p. 926-936

The beginning of the pervasiveness of American culture worldwide began in this era, with the advent of mass culture. Popular culture is one of America's biggest exports, and it started to become so in the 1920s and '30s, as American movies, music, and fashion spread across the Atlantic. The fears expressed by Europeans then are the same that are expressed today: that the U.S.'s mass culture creates uniformity and decadence. Europeans at the time were also worried about the destabilizing effect such uniformity could have on their old hierarchical orders. If everyone embraced such appealing materialism, what would be the result for the carefully cultivated traditions of the elite? There was a division between those who avidly devoured films and novels and between those who were frightened of what exported mass culture would change about what made their country unique. Yet we still see this struggle today, where American culture is popular in countries where the American government is detested and citizens mourn the loss of their traditional ways.

Summary of an NPR debate about whether Hollywood's undisputed global influence fuels anti-American sentiment abroad. One of the arguments is that is depicts an unflattering view of American life (violent, lots of sex, generally decadent) and Americans.