For example, a new technology, such as railroads or smartphones, might introduce new ways of traveling or communicating. New ideas, such as flash mobs or crowdfunding, enter a culture. Sociologists identify two broad categories of change as innovation (meaning new) and diffusion (to spread out). Material cultural change happens when new items are discovered or invented or enter a culture as a result of globalization.
Innovation
Cultures continually change because new items are added to material culture every day and in turn, meanings are assigned to them (non-material), which affects other cultural components.
Source & attribution
Introduction to Sociology 3e — High, Low, Pop, Sub, Counter-culture and Cultural Change
OpenStax contributors · OpenStax, Rice University
CC BY 4.0. Text excerpted; whitespace normalised and empty cross-references removed; learning prompts added. No illustrations reproduced.
Source edition: 2024-08-29T14:10:53Z
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