Westernization

Westernization or Westernisation (see spelling differences), also occidentalization or occidentalisation (from the Occident, meaning the Western world; see "occident" in the dictionary), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in such matters as industry, technology, law, politics, economics, lifestyle, diet, language, alphabet, religion, philosophy, and values. Westernization has been a pervasive and accelerating influence across the world in the last few centuries. It is usually a two-sided process, in which Western influences and interests themselves are joined by a wish of at least parts of the affected society to change towards a more Westernized society, in the hope of attaining Western life or some aspects of it.

Westernization can also be related to processes of acculturation and enculturation. Acculturation is the changes that occur within a society or culture when two groups come into direct continuous contact. After contact, changes in cultural patterns within either or both cultures are evident. In popular speech, Westernization can also involve the effects of European expansion and colonialism on native societies. Natives who have adopted European languages and characteristic Western customs are called acculturated or Westernized. Westernization may be forced or voluntary.

Different degrees of domination, destruction, resistance, survival, adaptation or modification of native culture may follow inter-ethnic contact. In a situation where the native culture experiences destruction as a result of a more powerful outsider, a "shock phase" often results from the encounter. Such a phase is especially characteristic during expansionist or colonialist eras. During a shock phase, repression using military force may lead to a cultural collapse or ethnocide, a culture’s physical extinction. According to Conrad Phillip Kottak, the Westerners "will attempt to remake the native culture within their own image, ignoring the fact that the models of culture that they have created are inappropriate for settings outside of Western civilisation".