Corporate speech
belong to diff erent social systems or sub-systems
is referred to as cosmopolite. Localite channels are
those in which both sender and receiver belong to
the same social system or sub-system.
Cosmopoliteness In most social structures there
are individuals who have considerable awareness
of other social situations and frequent contact
with those outside their own social structure. In
general the more cosmopolite an individual, the
more receptive he/she is to messages containing
new ideas.
Couch potato US term for a confi rmed and dedi-
cated TV viewer. 20th Century Words (Oxford
University Press, 1999), edited by John Ayto,
says that the term was fi rst used in 1979, its ‘neat
encapsulation of vacuous indolence’ ensuring ‘its
success in the censorious 1980s’.
Counter-culture A type of sub-culture fi rmly
antagonistic to the dominant or prevailing
culture of a community. Th e term is generally
used to describe the collection of mainly middle-
class youth cultures which developed in the
1960s, and whose central feature was the call for
the adoption of alternative social structures and
lifestyles. In ‘Sub cultures, cultures and class’,
John Clarke and others in Resistance Th rough
Rituals (Hutchinson, 1976), edited by Stuart
Hall and Tony Jefferson, explore some of the
distinguishing features of such a counter-culture
as compared with other types of youth sub-
cultures. Its opposition to the dominant cultures
took very open political and ideological forms,
and went beyond the registering of complaint
and resistance to the elaborate construction of
alternative institutions.
More recently, examples of counter-cultural
protests that have received significant media
attention are those surrounding ecological issues- protests which challenge many of the envi-
ronmental assumptions and values of Western
societies. ‘Eco-warriors’, as the more radical of
the protesters are sometimes called, may adopt
a radically diff erent lifestyle based on the prin-
ciples underpinning their protest.
A favoured communications device of
contemporary counter-cultures is the internet,
its global reach aiding the international nature of
protests concerning corporate and state threats
to the environment. Through the Net, the
likeminded can bond, plan and organize – most
famously focusing on protests wherever the
nations of the World Trade Organization meet - and, by their collective protests, command
global media attention.
Countermodernization See culture:
globalization of.
Peripheral countries, in comparison with core
nations, possess fewer newspapers, broadcast-
ing stations and telephones, and less computer
hardware. Hamelink believes that ‘information
imbalance ... undermines cultural self-determi-
nation’. A number of critical questions arise from
this situation. Might, for example, imbalances
be resolved through greater integration – links- between core and peripheral nation systems?
Should peripheral nations bargain for ‘fairer
schemes and terms of trade, for cheaper transfers
of technology’ by pooling resources and energy?
Or, more radically, should the peripherals disso-
ciate themselves – de-link – from international
networks that hamper development?
Collective eff ort across the periphery, argues
Hamelink, ‘in itself requires the solving of many
old and difficult conflicts among the poorer
countries themselves’. In addition it requires ‘a
visionary leadership willing to forego the imme-
diate benefi ts of links with the core’. See infor-
mation gaps; yamousoukrou declaration.
▶Jan van Dijk, Th e Deepening Divide: Inequality in
the Information Society (Sage, 2005).
Corporate speech Best defi ned in a US context:
that speech which is employed in the public
domain by corporations, most obviously in
terms of advertising, but applicable to a
whole host of discourses in which industry and
commerce address the public. Corporate speech
in the US is classifi ed as having the same right as
the speech of individuals, and is thus protected
by the First Amendment of the US Constitu-
tion that guarantees freedom of speech. Th us,
a tobacco company cannot be restrained from
propagandizing, through public advertisement,
its products. In such a case, corporate speech
could be deemed life-threatening.
Even taxes on advertising have been fought
against by corporations. An attempt to impose
an advertising tax by the State of Florida in 1987
was repealed within six months, due to corpo-
rate pressure. According to Herbert I. Schiller in
Culture, Inc.: Th e Corporate Takeover of Public
Expression (Oxford University Press, 1989),
corporations use the First Amendment to do
two things: protect their profi ts, and duck social
accountability.
Corporations and media See conglomer-
ates: media conglomerates; consumeriza-
tion; culture: consumer culture; culture:
globalization of; network neutrality;
privatization. See also topic guide under
media institutions.
Cosmopolite and localite channels Th e situa-
tion in which the sender and receiver of a message