and popular culture → greater cultural homogenisation
Evaluation
Homogenisation should not be treated as inevitable.
AQA's 2020 mark scheme specifically recognises that local cultures may absorb and transform external influences rather than simply disappear.
This means globalisation can produce cultural mixture and adaptation as well as uniformity.
Cultural imperialism
Cultural imperialism describes a process in which the culture of more powerful societies becomes increasingly influential within other societies.
In media terms, this can occur when powerful media corporations distribute particular values, lifestyles and cultural products internationally.
The concern is not simply that cultures become similar. It is that the cultural influence may be unequal, with some societies having greater power to produce and distribute global media than others.
AQA's 2025 examiner report identified cultural imperialism as a concept successfully used by students when developing the relationship between globalisation and popular culture.
A cultural imperialist argument might therefore be:
Large media corporations have international reach.
Their content distributes particular cultural values and lifestyles.
These ideas become increasingly familiar to global audiences.
Local cultures may become less influential.
Cultural globalisation therefore reflects inequalities in media power.
This provides a link back to media ownership and control [Media ownership and control].
Cultural homogenisation and cultural imperialism compared
Concept | Main idea | Key sociological question |
Cultural homogenisation | Cultures become increasingly similar | Is globalisation reducing cultural differences? |
Cultural imperialism | More powerful cultures spread their values and products into other societies | Whose culture has the greatest influence over global media? |
The two ideas can overlap.
Cultural imperialism may be presented as one process that contributes to homogenisation.
However, cultural similarity could also emerge through interaction and exchange rather than simply one culture dominating another.
Cultural convergence
Cultural convergence refers to increasing similarities and connections between cultural forms as global media bring societies into greater contact.
AQA identifies cultural convergence as a relevant concept in explanations of contemporary media and globalisation.
New media can contribute to this because digital technology allows:
media formats to circulate rapidly;
audiences to encounter content from different societies;
producers and consumers to interact;
cultural material to be copied, adapted and redistributed.
Cultural convergence therefore emphasises increasing connection between cultural forms.
Localisation and glocalisation
Globalisation does not necessarily eliminate local cultures.
AQA assessment materials recognise localisation and glocalisation as relevant concepts when considering cultural globalisation.
Localisation refers to the continuing importance of local cultural influences.
Glocalisation describes the combination of global influences with local cultures.
Instead of a global media product simply replacing local culture, it may be interpreted or adapted in ways that fit local circumstances.
A useful contrast is:
homogenisation: globalisation makes cultures more alike.
glocalisation: global influences are adapted, producing new local variations.
This distinction is a powerful source of evaluation in essays.
Does globalisation destroy local cultures?
One argument is that it can.
AQA's 2020 assessment item explicitly suggested that the wide reach of media corporations may make local cultures less important.
This might happen because:
global corporations have greater resources than local producers;
global media products reach very large audiences;
consumer identities may become organised around global products;
similar forms of popular culture can spread internationally.
However, AQA's mark scheme also supports the counterargument that local cultures can absorb and transform external influences.
Therefore:
globalisation may change local culture without necessarily eliminating it.
Globalisation and popular culture
Globalisation and popular culture are explicitly connected in the AQA specification.
New and global media can change popular culture in several ways.
AQA's 2021 mark scheme recognises:
increased participation;
rapid circulation of ideas and images;
greater availability of sources and opinions;
increasing importance of influencers;
globalisation of popular culture;
possible weakening of local and national cultures.
This topic is developed in detail in media and popular culture [Media and popular culture].
For this lesson, remember the central connection:
global media allow popular cultural products to circulate beyond the societies in which they originated.
The new media and globalisation
Globalisation has been accelerated by developments in new media.
AQA's 2023 question on globalisation and news specifically referred to increased communication speed and technologies such as smartphones through which individuals can upload material.
New media may:
increase the speed of international communication;
allow audiences to become producers;
enable citizen journalism;
increase access to international media;
spread cultural material rapidly;
enable participation across borders.
This can reduce the importance of the traditional distinction between global media producers and audiences.
