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Cultural Change

• Last Updated: Jul 31, 2023

Cultural change refers to the transformation, modification, or shifts in the cultural patterns of a society over time. This change might manifest in beliefs, values, norms, symbols, and artifacts, among others [1] . In anthropology , understanding cultural change is essential as it helps in deciphering the underlying factors that drive societies to adapt or evolve.

Definition and Characteristics

Cultural change is the dynamic transformation of shared practices, beliefs, and behaviors within a community or society over time. It involves an alteration in the collective mindset, often in response to changes in the environment, technology, or social dynamics [2] .

Characteristics of Cultural Change

• Dynamic: Cultural change is never static; it continually evolves and adapts [3] .
• Influence of External Factors: Changes often occur in response to technological advances, political shifts, or global events [4] .
• Variable Pace: Change can occur slowly through evolution or rapidly as a revolution [5] .
• Irreversible: Once a culture changes, it often cannot return to its previous state [6] .
• Inclusive: Cultural change affects almost all aspects of society, from language to social norms [7] .

Factors Influencing Cultural Change

Cultural change is influenced by a myriad of interconnected factors that interact in complex ways. Here are some primary factors:

1. Technological Advancements

Table 1: Impact of Technology on Cultural Change

Technology plays a significant role in shaping cultural norms by introducing new ways of communication, work, and leisure.

2. Economic Changes

Economic fluctuations influence cultural change by altering social structures, roles, and interactions within a community. The growth of global economies has led to a shift in traditional roles and relationships.

3. Political Factors

Political systems, governance, laws, and policies directly impact cultural change, affecting everything from individual rights to the overall societal framework.

4. Environmental Factors

Climate change and environmental degradation have driven communities to adapt their cultural practices to sustainably interact with their surroundings.

5. Social Interactions and Migration

Social interactions, migration, and globalization contribute to the mixing of cultures, leading to mutual influences and the emergence of hybrid cultural forms.

Recent Updates and Emerging Trends in Cultural Change

Understanding cultural change is an ongoing journey, and in recent years, new insights and developments have emerged. Below, we delve into some of these updates:

1. Digital Culture and Social Media

The rise of social media and digital platforms has created new cultural dynamics, affecting everything from identity formation to political activism. This phenomenon has led to significant debates and research into the effects of online interaction on cultural norms.

2. Climate Change and Sustainability

With the urgent need for climate action, there’s a global shift towards sustainable living. This movement has affected cultural practices, leading to a more conscious relationship with the environment and a change in consumer behaviors.

3. Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced unprecedented changes in cultural behaviors worldwide. Social distancing and remote work have altered traditional practices and may have lasting impacts on cultural dynamics.

4. Globalization and Cultural Hybridization

Globalization continues to drive the fusion of various cultural elements, leading to the emergence of hybrid cultures. This complex interaction provides both opportunities for enrichment and challenges in maintaining cultural identities.

Cultural Change in Specific Contexts

Analyzing cultural change in specific regions or contexts allows for more nuanced understanding. Some examples include:

A. Urbanization and Cultural Shifts

Table 2: Urbanization and Its Impact on Cultural Change

Urbanization continues to shape cultural patterns, especially in emerging economies, where rapid urban growth leads to significant social and cultural transformations.

B. Indigenous Cultures and Change

Indigenous communities are experiencing cultural change driven by various factors such as legal recognition, integration into the national economy, and environmental changes.

Implications and Future Directions

Understanding cultural change is vital for shaping policies, education, and global collaboration. It offers insights into how societies respond to challenges and opportunities, providing a roadmap for fostering positive growth and development.

Future Research

More interdisciplinary research is required to understand the complex interplay between different factors influencing cultural change. Collaboration between anthropologists, sociologists, economists, and environmental scientists can provide a comprehensive view.

Policy Implications

Governments and organizations must recognize the importance of cultural change in shaping policies that are responsive to societal needs and aligned with global trends.

Cultural change is an intricate and continually evolving process, deeply ingrained in the fabric of human existence. The study of cultural change offers profound insights into human nature and society, helping us navigate the complexities of our ever-changing world. Recent developments like digital transformation, sustainability movements, and global pandemics further emphasize the need to continuously explore and understand the dynamics of cultural change.

