European Chauvinism

Term Paper # 100662

Economics > International
English > Analysis
Political Science

European Chauvinism

This paper examines Stuart Hall's "The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power" where he presents arguments about the causes of European imperialism.

1,464 words () | 3 sources | MLA | 2007 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper examines and compares Stuart Hall's arguments with those of Bill Freund and of Reinhard Bendix. The paper explores how the authors analyze the factors which made colonialism and wide-spread exploitation on continental scales possible. The paper shows how Bill Freund and Reinhard Bendix emphasize the chauvinistic European mind-set that Hall delves into at length in his work. The paper concludes that Hall's contention about European chauvinism is starkly illustrated by the available evidence.

From the Paper:

"Hall begins his discussion by noting that one of the chief reasons that the early western explorers traveled in the direction of the New World was because they were seeking to find and to secure the fantastic wealth of the East (185). In this regard, Hall is somewhat like Freund who, as we shall see, argues that the evils of western imperialism derive from its exploitative economic relationship to the more impoverished territories of the world. However, Hall deviates from Freund in the sense that he does not focus wholly (or largely) upon economic factors which contributed - or which might have contributed - to western relations with the rest of the world; rather, his focus is upon the socio-cultural and anthropological distinctiveness of the west from other societies. With this in mind, "western" countries may be defined as those lands that are "developed, industrialized, urbanized, capitalist, secular, and modern" (Hall, 186)."

Sample of Sources Used:

Bendix, Reinhard. Nation-building and Citizenship: Studies of Our Changing Social Order. New York: Anchor Books. 89-126.
Freund, Bill. "The Material Basis of Colonial Society: 1900-1945." Making of Contemporary Africa. United States: Palgrave MacMillan, 1998. 111-142.
Hall, Stuart. "The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power." Modernity: An Introduction to Modern Societies. Eds. Stuart Hall et al. United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing, 1996. 185-201.