Global Culture, Local Cultures, and the Internet. The Thai Example

Hongladarom, Soraj (1998) Global Culture, Local Cultures, and the Internet. The Thai Example. In: Proceedings Cultural Attitudes Towards Communication and Technology ’98. University of Sydney, Sydney, pp. 231-245.

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Abstract

This paper addresses the questions of whether, and if so, how and to what extent the Internet brings about homogenization of the local cultures in the world. It examines a particular case, that of Thai culture, through an investigation and interpretation of a Usenet newsgroup, soc.culture.thai. Two threads of discussion in the newsgroup are selected. One deals with criticisms of the Thai government and political leaders, and the other focuses on whether Thai language should be a medium, or perhaps the only medium, of communication in the newsgroup. It is found
that, instead of erasing local cultural boundaries, creating a worldwide monolithic culture, the Internet reduplicates the existing cultural boundaries. What the Internet does, on the contrary, is to create an umbrella cosmopolitan culture which is necessary for communication among people from disparate cultures. That culture, however, is devoid of "thick" backgrounds, in Michael Walzer's sense.

Item Type: Book Section
Subjects: Cultural Attitudes Towards Communication and Technology, Proceedings > CATaC Conference 1998
Depositing User: sandra subito
Date Deposited: 06 Dec 2020 15:40
Last Modified: 06 Dec 2020 15:40
URI: http://sammelpunkt.philo.at/id/eprint/3403

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