[1] Kroeber, A. L., & Kluckhohn, C. (1952). Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions.

[2] O’Neil, D. (2006). Cultural Anthropology Tutorials, Behavioral Sciences Department, Palomar College, San Marcos, California.

[3] Tylor, E. B. (1871). Primitive Culture.

[4] Inglehart, R., & Baker, W. E. (2000). Modernization, Cultural Change, and the Persistence of Traditional Values. American Sociological Review, 65(1), 19-51.

[5] Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization.

[6] Boas, F. (1887). The Study of Geography. https://www.jstor.org/stable/664572

[7] Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures.

Vasundhra, an anthropologist, embarks on a captivating journey to decode the enigmatic tapestry of human society. Fueled by an insatiable curiosity, she unravels the intricacies of social phenomena, immersing herself in the lived experiences of diverse cultures. Armed with an unwavering passion for understanding the very essence of our existence, Vasundhra fearlessly navigates the labyrinth of genetic and social complexities that shape our collective identity. Her recent publication unveils the story of the Ancient DNA field, illuminating the pervasive global North-South divide. With an irresistible blend of eloquence and scientific rigor, Vasundhra effortlessly captivates audiences, transporting them to the frontiers of anthropological exploration.

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• College essay
• How to Write a Diversity Essay | Tips & Examples

How to Write a Diversity Essay | Tips & Examples

Published on November 1, 2021 by Kirsten Courault . Revised on May 31, 2023.

Table of contents

What is a diversity essay, identify how you will enrich the campus community, share stories about your lived experience, explain how your background or identity has affected your life, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about college application essays.

Diversity essays ask students to highlight an important aspect of their identity, background, culture, experience, viewpoints, beliefs, skills, passions, goals, etc.

Diversity essays can come in many forms. Some scholarships are offered specifically for students who come from an underrepresented background or identity in higher education. At highly competitive schools, supplemental diversity essays require students to address how they will enhance the student body with a unique perspective, identity, or background.

In the Common Application and applications for several other colleges, some main essay prompts ask about how your background, identity, or experience has affected you.

Why schools want a diversity essay

Many universities believe a student body representing different perspectives, beliefs, identities, and backgrounds will enhance the campus learning and community experience.

Admissions officers are interested in hearing about how your unique background, identity, beliefs, culture, or characteristics will enrich the campus community.

Through the diversity essay, admissions officers want students to articulate the following:

• What makes them different from other applicants
• Stories related to their background, identity, or experience
• How their unique lived experience has affected their outlook, activities, and goals

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Think about what aspects of your identity or background make you unique, and choose one that has significantly impacted your life.

For some students, it may be easy to identify what sets them apart from their peers. But if you’re having trouble identifying what makes you different from other applicants, consider your life from an outsider’s perspective. Don’t presume your lived experiences are normal or boring just because you’re used to them.

Some examples of identities or experiences that you might write about include the following:

• Race/ethnicity
• Gender identity
• Sexual orientation
• Nationality
• Socioeconomic status
• Immigration background
• Religion/belief system
• Place of residence
• Family circumstances
• Extracurricular activities related to diversity

Include vulnerable, authentic stories about your lived experiences. Maintain focus on your experience rather than going into too much detail comparing yourself to others or describing their experiences.

Keep the focus on you

Tell a story about how your background, identity, or experience has impacted you. While you can briefly mention another person’s experience to provide context, be sure to keep the essay focused on you. Admissions officers are mostly interested in learning about your lived experience, not anyone else’s.

When I was a baby, my grandmother took me in, even though that meant postponing her retirement and continuing to work full-time at the local hairdresser. Even working every shift she could, she never missed a single school play or soccer game.

She and I had a really special bond, even creating our own special language to leave each other secret notes and messages. She always pushed me to succeed in school, and celebrated every academic achievement like it was worthy of a Nobel Prize. Every month, any leftover tip money she received at work went to a special 509 savings plan for my college education.

When I was in the 10th grade, my grandmother was diagnosed with ALS. We didn’t have health insurance, and what began with quitting soccer eventually led to dropping out of school as her condition worsened. In between her doctor’s appointments, keeping the house tidy, and keeping her comfortable, I took advantage of those few free moments to study for the GED.

