Login | Register

"The globe is now officially open for business!" : the advertising of cyberspace : globalization and the politics of cyberculture

Title:

"The globe is now officially open for business!" : the advertising of cyberspace : globalization and the politics of cyberculture

Warrier, Vinu Govind (2002) "The globe is now officially open for business!" : the advertising of cyberspace : globalization and the politics of cyberculture. Masters thesis, Concordia University.

[thumbnail of MQ72852.pdf]
Preview
Text (application/pdf)
MQ72852.pdf
10MB

Abstract

This project is concerned with comprehending the effect of the Internet--a cosmopolitan technology--on marginalized and 'Third World' groups, in light of both the cultural politics it sets in motion such as those of cultural destruction, hybridization and homogenization, political economy and resistance, as well as in the ways it bears upon discourses, and models, of development. Arguing that critical theorizing around the Internet must move beyond the Utopian versus Dystopian debates that largely prevail, I propose it be viewed as technology evolving as a mutation of a certain globally inflected logic that is equally, and simultaneously, economic and cultural. It is economic for it establishes a new global economy impacting every individual, everywhere, irrespective of the degree of access she/he has to it. It is cultural for it evolves from, and transmits, a 'future-envisioning' cocktail of discourses of democracy, freedom, modernity, and of material human progress, among others. The processes/institutions of modern advertising, I further argue, are crucial to both of these formations. I begin by establishing that the commercial Internet of today is a historical product of deeply interwoven ideological strands, which continue to shape its ongoing evolution--its global architecture, economics, and structures of governance. Subsequently, I examine how advertising bears upon all points of the commercial Internet. Finally, I argue that the inequities characterizing the Internet, whether of access, content, its socio-cultural impact, or within the global economy it enables, necessitate a reformulation of the ways in which its imperializing influence may be resisted.

Divisions:Concordia University > Faculty of Arts and Science > Communication Studies
Item Type:Thesis (Masters)
Authors:Warrier, Vinu Govind
Pagination:vi, 182, [25] leaves : ill. ; 29 cm.
Institution:Concordia University
Degree Name:M.A.
Program:Communication Studies
Date:2002
Thesis Supervisor(s):Allor, Martin
Identification Number:HM 851 W37 2002
ID Code:1829
Deposited By: Concordia University Library
Deposited On:27 Aug 2009 17:22
Last Modified:13 Jul 2020 19:50
Related URLs:
All items in Spectrum are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved. The use of items is governed by Spectrum's terms of access.

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Downloads per month over past year

Research related to the current document (at the CORE website)
- Research related to the current document (at the CORE website)
Back to top Back to top