What is the term that refers to the spread of a culture trait from its place of origin to new areas?

The word "culture" generally refers to a specific group's particular way of life. Culture includes the social meanings of various aspects of life, such as race, ethnicity, values, languages, religions, and clothing styles.

Though many distinct cultures are prevalent around the world today, those that are the most dominant have origins in one of a few areas called "culture hearths." These are the heartlands of various cultures and, historically, there are seven main locations from which the most dominant cultural ideas have spread.

The seven original culture hearths are:

1. The Nile River Valley
2. The Indus River Valley
3. The Wei-Huang Valley
4. The Ganges River Valley
5. Mesopotamia
6. Mesoamerica
7. West Africa

These regions are considered culture hearths because such key cultural practices as religion, the use of iron tools and weapons, highly organized social structures, and the development of agriculture started and spread from these areas. In terms of religion, for example, the area around Mecca is considered the culture hearth for the Islamic religion and the area from which Muslims initially traveled to convert people to Islam. The spread of tools, social structures, and agriculture spread in a similar manner from each of the culture hearths.

Also important to the development of early culture centers are culture regions. These are areas that contain dominant cultural elements. Though not everyone in the culture region has the same cultural traits, they are often influenced by the center's traits in some way. Within this system, there are four components of influence:

1. The Core: the heart of the area that shows the most strongly expressed culture traits. It is usually the most heavily populated and, in the case of religion, features the most famous religious landmarks.
2. The Domain: surrounds the Core. Though it has its own cultural values, it is still strongly influenced by the Core.
3. The Sphere: surrounds the Domain.
4. The Outlier: surrounds the Sphere.

Cultural diffusion is the term used to describe the spread of cultural ideas from the Core (in the case of culture regions) and the culture hearth. There are three methods of cultural diffusion.

The first is called direct diffusion and occurs when two distinct cultures are very close together. Over time, direct contact between the two leads to an intermingling of the cultures. Historically this occurred through trade, intermarriage, and sometimes warfare because members of the various cultures interacted with each other for long periods. An example today would be the similar interest in soccer in some areas of the United States and Mexico.

Forced diffusion or expansion diffusion is the second method of cultural diffusion and takes place when one culture defeats another and forces its beliefs and customs onto the conquered people. An example of this would be when the Spanish took over lands in the Americas and later forced the original inhabitants to convert to Roman Catholicism in the 16th and 17th Centuries.

The term "ethnocentrism" is often related to forced diffusion. Ethnocentrism refers to the idea of looking at the world only from one's own cultural vantage point. As a result, people participating in this form of diffusion often believe that their cultural beliefs are superior to those of other groups and, in turn, force their ideas upon those they conquer.

In addition, cultural imperialism is usually placed into the category of forced diffusion as it is the practice of actively promoting cultural characteristics such as language, food, religion, etc., of one nation in another. Cultural imperialism normally occurs within forced diffusion because it frequently happens through military or economic force.

The final form of cultural diffusion is indirect diffusion. This type of diffusion happens when cultural ideas are spread through a middleman or even another culture. An example here would be the popularity of Italian food throughout North America. Technology, mass media, and the internet are all playing a huge role in promoting this type of cultural diffusion around the world today.

Because cultures develop over time, new dominant areas of dominant culture have done so as well. Today's modern culture hearths are places such as the United States and world cities like London and Tokyo.

Areas such as these are considered modern culture hearths because of the prevalence of their cultural aspects now present throughout much of the world. Examples of modern cultural diffusion include the popularity of sushi in Los Angeles, California, and Vancouver, British Columbia and the presence of Starbucks in places like France, Germany, Moscow, and even in China's Forbidden City.

Direct diffusion has certainly played a role in this new spread of cultural values and products, and people are now moving around frequently because of today's ease of travel. Physical barriers such as mountain ranges and oceans no longer hinder people's movement, and there is a resultant spread of cultural ideas.