In school pictures at Raleigh Elementary School, you could immediately spot me as “that Asian girl.” At lunch, I used to bring leftover fun see noodles, but after my classmates remarked how they smelled disgusting, I begged my mom to make a “regular” lunch of sliced bread, mayonnaise, and deli meat.

Although born and raised in North Carolina, I felt a cultural obligation to learn my “mother tongue” and reconnect with my “homeland.” After two years of all-day Saturday Chinese school, I finally visited Beijing for the first time, expecting I would finally belong. While my face initially assured locals of my Chinese identity, the moment I spoke, my cover was blown. My Chinese was littered with tonal errors, and I was instantly labeled as an “ABC,” American-born Chinese.

I felt culturally homeless.

Speak from your own experience

Highlight your actions, difficulties, and feelings rather than comparing yourself to others. While it may be tempting to write about how you have been more or less fortunate than those around you, keep the focus on you and your unique experiences, as shown below.

I began to despair when the FAFSA website once again filled with red error messages.

I had been at the local library for hours and hadn’t even been able to finish the form, much less the other to-do items for my application.

I am the first person in my family to even consider going to college. My parents work two jobs each, but even then, it’s sometimes very hard to make ends meet. Rather than playing soccer or competing in speech and debate, I help my family by taking care of my younger siblings after school and on the weekends.

“We only speak one language here. Speak proper English!” roared a store owner when I had attempted to buy bread and accidentally used the wrong preposition.

In middle school, I had relentlessly studied English grammar textbooks and received the highest marks.

Leaving Seoul was hard, but living in West Orange, New Jersey was much harder一especially navigating everyday communication with Americans.

After sharing relevant personal stories, make sure to provide insight into how your lived experience has influenced your perspective, activities, and goals. You should also explain how your background led you to apply to this university and why you’re a good fit.

Include your outlook, actions, and goals

Conclude your essay with an insight about how your background or identity has affected your outlook, actions, and goals. You should include specific actions and activities that you have done as a result of your insight.

One night, before the midnight premiere of Avengers: Endgame , I stopped by my best friend Maria’s house. Her mother prepared tamales, churros, and Mexican hot chocolate, packing them all neatly in an Igloo lunch box. As we sat in the line snaking around the AMC theater, I thought back to when Maria and I took salsa classes together and when we belted out Selena’s “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” at karaoke. In that moment, as I munched on a chicken tamale, I realized how much I admired the beauty, complexity, and joy in Maria’s culture but had suppressed and devalued my own.

The following semester, I joined Model UN. Since then, I have learned how to proudly represent other countries and have gained cultural perspectives other than my own. I now understand that all cultures, including my own, are equal. I still struggle with small triggers, like when I go through airport security and feel a suspicious glance toward me, or when I feel self-conscious for bringing kabsa to school lunch. But in the future, I hope to study and work in international relations to continue learning about other cultures and impart a positive impression of Saudi culture to the world.

The smell of the early morning dew and the welcoming whinnies of my family’s horses are some of my most treasured childhood memories. To this day, our farm remains so rural that we do not have broadband access, and we’re too far away from the closest town for the postal service to reach us.

Going to school regularly was always a struggle: between the unceasing demands of the farm and our lack of connectivity, it was hard to keep up with my studies. Despite being a voracious reader, avid amateur chemist, and active participant in the classroom, emergencies and unforeseen events at the farm meant that I had a lot of unexcused absences.

Although it had challenges, my upbringing taught me resilience, the value of hard work, and the importance of family. Staying up all night to watch a foal being born, successfully saving the animals from a minor fire, and finding ways to soothe a nervous mare afraid of thunder have led to an unbreakable family bond.

Our farm is my family’s birthright and our livelihood, and I am eager to learn how to ensure the farm’s financial and technological success for future generations. In college, I am looking forward to joining a chapter of Future Farmers of America and studying agricultural business to carry my family’s legacy forward.

Tailor your answer to the university

After explaining how your identity or background will enrich the university’s existing student body, you can mention the university organizations, groups, or courses in which you’re interested.

