Americanization

In today's terms, Americanization stands for the dominant influence of the United States on other countries. According to a strict view of Americanization, a culture would be substituted by American culture through time. Americanization suggests that consumer culture is essentially American culture, which comes to dominate other cultures in the world. This happens by the driving force of the United States through consumption (i.e., consuming American-made products and services and/or consuming them in ways that American people consume).

In the early 1900s, foreign-born residents of the United States planned for full citizenship. Americanization in this period reflected a commitment to the principles of the American way of living and working, in an attempt to assist immigrants in the process of adjusting to American society. The term melting pot was used to symbolize the prosperity and potential that these immigrants bring to the country, and the resulting superior blend of different people. After World War I, however, the definition of a typical American started to become vague, making [Page 43]it harder to use the phrase to reflect something harmonious and useful. Americanization came to be associated with nationalism and usage of coercive ways to assimilate immigrants into American culture, where individuals were assumed to become linearly acculturated to the American culture. The minority group, according to this perspective, gradually adapts to the prevailing dominant culture by shifting previous meanings, perceptions, practices, and norms. In a consumption context, assimilation is associated with adaptation to a new consumer environment by way of purchasing and consuming new goods and learning the meanings attached to them.

In today's usage of the term, Americanization is defined as globalization of the world by the United States. The connection between globalization and Americanization is therefore at a point where all global forces become centered at the United States and everything becomes the “American way.” Although one might define globalization as internationalization (increasing relations among different countries), liberalization (removal of government-imposed restrictions on trade movements, leading to “borderless economies”), universalization (worldwide usage of various systems, such as calendars and even brands), Westernization (becoming more like a Westerner in terms of production and consumption), or modernization (resembling “modern” counterparts in the Western world), the term Americanization here refers to the process of becoming more and more like an American, which can penetrate many spheres of life.

One of the most important driving forces of Americanization is the actual movement of people from their country to the United States. By this way, people get accustomed to the new culture through consumption and may end up assimilating into the American way of living. The forces of American globalization, and hence Americanization, may also come from increasing levels of international trade and intensified cultural exchange, through such mechanisms as penetration of American companies into foreign local markets and introduction of commercial, cable, and satellite television. It does not have to involve people who migrated from another country. American-based companies integrate their facilities among different countries. If people in other cultures prefer to use and adopt American products and brands, this is also considered as Americanization.

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