Americanization

This article is about the influence the United States exerts on other countries through soft power. For hard power, see American imperialism. For the process of acculturation by immigrants or native populations to American customs and values, see Americanization (immigration). For other uses, see Americanization (disambiguation).

United States–based fast food franchises, such as this McDonald's location in China, are widely seen as a symbol of Americanization in many countries.[1][2][3]

Americanization or Americanisation (see spelling differences) is the influence of the American culture and economy on other countries outside the United States, including their media, cuisine, business practices, popular culture, technology and political techniques. Some observers have described Americanization as synonymous with progress and innovation.[4][5][6]

The cinema of the United States has dominated most of the world's medias markets since the 1910s, and is the chief medium by which the international community sees American fashions, customs, scenery, and way of life.[7][8] The top 50 highest-grossing films of all time were all made either entirely or partially in the United States or were financed by U.S. production companies, even with limited or no artistic involvement.[9] The top 50 constituents set and filmed entirely in the United Kingdom, like some of the Harry Potter franchise, or with deliberately and quintessentially British source material, like the Lord of the Rings series, count as American productions for solely financial reasons. This coopting of the works of other nations and cultures into "American" works (and the hegemonic ability to do as such) forms part of many critical definitions of Americanization.[10]

United States–based commercial enterprises operating internationally are also associated with Americanization. Notably, the Coca-Cola Company was previously the top global company by revenue,[11] giving rise to the term "Coca-Cola diplomacy" for anything emblematic of U.S. soft power. U.S.-based fast food franchises such as McDonald's, Subway, Starbucks, Burger King, Pizza Hut, KFC and Domino's Pizza, among others, have numerous outlets around the world. Of the top ten global brands (2017) by revenue, seven are based in the United States:[12] Apple Inc., Google, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Amazon, Facebook, and IBM.

During the Cold War, Americanization was the primary soft power method chosen to counter the more hard power-orientated polar process of Sovietization around the world. Education, schools, and particularly universities became the main target for Americanization. Resistance to Americanization within the university community restrained its effectiveness,[13] though it was still much more successful than Sovietization.[14]: 6  Americanization has become more prevalent since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, which left the United States as the world's sole superpower (the full soft power of China as a potential competing influence has yet to manifest within Occidental pop culture). Americanization found yet another gear with the advent of widespread high-speed Internet use in the mid-2000s (notably heavily censored in China).

Criticism of Americanization has included opposition to U.S. investments in Europe during the 1960s,[15] which subsided by the 1970s.[16] A new dimension of anti-Americanism is fear of the pervasiveness of American Internet technology.[17]

  1. ^ Azaryahu, Maoz (October 22, 2017). "The Golden Arches of McDonald's: On the "Americanization" of Israel". Israel Studies. 5 (1): 41–64. JSTOR 30245529.
  2. ^ Fraser, Nick (November 2, 2014). "How the World Was Won: The Americanization of Everywhere review – a brilliant essay". The Observer. Retrieved October 22, 2017 – via www.theguardian.com.
  3. ^ Beck, Ulrich; Sznaider, Natan; Winter, Rainer (October 22, 2017). Global America?: The Cultural Consequences of Globalization. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 9780853239185. Retrieved October 22, 2017 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference stead1901 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Fergie, Dexter (March 24, 2022). "How American Culture Ate the World". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hoynes2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pokorny2004 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Criteria for determining a movie's country of origin are mutable and subjective but are, in practice, based on fiscal contribution and head office locations, which creates a significant advantage for a country with the money and industrial support structure - i.e. Hollywood - to fund large-scale motion pictures)
  10. ^ "British Films on the Brink of Americanization". May 28, 2015.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Coca-Cola was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Fortune-2022 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tsvetkova2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Grosse1967 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lundestad2005 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kroes2003 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).