Participatory global media
Participatory culture occurs when audiences become involved in producing and circulating media rather than acting only as consumers.
In a global context, this means content produced by individuals can potentially circulate beyond the society in which it was created.
AQA recognises participatory culture, citizen journalism and prosumers as relevant concepts in contemporary globalised media.
This creates a challenge to theories that see globalisation as driven only by large corporations.
Individuals may also contribute to international media flows.
Evaluation
Audience production does not necessarily remove corporate power.
The platforms through which audiences distribute their material may themselves form part of powerful media organisations.
This is why AQA's 2025 assessment material contrasts postmodernist claims about content creation with the Marxist argument that media conglomerates still exercise considerable control.
Globalisation and the content of news
Globalisation does not only change entertainment and popular culture. It also affects news production.
AQA directly tested this relationship in 2023.
Two particularly important changes are:
greater immediacy of news, and
greater audience participation in news production.
These provide useful links to selection of news [Selection of news] and presentation of news [Presentation of news].
Faster global news
Global communication increases the speed with which news can reach audiences.
News organisations may therefore face pressure to provide:
breaking news;
live images;
rapid updates.
AQA's 2023 mark scheme recognised that global news companies may tailor content to audiences expecting immediate reporting.
However, speed may create problems.
The mark scheme also recognises that pressure to report news as it happens can reduce opportunities for fact-checking.
The 2023 examiner report found that students successfully developed this into discussion of misleading information.
A useful analytical chain is:
global communication becomes faster → audiences expect immediate news → organisations publish more quickly → less time may be available to check information → inaccurate or misleading information may circulate
Citizen journalism and global news
Globalisation also changes who can contribute to news.
AQA's 2023 mark scheme identifies citizen journalists uploading material as one way in which globalisation affects news content.
This may mean that material ignored by established media organisations becomes available to audiences.
Citizen journalism can therefore:
widen the range of sources;
weaken traditional gatekeeping;
provide immediate material from events;
make audiences more involved in news production.
This builds on new media [The new media].
Evaluation
Greater access to sources does not mean all sources are equally reliable.
The sociological effect is therefore mixed:
globalisation increases the range and speed of news production, but it can also create new problems concerning verification and reliability.
Globalisation and media ownership
Media globalisation can increase international concentration of ownership and control.
AQA's 2024 mark scheme recognises that globalisation of new media may increase international control.
Large corporations may operate across many societies, increasing their ability to reach and collect information from global audiences.
This gives Marxists a basis for arguing that globalisation does not necessarily democratise media.
Instead, it can extend existing inequalities in ownership to an international level.
Globalisation and media audiences
AQA's 2021 examination directly assessed how globalisation may affect the relationship between media and audiences.
There are two contrasting arguments.
Audiences gain power
Globalisation gives audiences greater choice because they are not restricted to media produced locally.
More choice can:
reduce dependence on individual media organisations;
increase competition;
encourage corporations to respond to consumer demand.
Corporations gain power
Global media corporations can also determine which content is made widely available to international audiences.
Their scale and resources may give them considerable influence.
The central debate is therefore:
Has globalisation shifted power towards audiences, or expanded the power of corporations?
You will examine this further in media content and audiences [Media content and audiences].
Postmodernist explanations of global media
Postmodernists emphasise diversity, choice and the weakening of established cultural boundaries.
AQA's 2025 assessment explicitly described the postmodernist view of globalised media as providing:
greater choice;
greater opportunities;
access to a diversity of cultures;
opportunities to create media content;
opportunities to construct different realities.
From this perspective, globalisation means individuals are less restricted by:
local culture;
national boundaries;
traditional media organisations.
People can encounter and select from a wider range of cultural material.
Strengths of the postmodernist explanation
The approach recognises genuine changes associated with:
new media;
cultural convergence;
global communication;
participatory culture;
active audiences.
It also avoids assuming that globalisation simply imposes one culture on passive audiences.
Evaluation
Postmodernists may exaggerate the freedom available.
