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Diffusion of Popular Culture. “Why is it so widely distributed?”. Diffusion of popular housing, clothing, and food Rapid diffusion depends on a group of people having a sufficiently high level of economic development to acquire material possessions.
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Diffusion of Popular Culture “Why is it so widely distributed?”
Diffusion of popular housing, clothing, and food • Rapid diffusion depends on a group of people having a sufficiently high level of economic development to acquire material possessions
Popular Housing StylesHousing demonstrates popular customs from the time period, e.g. post-war housing versus early 1800s.
Modern House Styles 1945 – 1960 • 1920s - 1930s –> Tudor-style popular • 1940s – 1950s -> Minimal tradition • 1950s – 1960s -> Ranch • 1950s – 1970s -> Split-level (newly invented ‘family room’)
Neo-Eclectic House Styles (since 1960) • 1960s-1970s -> Mansard (shingle covered roof and second-story walls) • 1970s -> Neo-Tudor -> steep-pitched front –facing gables and half timerbered detailing • 1970s – 1980s -> Neo-French -> dormer windows, usually with rounded tops and high-hipped roofs. • See page 128
Clothing • In MDCs, clothing represents CULTURE & OCCUPATIONS, which also leads to INCOME • Lawyer, business executive – dark business suit • Doctors, factory workers, teachers, service industry, … all have their own ‘style’ or ‘uniform’
Clothing con’t • Women’s clothing changes every season, designer knock-offs, • Globalization of clothing • Styles have emerged as people are seeing clothes from around the world and designers begin integrating those ideas into their creations
FoodAlcohol and snack food: • The type of popular food will depend on: • Region (north US drink Canadian Whiskey, south drink bourbon, potato ships where they grow potatoes, …) see map page 131 • Cultural background (Mormons, Baptists – don’t drink much) • Malaysia – campfire snack is fried squid • High income – caviar • Advertising
Role of television • Watching is a significant popular custom because: • the most important mechanism to diffuse knowledge of popular culture • the most popular leisure activity in MDCs throughout the world
Television • Prior to WWII, TV was not very widespread • 1945 –10 000 in US households • 1949 – 1 million • 1951 - 10 million • 1959 - 50 million • In 1954, the US had 83% of the world’s TV sets. By end of 20th century, international differences had diminished.
See page 133 – Televisions per 1 000 inhabitants • What implications does this map represent?
Internet • Follows a similar pattern as the diffusion of television, but at a more rapid pace. (US had a dominant hold, but this has now diminished) • The diffusion of television form US to the rest of the world took 50 years, whereas the diffusion of the Internet has taken only 10 years.
INTERNET con’t • See page 134 – Internet hosts per 1 000 population • What implications does this map represent?
Government Control • More government controls in LDCs and communist countries, less in MDCs • Introduction of satellite television prevents a government from taking total control. Satellite dishes enable people to choose from a wide variety of programs.