With reference to specific topics and issues, discuss whether the Essay

With reference to specific topics and issues, discuss whether the current spread of Western culture is a positive phenomenon or a threat to diverse cultures around the world - Essay Example The spread of Western influence maintains both negative and positive impacts on cultures, making it rather subjective as to whether this extension of Western values and beliefs poses a threat or an opportunity for foreign cultures. Not all cultures are founded on Western values. Western values, typically those of the United States, Canada and Great Britain, are founded on individualism, a set of values that place particular emphasis on securing the goals and needs of the individual rather than maintaining concern over group desires (Wagner 1995). Nowhere else are these values reflected than in American-style consumption patterns that often include opulence and excess as the individual attempts to justify their social class or social status using material goods as a tool for identity formation. The United Nations (2001) identifies that there is a growing concern that Western values being spread on the heels of globalisation is degrading cultural capital (unique tastes and values) and creating a type of social deprivation when Western culture is superimposed over other diverse cultures. How, though, could social deprivation be attributed to Western consumption behaviours? There are many collectivist cultures across the world that have been built through years of patriarchal values and respect for familial traditionalism. Collectivist cultures maintain a very strong belief in the integrity of group membership and often build their personal identities and goals on the sentiment and opinion of important social reference groups and family members (Cheung et al. 2008). Collectivist societies seek to provide protectionism for important familial figures where it is commonplace to preserve their security and well-being. In most instances, Western individualism defies the importance of building social trust when interacting with different cultures, wanting to gain instant self-gratification whilst collectivists emphasise the importance of