Western culture
Western culture, also known as Western civilization, Occidental culture, or Western society, is the heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, artifacts and technologies of the Western world. The term applies beyond Europe to countries and cultures whose histories are strongly connected to Europe by immigration, colonization or influence.
7 episodes
Episodes in this category also belong to the following categories:
Capitalism
Melvyn Bragg discusses the history of capitalism and examines whether we have witnessed its triumph or if we are only now learning the full costs and the social impact of its unfettered advance.
24 June 1999
Featuring: Anatole Kaletsky, Edward Luttwak
Multiculturalism
Melvyn Bragg examines whether it is possible to define how attitudes to race and identity have changed in the 20th century, given its vast shifts of population, cultures and peoples.
13 May 1999
Featuring: Stuart Hall, Avtar Brah
The Columbian Exchange
Misha Glenny and guests discuss the spread of plants, animals and diseases after Columbus reached the Americas in 1492 and the transformations and devastations that followed.
26 February 2026
Featuring: Rebecca Earle, John Lindo, Mark Maslin
The Continental-Analytic Split
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the two main traditions of modern Western philosophy: the Continental and Analytic schools.
10 November 2011
Featuring: Stephen Mulhall, Beatrice Han-Pile, Hans-Johann Glock
The Enlightenment in Britain
Melvyn Bragg examines the part British thinkers played in the Enlightenment in the 18th century, and examines whether the shifts of thought in those years provided the platform for the modern world.
18 January 2001
Featuring: Roy Porter, Linda Colley, Jeremy Black
The Renaissance
Melvyn Bragg explores the veracity of modern claims about the Renaissance and whether our current perceptions about its role in cultural history stem from a 19th century historian.
8 June 2000
Featuring: Francis Ames-Lewis, Peter Burke, Evelyn Welch
The Schism
Melvyn Bragg discusses events surrounding the 11th century division of medieval Christendom into what became the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
16 October 2003
Featuring: Henrietta Leyser, Norman Housley, Jonathan Shepard