Cultural refers to the fundamental way in which a society leads its daily life by its existing norms and traditions. Cultural change denotes a shift in the community’s customs, traits, social structure, and behavioral patterns. These changes result in a permanent alteration to the community’s setup and operations. Members abandon their old ways and adopt new or learned codes of living from other sources. Cultural change occurs primarily to adapt to a new environment.
Cultural change in a given society occurs by various mechanisms, such as the acculturation and ethnocide process of change. This refers to a change in culture that is inevitable. It occurs when a weaker society interacts with another powerful one, and it adapts its culture willingly or by force (Haviland et al., 2015). In most cases, the majority culture colonizes the minorities. The two forms have different ways of implementing the change.
In acculturation, two cultures come into contact and form a deep connection leading to the change. The minority culture gradually becomes disintegrated as the members learn the dominating culture. However, in this process, the cultural markers, including the customs, foods, and language, are maintained (Haviland et al., 2015). This aids the weaker society to be able to identify themselves as a distinct culture. The change is always voluntary and results from a peaceful coexistence rather than due to a conquest or forces coexistence.
The majority cultures however, do not remain stable as it was before as it adapts new features from the minority culture. On the other hand, ethnocide refers to the total extermination of a particular culture. The powerful society, in this case, inevitably develops and transmits its cultural patterns without limitation. The weaker ethnic group is denied the right to practice or identify their cultures. This involves a massive violation of the human freedoms of a given community.
An example that illustrates the acculturation and ethnocide mechanism is the African cultural change during the colonization. During this period, the powerful European nations invaded and conquered African nations. The Europeans who sought to control Africa’s resources were too powerful compared to the Africans (Mashau et al., 2019). They took lands and established their settlements amongst the African societies. Their interactions led to a massive change in the norms and traditions of the African communities. They abandoned their cultural markers and adapted to the western lifestyle.
Some communities resisted the change, leading to the forceful implementation of the change through killings and subjection to heavy work. In contrast, others welcomed them and voluntarily accepted the change. One of the cultural aspects that were changed was the marriage norms. Initially, Africans practiced polygamy; a man could marry any number of wives. The Europeans, through Christianity, discouraged the trait and made Africans embrace monogamy (Mashau et al., 2019). Through the biblical teachings, Africans accepted to follow the new rules of Christianity. The church only allowed them to wed one woman with whom they could start a family.
In conclusion, cultural change describes the process of a society abandoning its traditional customs, norms, beliefs, patterns of behavior, and beliefs. There can be different reasons for change, but the main aim is to adopt changes in the community’s daily living. One of the mechanisms of cultural change is acculturation and ethnocide. This is where a weaker society adapts to the culture of another community that is powerful. This was the case in Africa during colonization, where Africans had to abandon their cultures voluntarily or forcefully. For instance, the African marriage form, where polygamy was allowed, was replaced by the biblical marriage of monogamy.
References
Haviland, W. A., Prins, H. E., Walrath, & McBride, B. (2015). The essence of anthropology (4th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Mashau, T. D., & Kgatle, M. S. (2019). Prosperity gospel and the culture of greed in post-colonial Africa: Constructing an alternative African Christian Theology of Ubuntu. Verbum et Ecclesia, 40(1), 1-8.