Political Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Political Economy - Essay Example The post World War II world saw the mainstreaming of studies on cultural and creative industries as it was an absolute necessity to explore and grasp the changing nature of politics and economics in the developed countries. The end of the cold war marked the beginning of a 'cultural turn' in the globalized world. The worldwide dissemination of the values and attitudes of the West in general and the United States of America in particular has been the focus of attention for not only academicians but also for ordinary people from across the world. There have been intense debates over the impact of globalization and the consequent transformations in the realm of culture from a number of conflicting standpoints. The idea of cultural imperialism has been particularly influential in the understanding of the profound transformations that are taking place in the sphere of culture. Regardless of the difference among these contesting perspectives on the characterization of this cultural turn, there exists a consensus on the incredible role of global media as carrier of the unprecedented changes pertinent to culture at both global and local levels. However, culture should no longer be perceived as a locally bounde d 'whole way of life' as the components of culture themselves have profoundly changed. It has been suggested that culture should not be viewed as introverted, tied to place and inward looking as it used to be in history. Rather, culture is seen as an outward-looking 'translocal learning process'. The intangibility is one of the important factor in defining a cultural product or commodity. Certainly, the content of cultural commodities is immeasurable and 'cultural' in nature. Here, cultural means that the use value of a cultural commodity is satisfying some of the mental, psychological needs of a user in one way or another from a culturally determined standpoint. Speaking from the opposite, a cultural commodity has no 'physical' value apart from its ability to gratify given cultural tastes of a consumer. In broad terms, cultural industries are characterised by the production, creation, transmission, dissemination, registration, protection, participation and mass consumption of cultural and creative types of intangible and immeasurable contents, which are available in the market as exchangeable commodities or services. Globalisation represents not only the competitive distribution but also the co-operative sharing of cultural and creative goods. Cultural industries deal with the mechanisms of production, distribution and use of cultural goods. Laws and provisions concerning copyright and intellectual property rights are used to protect and ensure the value based exchangeability of such commodities and services in the marketplace. The term 'cultural industries' denotes that culture is part of the economic sector. The state considerably regulates the cultural industry as a sector of economy but not without political implications. Crafts, designs, printed and published materials, multimedia creations, pornographic