Cultural Studies

Introduction

The document will interpret and analyze the following quotation “The confrontation of Western civilization with other peoples whose values were often dramatically opposed to the West's suggests that by the dawn of the twentieth century, the tradition and sense of centeredness that had defined indigenous cultures for hundreds, even thousands, of years was either threatened or in the process of being destroyed. Worldwide, non-Western cultures suddenly found that they were defined as outposts of new colonial empires developed by Europeans, resulting in the weakening of traditional cultural practices, political leadership, and social systems that had been in place for centuries”.

Discussion

The quotations tend to illustrate the fact that western civilization was dramatically becoming highlighted. One of the most influential and powerful civilizations that can be seen to dominate other s during the entire history of mankind is western civilization. Because of their dexterity over things and phenomena of life they were easily able to influence other cultures and manipulate them for self benefit. Usually western thoughts were updated with technological advances and industrial revolution. Even though these thoughts were seen to oppose the genuine norms and values of several other civilizations, they continued to have influence over other. This was partially because of the fact that the western norms and values were regularly updated and modified with time to match and target the contemporary issues, while other were just the blindly followed norms that had no concerns with improvising the quality of life and the global segmentation of economy and finance. Industrial Revolution has been a very important aspect of human history marked by the growth of technological advances. It was a water-shed phase for the international industrial market and every country experienced its influence. With the political and economical changes the lives of people were being forced to change. Indigenous populations and even ethnic values were threatened as people were expected to shift to the new life styles that industrial revolution and technological advancements made by western civilizations were being offered. This was partially because of the fact that communities did not want to be left behind when the entire world was moving towards a big change. However cultural norms and traditions of several indigenous communities were challenges because people wanted a change themselves. Communities wanted the acceptance in modern and fast running world, hence they tried adjusting their values in accordance with the western norms.

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