Maybe a larger public school setting will allow you to broaden your community, or a small liberal arts college has a specialized program that will give you space to discover your voice and identity. Perhaps this particular university has an active affinity group you’d like to join.

Demonstrating how a university’s specific programs or clubs are relevant to you can show that you’ve done your research and would be a great addition to the university.

At the University of Michigan Engineering, I want to study engineering not only to emulate my mother’s achievements and strength, but also to forge my own path as an engineer with disabilities. I appreciate the University of Michigan’s long-standing dedication to supporting students with disabilities in ways ranging from accessible housing to assistive technology. At the University of Michigan Engineering, I want to receive a top-notch education and use it to inspire others to strive for their best, regardless of their circumstances.

If you want to know more about academic writing , effective communication , or parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Academic writing

• Writing process
• Transition words
• Passive voice
• Paraphrasing

 Communication

• How to end an email
• Ms, mrs, miss
• How to start an email
• I hope this email finds you well
• Hope you are doing well

 Parts of speech

• Personal pronouns
• Conjunctions

In addition to your main college essay , some schools and scholarships may ask for a supplementary essay focused on an aspect of your identity or background. This is sometimes called a diversity essay .

Many universities believe a student body composed of different perspectives, beliefs, identities, and backgrounds will enhance the campus learning and community experience.

Admissions officers are interested in hearing about how your unique background, identity, beliefs, culture, or characteristics will enrich the campus community, which is why they assign a diversity essay .

To write an effective diversity essay , include vulnerable, authentic stories about your unique identity, background, or perspective. Provide insight into how your lived experience has influenced your outlook, activities, and goals. If relevant, you should also mention how your background has led you to apply for this university and why you’re a good fit.

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How to Get Beyond Talk of “Culture Change” and Make It Happen

Experts outline their roadmap for intentionally changing the culture of businesses, social networks, and beyond.

February 20, 2024

Calls for cultural transformation have become ubiquitous in the past few years, encompassing everything from advancing racial justice and questioning gender roles to rethinking the American workplace. Hazel Rose Markus recalls the summer of 2020 as a watershed for those conversations. “Everybody was saying, ‘Oh, the culture has to change,’” says Markus, a professor of psychology at Stanford. “It was just rolling off everybody’s lips in every domain.” Yet no one seemed to know what exactly that might entail or how to get started.

As they followed these discussions, Markus and her colleagues Jennifer Eberhardt and MarYam Hamedani wondered what they could contribute at this moment as experts with years of experience studying how communities and organizations can turn the desire for change into something real. “Culture is all around us, but at the same time, it feels out of reach for a lot of people,” says Eberhardt, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business and of psychology in the School of Humanities and Sciences.

Markus and Eberhardt are the faculty co-directors of Stanford SPARQ , a “do tank” that brings researchers and practitioners together to apply the lessons of behavioral science to combating bias and disparities; Hamedani is its executive director and senior research scientist. Recently, along with associate director of criminal justice partnerships Rebecca Hetey , they published an evidence-based roadmap to intentional cultural change in American Psychologist . They hope, Hamedani says, to illustrate “a path forward and to make the claim that culture change is possible.”

Stanford Business spoke with Eberhardt, Hamedani, and Markus to discuss the complexities of changing a culture and how leaders and readers who are committed to doing things differently can get started.

You start the paper with the “four I’s,” categories you believe can help people map their cultures and see where there might be tensions or mismatches. Using organizational cultures as an example, can you take us through those?

Hazel Rose Markus: There are the ideas , the big ideologies that are foundational for any organization: This is how we do things, what’s good, and what we value. Then the institutional parts, which are the everyday policies and practices that people use to do their work. Often, those have been in place for a long time and people tend to follow them as if they were the natural order of things. Another I is the interactions, which have to do with what’s going on in the office every day, in your relationships with your colleagues, with the people you supervise, with those you answer to. And finally, the fourth part is your own individual attitudes, feelings, and actions.

Is there a way to sum up your roadmap for changing culture?

