Culture Is Continuous, but It Changes

Theories of Cultural Change ANTH 2301 Paradox 1: Culture Is Continuous, but It Changes A culture maintains some degree of continuity across time by the transmission of cultural artefacts, customs, and ideas from elder to younger members of the community. Nevertheless, a variety of circumstances may interfere with this process of cultural reproduction and modify the components and aggregates of culture either somewhat or significantly. In certain situations, younger individuals either purposefully reject the cultural teachings taught to them by their elders or fail to learn them accurately. People discover various ways of doing things via commerce and travel, and they bring these ideas back to their own cultures to experiment with and see whether they can make a positive difference in the way they live. New possibilities are introduced via intentional experimentation and accidents. People could just become bored with doing things the same way over and over again and become enthralled with a novel approach or fad. Four primary processes of cultural transformation are discernible. A culture's history is shaped throughout time by the intersections and interactions of these four processes. A cultural element diffuses as it moves from one civilization to another, usually as a result of migration or commerce. Conflict between two or more cultural components can lead to friction and the replacement or modification of those aspects. Innovation is the subtle modification of an established cultural aspect, such a new dance or clothing form. The autonomous development of a new cultural component, such as a new political structure, religion, or technology, is called invention. As human migration takes place, construction techniques and ideals must adapt to the new environment's problems and materials, as seen in the examples at the beginning of this section. Even when they don't function well in the conditions of colonial conquest, dominating groups may present the methods and ideas of their own homelands as "superior" in colonial and neocolonial situations. Certain cultural innovations are so successful that they completely alter a people's way of life. Think about the information technologies—like computers, the Internet, and cell phones—that have transformed American life since the 1970s. The methods that Americans work, learn, shop, navigate, and pass the time have all altered as a result of these technologies. These innovations have spread via commerce and changed societies throughout in a variety of ways. There is friction between the two domains in many countries as face-to-face interaction rules and technological ways of communication clash. In environments where young women's movements, conduct, and social interactions are strictly regulated, mobile phones, for example, enable women to covertly meet new acquaintances, delve into uncharted conversational territory, and partake in activities that their elders would not approve of. The energies of creation and innovation might take off and then fade away. Ralph Hasty was a disc jockey from southwest Missouri who relocated to Northern California in the 1970s and stayed there for a long time. There, he became aware of a novel approach to constructing geodesic domes—homes made of interlocking polygons put together from prefabricated kits. He moved back to southwest Missouri in the late 1980s, taking his passion for geodesic building with him. On a plot of rural property, he erected a geodesic dome house using a kit that he had bought, with the intention of selling it and using the proceeds to create more of these amazing structures. Obviously, things did not go as planned. It seems that the residents thought the house was too strange to fit their idea of a home. The dome seemed to be a futuristic greenhouse or zoo habitat from the outside. Conventional furniture was too big for the asymmetrically structured spaces inside the dome. After several months of being on the market, he was forced to sell the geodesic home at a loss. It should be noted that the inventor of the geodesic dome, Ralph Hasty, spent the remainder of his life in a traditional rectangular home.