Cultural Change and Globalization: Innovations, Diffusion, and Urbanization

Chapter 16 Culture Change and Globalization

Chapter Outline • Inventions/Innovations • Diffusion • Acculturation • Linked Changes • Obstacles to Cultural Change • Cultural Survival of Indigenous Peoples • Urbanization and Change • Change and Development • Globalization and World Cultures

Cultural Change • No culture remains unchanged. • Cultures change in two ways: • Internally - through the processes of invention and innovation • Externally through the process of diffusion.

Inventors and Innovators • Inventors and innovators tend to be marginal people living on the fringes of society. • Not bound by tradition or convention, these people see problems and their solutions with a fresh perspective. • Many come from from upper-class, wealthy, and well-educated segments of society.

Cultural Diffusion: Selectivity • The adoption of an innovation by a culture and the speed with which it is adopted depends on the following: • Is it seen as superior to what already exists? • Is it consistent with existing cultural patterns? • Is it easily understood? • Can it be tested on a trial basis? • Are the benefits clearly visible?

Cultural Diffusion: Reciprocity • Diffusion is a two-way process. • While Europeans introduced their culture to Native Americans, they received cultural features in return: • Clothing -ponchos, parkas, and moccasins • medicines - quinine, pain relievers, and laxatives • food - corn, beans, tomatoes, squash, yams, avocados, and the so-called Irish potato

Cultural Diffusion: Modification • Once a cultural element is accepted in a new culture, it may change in form or function. • The Masai of Kenya and Tanzania pierce their earlobes and enlarge the hole by inserting increasingly larger round pieces of wood until a loop of skin is formed. • One group of Masai was observed using Eveready flashlight batteries obtained from the U.S.

Cultural Diffusion: Likelihood • Some parts of culture are more likely to be diffused than others. • Items of material culture are more likely candidates for diffusion than ideas or behavior patterns. • A traditional farmer in Senegal is more likely to be convinced of the advantages of a bulldozer over a shovel than of substituting Buddhism for his form of ancestor worship.

Cultural Diffusion: Variables • Diffusion is affected by a number of important variables: • duration and intensity of contact • degree of cultural integration • similarities between the donor and recipient cultures

Acculturation • Takes place as a result of sustained contact between two societies, one of which is subordinate to the other. • Involves the widespread reorganization of one or both cultures over a short period of time. • Both the dominant and subordinate culture experience changes, but the subordinate culture changes most dramatically.

Consequences of Acculturation The subordinate culture could: • become extinct • be incorporated as a distinct subculture of the dominant group • be assimilated (blended) into the dominant group

Linked Changes • A single innovation may set off a series of changes in other parts of the culture. • Example: television • Introduced into U.S. society during 1950s. • Replaced the the radio as the major form of electronic communication in U.S. households. • Had far-reaching consequences for other parts of the culture, such as the family system, the political process, and our religious institutions.

Cultural Boundaries • Strengthen a culture’s traditions and discourage cultural borrowing: • Language • Eating habits • Clothing • Folklore • Humor

Indigenous Populations Refers to a group of people who are: • Original inhabitants of a region. • Identify with a specific, small-scale cultural heritage. • Have no significant role in the government. • Examples: the small-scale cultures in Asia, Africa, and the Americas that came under the influence of the colonial powers during the past several centuries.

Urbanization and Change • 1900 - 16 cities with a population of a million or more people. • 1990 - 276 cities with a population of a million or more people. • 1990 – 37% of the world’s population will be urban. • 2025 - estimated that approximately 60% of the world’s population will be urban.

Urban Growth in the U.S. Percent of population living in cities: • 1790 - 5% of the population • 1850 - 14% of the population • 1920 - 50% of the population • 2000 - 75% of the population

The World’s 10 Largest Cities

Factors in the the Rise of Globalization • Revolution in computer technology made communication faster and cheaper for a growing segment of the world’s population. • Methods of investing money has changed, today it is, to a large degree, in the hands of individuals. • There has been a fundamental change in the flow of information all over the world.

Cultural Change and Globalization: Innovations, Diffusion, and Urbanization