In part, it was the outcome of the planet-wide
revolution of 1750-1970. It was likewise the result of the wars,
revolutions and independence movements that have upset and realigned the
world since 1776. Under the impact of these forces human society was
being unmade, re-examined and remade.
By comparison with its own beginnings and with its predecessors, western
civilization has made many changes in its political, economic and
sociological way of life. It has also developed national and regional
variants of its overall pattern.
Despite these changes, and with the possible exception of its very large
and significant socialist-communist sector, the West has retained the
structural and functional features of previous civilizations: urban
nuclei supporting themselves by trade, commerce and finance; expansion
up to and beyond the point of no return; the life and death power
struggle within and between its constituent peoples, nations and
empires; the use of war as the final arbiter in these struggles; the
rise of the military to a position of supremacy in policy making and
public administration; an all-pervasive pattern of exploitation within
the urban nuclei and between rival provincial factions; speculation in
the necessaries of life; the growth of overhead costs far beyond the
increase of production and of income; the degradation of currency;
multiple taxation; the abuse of credit; inflation, unemployment and
chronic hard times.
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