Since the seventies such discussions have cropped up one after the other. The various explanations representing different standpoints and concepts may be divided into three schools: cultural analysis, institutional approach, and world-system theory.
七○年代以降，這方面的討論便紛紛湧現，惟各家所提出的解釋不一，分別代表著不同的立場與觀點，大致可區分為「文化論」、「制度論」與「世界體系論」等三個陣營。