How did imperialism both help and hinder societies?

Answer 1

This is the second of your three imperialism questions I'll try to answer.

Imperialism helped colonial societies by exposing these populations to western influence and modern political thought. This is, of course, a two-edged sword ... there is both good and bad in this.

In general, the Imperial system was designed to exploit colonies for the benefit of the mother country. But the British system created a large bureaucracy in India, for example, staffed mainly by Indians, so when independence came, the Indians knew how to run a government. Also, the British education system was widely implemented ... in Singapore and Malaysia, for example.

On the other hand, the many African countries that became independent after World War II had no traditions of self-government, and corrupt strongman rule that plundered the countries became the rule. You can blame the imperialists -- Belgium, France, Britain -- for this.

[And sorry ... I was going to answer your imperialization/industrialization question now, but I see that it's already in voting.]

Answer 2

So many times questions were asked here about imperialism that I thought its best you look through all the answers:

http://answers.yahoo.com/search/search_result;_ylt=AmOjNrP73MIqua58XBpEkHbzy6IX?p=imperialism