HOW ARE CULTURES SUSTAINED AND DIFFUSED Local Folk

HOW ARE CULTURES SUSTAINED AND DIFFUSED?

Local & Folk Cultures often have two goals: 1. keeping other cultures out. (create a boundary around itself) 2. keeping their own culture in. (avoid cultural appropriation) Opposing TV in Bhutan

Assimilation and Cultural Appropriation ■ Local cultures try to avoid being assimilated and culturally appropriated. ■ Assimilation- example: making American Indians into “Americans” rather than “Indians”. ■ When the less dominant culture adopts the traits of a more dominant culture so completely that the two culture become indistinguishable, this is referred to as cultural assimilation. ■ Cultural appropriation- process by which other cultures will adopt customs and knowledge and use them for their own benefit. (most often for wealth or prestige)

Acculturation ■ Sometimes, an immigrant wants to become part of the dominant culture, so they will selectively adopt certain customs of the dominant society. ■ Perhaps for the purposes of advancing socioeconomically. ■ They will still retain much of their native customs, practices, and beliefs.

Transculturation ■ The process of merging and converging cultures ■ Loss of the existing culture ■ Can be fought at first, but generally is accepted over time ■ Example: American culture influencing other countries – Language, dress, music, movies, etc…

Commodification How are aspects of local culture (material, non-material, place) commodified? what is commodified? who commodifies it?

Taboos ■ Behaviors heavily discouraged by a culture ■ Ex: taboos against eating certain food, such as pork or insects ■ Ex: 1800 s-earlier 1900 s- taboos in the US regarding marriages between Catholics and Protestants

Cultural Complex ■ Interrelated traits of a culture combined to make an idea to society what the culture is all about Social Status - Wealth - Age Freedom - Independence - Self-reliance Automobile Entertainment - Media - Sports Rite of Passage - “Sweet 16” - Midlife crisis

How do cultural traits diffuse? Hearth: the point of origin of a cultural trait. Contagious diffusion Hierarchical diffusion Reverse-hierarchical

How are hearths of popular culture traits established? ■ Typically begins with an idea/good and contagious diffusion. ■ Companies can create/manufacture popular culture. (ie. MTV) ■ Individuals can create/manufacture popular culture. (ie. Tony Hawk, Beyonce)

With Distance Decay, the likelihood of diffusion decreases as time and distance from the hearth increases. EX: Core to Periphery, Urban to Rural With Time-Space Compression, the likelihood of diffusion depends upon the connectedness among places. EX: Core to S. P. or Core, Urban to Urban Which applies more to popular culture?