Anthropology

Compare and contrast the various mechanisms of cultural change

We live in a world completely different than that of our parents and especially our grandparents.

Cultures are slowly changing every day. All cultures are predisposed to change and also to

resist change. There are three major mechanisms of cultural change; diffusion, acculturation, and independent invention.

Diffusion is the borrowing of traits between cultures either directly or through intermediaries. Diffusion can be indirect or direct. Indirect is when traits move from one culture to another without any direct contact between the two. Direct is when there is contact either from trade, marriage between the two or through war. For example, the way we dress. We may copy the way someone dresses from another culture through what we see on television or the internet or from visiting that culture in person. We may also dress like someone from our culture who has borrowed that style from someone in a different culture. “In today’s world, much international diffusion is indirect.” Sometimes when diffusion takes place, the trait may move to a new culture, but may not have the same meaning in the new culture as it had in the original culture. “For instance, when McDonald’s first brought their American style hamburgers to Moscow and Beijing, they were accepted as luxury foods for special occasions because they were relatively expensive and exotic. In America, of course, they have a very different meaning-they are ordinary every day fast food items.”

A second mechanism of cultural change is acculturation. Acculturation is the exchange of cultural features that results when groups have continuous contact; the original cultural patterns of either or both may be altered, but the groups remain distinct. “One example of acculturation is a pidgin, a mixed language that develops to ease communications between members of different cultures in contact.” The use this made up language to...