AQA identifies two especially important criticisms:
the digital divide means not everyone has equal access;
media conglomerates continue to exercise control.
Choice exists, but it is not necessarily unlimited or equally distributed.
Pluralist interpretations of global media
Pluralists emphasise competition and consumer choice.
From a pluralist perspective, globalisation may weaken the control of individual media organisations because audiences can access more sources.
Global media organisations must compete for international audiences.
This may mean they have to respond to what audiences want.
AQA's 2021 mark scheme explicitly recognises the argument that greater choice can force corporations to produce content audiences demand.
Evaluation
The strongest criticism is that global choice can exist alongside highly concentrated ownership.
Audiences may choose from many products, but those products may still be produced or distributed by a comparatively powerful group of global media corporations.
Pluralists may therefore confuse diversity of content with diversity of ownership and power.
Marxist interpretations of global media
Marxist approaches focus on inequalities in ownership, control and cultural influence.
They may argue that globalisation allows powerful media corporations to extend their influence across national boundaries.
This could result in:
global concentration of media power;
the spread of dominant ideology;
consumerism;
cultural imperialism;
weakening of local cultures.
AQA's 2020 mark scheme specifically recognises the spread of consumerism and weakening of local cultures through internationally distributed media.
The Marxist argument can therefore be expressed as:
concentrated media ownership → global corporate reach → widespread distribution of particular cultural ideas → unequal influence over global culture
Strengths
This perspective draws attention to power, rather than assuming that international cultural exchange is automatically equal.
It also links media globalisation to the ownership structures studied in media ownership and control [Media ownership and control].
Evaluation
Marxist approaches can underestimate audience activity.
Audiences may:
reject global content;
interpret it differently;
adapt it to local cultures;
create competing content themselves.
Glocalisation and citizen journalism therefore challenge the idea of simple one-way cultural domination.
Cultural optimists and neophiliacs
Cultural optimists, sometimes described as neophiliacs, emphasise the positive possibilities of new and global media.
AQA recognises these perspectives as relevant to the contemporary role of media.
They may emphasise:
rapid access to information;
greater international communication;
more audience choice;
participatory culture;
citizen journalism;
cultural diversity.
From this viewpoint, global media can connect people and broaden access to cultural material.
Evaluation
Cultural optimism can overlook:
the digital divide;
surveillance;
unequal corporate power;
homogenisation;
the dominance of global media conglomerates.
Global connection does not necessarily mean equal participation.
Cultural pessimists
Cultural pessimists emphasise negative consequences of global and new media.
They are more likely to focus on:
corporate power;
loss of distinctive local culture;
cultural homogenisation;
inequalities in access;
surveillance;
misleading information.
Their approach challenges the assumption that technological change necessarily represents social progress.
Evaluation
A purely pessimistic interpretation can underestimate:
increasing audience choice;
opportunities for participation;
continuing local cultural differences;
the ability of audiences to adapt global media rather than simply absorb it.
Comparing sociological interpretations of global media
Perspective | Main view of global media | Audience position | Main evaluation |
Postmodernism | Global media increase choice, diversity and opportunities to construct identities and realities | Active and increasingly free to choose | Digital divide and corporate control limit freedom |
Pluralism | Global competition increases consumer choice and restricts owner power | Consumers influence media through their choices | May underestimate concentration of global ownership |
Marxism | Globalisation extends the influence of powerful media corporations and dominant culture | Audience choice remains structurally constrained | Can underestimate active audiences and cultural adaptation |
Cultural optimists | Global media increase communication, information and participation | Empowered by technology | May overlook inequality, surveillance and corporate power |
Cultural pessimists | Global media may weaken local culture and increase corporate control | Potentially excluded or dominated | May underestimate diversity and audience agency |
Homogenisation or diversity?
A central debate in this topic is whether globalisation makes cultures more similar or more diverse.
Evidence for increasing similarity
Global media may:
distribute the same products internationally;
promote similar consumer lifestyles;
spread global brands;
weaken some local cultures;
increase cultural homogenisation.
