The Rise of the West and Historical Methodology: Crash Course World History #212

In which John Green talks about the methods of writing history by looking at some of the ways that history has been written about the rise of the West. But first, he has to tell you what the West is. And then he has to explain the Rise of the West. And then he gets down to talking about the different ways that historians and other academics have explained how the West became dominant in the world. He'll look at explanations from Acemoglu and Robinson's "Why Nations Fail," Francis Fukuyama's "The Origins of Political Order," and Ian Morris's "Why the West Rules, for Now."

Want to find Crash Course elsewhere on the internet?

[Novelboy]

In this video: John Green acknowledging that even Crash Course has its own inherent biases. Achievement gained: Newfound respect for Mr. Green.

[crashcourse]

In which John Green talks about the methods of writing history by looking at some of the ways that history has been written about the rise of the West. But first he has to tell you what the West is. And then he has to explain the Rise of the West. And then he gets down to talking about the different ways that historians and other academics have explained how the West became dominant in the world. He'll look at explanations from Acemoglu and Robinson's "Why Nations Fail, " Francis Fukuyama's "The Origins of Political Order, " and Ian Morris's "Why the West Rules, for Now."

[JM-ikkw]

I'm going to leave a question here: is Latin America part of what we call "the Western World"? I'm a Latino from Chile, and from our culture, education and political system, I can tell you that we are not much different from the countries is Southern Europe. We also speak European languages and most of people follow European religions. At school, when they teach us world history, we learn about ancient Greece and Rome, the Renaissance, French Revolution, Industrial Revolution, Colonialism, etc. 
Of course there’s also a focus in the history of our side of the world: the Pre-Columbian civilizations, native Americans, the Spanish/Portuguese conquest, the colonial period, our independence and so on. 
For sure we are not 100% Europeans, we are a heterogeneous group of "mestizos" (mixed blood) people living in a whole continent, but the foundations of our nations' social system are all European, and has been like that for a longer time than in other countries that are considered "Western", like Australia or the US. Even in countries with deep Native American culture and populations, like Bolivia or Paraguay (which are by far more the exception rather than the rule in the region), the institutions, the legal system, the main language and the political system, are all European.
So why is that that many people, like you John Green in your video, don’t consider us part of the West World? Maybe because we are not considered a “successful” or “developed” region? That might be an omission, very favorable by the way, for the whole “the western system is better” thesis. Maybe because we are a little “different”? Well, even without us, “the West” is culturally very heterogeneous: you are putting together Finland, Portugal, the US, Poland, Italy, New Zealand and Iceland! I’m pretty sure that some Southern European countries like Portugal and Spain have more cultural similarities to some Latin American countries than to, let’s say, Scandinavian countries or New Zealand. Or maybe is all about “the race”? In that case, I thought that people stopped dividing the World into different races a long time ago (cof cof, Nazism!)
I would like to read different opinions about this subject, thanks for reading ;)

[ranDOm]

"I always thought that Canada was America's hat, but it turns out we [America] are Canada's pants."GOLD!!

[cathalomaoilste]

"In 1776 Columbus sailed the ocean blue"- John Green 2015

[WpGxGianT]

Love that he recognized the importance of institutions and the role they play in the development. Douglass North would be proud! I know this channel is called crash course but I really wish John would do some longer segments, allowing him to elaborate more on the concepts he puts forth

[joshb]

You know whats great? playing civ 5 and watching back to back crash course for hours.

[TobiDub]

I think its very important to understand that the rise of the west is a result of ideal circumstances and not the differences between the people in different countries. That thinking leads to racism and xenophobia.
There are people in rich countries who think they are successful because of their superiority to the people in poor countries. This kind of thinking becomes apparent when you hear people talking about refugees driven by poverty.

[MrJS]

What was said at the end. Was the most important thing you ever said. It really needs to be ingrained in ppls brains

[Danielhuren]

i bet Walmart would sell heroin if it could....

[vaibhavtripathi]

crash course has biggest impact on the world in recent decade. it changes the way we see YouTube technology and education. thanks to green brothers

[jacks.]

Dear Crash Course team,
Will you please do the seven years war in Europe?
It's really a missing piece from the other history series, seeing as there are two videos detailing the other theaters. You really should do it justice, and I think a lot of people would learn from that.
Sincerly,
a Fan.

[macjsus]

I got a 3 on my AP US History exam back in High school, probably would have gotten higher if crash course was out back in 2007-2008.

[opencanvasih]

Dear John Green,

Sir you are the definition of being awesome. 

[Ayo]

1. infrustructure
2. institutions/ organizations
3. how they organize it

[writingworks]

"Until recently religion was far more important to most people then ... you know nation states" Unless you are the Mongols (insert forgotten Mongoltage)

[BosonCollider]

I'm surprised you didn't include education. Technical skill and scientific knowledge is clearly what made the west dominant. No matter how good your political institutions are, you can't build a power grid if you don't know what electricity is. Or build a tank with an internal combustion engine without any knowledge of thermodynamics. Most of the west was less politically stable than places like China for essentially all of history, with wars that spanned the european continent, so I really would not give too much credit to european political institutions.

Imho, ultimately what made the west powerful is precisely the cultural urge to measure things with numbers that you criticized in your video. It allowed the scientific revolution to happen, but it also had less obvious consequences such as providing demand for very accurate watches and measuring apparatus. The body of skilled watchmakers also used their experience to build very sophisticated automata, which evolved into the machinery that made the industrial revolution possible.

It really becomes apparent when you look up biographies of the great inventors during the first industrial revolution. Almost all of them had a background as scientific instrument makers/watchmakers, even though these were a tiny portion of the population. But the interest of the elite in measuring things allowed some people to make their living making sophisticated machines, which ended up being a big deal.

[AugmentedDragon]

John green in a good mythical morning shirt! My life is complete!

[natalielawyerchick]

Liking this off the strength of the screen shot alone.  Now back to watching the video.

[oldasyouromens]

I will forever thank my 7th grade social studies teacher for teaching me to think this way. And thank you, John, for bringing it up here. Everything should be thought about this complexly, imo.