Examining The Role of Social Media: A Causative Agent of New Form of Cultural Imperialism

Abstract

This paper aims to look at the interaction between culture and social media. It probes the aspects of western culture filtered into the social fabric of masses in the Kohat division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The study is a quantitative survey analyzed the perceptions of local youths concerning the portrayal of social media in influencing and emphasizing Western ways of living, speaking, and consuming. The study draws on the Cultural Imperialism Theory on how the cultures of the media dominating countries impose their cultures to the rest and the Social Identity Theory on how cultural exposure affects the youths of the region. Data obtained suggests that there is perceived orientation of local culture by western content as more than 50% of the respondents reported changes in lifestyles, language and consumer behavior in line with western influences. Chi-square statistic was obtained and compared to the critical value of the 0.05 level of significance, the obtained value (X 2 = 6.39) was lower than the critical value (9.49), indicating no significant association between specific social media platform type and adoption of Western lifestyle choices was found. Here, 64% of participants agree that social media brings influence on traditional Pakistani culture, while 70% are worried about the aspect of traditional cultural values. Regarding relationship of type of product (Western products verses country-made products) in relation to the extent of attention the product attracts in social media. The Chi-square value calculated (= 0.74) was significantly lower than the critical value (= 7.81) at the level of 0.05 indicating the differences were very minimal and not significant. Moreover, 80% of respondent of this research deem that gradual exposure of youths through social media results in diminution of indigenous culture respectively in the long run. However, there is a longing to preserve cultural identity as 85% of the respondents were of the view that cultural identity is important especially when the developing world is working hard to go digital. This is a resilience demonstrated by the local youth in their efforts to blend the western mode, with the local culture. Therefore, the paper argues for the adoption of policies that raise media literacy and support cultural identity programs. These measures are vital for the young generation of Pakistan to have their exposure to global culture, along with living the local cultural values, which in turn helps the cause of genuine cultural interchange.

Keywords: Culture, Social Media, Western Influence, Cultural Imperialism, Social Identity- Theory, Youth, Cultural Identity, Traditional Values, Consumer Behavior, Language