Evidence for increasing diversity
Global media may also:
expose audiences to more cultures;
increase media choice;
enable people to create their own content;
allow global influences to be adapted locally;
produce cultural convergence and glocalisation.
The strongest sociological answer recognises that both processes can happen.
Globalisation may create similarity at one level and new forms of diversity at another.
Power or choice?
A second major debate concerns whether globalisation increases corporate power or audience power.
Globalisation may increase corporate power because... | Globalisation may increase audience power because... |
Corporations can operate internationally | Audiences have access to more sources |
Global conglomerates reach very large audiences | Consumers can choose between media products |
International control may increase | Citizen journalists can create content |
Corporations may influence global culture | New media weaken traditional gatekeeping |
Global media can spread particular ideologies and consumer values | Audiences can access cultures outside their own society |
A sophisticated evaluation does not need to choose one side completely.
Globalisation can simultaneously increase corporate reach and create new opportunities for active audiences.
How to apply globalisation in an examination
Globalisation can appear in questions without the words "the media and globalisation" appearing in the title.
You could apply globalisation to:
new media;
ownership and control;
popular culture;
news;
audiences;
representations.
For example:
Question on news: discuss international communication, citizen journalism and immediacy.
Question on ownership: discuss global media corporations and international control.
Question on audiences: discuss increased choice, global consumer markets and the digital divide.
Question on popular culture: discuss global culture, homogenisation and cultural imperialism.
This ability to make connections is important because AQA 10-mark questions frequently require students to bring together different parts of their sociological knowledge rather than simply reproduce a rehearsed section of notes.
Key Words 🔑
Key word | Student-friendly definition | How it may be used in an exam |
Globalisation | Increasing interconnectedness between different societies and parts of the world. | Use as the starting concept when explaining international media production, distribution or audiences. |
Global culture | Cultural ideas, lifestyles and products that circulate across national boundaries and become familiar internationally. | Apply when discussing the influence of media corporations and popular culture. |
Global village | The idea that communication technologies make geographically distant societies increasingly interconnected. | Use when explaining the role of new media in reducing the significance of physical distance. |
Cultural homogenisation | The process through which cultures become increasingly similar. | Use when explaining how global media may weaken cultural differences. |
Cultural imperialism | The spread of the culture of more powerful societies into other societies through unequal cultural influence. | Apply when evaluating the power of global media corporations. |
Cultural convergence | Increasing connections and similarities between cultural forms through global interaction. | Use to explain how global media bring cultures into contact. |
Glocalisation | The adaptation or combination of global cultural influences with local culture. | Use to evaluate claims that globalisation simply destroys local cultures. |
Media conglomerate | A large corporation with ownership or control across different media activities. | Apply when discussing international ownership and corporate power. |
Citizen journalism | News content produced or circulated by members of the public rather than only professional journalists. | Use when explaining how globalisation affects news and audience participation. |
Digital divide | Inequalities in access to and participation in digital media. | Use to evaluate claims that global media give everyone the same opportunities and choices. |
Hints from the Examiner Reports 💡
Examiner hint: Do not simply give an example of globalisation. Explain the connection between the globalising process and the issue named in the question. The 2025 examiner report found that some students identified ways globalisation affected popular culture but did not develop how the two were connected.
Examiner hint: Concepts such as homogenisation and cultural imperialism can strengthen analysis when they are accurately connected to globalisation rather than simply named. The 2025 examiner report noted successful use of these concepts when analysing globalisation and popular culture.
Examiner hint: For questions about globalisation and news, develop the consequences of greater speed. In 2023, successful answers linked immediacy to reduced checking of information and the possibility of misleading content.
Examiner hint: Citizen journalism is useful only when you explain its relevance to the question. In the 2023 globalisation question, stronger answers explained how material uploaded by members of the public could change news content.
Examiner hint: Do not treat every recent social or technological change as globalisation. The 2024 examiner report warned, in another Paper 2 globalisation question, that some students assumed any recent change was automatically part of globalisation. Define the global connection clearly.
