China Mieville and Ursula Le Guin are both up there are authors who have written things that have felt momentous to read.
But I’m not sure either of them could edge out Terry Pratchett as the author whose work I’ve enjoyed going back to time and time again, having read most of Discworld at a more formative age probably helps too.
Mostly agree… Not sure why you think it’s limited to Western countries though unless you’re including India and China as well as Japan as Western.
And since it’s a feature of Capitalism, I don’t imagine the rest of the world is immune to it.