MarYam Hamedani: The first key idea is because we built it, we can change it. There are many forces out there that are out of our control, but the societies we build and pass on — the organizations, the institutions, the way we live our lives — those are things that are human-made. And so we should feel empowered by that inheritance because that’s the thing that gives us the ability to make change.

The second part is that culture change usually involves a series of power struggles and clashes and divides. You have different groups that feel like they’re winning and losing. There’s a lot at stake for people. It’s important to try to have strategies to deal with that.

Finally, culture change can be unpredictable and have unintended consequences. Yet the dynamics can also follow patterns — for example, backlash happens. Timing matters. So you have to be nimble; you have to realize that cultural change never ends. It’s a sustainable process that you have to stay on top of, and that’s OK.

Markus: Yes, changemakers can’t be discouraged when they see backlash. Also, we want to help people remember that yes, they are individuals, but they are also making culture through their actions. How our everyday actions can contribute to a larger culture and to its change is something I think we are less likely to think about in our individualistic system.

Hamedani: Right. We are individuals and in charge of our own behavior, but then we are powerful as a group.

Markus: With each other, what are we modeling? What are we putting our efforts behind? What’s the impact on the workplace?

Your paper was written with the problem of social inequality in mind. What message does it have for business leaders?

Jennifer Eberhardt: As business leaders, you have both a lot of power and, I think, a lot of obligation to understand the workings of culture. You have the power to pull the levers of change. You dictate what the social environment is like for everyone else. So you have a heavy hand in creating and sustaining the culture that is there — but you can also have a heavy hand in changing that culture for the better.

Markus: When culture change is on the agenda, you often hear leaders — like those in the tech industry — and the first thing they often say is, “OK, I’m going on a listening tour.” But you rarely hear about what they’re going to listen for or what they heard from those who report to them or how they’re going to put that into action.

Listening is valuable because it conveys empathy, but it is useful to listen specifically for what people understand as the important values of our organization, the undergirding ideas. What are we about? What are we trying to be as an organization? And, very importantly, do our policies and practices reflect these ideas and values and our mission? We can say we’re about one thing or another, but how is it materialized? How does it show up in our everyday work? Is there a general alignment across the four I’s of the culture?

You worked with Nextdoor on a project to change its culture. How did that go?

Eberhardt: They reached out to me and other researchers trying to figure out how to curb racial profiling on their platform. In the tech industry, people are focused on building products that are easy to use, products that are intuitive, so that users don’t really have to think too hard. But those are also conditions under which racial bias might thrive. So we encouraged them to slow users down, to increase friction rather than trying to take friction away.

Quote As business leaders, you have both a lot of power and, I think, a lot of obligation to understand the workings of culture. You have the power to pull the levers of change. Attribution Jennifer Eberhardt

They accomplished this by creating a checklist for users to review before posting on a Nextdoor forum. The first thing they ask people to consider is that a person’s race is not an indication of their criminal activity. And also when they describe a person, you don’t just describe their race, you describe their behavior. What are they doing that seems suspicious? Nextdoor found that just simply slowing people down in this way, based on these social psychological principles, they were able to reduce profiling by over 75%.

They were trying to solve for something at the interaction level. What they could change was what the experience was like for users at the institutional level. Just by making these simple tweaks to the platform itself and how they presented information, they changed these negative interactions that were taking place that then could also shape people’s ideas about race.

You also talk in the paper about the example of investment firms struggling to become more diverse.

Markus: Typically this has been the territory of white men with economics degrees from Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton. It was a closed and locked world. In studies we did in the investing domain, we found that race can influence professional investors’ financial judgments. Many people in the industry would like to create a culture that is more open and inclusive, but there is a powerful default assumption at work that acts as a barrier. In a lot of these firms, the default is still, “I know in my gut what a successful idea is and who is likely to build a company that can grow. I can see it and feel it, and either you match or you don’t match.”

It seems like a point of tension where the institutional level says it wants change, but at the interaction level, this is still a relationship-driven industry. So what do you do about that?