Examiner hint: For 10-mark analyse questions, identify and explicitly use the two useful "hooks" in the item. The final sentence normally restates the question rather than providing a hook. Develop two points fully instead of listing several brief ideas.
Examiner hint: For 20-mark questions, avoid turning the essay into a list of perspectives. AQA advises students to select a limited number of relevant theories, develop them in depth and evaluate the precise claim in the question. Brief planning can help maintain a coherent argument.
Common Mistakes ⚠️
Mistake: Defining globalisation but not linking it to the media
Why this is incorrect: A general definition does not answer a Media question. You need to explain how media production, distribution, ownership, audiences or content operate across national boundaries.
How to improve: After defining globalisation, immediately connect it to a media process:
globalisation → international media connection → specific effect on content, audiences or ownership
Mistake: Assuming globalisation only means Americanisation
Why this is incorrect: Cultural imperialism is one explanation, but AQA assessment materials also recognise cultural convergence, glocalisation, diversity, increased choice and active audiences.
How to improve: Use cultural imperialism as one interpretation and compare it with arguments that cultures adapt global influences.
Mistake: Assuming local culture simply disappears
Why this is incorrect: AQA's mark scheme recognises that local cultures can absorb and transform external cultural influences.
How to improve: Evaluate homogenisation using localisation or glocalisation. Ask whether global influences are adopted unchanged or adapted locally.
Mistake: Saying globalisation automatically gives audiences more power
Why this is incorrect: More media choice may increase audience influence, but global corporations may simultaneously extend their ownership and control.
How to improve: Distinguish between consumer choice and structural ownership of global media.
Mistake: Describing citizen journalism without explaining globalisation
Why this is incorrect: Citizen journalism is relevant only if you explain how new technology allows locally produced content to circulate rapidly to wider or international audiences.
How to improve: Develop the complete chain:
digital technology → individuals upload content → content circulates rapidly across borders → traditional news organisations lose some control over global news
Mistake: Treating faster news as entirely positive
Why this is incorrect: AQA's 2023 examiner report notes that stronger responses connected greater immediacy with reduced fact-checking and potentially misleading information.
How to improve: Evaluate increased speed by considering both rapid access to information and potential problems of reliability.
Mistake: Listing theories in a 20-mark essay
Why this is incorrect: An account of postmodernism followed by an account of Marxism is not automatically evaluation.
How to improve: Make the theories directly address each other:
Postmodernists argue global media increase diversity, whereas Marxists argue that this apparent diversity remains constrained by concentrated corporate ownership.
Then decide which explanation is more convincing and why.
Exam-Style Questions ✍️
Question 1
Define the term globalisation.[2 marks]
Answer:
Globalisation refers to increasing interconnectedness between different societies and parts of the world.
For full credit, the definition should make clear that previously more separate societies are becoming increasingly connected.
Question 2
Explain one difference between cultural homogenisation and glocalisation.[4 marks]
Indicative answer:
Cultural homogenisation suggests that globalisation makes cultures increasingly similar as common media products, ideas and lifestyles spread internationally.
Glocalisation suggests that global influences are adapted to local circumstances, so globalisation may produce new local variations rather than simply making all cultures the same.
Question 3
Outline and explain two ways in which global media corporations may contribute to the growth of global culture.[10 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
Answers may include:
distributing similar media products internationally;
spreading consumerist lifestyles;
promoting globally recognised products;
weakening some local or national cultural influences;
providing similar images and ideas to audiences in different societies;
encouraging cultural homogenisation;
using international reach to shape cultural consumption.
For higher marks, students should explain two distinct mechanisms and develop the link between corporate media and global culture.
Evaluation is not required.
Question 4
Outline and explain two ways in which globalisation may affect the relationship between the media and their audiences.[10 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
One way could be increased audience choice:
audiences can access media produced outside their own society;
this increases competition;
media organisations may have to respond more closely to consumer demand;
audience influence may therefore increase.
A second way could be greater corporate reach:
global media corporations can distribute content internationally;
they may influence which media products are available;
corporate power over audiences may therefore increase.
