🧿 Sociology UPSC Optional 🧿

https://youtu.be/ehBHP8RYLX0?si=cZw- How people to people exchange promote cultural diffusion Sociology Syllabus Topic-Paper-1 {Diffusionist theory of Cultural Change - M.J Herskovits} {Ideational theory of Cultural Change - Max Weber} Herskovits emphasized race as a sociological concept, not a biological one. He also helped forge the concept of cultural relativism, particularly in his book Man and His Works. This book examines in depth the effects of westernization on Africans of diverse cultures who were brought during slavery to the Americas, and who then developed a distinctly different African-American culture as a product of this displacement. As LeRoi Jones has commented on this text, some believe that the introduction of these Africans to Christianity is what propelled such westernization.] Christian concepts shifted slave narratives from an emphasis on travelling home to their African countries of origin to traveling home to see their Lord, in Heaven. The development of African-American Christian churches, which served as one of the only places to provide these peoples with access to social mobility, further established a distinctly western culture among Africans in America. Along with these churches came Negro spirituals, which are cited as likely the first kind of music native to America made by Africans. Nonetheless, the development of such spirituals included direct influence from the African roots. This became apparent in a number of aspects of the spirituals, from the inclusion of call and response lines and alternate scales to the varied timbres and rhythms. All of this goes to show that Herskovits's claims in this book carry much truth and accuracy in regards to the establishment of the African American identity as descendant of that of the African, and how music played into such shifts. Frazier emphasized how Africans had adapted to their new environment in the Americas. Herskovits was interested in showing elements of continuity from African cultures into the present community. After World War II, Herskovits publicly advocated independence of African nations from the colonial powers. He strongly criticized American politicians for viewing African nations as objects of Cold War strategy. Frequently called on as an adviser to government, Herskovits served on the Mayor's Committee on Race Relations in Chicago  Foreign Relations Committee ) . Difference between Diffusion and Acculturation ( Very Important ) Expectedly, diffusion does not lead to change in both the cultures. In acculturation, however, both cultures adopt elements from each other and in this way exhibit change. Herskovits distinguishes between diffusion and acculturation in following words, ‘diffusion is study of achieved cultural transmission while acculturation is the study of cultural transmission in process’. This means, that diffusion assumes that contact between culture did take place some time in the course of which elements got transferred from one culture to the other. Acculturation, on the other hand, obtains from contact between cultures that can be demonstrated While diffusion refers to the spread of cultural traits from one culture to another and is in this sense it is a one-way transaction, acculturation refers to exchange of cultural traits between cultures through direct contact in a way that both cultures undergo change. The situation of contact between two cultures could arise due to immigration of groups of people, conquest of one population by another or any other means. What is important to note is that diffusion does not call for exchange of cultural elements while exchange of cultural elements is an essential feature of acculturation. agency and reproduction metanarrative Juggernaut