I assume it’s largely due to stuff such as their stinking rich economy before WW1, first language being english, population size, propaganda etc. but I’ve never seen a succinct explanation as to how the country basically became the absolute cultural giants they are today.
You basically cannot escape the USA and their influence everywhere you go, and in a sense they have overtaken us over here in the UK in terms of cultural relevance. Why isn’t this the case for other English speaking countries such as Australia and Canada?
Edit: Using the term ‘In a sense’ has riled up quite a few people. Yes, the USA is definitely far more culturally relevant than the UK nowadays.
Second Edit: Thank you all for your replies! I’ve learned quite a lot tonight 🙂
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Huge population, vast amounts of usable land, desert and tundra don’t do so much for you. Huge surplus of food because of loads of land and much lower population density than the old world. Huge untapped mineral resources. Access to European technology and culture through shared language plus none of the racism and exploitation India, China, even Mexico, Argentina and Brasil got, because of being run by rich WASPs like the previous number 1 world power. Early adopters of the dominant political and economic system. Very quick to claim and exploit hegemony in the Americas and get the British empire to enforce it for them whenever they could. People from just about every culture on the planet contributing to their culture.
short answer: Hollywood and money
longer answer: Both Radio and Motion Pictures were invented in the US and so naturally our entertainment industry got them up and running on a large scale to export before europe did. also after WWI and WWII much of europe was devastated and effectively de-industrialized while America was untouched (thank you oceans!) which gave us a HUGE post-war economic advantage (since europe re-industrialized on the backs of american industry). Thirdly outside of Communist china and maybe soviet russia nobody had our population or industrial/commercial capacity so the center of the western world’s commerce moved from paris and london to New York. Even now the only political entity that has our industrial and commercial power is maybe the EU (china is increasingly being exposed as a paper tiger and india hasn’t gotten fully up to speed yet, but mark my words they will) so since we were handling most of the world’s business we’d natrually start exporting our culture
Because the US became global superpower when it counts.
Countless other nations raised to power before, Egypt, Rome, China, England, etc, to name just a few, but none did it at the advent of global communication with radio, television, and lately, the internet. And thus, mighty as they were, they remained regional power and only affected their spherew of influence. USA raised to global power status when everything and everywhere were connected and thus able to spread its culture everywhere.
None other English speaking countries have a chance because they were not and are not able to field massive industries that could produce as much cultural products (and in great quality too) as US is able.
Post WWII the other cultural centers were all destroyed. The US was thriving and producing lots of art/fashion. Combine that with the proliferation of television…. There ya go
It’s because of the diversity of America. There is no country on the planet like it. Also, the importance of rugged individualism in American society contributes to the creativity.
It’s a byproduct of having the largest economy in the world. When you got more you do more. What everyone else does they do double. How did they manage to get to that point? Geography, industry, and rapid development in the 20th century. No other great power had the privilege of being unchallenged and unchecked in the same way.
WW II, very large population, large land mass, lots of natural resources, a mostly welcoming immigration policy
Immigration in the late 1800s is a reason that most people are ignoring. That, plus a need for labor as the industrial revolution took off. WWII built on top of all of that. Also, aside from Pearl Harbor, we had very little damage in our cities/territory from the war. Hollywood also changed culture.
After WW2 the industrialized world was still trying to reestablish their basic utilities because everything had been bombed to hell.
USA came out of WW2 virtually unscathed.
During the war, the USA produced 75% of the WORLD’S economic output.
We had the leisure and the money to be trend setters, and our economy was still going full bore.
That and a lot of foreign military bases made sure our presence was still felt.
After world war 2 the United States spent billions rebuilding Europe and with that was able to inject its businesses and culture into Europe. Read about “the Marshall plan”
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