Is Westernization A Boon Or A Bane?

In the words of Mahatma Gandhi,

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Westernization is a term that is used to denote the process adoption of western culture, language, style, and philosophies. It has influenced and affected our society to a great extent. People often relate westernization to modernization.

Like the two sides of a coin, and its result- westernization of the Indian culture has its advantages and disadvantages. Talking of the positives first, I think it is essential for us to adjust to the western and global culture, the reason being that we cannot make a different separate path to move our nation forward. The world demands cooperation and we hence, have to do so. It also means that we need to adapt and adjust to some of the western methods as our existing ones are not as sufficient as they should have been. Also, not to forget the fact that because of westernization, there has been a significant improvement in the literacy rate of the country over the years which has in turn helped in the development and growth of the country.

Speaking of the cons, one of the biggest ones I feel is the shifting of our culture to the western model. It has started to become so widely spread now that we have started neglecting our own ethnic culture. Not to forget the moral values and principles in people that have started to disappear slowly and without a second thought, westernization plays a massive role in it.

The western nations that we talk of are much more advanced in culture and are also highly developed as compared to our own country. And this becomes a strong reason for the cultural changes in India. Many people propose that Indians are blindly aping western cult and are starting to imbibe the western styles, the pub cult which, as they believe, is in no way productive to the society.

In my opinion, it is time for peo7ple to learn and imbibe the right sides of westernization like maintaining proper cleanliness or sanitation for that matter or strictly following the rules and much more.

If our people are genuinely interested in bringing about a change in society, then I don't think there's anything wrong with adapting to the right parts of westernization and ignoring the negatives.