ME 273 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Capitalism, Agriculture, Colonialism
12 Oct 2018
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ME 273
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
“The West is a fairly recent mythical construct.” Discuss.
The implications of the word “West” have been transformed over the course of the last two
centuries. These new meanings and implications can be said to have been a by-product of
Europe’s colonial domination over the rest of the world. The West is now no longer seen as a
mere geographical construct, but instead has come to represent an “ever-receding frontier”
(Sakai and Morris, P. 373) with largely historical underpinnings, a fictional construct that the rest
of the world can aspire towards. The West is the standard-bearer of modern society, with
westerners being champions of this modernity, spreading light throughout the Rest, considered to
be in the throes of darkness and on the brink of collapse. The superiority of the West is not an
ever-present reality, but a factitious concept strengthened under colonial contexts. To say that the
concept of the West is fairly recent and a mythical construct would be to sum up the
aforementioned points in simple words.
Until two centuries ago, the word “West” was used mainly as a cartographical reference. It
was used to denote a geographical direction and to move west would generally mean to move in
that particular way. Another dominant interpretation of the word in pre-colonial times can be
seen in the phrase “going west”, which denotes either dying or disappearing, due to the
association of the word with sunsets. (Sakai and Morris, P. 373) However, even though these
interpretations are still in use today, the West has come to signify something much more
complex than simply a geographical point or direction on a political map.
After Europe established itself as the dominant colonial power, the meanings of the West
began to slowly transform. The word was used in the context of Western Europe, which was
recognized as the seat of colonial rule and domination over the rest of the world. Thus, the West
has come to signify a vaguely identified place, with Westerners being united “in terms of their
residential geographies, traditions, races, pedigrees, and shared civilization”. (Sakai and Morris,
P. 372) It can now be considered as an actual name, rather than just a directional reference point,
as it is written with an uppercase letter.
The West, other than being a place, can also be said to be a concept. It functions by allowing
us to categorically separate various sections of societies as being either western or non-western,
along with providing us with criteria through which societies can be evaluated with respect to the
way that they function and are built. It can be considered as an ideology, with the West
representing the good and the rest representing the undesirable. (Hall, P. 277) Thus, it allows us
to compare various societies with each other and rank them accordingly. This concept has been
one of the key factors in organizing and shaping the modern world, with western societies
springing up across the globe as the Rest attempts to catch up with the fiction of the West.
To say that the West is a fiction (or mythical, as stated in the beginning) is to say that it is not
a concrete truth. Enlightenment thinkers considered European society (the original western
society) the epitome of modernity, with all its technological and philosophical advancements.
They considered western society the goal towards which the Rest should progress. It was a
destination, which to the rest of the world seemed quite out of reach, coming with promises of a
modern utopia which served as motivators towards the cause. To say that a society was western
was an automatic indicator that said society was also modern. A typical western society can be
defined as one “…that is developed, industrialized, urbanized, capitalist, secular, and modern.”
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(Hall, P. 277) Thus, the words ‘modern’ and ‘western’ came to be used almost interchangeably.
The location of this type of society on a political map does not have any effect on whether the
society is western or not. It is independent of the geographical location, with any society meeting
the above criteria being identified as western. It is more of a historical construct as opposed to a
geographical one.
When having discussions about the West, it is crucial to note that geographically, it is not
fixed. The earth, being a sphere, does single out any direction as being west. It is subjective,
relying exclusively on point of view. The West did not come about naturally and it was not a
result of solely internal processes in Europe (as most Enlightenment thinkers believed), but
instead was built largely in as a reaction to external factors. It was built in opposition to the Rest,
with the conception of the West’s uniqueness being “…in part, produced by Europe’s contact
and self-comparison with other, non-western societies (the Rest) …”. (Hall, P. 278) These
societies differed from Europe in the way they functioned culturally, socially and politically,
which added fuel to the fire of Europe’s pride in its modernity.
This extreme dichotomy and polarization was one of the key developmental factors of the
West. As the idea of the West became somewhat fixed in the minds of people, with its progress
and achievements, so did the idea of the Rest, which found itself trying to catch up with the
former. To understand the fiction of the West, it is necessary to understand the mythical
construction of the Rest, since one cannot exist without the other. As the West becomes the
exemplar of modern society, the “…non-Western is frozen in time as non-modern.” (Sakai and
Morris, P. 374) In addition, the concept of the West and the Rest comes as a product of over-
simplification of complex societies. The West, even with its fair share of internal conflicts, is
considered largely homogenous, and the Rest, with its incredible diversity, is grouped together in
a reductionist way.
The idea of the West is both recent, with it gaining prominence with the rise of colonialism
and, subsequently, the modern world, and is mythical, with it being arbitrary and imagined in
opposition to the Rest. However, the power of this ideology is declining, with the rest of the
world moving away from the conception of the western society as being the ideal form towards
which they must aspire. Regardless, this binary opposition is one which is ingrained too deeply
in the way the modern world functions, due to which it will be a long time before the effects of
this ideology recede completely.
Bibliography
1. Sakai, Naoki. & Morris, Meaghan. ‘West,’ in New Keywords: A Revised Vocabulary of
Culture & Society, P. 373.
2. Sakai, Naoki. & Morris, Meaghan. ‘West,’ in New Keywords: A Revised Vocabulary of
Culture & Society, P. 373.
3. Sakai, Naoki. & Morris, Meaghan. ‘West,’ in New Keywords: A Revised Vocabulary of
Culture & Society, P. 372.
4. Hall, Stuart. ‘The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power,” P. 277.
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
The west is a fairly recent mythical construct. discuss. The implications of the word west have been transformed over the course of the last two centuries. These new meanings and implications can be said to have been a by-product of. Europe"s colonial domination over the rest of the world. The west is the standard-bearer of modern society, with westerners being champions of this modernity, spreading light throughout the rest, considered to be in the throes of darkness and on the brink of collapse. The superiority of the west is not an ever-present reality, but a factitious concept strengthened under colonial contexts. To say that the concept of the west is fairly recent and a mythical construct would be to sum up the aforementioned points in simple words. Until two centuries ago, the word west was used mainly as a cartographical reference.
