Westernization

Westernization, acceptance of the ideas, practices, and customs of the Western world.

The concept of Westernization is bound up with the expansion of Western Europe into a position of military, economic, and cultural dominance over the world, from the 16th century until the mid-20th century, when the United States became the dominant Western power. The Western expansion began when the first steps towards practical science were made in navigation, weaponry, and knowledge of the physical universe. Before the 16th century, an anthropologist of the time would have given higher chances to Easternization—because of the technically and politically advanced condition of China and of the strength of the Muslim religion of the near east. To date, the few examples of westward travel of culture include types of complementary medicine and spiritual meditation.

Westernization is not always a clear process of west influencing east. Today, some refer to the countries of the south as being dominated by the developed ones of the north. The process is better broken down into technical, economic, and religious components. The scientific revolution, the invention of capitalist factory methods of production, and the separation of religion from state and household are the more obvious of these components—and they happened originally and mostly in the Western world.

For example, reduced fertility rates arose first in Western Europe. There are now 16 or more countries with a growing trend towards the “third age”, including low birth rates, the probability of long life with the possibility of old people outnumbering children, and a distribution of income which may enable people over the age of 65 to participate fully in the life of the nation. However, that minority of countries includes Japan in the East as well as the Western Europeans and countries of the former British Empire.

Nevertheless, the “Westernizers” have been a powerful force in 19th- and 20th-century Russia, China, and India, as well as among Africans, Latin Americans, and indigenous North Americans. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk secularized Turkey after World War I; Christian missionaries, traders, and military leaders colonized Africa in the 19th century. The special form of Westernization now called Americanization, which some associate specifically with mass consumerism, advertising, mass media, and entertainment such as rock music and television, and drugs, has been rejected by people wishing to embrace some Eastern religions and an alternative lifestyle. On an larger scale, many political battles have turned on Westernization, and some Muslim states have resolved to root out Western influence. Many Eastern and developing nations are undergoing an intensified wave of further Westernization, with the increase in television networks and demand among young people for Western goods and fashions.