Hamedani: It depends where in the culture map you want to start. Let’s say you diversify the students coming in and getting MBAs. Then you have to look at how are they’re being mentored and supported through their schooling experience, through the internships and job opportunities that they have. Are you simply assuming that they should assimilate to the default? Are you training a new, exciting, and diverse group of people to act like those that have been there all along? Or are you incorporating their ideas and diverse ways of being that might look or sound different and affording them the same respect and status? Are you teaching them how to do a pitch a certain way because there’s only one right way to do a pitch? Or might they have other styles of communication or ways of selling an idea?

At the GSB, Jennifer has a class, Racial Bias and Structural Inequality , where she brings in all these amazing CEOs who are women and people of color. Most of the students, they’ve never seen it before. And that’s what happens to people in these investment firms: They haven’t seen it before. Even that intervention of seeing, week after week, these leaders coming in and the students get to ask them questions and have a conversation with them — that’s an interaction .

Eberhardt: I had Sarah Friar , MBA ’00, the CEO of Nextdoor, come in. I had the president of Black Entertainment Television, Scott Mills , come in; I had the police chief of San Francisco, William Scott , come in — they are both African American.

And the hope is that these students who will go on to work in the business world will have a broader definition of what is a “culture fit”?

Hamedani: Exactly right. And more specifically, a “leader fit.” And for women and students of color, that they can also see themselves as leaders. But it takes things happening at all levels in the culture map to make that happen. You’re seeding this change and then the levels are reinforcing each other to help it grow.

What would you recommend as a starting place for readers who are thinking that they want to spark intentional cultural change wherever they are?

Markus: It would begin with mapping the culture: What matters to us, what do we value? And then, to the extent that there’s some consensus about our culture, reflecting on whether our ways of doing things reflect this. In so many organizations we’re working with now, there’s really a gap between what leaders feel their values are, what they care about, and what the employees are experiencing. What we see is that it’s important to give the employees chances to get together to talk about this and have some company time, some paid time, to discuss these issues —

Hamedani: — to vision the future. Because there’s that virtue signaling, “OK, we care about that, but really we’re so busy and we have all these things to do. We have to hit our targets for the quarter or for the year.” Of course, those things are important, but are people — employees and leaders alike — participating in visioning that future and laying out the goals and objectives together? Can you make some small or even larger changes such that people feel empowered that they’re part of building that culture together?

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

For media inquiries, visit the Newsroom .

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May 30, 2023 Will a Police Stop End in Arrest? Listen to Its First 27 Seconds. Researchers have identified a linguistic signature that can predict whether encounters with cops will escalate. Black drivers hear this pattern as well.

August 01, 2023 Follow the Leader: How a CEO’s Personality Is Reflected in Their Company’s Culture There’s no ideal personality type for executives — but businesses need the right one for success.

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• Essay Database >
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• Essay on Culture

Free Essay On Cultural Change

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Culture , Development , Organization , Sociology , Social Studies , Knowledge , World , Amendment

Published: 01/18/2022

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Introduction

Cultural change is seen as the alteration of a community through modernization, development as well as the contact with alternate communities (Global Sociology, 2016). This paper is going to explain about what is culture along with when it is essential. According to “Quappe and Cantatore” in their article concerning “what culture awareness entails.” It is clear that cultural change engrosses the potential of one being able to draw back from ourselves and getting conscious of our cultural principles, attitudes as well as discernments. The authors go further to state that “cultural change becomes more vital when we have to interrelate with individuals from alternate cultures (2016).” Concerning this explanation on cultural change, it is definite that people observe, understand along with estimate things in an alternate way. What is perceived as suitable for one culture is usually incompatible with the other one. An Article by “James McCalman and David Potter” on when is cultural change essential is explained regarding an organization alteration. It is seen that to understand the benefits as well as challenges in an organization. It is important for one to appreciate the cultural theory that is found in the body. Shifting culture is eventually alarmed by leadership along with the power problems (McCalman & Potter, 2015). The significance of culture depends upon our close connection to the ways through which we believe as well as stay. Discrepancies in culture have led to an assortment of the people from diverse parts of the universe. Thus, from the second article, it can be said that cultural change is essential in the way we approach our means of living.

Based on the two articles, it is clear that cultural change serves as the starting renaissance doctrines in our present day lives. They also shape our perception concerning things, character along with personality.

