<aside> 💡 From this section, you must know…
Culture changes in many ways. We have already talked about one way cultural changes occur:
Counterculture – A subculture that pushes back on mainstream culture to change how society functions.
Cultural changes, usually through counterculture and subculture, are slow and gradual. They might take generational change to take effect.
Generation – All of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. For example: Boomers, Millennials, GenZ
Three generations of an Eastern Orthodox priest family from Jerusalem, circa 1893
Culture can also change through outside influence. Culture spreads through values, ideas, and material goods.
In other words, culture spreads, combine, and split apart. Keep in mind that cultures have changed and evolved several times throughout history.
| Cultural Diffusion | Cultural Convergence | Cultural Divergence |
|---|---|---|
| Definition: Process of spatial exchange in which ideas, products, and cultural traits spread from one place to another | Definition: Different cultures acquire common ideas, products, and traits, becoming more similar | Definition: Different parts of a cultural region are exposed to different influences and become dissimilar |
| This leads to counterculture or subcultures | ||
| Examples: Spread of American popular culture icons, Spread of English as lingua franca. | Example: Tex-Mex food, Roman Catholicism in Latin America | Example: Islamic influence in India divide the region into Hindu and Muslim |
Lingua franca – a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.
The Columbian Exchange
The widespread transfer of plants, animals, precious metals, commodities, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the New World (the Americas) and the Old World (Afro-Eurasia) in the late 15th and following centuries.
This is the most extensive and widespread example of cultural diffusion.
Technology
New advances in communication have enabled culture to spread more quickly throughout the whole world
Pandemic
The outbreak of disease that has spread over the whole world. Global travel has enabled this to be possible.
Barriers to the Spread of Culture
Physical barriers such as geography and distance can block the spread of culture. Additionally, human actions such as government censorship and oppression of specific groups can suppress the spread of ideas and cultural traits.