Theorizing and Documenting Cultural Insularity in the Center: A Critical Analysis of U.S. College Students’ English-Language Spotify Consumption Orientations

Abstract

This paper highlights an instructive case of cultural insularity in the center (CIC) and illustrates the potential theoretical and analytical utility of a theory of CIC. CIC refers to a tendency among many American cultural consumers toward comparative inwardness in their cultural consumption orientations. This insular tendency is particularly pronounced vis-a-vis “language heavy” cultural goods such as popular music. I critically engage the notion of CIC via a textual analysis of the written discourse of 86 American undergraduates produced via an assignment completed in four international communication classes. This assignment asked students to investigate popular music on Spotify sung in languages other than English and to write about their process. I use this analysis of undergraduate written reflection vis-à-vis their exploration of non-English language pop music to reflect on the general explanatory utility of CIC. Ultimately, a CIC model encourages us to critically explore the unique ways in which American cultural consumers and Anglo-American consumers in countries such as the United Kingdom are positioned vis-à-vis the global cultural system. More broadly, CIC encourages us to critically engage the ways in which the global cultural system orients toward an English-language dominated center, especially in the cultural domain of popular music.