Essay Undergraduate 620 words

Mechanisms and Barriers of Cultural Change Explained

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Abstract

This paper examines the major processes through which cultures change and the barriers that can prevent such change. Drawing on theorists including Barnett, Inglehart and Welzel, and Rochon, the paper outlines causes of cultural change — from diffusion and acculturation to war, technology, and cross-cultural contact. Special attention is given to Rochon's three-part framework: value conversion, value creation, and new associations between previously unrelated values. The paper also considers ethnocentrism as the primary barrier to cultural change, noting how extreme cultural insularity can produce reactance against new ideas while acknowledging that even exposure alone may produce subtle, imperceptible shifts.

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What makes this paper effective

The paper synthesizes multiple theoretical perspectives concisely, moving from broad causes to a specific analytical framework without losing clarity.
Concrete examples — such as shifting Western attitudes toward homosexuality and the Catholic Church's reconciliation with Darwinian evolution — ground abstract concepts in recognizable real-world cases.
The concluding observation about imperceptible change adds nuance to the discussion of ethnocentrism, avoiding an overly binary treatment of resistance versus acceptance.

Key academic technique demonstrated

The paper effectively uses a layered citation strategy: it opens with multiple theorists to establish breadth, then focuses on one framework (Rochon's three modes) to provide analytical depth. This move from survey to focused analysis is a hallmark of efficient academic writing at the undergraduate level.

Structure breakdown

The paper opens with a survey of causes of cultural change, transitions into Rochon's three-part typology of value change presented with illustrative examples, and closes with a discussion of ethnocentrism as the primary barrier to change. A brief but insightful qualifier ends the body before a standard reference list. The structure is compact and logically progressive.

Causes of Cultural Change

Cultural change can occur from any number of events, including diffusion, acculturation, innovation, new technology, new discoveries, or contact with other cultures (Steward, 1990). Barnett (1953) proposed that cultures change through a process of innovation, which represented an overall process of change in mental constructs. Other theorists have posited that cultural change comes about due to such processes as natural disasters, colonization or war, changes in communication, and trade or exchanges between different cultures (Inglehart & Welzel, 2005).

Perhaps the most complete description of the processes that affect cultural change comes from Rochon (1998), who posited that cultural change can occur as a result of a change in values. There are three general processes of change that can stimulate a change of values in cultures (Rochon, 1998).

Rochon's Three Modes of Value Change

The first mode is a conversion of values, such as was seen in the latter half of the twentieth century when views on homosexuality changed in the West from those of an abhorrent or disordered behavior to an acceptable lifestyle understood as the result of probable genetic and environmental interactions. In this mode of change, previous value systems are transformed into new ones.

The second mode is a creation of values, which can occur for any number of reasons — including discovery or invention, contact with new and different cultures, or the emergence of new situations not yet previously experienced. This mode of change occurs when something new or different is imposed on a culture.

The third mode involves a new association or connection between previously believed unrelated values. In this mode, value systems that were not considered related or connected in the past are suddenly viewed as sharing some type of association. For instance, it was once widely held that the theory of Darwinian evolution and the Catholic Church's doctrine of creation were polar opposite ideas. However, the Catholic Church has more recently taken the stance that evolution reflects the process of divine creation and that the two ideas are not necessarily disparate.

All of the possible mechanisms of cultural change — such as diffusion, acculturation, war, invention, and exchange of ideas — fall within at least one of these three proposed general modes of cultural change discussed by Rochon (1998) and provide the stimulus for how cultures change.

2 Locked Sections · 200 words remaining

Ethnocentrism as a Barrier to Cultural Change · 120 words

"How ethnocentrism produces resistance to cultural change"

References · 80 words

"Cited sources in APA format"

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Key Concepts in This Paper

Cultural Change Ethnocentrism Value Conversion Value Creation Acculturation Diffusion Reactance Rochon Framework Cross-Cultural Contact Innovation