Westernization

About: Westernization is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1154 publications have been published within this topic receiving 15791 citations. The topic is also known as: occidentalization.

On Adam Smith and Confucius: The Theory of Moral Sentiments and the Analects

Abstract: This book is part of a broad study about Confucianism and its implications for modernisation of the Confucian regions (covering Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Vietnam, and Singapore). The purpose of this book is to compare the ethical, social and economical principles advocated by Adam Smith and Confucius. Adam Smith is the most influential thinker in developed economies in modern times. Confucius was the most influential thinker in the Confucian regions before the West became influential in these regions. The book shows that it is important to compare the two great thinkers in order to understand whether or not Westernisation of the Confucian regions is sustainable and whether or not there will be 'clashes of civilisations' between the Confucian regions and the West.

Was There Anything Left of the "Socialist Personality"? Values of Eastern and Western German Youth at the Beginning of Unification

Abstract: The political culture of Eastern European reform may be seen as a preliminary, and perhaps superficial, phenomenon of "Westernization" with a deeper structure of "Easternization." Surveys from the former German Democratic Republic make clear a precipitous decline in legitimacy of the East German state during the 1980s, with a corresponding increase of personal/individualistic values (as well as some likely decline in public-regarding or collectivist values). Comparative data on university students, pupils, and youth in general show among East German young people a greater emphasis on authority, respect and high income, but also a greater emphasis on some collective values ("concernfor others") and greater familism. Analysis for pupils in their late teens indicates two different domains of values, each of which is argued to be typical of a particular type of modernization (industrial versus postindustrial). Each represents an aspect of "modernization" -the former in the domain of individualist/personalized values and life goals, the latter organized around the central values of work and productivity. Simple group comparison of East and West German youth shows similarities in both areas, but a differentiated structural analysis shows greater similarity in the domain of recreation/free-time and greater difference in the organization of "work" orientations and goals. A rapid, anticipatory change of values and goals occurred in the 1980s in the East, producing apparent similarities with the West in personal values and orientations toward "democracy." Much of this similarity in the immediate postunification surveys was superficial and easily acquired at a verbal level, but there remained significant "structural" differences in Eastern and Western value organization.

Scientific instruments in Russia from the middle ages to Peter the Great

Abstract: Summary This paper surveys the evidence for the use of scientific and mathematical instruments from tenth-century Kiev Rus' to the death of Peter the Great in 1725 and the literature devoted to the subject. The evidence is extremely sparse before the sixteenth century; in the seventeenth century there is more, both in the form of artefacts, either local or imported, and texts; at the end of the seventeenth century and in the first quarter of the eighteenth century, Peter the Great opted for complete Westernization, and both by edict and by creating a need for their products in effect established the instrument making and scientific book publishing trades in Russia.

Islamic ideology and its formative influence on education in contemporary Iran

Abstract: Despite the ridiculous claims on the demise of religion in human beingsi everyday life in the shrunk modern world, its continuous and significant role has been considerable in forming new social forms correspondent to Islamic requirements since Islamic revolution of 1979. The undeniable role of Islamic ideology, however, has already been proved by the Constitutional Revolution (1905-1911), nationalization movement (1951-1952), the uprising of 1963 and finally the appearance of Islamic Revolution (1978-1979) after all attempts made under the Pahlavi dynasty towards modernization, westernisation and secularisation of the country during last century. The main aim is to explore the influence of ideas and values on the development of social structures and processes. In order to examine the degree to which these ideational factors influenced Iranian postrevolutionary educational system, I conducted two fieldworks in a rural area of North Western Iran based on ethnographic study of religion and everyday life in 1995-1996. The focus of this paper will be the study of changes that have occurred in school curricula since 1979. According to findings, the effects of the Islamic Revolution on curricula and textbooks represent a particular interesting compromise between aspects of tradition and aspects of modernity.

Globalización, educación y diversidad cultural

Abstract: This article attempts to approach the problem of globalization and its consequences on the preservation of biodiversity and cultural diversity.These reflections are based on the historical perspective of the westernization of the world which began with the European colonial domination in the XV th century. The western ethnocentric domination in the grip of neo-liberal ideology, including economicand financial rule and the control of information and communications by multinational companies, tries to imposea cultural standardization. Globalizationis greatly limited by the fact that it does not offer society a viable model. This analysis springs from an interculturalreflection. Trying to understand globalization in its different aspects brings us to study and comprehend the deep links between global and local.Education, as a means of transmitting world visions, knowledge and values, is facing a historical challenge whenit comes to protect and preserve cultural diversity.