How has culture been impacted by the process of globalization? That is what is evaluated in topic 9.6. At the start of the 20th century, political & social developments modernization, a rejection of tradition in favor of experimentation & uncertainty. World War I, a global depression, & World War II had focused attention on survival. After World War II, however, citizens of wealthier nations began to develop a ‘consumer culture’ -- one in which people tended to focus more on what they bought & owned than on where they lived, what they did for a living, or what they believed. As free markets blossomed & new technologies became more available, people worldwide began sampling arts, popular culture, & ideas from faraway places. However, few could predict the global connectedness made possible by social media, nor its power to do both good & bad.