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How Does Cultural Change Occur

Recent years have seen a rise in interest in what social scientists call cultural change. This area of study looks at how societal values shift over time, and why some shifts occur more quickly than others. Cultural changes can be positive or negative, but most are not significant enough to notice unless you look for […]

By
LNGFRM Team
Published December 5, 2022

Recent years have seen a rise in interest in what social scientists call cultural change. This area of study looks at how societal values shift over time, and why some shifts occur more quickly than others.

Cultural changes can be positive or negative, but most are not significant enough to notice unless you look for them. When you do that, however, you may find that your perception of things like society, culture, and people is ever-changing!

Overall, cultural change helps us learn about who we are as individuals and societies by showing us where strengths and weaknesses lie. This can help you identify which parts of yourself you should work on developing and which you should try to avoid.

It also can tell you something about other cultures because studying past examples is one way to understand how different groups got to where they are now. In fact, many successful strategies used to spread an idea or influence will make sense when you read up on earlier versions of that idea or influence.

There are several theories about what causes small incremental changes, but none seem fully convincing. We probably won’t know until future generations pass away and we get their stories secondhand via oral tradition or written documents.

This article will discuss two possible explanations for why small, gradual changes happen so frequently in human history and prehistory. They’re both interesting, so choose either one and focus on that.

The media affects culture

how does cultural change occur

Changing how we perceive something is an important way that cultural change occurs. When people look at something for different reasons, it can influence their perception of what they see in the item, as well as their perceptions of other things related to it.

There are many instances where society makes changes due to differences in the way media presents messages or materials. For example, when children’s cartoons include strong themes suchas death, killing, or violence, this may have a lasting effect on young viewers.

As adults, we get influenced by the media we watch, listen to, and read. This could be having an overall negative impact on our culture.

When individuals experience negative emotions towards a product, message, person, or place more frequently than positive ones, this creates a culturally skewed perspective.

This is why it is so hard to find positives about Donald Trump – his actions fuel emotional reactions which are then used to define who he is as a person.

It becomes difficult to separate what you know him to be like as a person before all of these experiences from what has been exposed to you since then.

Changing how we perceive something is an important way that cultural change occuors. When people look at something for different reasons, it can influenci etheirperceptionofwhattheyseeintheitem, as well as their perseptions ofotherthingsrelatedtotheitem.

Enforcing cultural change

how does cultural change occur

Changing how people behave is not an easy task. It takes time, effort, and sometimes confrontation. This isn’t always fun to do, but it’s important to remember that things can easily go wrong in our society.

We live in a very unequal world right now. If you look around yourself, you will see lots of buildings with fancy roofs, large homes with private yards, and cars parked in driveways with no doubt about who their owners are.

But we also have a growing homeless population, empty storefronts, and busy sidewalks full of people trying to find food, shelter, and work. We are living in a period where inequality seems to be rising rapidly, and there are many reasons for this.

It is important to understand why this happens before doing anything about it. This article will talk about some potential causes of social inequality.

After reading these, you will know what factors contribute to inequalities in income, resources, and power in our societies and how to prevent them.

Understanding cultural change

how does cultural change occur

There are three major components to understanding how culture changes. These components include changing attitudes, behavior, and values. Changing attitudes happens when individuals recognize that something is wrong or bad and then come to agree with it being replaced by something better.

Changing behaviors occur when people realize they are doing something wrong and then they learn how to do it more efficiently or effectively. This way of thinking and acting is what comes next – replacing the old habit with a new one.

Value shifts happen when people reevaluate the importance of an item or thing. For example, before you could not afford fresh produce so you would buy packaged food instead. Now we emphasize eating healthy foods and growing your own!

All three of these things take time to occur and be fully implemented. It may take weeks, months, or even years for a given population to make such significant changes. But once they do? Boom! Culture has changed.

A culture change occurs when:

how does cultural change occur

.

Positive attitudes towards the change

how does cultural change occur

Recent studies show that it is not just individuals who are reluctant to adopt new behaviors, but whole groups as well. This has been referred to as group resistance or collective reluctance. When enough people in your organization share the same negative attitude about something, it can prevent changes from happening.

This makes sense because when enough people have the same feeling or perception of something, it creates an empty space in their subconscious where no feelings exist.

If these people are given the opportunity to do things differently, they may feel uncomfortable doing so, even if it is for good.

Another reason why this happens is due to what’s known as social comparison. People compare themselves with others around them, looking at how they perform certain tasks and deciding whether they should try to be like them or not.

Based on this theory, if you look at everyone else working outside during a rainstorm, you’ll probably choose to stay inside too. It could be because you don’t want get wet or you don’t want to waste money by taking a bus instead of driving, but also maybe because you’re more likely to catch a disease from being exposed to the water.

It’s impossible to know unless you ask other workers, but making assumptions isn’t always the best approach.

Consistent use of the new behavior

how does cultural change occur

Changing social norms is not easy, but it is possible! Recent studies have indicated that it may be more effective to focus on consistently using the new behaviors rather than trying to switch from the old ones. This theory was proposed in a paper published in The Psychological Journal back in 2008. They called this process “incidental influence” or “passive norm change.”

The authors pointed out that most people do not actively try to promote socially acceptable practices. For example, when you watch someone eat an ice cream bar, you probably don’t think about eating healthy foods as the next thing they could do.

Instead, they might put the wrapper away and then grab a cookie because they are hungry. By repeating this pattern over and over, we begin to add habits that are influenced by their actions instead of forcing us to comply with what they do.

Social support for the change

how does cultural change occur

Changing how we talk about an issue or topic is often made easier by what people around us are saying about it. They may call out stereotypes, use slang that includes your target group, emphasize positive qualities of the targeted group, or offer alternative ways to approach issues related to the topic.

They might even argue in favor of the existing way of doing things!

Such supportive conversations happen all the time, but they can be difficult to find when you’re looking for them.

That’s why it’s important to create opportunities for such discussions to occur. You can do this through social events, informal chats, courses, seminars, etc. — anywhere there are potential examples of changing behavior or conversations supporting new behaviors.

By exposing yourself to these situations, you increase your chances of running into others who share similar beliefs and experiences as you. This creates more opportunity for meaningful conversation, which is one of the major drivers of behavioral change.

On top of that, studies show that exposure to different perspectives helps broaden our understanding and appreciation for other points of view, making it more likely we’ll adopt newer behaviors ourselves.

Negative attitudes towards the change

how does cultural change occur

A large part of why cultural changes fail is because people have already made up their mind about the topic, making it hard to influence them. When enough people have similar beliefs, no one feels like they need to give things a try.

There are many reasons that someone might feel this way. It could be due to fear or worry of trying something new, lack of knowledge or understanding of what changing will do for them, or even if they believe they’re not needed in the company anymore.

Whatever the reason, people who work for companies that can’t seem to make any progress must deal with hurt feelings and resentment. They put in a lot of effort into creating a great workplace culture, and then nothing happens.

It can become discouraging and demotivating for others working at those organizations to keep going beyond the breaking point. If you’ve ever felt like giving up before starting an exercise program, diet, or career change, you know how difficult it can be to stay motivated.

Fortunately, there are ways to prevent such discouragement and create more momentum for lasting lifestyle changes. Here are some tips.

Author

  • LNGFRM Team

    Frank DiBernardo handles LNGFRM's Foodie and Miscellaneous writing tasks. He's always getting ideas from users, so don't be afraid to send an email to the editor.

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