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.

In the Light and Shadow of the West: The Impact of Western Economics in Pre-Emancipation Russia

Abstract: The notion that "Westernization" is a process that is unconditionally positive in its impact has dominated both Western and Soviet accounts of Russian intellectual and cultural history during the period before the Emancipation of 1861. As a consequence, Westernization has been described as synonymous with progress, rational economic behavior, greater tolerance, civilization, and the advancement of individual freedom. Although this rather uncritically proWestern approach to the study of Western influences has produced important research and analytical insights,1 the assumption that a homogeneous Western culture everywhere generates liberal and democratic influences is in fact highly problematic. As I have suggested elsewhere, it is very difficult to make the empirical case that any one Western political or economic model can be applied to Germany, France, and Italy as well as England.2 And in the Russian context, a belief in the unmixed benefits of Westernization obscures some of the most important ironies and contradictions that characterize Russian economic debates and strategies in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Modernization and Westernization: A Never-Ending Discourse in Indonesia **

Abstract: Ahead of Indonesian independence in 1945, the discourse on cultural and ideological orientation by Indonesian intellectuals became the foundation for the development of the nation.Sutan Takdir Alisyahbana, one of the Indonesian intellectuals at that time strongly believed that following the pattern of Western culture would lead Indonesia to the status of a developed country.Instead, Sanusi Pane and several other Indonesian intellectuals did not agree with the view of Sutan Takdir Alisyahbana.They considered that cultural values that have long held the nation could be used as a foundation for development of Indonesia.The discourse is then known as the Cultural Polemics.This discourse persists to this day but in a slightly different form, namely the discourse of modernization and Westernization. The progress in science and technology from the outside world created Indonesia a market for western products.The West seemed to be fascinating and the adoption of popular culture from the West, especially the U.S., became part of the lives of many people. The image of the West which was considered to be superior and as a role model became an obsession for many people.

The Politics of Emotions and Spectacles: The Case of the Turkish Language Olympiads

Abstract: This article examines the Turkish Language Olympiads as a political-performative strategy that the Muslim nationalists used to communicate their ideology. I argue that to understand the rise of Muslim nationalism, we also need to understand how emotional appeal is created through spectacles like the Turkish Olympiads. The spectacle was effective in boosting people’s sense of national pride and self-confidence by resolving two important tensions of Kemalist nationalism. First, it addressed the tension between Westernization and nationalization. Depicting an image of Turkish national culture that is appreciated and imitated by foreigners, it contested the imitative, Westernist character of Kemalist nationalism. Second, recasting the outside world as friendly to Turks, even Turkophile, it challenged Kemalist nationalism’s emphasis on external threats. Turkish-speaking and -acting foreigners communicated a message of nationalist self-empowerment and confidence, calling into question people’s sense of fear and distrust of the outside world. How Muslim nationalism was promoted, particularly the performative-symbolic strategies that were used, are important to understand because of their emotional resonance and potential for mass mobilization.

Rejecting Materialism: Responses to Modern Science in the Muslim Middle East

Abstract: In the past centuries, most Muslims have encountered modern science as a Western import. To avoid being overwhelmed by the military and commercial advantages enjoyed by technologically advanced nations, Middle Eastern Muslim societies had to begin adopting modern knowledge. As westernization started to shape social structures and institutions as well as technologies, conservative Muslim responses to modern science typically became conditioned by the demands of cultural defense. Many Muslim thinkers argued that upholding the religious character of Muslim civilization meant borrowing technology but rejecting the perceived materialism pervading the conceptual frameworks of modern science. This defensive approach remains prominent in present Muslim thinking about science. Almost all religiously oriented Muslim thinkers take harmony between science and Islam for granted, but in practice, conservative Muslims often express deep reservations about the naturalistic perspectives dominating modern science. Especially in the popular literature, religiously motivated distortions of science are common. Darwinian evolution is a particular target of rejection.