Will the Americanization of the world ever stop? (apartment, buy)
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Are we moving to a "Type 1 civilization" where the entire world has the same culture as the USA? Once the older generations die out, and today's kids and young adults and their children are the people currently living, will all the old non-American cultures cease to exist?
Okay, perhaps this won't happen that soon, but do you think within 200 years all cultures that aren't American/western/consumerist will be relegated to the history books? Or has American influence peaked?
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Originally Posted by belmont22
Are we moving to a "Type 1 civilization" where the entire world has the same culture as the USA? Once the older generations die out, and today's kids and young adults and their children are the people currently living, will all the old non-American cultures cease to exist?
Okay, perhaps this won't happen that soon, but do you think within 200 years all cultures that aren't American/western/consumerist will be relegated to the history books? Or has American influence peaked?
The culture, that you speak of, is not American - it is a pop culture that has it's contributions from all over the world. Pop culture may have started in the USA (decades ago), but it is a world wide thing and the reason it's catching on is indicative of it's name "pop" (popular).
No this is wrong, the world is becoming more ''westernized'' not ''Americanized'' maybe before the latter was true but all the worlds western cultures are spreading and blending into the various cultures.
Have you ever been to the middle east, China, Brazil etc. Just because they like certain American things doesn't mean they don't retain their culture and traditions. That goes for a good portion of the western world to.
You are mistaking Americanization for the globalization of industrialization.
At one time, most people hunted and gathered food. Around 10,000 years or so ago some people discovered agriculture and over the next 8,800 years or so it caught on among most people.
Around 200 years ago some people off the obscure northwestern corner of the Eurasian landmass discovered industrialization and spread it first to the obscure continent across the Atlantic ocean.
Now the rest of the world is catching on.
In 200-500 years from now, maybe 1,000, few people, probably some obscure scholars, will remember who started industrialization or where, and it won't matter to the bulk of the people.
I think what the OP means is the spread of popular American things to so many other countries- people now dressing like us, listening to our music (my wife's relatives in China can sing along word for word with Taylor Swift songs, can't say that about music from most other places), eat our food at our restaurant chains, watch our movies and some of our TV shows.
Sure there are some influences from some other areas across the globe, but nothing on the overall scale of the American things that have seeped into every corner of the globe. Again using China as an example- watching TV at my wife's parents apartment in southern China we were able to watch episodes of Friends or Sex and the City, change the channel and watch one of several NBA games live, change the channel again and watch Hollywood movies daily. The movie theaters play mostly Hollywood movies. Going not too far down the street we had access to Pizza Hut, KFC, could buy Coke at even the tiniest corner market or street vendor, and the shopping centers were blasting American pop music every time we went into them.
It's this kind of overall, far reaching American influence that I think the OP was mentioning. No other country's music, food, and entertainment are reaching to all places on a scale anywhere near that level.
I think what the OP means is the spread of popular American things to so many other countries- people now dressing like us, listening to our music (my wife's relatives in China can sing along word for word with Taylor Swift songs, can't say that about music from most other places), eat our food at our restaurant chains, watch our movies and some of our TV shows.
Sure there are some influences from some other areas across the globe, but nothing on the overall scale of the American things that have seeped into every corner of the globe. Again using China as an example- watching TV at my wife's parents apartment in southern China we were able to watch episodes of Friends or Sex and the City, change the channel and watch one of several NBA games live, change the channel again and watch Hollywood movies daily. The movie theaters play mostly Hollywood movies. Going not too far down the street we had access to Pizza Hut, KFC, could buy Coke at even the tiniest corner market or street vendor, and the shopping centers were blasting American pop music every time we went into them.
It's this kind of overall, far reaching American influence that I think the OP was mentioning. No other country's music, food, and entertainment are reaching to all places on a scale anywhere near that level.
Exactly, I think the influence of other cultures, outside of food perhaps is pretty much token compared to the spread of American culture. Even things like Kpop and anime are as much a sign of the Americanization of Asian culture as they are of globalization of Asian culture. And let's face it, liking Kpop and anime is still considered quite geeky or at least left-field.
Very distant seconds in terms of cultural influence to the United States would be Japan and the United Kingdom, both of which I would say have declined quite a bit in influence. When was the last British comedy popular in America, maybe Mr Bean back in the 90s? The British influence in Australia and Canada has also been replaced by American influence over the past 20-30 years.
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