The argument that the spread of Western ption patterns and popular culture around the world is creating a universal civilization is also not especially profound. Innovations have been transmitted from one civilization to ahroughout history. 35But they are usually teiques lag in signifit cultural quences or fads that e and go without altering the underlying culture of the recipient civilization. The esnce of Western civilization is the Magna Carta3, not the Magna Mac4. The fact that noerners may bite into the latter does 40not necessarily mean they are more likely to accept the former. During the 70s and 80s Ameris bought millions of Japane cars aronic gadgets without being "Japanized", and, in fact, became siderably more antagonistic toward Japan. Only naive arrogance lead Westerners 45to assume that noerners will bee "Westernized" by acquiriern goods.
The argument that the spread of Western ption patterns and popular culture around the world is creating a universal civilization is also not especially profound. Innovations have been transmitted from one civilization to ahroughout history. 35But they are usually teiques lag in signifit cultural quences or fads that e and go without altering the underlying culture of the recipient civilization. The esnce of Western civilization is the Magna Carta3, not the Magna Mac4. The fact that noerners may bite into the latter does 40not necessarily mean they are more likely to accept the former. During the 70s and 80s Ameris bought millions of Japane cars aronic gadgets without being "Japanized", and, in fact, became siderably more antagonistic toward Japan. Only naive arrogance lead Westerners 45to assume that noerners will bee "Westernized" by acquiriern goods.
A slightly more sophisticated version of the universal popular culture argument focus on the media rather than er goods in general. Eighty-eight of the world''s hundred most popular films in 1993 50were produced in the Uates, and fanizations bad in the Uates and Europe - the Associated Press, , Reuters, and the French Press Agency - domihe dismination of news worldwide. This situation simply reflects the universality of human i 55in love, x, violence, mystery, heroism, ah, and the ability of profit-motivated panies, primarily Ameri, to exploit tho is to their own advantage. Little or no evides, however, to support the assumption that the emergence of pervasive global unications 60is produg signifit vergen attitudes and beliefs around the world. Ihis Western hegemony ences populist politis in noern societies to denounce Western cultural imperialism and to rally their stituents to prerve their indigenous cultures. 65The extent to which global unications are dominated by the West is, thus, a major source of the re noern peoples have toward the West. In addition, rapid eic development in noern societies is leading to the emergence of local and regional media industries catering 70to the distinctive tastes of tho societies.