Chapter 23 Capitalism and Culture Since 1945

Globalization, to most people, is referring to the acceleration in international economic transactions that occurred in the second half of the twentieth century. After World War II, the conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in 1944 created a set of agreements and institutions that laid the foundations for postwar globalization. Technology contributed to the acceleration as well. In the 1970s this type of economic globalization was known as neoliberalism. Following the contractions of the 1930s a "reglobalization" occurred; money as well as goods increased global mobility in three ways. The fist was foreign direct investments. The second was short-term movement of capital. The third forms of money movement involved the personal funds of individuals. Central to this was the global businesses known as transnational corporations (TNCs), which produced goods or delivered services simultaneously in many countries. There were also new patterns of human migration that occurred during this reglobalization period. The most significant was the movement of people from developing countries (Asia, Africa, and Latin America) to the industrialized countries of Europe and North America. This occurrences have been the center of many debates and controversies. This includes the instability of the emerging world economy and the distribution of the wealth generated. Also equality was not present, between men and women and between the rich and poor. Not only the rich Global North compared to the poor Global South, but also between people within an individual nation. This has sparked anti-globalization (also known as alternative globalization movements and global justice movements), which emerged in the 1990s as an "international coalition of political activists, concerned scholars and students, trade unions, women's and religious organizations, environmental groups, and others, hailing from rich and poor countries alike" (Strayer 1032). This opposition was also expressed as resistance to the growing American power and influence in the world. The U.S. power could be seen as an "informal empire", as their military dominance was unchecked by any other country after the Cold War. This power was resisted both on American soil and in other countries. 

The idea of liberation was also spread at this time. The 1960s saw a convergence of protest movements around the world. In developing countries the notion of a "third world" was created and by late 1960s the third-world ideology was led by Che Guevara, an Argentine-born revolutionary. The most profound potential for change that grew out of the liberation movement was feminism. In the West, organized feminism had lost its momentum by the end of the 1920s after women's suffrage was achieved. It was revived in the 1960s, as women became aware of their own oppression. Int eh Global South women of color were not as concerned about the education and employment equalities that women in the Global North were. The predominate issues were those of colonialism, racism, national independence, poverty, development, political oppression, and revolution. Criticism of Western feminism were made by women in countries such as Africa. Feminism became a global issue when the United Nations (UN) declared 1975 as International Women's Year and the next ten years as the Decade for Women. This global recognition also revealed the divison within global feminism. One of these issues was who had the right to speak on behalf of women at international gatherings. 

Another dimension of cultural globalization was that of modernity versus religion. One response to modernity was called fundamentalism because they sought to return to the fundamentals of the faith. At first Christian fundamentalist sought to separate themselves from the secular world, but in the 1970s they turned political. In India a movement called Hindutva occurred in the 1980s, representing a politicization of religion within a democratic context. This took shape in a popular party called the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Muslims sought to renew and reform the practice of Islam in order to create a new political/ religious order that was centered on their faith. Other movements wanted to overthrow compromised regimes (this occurred in Iran 1997, Afghanistan 1996, northern Nigeria 2009-2015, and parts of Syria and Iraq 2013-1025). This was the platform Osama bin Laden used. However, many more who shared a desire to embed Islamic values more centrally have acted peacefully and within established political structures.