Global sociology. Cultural Change. Retrieved from http://globalsociology.pbworks.com/w/page/14711169/Cultural%20Change McCalman. & Potter, D. (2015). The Key Importance of Culture in Organizational Change. Retrieved from http://www.Koganpage.com/article/the-key-imporatnce-of-culture-in- organization-change Quappe, S. & Cantatore, G. (2016). What is Cultural Awareness, anyway? How do I build it? Retrieved from http://www.culturiosity.com/articles/whatisculturalawareness.htm

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• Frontiers in Psychology
• Cultural Psychology
• Research Topics

Cultural change: Adapting to it, coping with it, resisting it, and driving it.

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With rapid social and economic changes, there is an increased interest in understanding the psychological impact of being in a society in transition, whether those changes are due primarily to internal pressures (e.g., cultural revolution, modernization, etc.) or due primarily to external pressures ...

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Literature and Cultural Change

2016, REAL Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature

What are the connections between literature and culture, and between literature and cultural change? Literature and its conventions are obviously subject to cultural change, and can be used as documentary evidence of particular aspects of culture and cultural change. But how are its aesthetic dimensions and cognitive affordances related to such change, both within the intrinsic dynamics of cultures as systems of signification and in the manifold contacts with other cultures? And how does literature itself contribute to cultural change? The essays in this volume examine the impact of cultural change on the evolution of literature, and they investigate how literature – from the early modern period to the present – has been an active agent in motivating, instigating or hindering cultural change, trying to speed it up or slow it down. Ranging from early modern drama to poetry of the First World War and from contemporary ecopoetry to migrant literature of the 1950s, they explore questions of literature and cultural change from theoretical and historical perspectives in literary and cultural studies.

Related Papers

REAL: Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature

Gero Guttzeit

Due to its formulaic nature, detective fiction is not only highly interesting with regard to generic change in its own right, but also an indication of, or, one might say, a clue to cultural change. In such a vast field, my interest here lies specifically in the significance of the sidekick narrator of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes narratives, namely John H. Watson, M.D., whose importance for the genre is almost proverbial and yet who has so far been granted relatively little extended scholarly scrutiny.

Phillip Stambovsky

Nihilism as a school of thought views any positive system of meanings or values as ultimately baseless, as something that we fabricate and project on our surviving traditional narratives, our politics, even language itself. Whatever the conventional belief we happen to cherish about the transcendent nature of, say, good and evil or beauty and truth or God, the nihilist dismisses it as resting on foundations that are all-too-human, and finally baseless. Faith in divinity, morality, and "the meaning of it all" are little more than pathetic illusions, as the nihilist sees it. They are groundless convictions that we derive self-interestedly from human sentiments and human-scale appearances rather than from inexorable cosmic laws and realities, "those purblind doomsters" (as Thomas Hardy called them). The sharp scalpel of nihilistic skepticism, mercilessly indifferent to what it dissects, coldly exposes our goods and our beauties and our gods as constructs-anthropomorphic, or at least anthropocentric-mere projections of human will and desire cast, like our planet, in a universal vacuum. It goes without saying that nihilism, a now-familiar and even celebrated theme in the arts, poses an acute challenge to many who take religious faith seriously in an increasingly post-traditional world. This challenge is one that Flannery O'Connor, a devout Catholic, and almost alone among her modernist literary peers, took as a call to

Humanities Bulletin Journal

José Manuel Correoso Rodenas

The influence of Edgar Allan Poe in many later authors is beyond any doubt. Themes, characters, locations, scenes, etc., have been used by writers belonging to a wide range of varieties. Among them, Flannery O'Connor acknowledged how Poe had influenced her fiction, and these influences can be traced through some of her most iconic pieces. This essay focuses on how O'Connor retold some of the key elements of the poem "The Raven" and included them in three of her short stories.

