Critique of Cohn - Book Report/Review Example

His arguments in this context arise to dispel popular notions concerning unpopularity of the Haitian entertainment industry that equates the popularity, instead, with the huge financial investments put by French to preserve and nourish their unique culture. As a foregoing issue, Cowen represents trade as an emotional matter as it shapes people’s cultural sense. The concept of choice in a libertarian market, thus, makes it possible for people to choose “their lifestyles, mores and culture” (Cowen 2) as long as the choices that people make do not affect others.

There seems to be a universal opinion that globalization is instead taking main manufacturing companies from the production centers and falling to the appeals of popular cultures. There is also an assertion that American culture is corrupting the uniqueness of the most international cultural mix. Cowen goes further to assert that the concept of trade is pegged on two schools of thought: the jihad “bloody politics of identity” and McWorld “bloodless economics for profit” (2). Up to this point, Cowen’s cultural destruction and creativity seem to be more of an optimist one creating with its unique and diversified products and innovations that seek to expand the consumer choice base if at least trade between nations is given a chance to mature.

Indeed, the concept of cross-cultural interactions is an advantage in producing new and unique products from diverse cultures. Cowen reaffirms this argument by asserting that the many unique and outstanding products that exist within the local context are in themselves a result of cultural interactions due to globalization. Cowen provides examples of Persian rugs and Zairean songs as a few examples of the products of such interactions. Nevertheless, even with the creations of these unique cultural products, Cowen warns that some of these products can dominate the local culture.

However, it is worth noting that most of Cowen’s assertions are derived from the entertainment industry where using analytical suggestions, Cowen presents the benchmarks that propelled Hollywood’s success as an entertainment product, and makes an elaborate comparison in the television world and makes quite strong points for his assertions. Quite informative though, Cowen cements his arguments by examining entertainment industries within various cultural landscapes such as Bollywood and the Hong Kong movie sectors.

In explaining why Hollywood rules the world yet the companies are based in southern parts of California, Cowen quickly attributes this to the economic location theory where there exists a large local market, and the perceived impacts of external economies on localizing an industry and the associated issues. A combination of these factors has made Hollywood, according to Cowen, a cultural imperialist, with more of the European revenues being directed to America’s movie industry due to the huge audience of American films in Europe, yet America is not by statistics a leading maker of movies.

Further, Cowen attributes the success of Hollywood in other countries arising from the fact that they are able to offer the international audience a value for their money, thus creating a unique blend of a product that can be consumed globally. Thus, America, according to Cowen, has successfully traded their cultural success in a global competitive market, offering a good example how globalization works in