Globalized Culture

At the start of the 20th century, political and social developments led to new

directions in the arts. Writers, painters, and musicians developed modernism, a rejection of tradition in favor of experimentation and uncertainty. World War I, a global depression, and World War II had focused attention on survival. After World War II, however, citizens of wealthier nations began to develop a consumer culture—one in which people tended to focus more on what they bought and owned than on where they lived, what they did for a living, or what they believed. As trade restrictions loosened and new technology became more widely available, people worldwide began sampling arts, popular culture, and ideas from faraway countries. However, few could predict the global connectedness made possible by social media, nor its power to do both good and ill.