What Is Diffusion In Sociology

Cultural Improvidence in Sociology: Definition & Examples

By Charlotte Nickerson, published June 16, 2022 | Fact Checked past Saul Mcleod, PhD

Cultural Diffusion is the procedure past which knowledge, innovation, language, or cultural characteristics are spread within or betwixt cultures or communities.

In other words, it is the process of cultural alter in which elements of 1 culture are adopted by members of another civilization. Diffusion can occur through various means including trade, war, migration, and advice.

The English language language is one case of cultural diffusion. The language was first introduced to the British Isles by Germanic invaders in the 5th century. Nevertheless, it was not until the Norman Conquest of 1066 that the linguistic communication began to lengthened throughout England.

The Normans were French speaking and their influence on the English language can yet be seen today — in fact, almost 45% of mod English language vocabulary originates from the French language (Whiten, Caldwell, & Mesoudi, 2016).

Central Points

Cultural improvidence is the spread of culture through contact with other cultures.
There are 4 chief types of cultural improvidence: contagious, hierarchical, stimulus, and relocation diffusion. The first 3 of these fall nether the larger category of expansion diffusion.
Diffusion tin happen through the mechanisms trade, technology, migration, and colonization.
Cultural improvidence has played a part in the spread of language, religion, and art, as well every bit other major social institutions.

Food: One of the most obvious examples of cultural diffusion is the spread of food items and cuisine around the world. For instance, Italian pasta and pizza, Chinese stir fry, and Indian curry have all become popular in the United Kingdom and other countries (Whiten, Caldwell, & Mesoudi, 2016).
Article of clothing: Another example of cultural diffusion is the way in which clothing styles have been adopted by people in unlike cultures. For instance, jeans were originally designed for American cowboys but are now worn by people all over the earth. Similarly, traditional Japanese kimonos are at present sometimes worn as mode items in the Due west (Whiten, Caldwell, & Mesoudi, 2016).
Music: Music is another grade of culture that has undergone diffusion. For instance, Hip-Hop music originated in African American communities in New York City simply has since go mainstream across all races. Hip Hop artists take spread from the Us to locales as far as France and Republic of korea (Whiten, Caldwell, & Mesoudi, 2016).

Types of Cultural Diffusion

Expansion diffusion is when innovations spread to new places while staying strong in their original locations.

An example of this would be the spread of the English language to dissimilar parts of the world.

Religions tin also undergo expansion diffusion — for example, Christianity was originally only adept in the Middle Due east merely eventually diffused to Europe and other parts of the globe.

Expansion diffusion tin be acquired by various factors including trade, migration, and colonialism (Pitzi & Pitzi, 2004).

Contagious improvidence is when an innovation or concept spreads rapidly throughout a population, like an epidemic.

Contagious diffusion usually happens when people are in close contact with 1 another, such as in a school or workplace.

This type of improvidence is often seen with fads — for example, and so-chosen "mom-jeans" or the popularity of trip the light fantastic toe challenges (Pitzi & Pitzi, 2004).

Hierarchical diffusion, meanwhile, is The spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority or ability to other persons or places. This authority can be seen as either a small group or a society.

The diffusion of "Parisian" manner, royal fashion trends, religious doctrine, and glory tweets can all be attributed to hierarchical diffusion (Pitzi & Pitzi, 2004).

In the 21st century, companies and brands often pay influential people to apply their products in an attempt to influence youth subcultures.

This mirrors the hierarchical diffusion of the past in European monarchies, where kings and queens would set up trends for abundance.

For example, Queen Victoria'south wedding in the early 1800s set off a global trend of brides wearing white nuptials dresses in an attempt to project the affluence of the imperial family (Pitzi & Pitzi, 2004).

Stimulus diffusion is when an idea or concept is adopted by a culture after being exposed to another culture. In this adoption, the adopters give the concept a new and unique form.

The concept of cipher, for case, was showtime developed by the Mayans and later diffused to India, where it was integrated into a greater system of math.

Similarly, the game of chess is believed to accept originated in India before being diffused to Persia and so Europe, but not without fundamental changes.

Stimulus diffusion is often seen in the arts, where new styles and genres are adopted by artists after existence exposed to other cultures, merely are mixed by that artist'southward ain influences to create a novel fashion (Pitzi & Pitzi, 2004).

Finally, relocation diffusion is a unique course of cultural improvidence that happens when migrants motility from one location to another.

This type of improvidence is differentiated from contagious improvidence or hierarchical improvidence in that it is not a type of expansion diffusion (Pitzi & Pitzi, 2004).

Blues, for case, is a genre of music that originated from African slaves working on American cotton plantations. It is characterized by a fashion known as phone call-and-response.

Songs are composed in a 2-phrase pattern, with the 2nd phrase existence a direct response or commentary on the beginning. This is a distinctive element of West African music — the region of the world where many slaves came from (Pitzi & Pitzi, 2004).

Mechanisms: How Does Civilization Spread?

There are several theories that effort to explain how and why cultural diffusion occurs:

Direct vs Indirect

I of the most primal explanations is the distinction between direct and indirect diffusion. Direct improvidence happens when ii cultures take close contact with 1 some other, such as through merchandise or migration.

This close contact allows for a more immediate and unmediated commutation of ideas, and is often the crusade of contagious diffusion. Indirect improvidence, on the other paw, happens when there is no direct contact between cultures, but ideas are exchanged indirectly through a third culture.

The spread of Islam to Indonesia, for example, happened indirectly through Indian traders who introduced the faith to the archipelago — despite the fact that islam had originated in the Middle E (Fort, Crema, & Madella, 2015).

Interaction of cultures

The interaction of cultures is another popular theory that attempts to explicate how cultural improvidence happens.

This theory posits that cultures are not static, merely are constantly changing and evolving through their interactions with other cultures. This tin happen through trade, war, migration, and other forms of contact. The interaction of cultures leads to a process of acculturation (Fort, Crema, & Madella, 2015).

Acculturation is the process by which a culture adopts the community and ideas of another civilisation. This tin happen on an private level, such as when someone moves to a new country and adopts the customs of their new abode.

It can likewise happen on a larger scale, such as when a state is colonized by another country and adopts its customs (Fort, Crema, & Madella, 2015).

Charlotte Nickerson is a fellow member of the Class of 2024 at Harvard University. Coming from a research background in biology and archaeology, Charlotte currently studies how digital and physical space shapes human behavior, norms, and behaviors and how this can be used to create businesses with greater social impact.

Content is rigorously reviewed past a team of qualified and experienced fact checkers. Fact checkers review articles for factual accurateness, relevance, and timeliness. We rely on the virtually current and reputable sources, which are cited in the text and listed at the bottom of each article. Content is fact checked after it has been edited and before publication.

This article has been fact checked past Saul Mcleod, a qualified psychology instructor with over 17 years' feel of working in farther and higher educational activity. He has been published in psychology journals including Clinical Psychology, Social and Personal Relationships, and Social Psychology.

Nickerson, C. (2022, June 16). Cultural Diffusion in Sociology: Definition & Examples . Just Sociology. https://simplysociology.com/cultural-diffusion.html