What’s Wrong with Cultural Imperialism? (Pre-Recorded)

• In Event: Race, Racism and the Politics of Identity

Abstract

In this paper, we argue that there is a serious wrong associated with what we call neo-colonial cultural exchange—the patterns of unequal cultural exchange that are typical of relationships between developed and developing states in the contemporary world. Our main argument is grounded in an ideal of social equality that calls upon global institutions to establish and maintain egalitarian social relations. Patterns of cultural exchange, we argue, play an important role in creating and preserving the relationships of equal recognition that are partly constitutive of social equality. When global structures limit the opportunities of historically disadvantaged groups to express and demonstrate their agency, this also undermines efforts to build or maintain social equality between groups. Our argument has implications for two broad policy areas: free trade in cultural goods, and international law on cultural appropriation.

Authors

• Alan Patten, Princeton University

• Shuk Ying Chan, Nuffield College