Culture Change

1
Culture Change
2
Wallersteins World System Theory

• Wallerstein has argued that international trade
  has led to the creation of a capitalist world
  economy in which a social system based on wealth
  and power differentials extends beyond individual
  states.
• The world system is arranged according to
  influence core (most dominant), to
  semi-periphery, to periphery (least dominant).

3
Wallersteins World System Theory

• The core consists of the strongest and most
  powerful nations in which technologically
  advanced, capital-intensive products are produced
  and exported to the semiperiphery and the
  periphery.
• The semiperiphery consists of industrialized
  Third World nations that lack the power and
  economic dominance of the core nations (Brazil is
  a semiperiphery nation).
• The periphery consists of nations whose economic
  activities are less mechanized and are primarily
  concerned with exporting raw materials and
  agricultural goods to the core and semiperiphery.

4
The World System Today

• World system theory argues that the present-day
  interconnectedness of the world has generated a
  global culture, wherein the trends of
  complementarity and specialization are being
  manifested at an international level.
• The spread of industrialization and
  overconsumption has taken place from the core to
  the periphery.

5
The World System Today

• The modern world system is the product of
  European imperialism and colonialism.
• Imperialism refers to a policy of extending rule
  of a nation or empire over foreign nations and of
  taking and holding foreign colonies.
• Colonialism refers to the political, social,
  economic, and cultural domination of a territory
  and its people by a foreign power for an extended
  period of time.

6
Forces of Change

• Change through trade
• Diffusion
• Modernization
• Innovation

7
Revitalization Movements

• Religious movements that act as mediums for
  social change are called revitalization
  movements.
• - steady state slow cultural change
• - increased individual stress
• - cultural distortion things fall apart
• - revitalization
• - new steady state
• Ghost Dance Example
• Cargo Cult Example

8
Development

• An intervention philosophy is an ideological
  justification for interference in the lives of
  natives, based upon the assumption that one is in
  possession of a superior way of doing or
  thinking.
• British Empire white man's burden.
• French Empire mission civilisatrice.
• Economic development plans industrialization,
  modernization, westernization, and individualism
  are desirable evolutionary advances that will
  bring long-term benefits to natives.

9
Problems

• Problems Associated with Narrowly Focused
  Intervention and Development.
• Situations construed as problems resulting from
  an indigenous lifestyle may in fact be a result
  of the world systems impact on that lifestyle.
• The systemic effects of development projects may
  actually be harmful (e.g., tax and rent increases
  in response to raised income).
• Narrowly focused experts are not as likely to be
  aware of the broad-spectrum implications of
  development schemes.

10
Equity

• A commonly stated goal of development projects is
  increased equity, which means a reduction in
  poverty and a more even distribution of wealth.
• This goal is frequently thwarted by local elites
  acting to preserve or enhance their positions.

11
The Third World Talks Back

• Applied anthropologists have been criticized for
  ethnocentrism in their own approaches to
  development (see the reference to Guillermo
  Batalla).
• Too much focus on multiple and micro-causes while
  ignoring major social inequalities.
• Early projects were too psychologically oriented.
• Too much focus on technological diffusion as the
  primary source of change.
• Other critics have pointed out associations
  between anthropologists and certain government
  agencies.

12
Underdifferentiation

• Underdifferentiation is the tendency to overlook
  cultural diversity and view less-developed
  countries as alike.
• Many development projects incorrectly assume that
  the nuclear family is the basic unit of
  production and land ownership.
• Many development projects also incorrectly assume
  that cooperatives based on models from the former
  Eastern bloc will be readily incorporated by
  rural communities.

13
Indigenous Rights

• Rights to Resources
• Intellectual Property Rights