Phil your whole argument is held together by Modernization Theory, which basically tries to explain why North America and Europe are better than the rest of the world without respecting historical developments, which usually means ignoring political and economic manipulation.
Um, no... it based in simple evolutionary theory... CULTURAL EVOLUTION.
I When I say that western civilization has been in ascendancy.. .I am not really speaking of military or economic ascendancy, into which a lot of elements play... I am speaking of cultural memes such as single pair marriage, the rights of the individual, etc.
Cultural evolution occurs much more rapidly than physical evolution , because unlike with genes, a person does not have to die to eliminate a less fit meme... they
can change their mind...
When cultures come in contact there is a mixing of memes... a competition, really, for the territory of human minds.
THose memes that better serve the interests of the individual are the ones that will prevail.
It so happens that certain memes that first emerged in early western civilization are simply far more effective at providing for the individuals who ascribe to those memes.
As those memes spread, other people in other cultures discover that a core of western ideas simply translate into a better standard of living across the board...
Most academics and people who care about stopping stuff like sweat shops and mass starvation believe in some form of Development Theory, which basically states that most non-European and North American countries experienced economic stagnation (which resulted in an outgrowth of poor healthcare, education, etc.) because of trade imbalances and single product economies set up by colonial administration from Europe and North America.
yes, that certainly is a prevalent politically correct attitude... but it is incorrect.
The very idea of a sweatshop is parochial and reflects an idiotic western bias.
I remember a bunch of folks boycotting Nike because they employed children in asia.
That was stupid.
Only some imbecile who never has BEEN in the poorer parts of Asia would entertain such an idea...
As if those kids, if NOT working for Nike, would have been playing little league games in the park...
In fact... their parents had stood in line for a week, and paid some local official a bribe, just to get their kid a job that wasn't stoop labor in the rice paddy...
Because their kids NOT working is simply not an option.
In fact, buying Nike shoes does far more to improve conditions in the third world that anything else the average westerner ever does.... because it directly puts YOUR money into THEIR pockets... no governments...
I spent a lot of time in CHina... and let me tell you, sure, they make $500 a month... so what? they can buy name brand jeans for 2 dollars and every other thing we westerners buy at cost, because they make them.
$500 per month, In CHina, is the most money they have ever made, pays for their cell phone, their transportation, their food and clothing and they still have half their money left to send home to their parents...
And, all "bad imperialists" nonsense aside... I will point out two simple facts... the ONLY truly functioning democracies in the world today are all former British colonies. Because that is where the ideas underpinning free societies came form...
And, history and CURRENT development clearly shows that the catalyst that has founded every major civilization on earth is Clean water... and Health.
A population must have access to healthy water BEFORE they can afford more complex civilizations.
In Africa, development has been particularly slow... because of poor and unsanitary water.
Everyplace in Africa that gets a clean water supply, econnomic development begins to show progress.
This is because without clean water... human beings are sick more often... and this affects the amount of work that a member of the community can accomplish. A population must attain a certain threshold of average health before they have the surplus energy to build civilizations.
Egypt, the indus, mesopotamia, Rome... were all founded on clean water and effective sewage.
And after the Dark ages, European civilization took off first in those cities that still had working Roman water systems.
So... sorry... but political correctness aside... the West took over cause of clean water... and because they had better ideas, that better capitalized on human self interest.
Over time, the human condition has improved...
When cultures mix, just like your parents genes... what survives over time is the best, most
effective memes from both cultures.
All cultural ideas are NOT equal.
SOME really do translate into greater power and security for the individual.
That is what will win out because human beings who chose to believe what works will out-compete those who chose to believe something that doesn't work... or doesn't work as well.