Hari Raya Aidil Fitri and Deepavali are coming up. Our malls are gearing up for twin mega sales. Let us talk about what 'shopping' means these days.

Let me share my views on the act of shopping and the proliferation of malls in Malaysia these two ideas as they relate to the notion of cultural imperialism. Imperialism, according to Vladimir Lenin in his famous essay , is the highest stage of capitalism. In the context of this essay, it is a step higher than that and a level deeper than just "consuming goods made for mass consumption".

'Cultural imperialism' is a state of beingness in which the culture of the dominant has advanced to a stage of colonisation of the less powerful cultures, with the aid of technological power that fueled the style of colonisation.

'Imperialism' means the stage of advanced capitalist expansion that enabled the form of domination. Cultural imperialism, by nature is a more powerful consequence of colonisation than say, for example forced occupation or colonisation because it utilises a clever and systematic form of subjugation.