From Shakespeare to Hollywood, Bach to Beyoncé, we've assumed Western culture dominates the globe. But many argue this dominance is over. Bollywood overtook Hollywood in film output decades ago, while China now has the world’s second-largest movie market. YouTube, an American company, remains the world’s largest video platform, but Chinese-owned TikTok is second, with more than 1.5 billion monthly users. Subtitles and algorithms mean a shared language is no longer required for culture to travel globally. From K-pop to Squid Game Korean content has found global reach. Set against a history in which India and China were for millennia the world's largest and most advanced cultures, some maintain Western cultural dominance is little more than a short term historical blip.
Should we see the future as a relentless decline of Western soft power and cultural influence? Will a new story of humanity be written by other cultures? Or can the West's values and influence survive even if it is no longer economically dominant?
Should we see the future as a relentless decline of Western soft power and cultural influence? Will a new story of humanity be written by other cultures? Or can the West's values and influence survive even if it is no longer economically dominant?