It is indirect diffusion, though, which has had the largest impact on the spread of ideas from places like the United States to the rest of the world. The internet and advertising through the many forms of mass media have allowed people worldwide to see what is popular in the U.S. As a result, blue jeans and Coca-Cola products can be found even in remote Himalayan villages.

In whatever ways cultural diffusion occurs now or in the future, it has happened many times throughout history and will continue to do so as new areas grow in power and pass on their cultural traits to the world. The ease of travel and modern technology will only aid in speeding up the process of modern cultural diffusion.

It is estimated that there is over 6,500 spoken languages in the world today. Countries with a large number of indigenous groups tend to have the most languages. In Papua New Guinea that only has a population of about 5 million, there are over 800 languages. Other countries like Belgium (French and Flemish) and Canada (English and French) are officially bilingual, while others have one predominant language and some minority languages e.g. in France about 500,000 either speak Corsican or Breton. The most widely spoke language in the world is Mandarin, followed by English and Spanish. The UN has six official languages; Arabic, Mandarin, English, French , Russian and Spanish. However, despite the wide variety of languages, many languages are being lost. English has become an international language. It is the first language used in many international conferences, in business transactions, in media, and in transport. It is also the language most commonly taught as a second language. Despite many languages being lost, there is a fight to preserve others. In Wales in the UK there have been many laws introduced to protect the language, including making it compulsory up to in all Welsh high schools.

BBC- International companies using only English

‘Historic’ assembly vote for new Welsh language law – BBC article.

newgeography.com – The Decline and Fall of the French Language [25 August 2011]

TIME – France Bids Adieu to the Word ‘Hashtag’ [30 January 2013]

Cultural traits – customs

These are common patterns of behaviour found with particular countries or regions that are then passed down through generations. Examples may include bowing to elders, not tipping, taking of shoes inside houses and celebrating certain days e.g. St. Patrick’s (Paddy’s) Day. Some of these customs may get diluted as young people see different behaviour in the media, while others may grow. St. Patrick’s Day is a classic example. Not only are there now Irish bars around the World, but also the day is celebrated around the World, New York actually has a St. Patrick’s Day parade.

swissôtel – The Ultimate Guide to Worldwide Etiquette

Travel Etiquette – Etiquette in Japan

China cracks down on Christmas – The Guardian 2019

Cultural traits – beliefs

There are five major religions in the World i.e. Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and Taoism. Out of these probably only Islam and Christianity can be regarded as truly global. However, even these world religions have many different sects e.g. Islam has Sunni, Shia, Wahhabi, etc., while Christianity has Roman Catholic, Baptist, Church of England, etc. However, despite the growth of some religions e.g. Islam, many are seeing a reduction in the number practicing. Secularism is also on the rise in many countries like France and the UK. Source

This wiki link will take you to a map of world religions:

Cultural traits – clothing

Most countries have traditional dress e.g. the ao dai in Vietnam and the sari in India. However, globalisation has meant that in many countries traditional dress is worn less as global fashions take over e.g. jeans. Some cultures though do follow strict dress codes either by choice or by law in Saudi Arabia women have to wear an abaya and head scarf, in Afghanistan women also had to wear a full burka (although these restrictions have now been slightly relaxed). At the other end of the extreme in 2010 the French government decided that the burkha is a sign of repression and banned its wearing in public. The decision was upheld by the European court in 2014. (Guardian article)

Nike Pro Hijab – The US sports company now produces products specifically for Muslim women seeking to cover their hair. In 2019 Decathlon stopped producing theirs following political comments.

