Excerpt: Jihad vs. McWorld

Barber, Benjamin R. [1995] 2005. "Jihad vs. McWorld". Pp. 393-397 in Understanding Society, 2nd ed., edited by Margaret L. Andersen, Kim Logio, and Howard Taylor. Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning, Inc.

Our society is characterized by the ongoing conflict between tradition and progress. The former presents a conservative future in which globalization and modernity are rejected in favor of retribalization of cultures into and mutual exclusion. The latter presents a future with only one culture, artificially fabricated from the mesmerizing forces of the commercial and the popular.