Excerpt: Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism

LaFeber, Walter. [2002] 2005. "Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism". Pp. 170-174 in Understanding Society, 2nd ed., edited by Margaret L. Andersen, Kim Logio, and Howard Taylor. Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning, Inc.

Meditating on the spread of American culture abroad, Walter LaFeber sums up his entire argument with one thing: Michael Jordan. As American media negotiated deals and promoted basketball to as wide a market as possible, Michael Jordan's leading his team to multiple championships had become a worldwide legend. On top of this, television advertisements and magazine ads across the world bore his image as an endorsement of Nike sneakers and a myriad of other globally-marketed products.

The decentralization of mass communication, from monarchs and/or the Church to a handful of broadcasters to dozens of news/media outlets to the internet, has made it easier to spread culture. Those with the product and capital for effective marketing overwhelm foreign markets to push sneakers, candy bars, television sets, books, cameras, sports, and even (though they may not be aware of it) icons, values, and beliefs.

It's important to remember that in any discourse between people and/or groups, there are social values underpinning the discussion. There are always values that both parties agree are "good" or "bad", invaluable or worthless, superior or inferior. Particular assumptions are made and cultural philosophies are taken for granted. When a firm or corporation begins to market in another country, it speaks loudly in the cultural voice of where it came from.

LaFeber has this to say about the export of American culture: "Asians see this as nothing less than the U.S. 'desire to bury Asian values,' and they are not pleased. Nor are many Americans". Indeed, much anti-American sentiment can be explained as a reaction against Americanization and global capitalism's saturation of foreign markets.

Relevance: 4/5 (relevant)
Salience: 4/5 (salient)

References:

• Michael Jordan - as an example.
• Max Perelman - as an example. "Just how far that influence reached became clear to Max Perelman, a young American college student, when he traveled through remote regions of China in January 1997."
• Ted Turner - as an example. "Much of this post-1970s technology was dominated by U.S. empire-builders, notably the flamboyant Ted Turner."
• Phil Knight - "Phil Knight liked to say that by the 1990s sports had become the world's most important entertainment."
• Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Fred Astaire, and Martha Graham - as examples.
• Alan Greenspan - as a cause. "The most important American economic official, Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve system, announced that these other nations were finally seeing the light; they were moving toward 'the type of market system which we have in this country.'"