Chapter 16
Culture Change and Globalization
What We Will Learn
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How do cultures change?
What are some obstacles to cultural change?
In what ways do civilization and
industrialization threaten the cultures of
Indigenous populations?
Do economic development programs always
benefit the people of developing countries?
What is globalization, and how does it affect
the cultures of the world?
Cultural Change
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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
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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.
Diffusion
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The spreading of a thing, an idea, or a behavior
pattern from one culture to another.
If every culture had to rely solely on its own
inventions, human progress over the centuries
would indeed be slow.
Cultures have been able to develop rapidly
because the process of diffusion has enabled
humans to pool their creative/inventive
resources.
Cultural Diffusion: Selectivity
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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
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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
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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
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Some parts of culture are more likely to be
diffused than others.
Material culture is more likely to be diffused
than ideas or behavior patterns.
A traditional farmer in Senegal is more likely
understand the advantages of a bulldozer over
a shovel than of substituting Buddhism for his
form of ancestor worship.
Cultural Diffusion: Variables
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Diffusion is affected by:
 Duration and intensity of contact.
 Degree of cultural integration.
 Similarities between the donor and
recipient cultures.
Acculturation
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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
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A single innovation may set off changes in other
parts of a culture.
Television
 Introduced during the 1950s.
 Replaced the the radio as the major form of
electronic communication in U.S.
Households.
 Had consequences for other parts of the
culture, such as the family system, the
political process, and religious institutions.
Cultural Boundaries
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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.
Modernization Theory
Modern nations are associated with:
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High levels of
technology
Industrialization
Urbanization
Formal education
Efficient bureaucratic
governments
Strong market
economies
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Precise time
Religious pluralism
Low birth/death rates
Upward mobility
based on merit
Rapid change
Planning for the future
Decline in the
extended family
Modernization Theory
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Undeveloped nations must engage in activities
that them more like the developed nations.
Economic development would occur through
the mechanism of foreign aid from the wealthy
nations to the undeveloped nations.
Blames poverty on the poor by suggesting that
some countries are poorly developed because
of cultural characteristics which they pass on to
their children.
World Systems Theory
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According to this theory, the rich and poor
nations of the world are not fundamentally
different because of cultural features but
because of how they have operated within the
world system.
Economic development is not the result of an
enlightened or progressive population but
instead occurs when one group purposefully
increases its own wealth at the expense of
others.
Factors in the the Rise of
Globalization
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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.
Quick Quiz
1. Cultures change from ________ such as
inventions and innovations.
a) internal strife
b) external mechanisms
c) external forces
d) internal mechanisms
Answer: d
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Cultures change from internal
mechanisms such as inventions and
innovations
2. A/an ________ is any new thing, idea, or
behavior pattern that emerges from
within a society.
a) Creation
b) Innovation
c) Construct
d) invention
Answer: d
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An invention is any new thing, idea, or
behavior pattern that emerges from within
a society.
3. ________ is the spread of a thing, an
idea, or a cultural pattern from one
culture to another.
a) Diffusion
b) Enculturation
c) Innovation
d) Acculturation
Answer: a
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Diffusion is the spread of a thing, an
idea, or a cultural pattern from one culture
to another.
4. _______ is a special type of diffusion that
takes place as a result of sustained
contact between two societies, one of
which is subordinate to the other.
a) Modification
b) Acculturation
c) Reciprocity
d) Enculturation
Answer: b
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Acculturation is a special type of
diffusion that takes place as a result of
sustained contact between two
societies, one of which is subordinate to
the other.
5. According to the ________ theory, the
wealthy countries of the world achieved
high levels of development by exploiting
other regions, plundering their
resources, using their people as cheap
sources of labor, and dominating their
markets.
a) colonialism
b) voluntaristic
c) world systems
d) modernization
Answer: c
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According to the world systems theory,
the wealthy countries of the world
achieved high levels of development by
exploiting other regions, plundering their
resources, using their people as cheap
sources of labor, and dominating their
markets.