Western modernity was constituted, from its origins, through exploitative relations with the Rest.

Evidence

The panoramic essay titled “The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power” frames this whole part. It was originally published in 1992 as part of a textbook accompanying an Open University course called “Understanding Modern Society,” and it is included here for both substantive and formal reasons. Substantively, its intellectual originality is noteworthy in offering what Stuart calls an “externalist” account of the rise of modernity in the West, which sees it as implicated, from its very beginnings, in its exploitative relations to “the Rest” of the world. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 481

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces Hall’s ‘externalist’ account of modernity as a key concept framing the entire part.
• XREF: Connects directly to the Orientalism framework of Said, where Western self-definition requires the constructed Rest.