Topic Five: Culture Change

Transcription

1 Topic Five: Culture Change ANT 252, Cultural Anthropology Tim Wallace, North Carolina State University Cultural change No culture remains unchanged. Humans are uncomfortable with change and so we try to hold on to old systems with new inventions. Examples are: The printing press Horsepower Free markets Gunpowder The QWERTY keyboard 1

2 Culture change is a process. Innovation is any new practice, tool, or principle that gains widespread acceptance within a group. Cultures change in two ways: Internally - through the processes of invention and innovation Externally through the process of diffusion. 2

3 Primary innovation Those that result from chance discovery of a new principle. Examples are: Firing of clay to make it hard around 7000BC 1928 Discovery of penicillin by Alex. Fleming Do you know of any other examples??? Secondary innovations Those that result from deliberate applications (often inventions) Examples Telephone Light bulbs Flight Others??? Diffusion: borrowing of cultural elements from one society by members of another Borrowability? 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? 3

4 Reciprocity Diffusion is a two-way process. Examples The Columbian Exchange The Japanese Connection Modification Once a cultural element is accepted in a new culture, it may change in form or function. 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. 4

5 08:06AMJul.18,203PTPARIS-Godbye" ,"theFrenchgovernmentsays,andhelo"couriel" thetermthatlinguisticalysensitivefranceisnowusingtorefertoelectronicmailinoficialdocuments. Variables in diffusion 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 built in cultural resistance France bids Adieu to PARIS, July 18, Goodbye " ," the French government says, and hello "courriel" the term that linguistically sensitive France is now using to refer to electronic mail in official documents. The Culture Ministry has announced a ban on the use of " " in all government ministries, documents, publications or websites, the latest step to stem an incursion of English words into the French lexicon. 5

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7 Acculturation Comes about when major cultural changes occur as people are forced to makes as a consequence of intensive, first-hand contact between societies. The forced borrowing may be in the form of: 7

8 Economic pressure, e.g. trade Political pressure Military pressure In the extreme, acculturation can lead to assimilation 8

9 ARGENTINA: Government Cuts Wages to Meet IMF Commitments Aristide: US forced me to leave The US state department has begun working on the creation of a "council of elders" including Mr Aristide's interim successor, Chief Justice Boniface Alexandre, to prepare for new elections and regroup the police force. 9

10 Cultural Loss Loss with replacement, e.g, chariots in the Middle East disappeared by 6 th century, replaced by camels (worked better) Loss without replacement (absence of boats on Easter island Revitalization movements A movement that tries to reconstitute a destroyed but not forgotten way of life Special kind: a millenarian movementattempts to resurrect a suppressed pariah group that has long suffered in an inferior social position and that has its own special ethnic or subcultural identity. 10

11 Jon Frum movement New Hebrides At the heart of the movement is a mythic messianic figure called Jon Frum, who allegedly appeared on the island of Tanna and who is variously identified as a god who lives in the crater of Tanna's highest mountain with his several thousand strong army or the 'king of America'. Jon Frum day is celebrated annually on 15 February; it is believed that Jon Frum will return on this day, bringing with him the cargo from heaven that westerners are selfishly diverting for themselves. Movements help groups keep cultural identities Keeping boundaries Keeping religions Linguistic identities Returning to or preserving eating and dressing styles Returning to basic values 11

12 Other change mechanism Directed change are ways in which social, cultural, economic changes occur through systematic development or modernization programs usually promoted by persons or institutions outside of the country, region or community to be affected. Modernization is the acquisition of the values and material goods associated with so-called developed nations by the so-called less developed nations. 12

13 Globalization At a top political and economic level, globalization is the process of denationalization of markets, politics and legal systems, i.e., the rise of the socalled global economy. The consequences of this political and economic restructuring on local economies, human welfare and environment are the subject of an open debate among international organizations, governmental institutions and the academic world. 13

14 From The Internet Brigade "In considering the 454,000 Textile and Apparel workers that have lost their jobs in the past 64 months, Senator Roth might be asked to consider that there are currently only 421,200 jobs in all of Delaware; Senator Baucus might recall that in all of Montana, there are only 389,800 jobs. There are now a total of 279,800 jobs in Alaska; Wyoming has only 235,800 jobs; Vermont has 295,900 jobs, South Dakota has 380,800 jobs and North Dakota has 325,000 jobs. This means that in just over five years, Textile and Apparel job losses already exceed the total number of jobs in each of seven states and appear set to pass an eighth state, Rhode Island with 468,600 jobs, this summer." 14