Other relevant answers may include participatory culture, citizen journalism and the digital divide.
Question 5
Read Item A and answer the question that follows.
Item A
Global communication technologies enable news to reach audiences around the world rapidly. Members of the public can also record events and distribute material through digital media without waiting for professional news organisations.
Applying material from Item A, analyse two ways in which globalisation may affect the content of the news.[10 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
One developed route could use "reach audiences around the world rapidly":
increasing immediacy;
demand for breaking news and live reporting;
pressure to publish quickly;
reduced time for fact-checking;
possible circulation of inaccurate or misleading information.
A second route could use "members of the public can record events":
citizen journalism;
wider range of news sources;
material may appear that traditional gatekeepers would not select;
professional organisations lose some control over news content.
For high marks, both item hooks should be applied explicitly and developed analytically.
Question 6
Read Item B and answer the question that follows.
Item B
The same media products and images may circulate through many different societies. However, audiences do not necessarily respond to these influences in identical ways and local cultures may adapt outside influences.
Applying material from Item B, analyse two ways in which media globalisation may affect local cultures.[10 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
One route could use "the same media products and images":
cultural homogenisation;
greater similarity between popular cultures;
common consumer lifestyles;
local cultural differences may weaken.
A second route could use "local cultures may adapt outside influences":
glocalisation or localisation;
global influences are interpreted or transformed;
local culture may change rather than disappear;
globalisation can therefore produce cultural diversity as well as similarity.
Strong answers should analyse the effect on local culture, rather than simply describing globalisation.
Question 7
Read Item C and answer the question that follows.
Item C
Postmodernists argue that globalised media provide individuals with access to a diversity of cultures and a much greater range of media choices. New media also allow audiences to create and distribute their own content.
Other sociologists argue that the extent of this freedom has been exaggerated. Powerful media corporations operate internationally, while inequalities in access to new media mean that not everyone can participate equally.
Applying material from Item C and your knowledge, evaluate the view that media globalisation has increased cultural diversity and audience choice.[20 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
Arguments supporting the view may include:
postmodernism;
greater access to diverse cultures;
global village;
cultural convergence;
new media;
participatory culture;
active audiences;
citizen journalism;
prosumers;
increased consumer choice;
pluralist arguments about competition;
glocalisation and adaptation of global influences.
Arguments challenging the view may include:
Marxist explanations;
concentration of media ownership;
global media conglomerates;
cultural imperialism;
cultural homogenisation;
consumerism;
weakening of local cultures;
digital divide;
unequal corporate power;
continuing control over global media distribution.
Higher-level answers should compare perspectives directly rather than simply describe them.
A reasoned conclusion might argue that globalisation has clearly increased the quantity and geographical range of media available to many audiences, but this does not mean that cultural power has become equally distributed. Increased diversity can coexist with concentrated global ownership.
Question 8
Read Item D and answer the question that follows.
Item D
Some sociologists argue that global media corporations spread similar values, lifestyles and consumer products across the world. This may weaken distinctive local cultures.
Other sociologists argue that audiences actively interpret media and that cultures can adapt global influences rather than simply accept them unchanged.
Applying material from Item D and your knowledge, evaluate the view that the global media are producing a single global culture.[20 marks]
Indicative mark scheme:
Arguments supporting the view may include:
global culture;
cultural homogenisation;
cultural imperialism;
global media corporations;
international distribution of common media products;
consumerism;
global brands;
weakening of local or national cultures;
Marxist explanations of global corporate power.
Evaluation may include:
glocalisation;
localisation;
cultural convergence;
continuing local and national cultures;
active audiences;
audiences interpreting content differently;
increased cultural diversity;
postmodernist explanations;
pluralist emphasis on choice;
citizen production of media content.
A strong conclusion should address the word "single" directly.
A balanced judgement may argue that global media have created important cultural similarities, but the continuing adaptation of global influences and persistence of local cultural differences make the idea of one completely uniform global culture too simplistic.
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