19 Facts About Western culture

Western culture, known as Western civilization, Occidental culture, or Western society, is the heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, artifacts and technologies of the Western world.

For example, Western culture includes countries in the Americas, Oceania and the Philippines.

Western culture is most strongly influenced by Greek philosophy, Roman law, and Christian culture.

Western culture is characterized by a host of artistic, philosophic, literary and legal themes and traditions.

Western culture continued to develop with the Christianization of European society during the Middle Ages, the reforms triggered by the Renaissance of the 12th century and 13th century under the influence of the Islamic world via Al-Andalus and Sicily, and the Italian Renaissance as Greek scholars fleeing the fall of the Byzantine Empire after the Muslim conquest of Constantinople brought classical traditions and philosophy.

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European Western culture developed with a complex range of philosophy, medieval scholasticism, mysticism and Christian and secular humanism.

Tendencies that have come to define modern Western societies include the concept of political pluralism, individualism, prominent subcultures or countercultures and increasing cultural syncretism resulting from globalization and human migration.

Thus, the Western culture identified with East and West itself interchanges with time and place.

Roman culture mixed with Celtic, Germanic, and Slavic cultures, which slowly became integrated into Western culture: starting mainly with their acceptance of Christianity.

Until the Age of Enlightenment, Christian culture took over as the predominant force in Western civilization, guiding the course of philosophy, art, and science for many years.

However, due to the division in Western culture Christianity caused by the Protestant Reformation and the Enlightenment, religious influence—especially the temporal power of the Pope—began to wane.

Tendencies that have come to define modern Western societies include the concept of political pluralism, individualism, prominent subcultures or countercultures and increasing cultural syncretism resulting from globalization and human migration.

Western culture has been heavily influenced by the Renaissance, the Ages of Discovery and Enlightenment and the Industrial and Scientific Revolutions.

The West has contributed a great many technological, political, philosophical, artistic and religious aspects to modern international Western culture: having been a crucible of Catholicism, Protestantism, democracy, industrialisation; the first major civilisation to seek to abolish slavery during the 19th century, the first to enfranchise women and the first to put to use such technologies as steam, electric and nuclear power.

Western culture literature encompasses literary traditions of Europe, as well as Northern America and Latin America.

Much of Western culture architecture emphasizes repetition of simple motifs, straight lines and expansive, undecorated planes.

Western culture foodways were, until recently, considered to have their roots in the cuisines of Classical Rome and Greece, but the influence of Arab and Near Eastern cuisine on the West has become a topic of research in recent decades.

Notable feature of Western culture is its strong emphasis and focus on innovation and invention through science and technology, and its ability to generate new processes, materials and material artifacts with its roots dating back to the Ancient Greeks.

Western culture has developed many themes and traditions, the most significant of which are:.