Dress code rebels [30 April 2007]

Cultural traits – music

Most regions have traditional styles of music, traditional instruments and national or regional songs e.g. Italy is very much associated with opera. However, the growth of the internet, TV and radio mean that people are exposed to different styles of music. The power of TNCs to sell their artists means that certain styles of music e.g. rock, pop, rap, R&B have become dominant. Many countries managed to retain some of their national music style through their national anthems. TV shows like Eurovison may also promote music styles from some countries, not normally exposed to an international audience.

how music travels – the evolution of western dance music

The role of music in human culture [Blogger, requires VPN in China]

Cultural traits – food

Most countries have traditional dishes that they are famous for e.g. Kushari in Egypt. Many countries also have regional dishes e.g. Wigan in England for pies. However, with increased migration global foods have spread around the world and most cities now have Indian, Chinese, Thai, Mexican, Italian and French restaurants. Most cities also have fast food restaurants like Burger King, KFC and McDonald’s. With the globalisation of food there has also been the development of fusion food e.g. the mixing of food from two or more countries and the development of seemingly foreign dishes in surrogate countries e.g. Chicken tikka masala which is seen as a Indian dish was actually invented in Birmingham, UK. As well regional foods there are also foods associated with religions e.g. Hindu’s will not eat beef while Muslims will not eat Pork. Muslim and Jews also specify that their food should follow strict criteria for slaughter, preparation, etc. For Muslims this is known as Halal food for Jews Kosher food. In short globalisation has probably increased the variety of foods available and reduced the consumption of traditional dishes. It has also changed people’s diet, which has caused health problems in some countries e.g. the growth of fast food in Asian countries has increased obesity and heart disease.

One of the earliest examples of globalisation  in food – The chicken (Guardian)

The world’s favourite foods: interactive [16 June 2011]

Korean-Mexican food at an LA-styled restaurant in Beijing!

BBC News – US Chinese restaurant opens in Shanghai (Nov 2015)

A brief history of Bananas

The Guardian – Banana variety risks wipe out

The French Taco – The Guardian (March 2019)

Cultural traits – technology

The development of technology can certainly change culture. The development of agricultural equipment e.g. tractors and combine harvesters has meant that the number of agricultural societies around the world has decreased. The development of contraception and the medical procedure of abortion has brought about debate in the Catholic church. Also the development of computers and phones has possibly reduced face-to-face contact both in social and business settings.

Cultural traits – relationships

There are two main forms of marriage; monogamy (between two people) and polygamy (one man and multiple females). The incidence of polygamy is probably decreasing as women become more independent, but globalisation/development has also brought many other changes in marriage. Some countries have legalised same sex marriages or certainly allow civil partnerships (California ban on gay marriage ruled unconstitutional – BBC article). Also many people are choosing to get married later, in the UK the average age is now over 30 (Average age for women to marry hits 30 for first time – Telegraph Article) and some people are choosing to not get married. Divorce has also increased in most parts of the world. Divorce in China up 41% [December 2013]

Catholic schoolteacher fired for seeking to marry [December 2013]

Task: read this article and summarise the main points in 50 words.

Bhutan case study

Bhutan: Country Profile: BBC article

Bhutan TV follows cyber launch – BBC article

Has TV Changed Bhutan? – BBC article

Bhutan looks to raise annual tourism target to 100,000 – BBC article

Cultural Imperialism

The IB defines this concept as: ‘The practice of promoting the culture/language of one nation in another. It is usually the case that the former is a large, economically or militarily powerful nation and the latter is a smaller, less affluent one.’

Here’s one example of one culture being promoted over another…

British Council

China and Africa

China in Africa – the real story

China in Africa – soft power, hard cash

Coca-Cola

Click the image for an article on a French alternative to Coca-Cola:

Cultural imperialism, a very good explanation http://visar.csustan.edu/aaba/Essay.pdf
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_3_64/ai_n6060907/
Wikipedia on Cocacolonization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocacolonization
Coca Cola’s company website http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/ourcompany/index.html
Coca Cola’s sustainability page http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/index.html
Coca Cola’s Middle Easter rumour busting webpage http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/contactus/myths_rumors/middle_east.html
Coca Cola UK http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/
Coke’s micro distribution centres in Africa http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/community/micro-distribution-centres.html
Cokezone http://www.cokezone.co.uk/home/index.jsp

And there’s plenty of anti-coke sentiment out there:

Killer coke
http://killercoke.org/ Russian calendar

http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2009/02/05/russian-anti-coca-cola-calendar/

http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2004/risingstruggles.html