Has the world moved toward a more global civilization since 1945

Global Civilization Since 1945

The aftermath of World War II left most countries and societies with devastation and death. The world order has since changed, and a new world order began for specific countries wanting drastic changes -- improvements -- for their societies. This new world order, however, created two distinct societies, driven by two dominant ideologies of the 20th century: modernism and socialism. Both modernism and socialism changed the way soceities achieved global civilization since 1945, and these changes are dependent on the kind of ideology these developing governments and societies chose to implement in their respective countries. Ultimately, these ideologies determined the fate of societies in the 21st century: which societies achieved greater development and civilization over others.

After the Second World War, societies, particularly the United States and Britain, intensified its efforts to promote capitalism and consumerism. With industrialization and urbanization as precursors to its eventual development, it was not difficult for American and British societies to continue what they left behind before World War II. Thus, despite the devastation that the war caused, the war brought renewed hopes for these Western societies, and led them to spur further economic growth by intensifying productivity and at the same time, consumption of goods and services. American society in particular experienced economic prosperity and inevitably, underwent social changes as well. The post-World War II period led to the gradual liberation of women socio-economically, wherein they actively participated as productive members of the country's manpower sector, and more generally, led to the rise of the civil rights movement, empowering women, the youth, and black Americans against a highly patriarchal, white American-dominated American society.

While the North American and Western European nations have experienced economic growth and empowerment in specific sectors of the society, the Asian and Eastern European nations have also underwent development, albeit a different kind of social order. This new social order is in the form of socialism, particularly Communism, which began as a political ideology proposed by Karl Marx in the 19th century, and was eventually put into 'practice' by the 20th century by the Soviet Union and China. The influence of Communism eventually spread towards other countries in Asia and Eastern Europe (North Vietnam and North Korea, among others), and in Latin America. What set Communism apart from the capitalist societies of the U.S. And Britain is that it promotedequal allocation of all the country's resources, and this function is primarily delegated to the government. Under Communism, the concept of private property and free markets were abolished. People's energy and resources were instead utilized to provide food and other needs for all people, and the government further intensified cultural development and strengthening of nationalism.