The Wenshan Review of Literature and Culture

Neekta Khorsand

Ilaria Desogus

Midrash is a body of homiletic stories in the Jewish tradition told by Rabbinic sages to comment on the Old Testament. Written down in the second century, existing scholarship has explored many aspects of how midrash was used by these communities. However, by expanding and reimagining how midrash can be studied, we can argue there exists a midrash genre in film adaptation that is a part of this genre of commentary that extends through secular literature to the original writing of the Hebrew Bible. This can be proven by breaking down the functional structure of the homiletic midrash and mapping it through the work of Flannery O’Connor, specifically looking at how her first novel, Wise Blood and John Huston’s film adaptation of the same novel act within this extended midrash genre to comment on Southern Protestant Christianity from O’Connor’s vexed Catholic worldview. If film could be studied as an extension of religious creative exegesis, especially one consistent with the internal tradition found within the writing of sacred texts, then this reimagining of midrash could have many implications for how we understand and study religious reimagination and reinterpretation in the modern world, as well as opening the door to studying the creative exegesis happening right in front of us.

Natalie Wilson

Louis Maltese

In the early part of the 20th century German Catholic theologian and cultural critic, Romano Guardini, published The End of Modernity, outlining the conceptual shift of self-identity and cosmology from Antiquity to Modernity. Characterizing modernity as turning upon a false self-identity termed “mass man.” This false image of life furthers the individual person’s fragmentation, and deafens their ability to hear the Catholic voice. Walker Percy’s familiarity with Guardini is most explicit in The Last Gentleman where Percy represents the difficulty of hearing the call of Catholicism. Recently, Paul Elie and Dana Gioia have pointed out the lacking literary presence of Catholic authors in American culture, sparking debate among literary critics like Gregory Wolfe. I hold the position that this was foreseen by the Catholic intellect of the early twentieth century, articulated by Romano Guardini and employed in the fiction of Walker Percy. This paper focuses on articulating the difficulties faced by Catholic literature almost half a century ago and placing them in the context being discussed by contemporary critics. Concluding that if a Catholic novelist’s job is to make belief believable, a more productive and illuminating question is whether contemporary Catholic novelists face the same, if not more or less, difficult task of communicating the Catholic voice than their mid-twentieth century predecessors.

Jacob Pride

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Cultural Identity Essay

27 August, 2020

12 minutes read

Author:  Elizabeth Brown

No matter where you study, composing essays of any type and complexity is a critical component in any studying program. Most likely, you have already been assigned the task to write a cultural identity essay, which is an essay that has to do a lot with your personality and cultural background. In essence, writing a cultural identity essay is fundamental for providing the reader with an understanding of who you are and which outlook you have. This may include the topics of religion, traditions, ethnicity, race, and so on. So, what shall you do to compose a winning cultural identity essay?

Cultural Identity Paper: Definitions, Goals & Topics 

Before starting off with a cultural identity essay, it is fundamental to uncover what is particular about this type of paper. First and foremost, it will be rather logical to begin with giving a general and straightforward definition of a cultural identity essay. In essence, cultural identity essay implies outlining the role of the culture in defining your outlook, shaping your personality, points of view regarding a multitude of matters, and forming your qualities and beliefs. Given a simpler definition, a cultural identity essay requires you to write about how culture has influenced your personality and yourself in general. So in this kind of essay you as a narrator need to give an understanding of who you are, which strengths you have, and what your solid life position is.

Yet, the goal of a cultural identity essay is not strictly limited to describing who you are and merely outlining your biography. Instead, this type of essay pursues specific objectives, achieving which is a perfect indicator of how high-quality your essay is. Initially, the primary goal implies outlining your cultural focus and why it makes you peculiar. For instance, if you are a french adolescent living in Canada, you may describe what is so special about it: traditions of the community, beliefs, opinions, approaches. Basically, you may talk about the principles of the society as well as its beliefs that made you become the person you are today.

So far, cultural identity is a rather broad topic, so you will likely have a multitude of fascinating ideas for your paper. For instance, some of the most attention-grabbing topics for a personal cultural identity essay are:

• Memorable traditions of your community
• A cultural event that has influenced your personality 
• Influential people in your community
• Locations and places that tell a lot about your culture and identity

Cultural Identity Essay Structure

As you might have already guessed, composing an essay on cultural identity might turn out to be fascinating but somewhat challenging. Even though the spectrum of topics is rather broad, the question of how to create the most appropriate and appealing structure remains open.

Like any other kind of an academic essay, a cultural identity essay must compose of three parts: introduction, body, and concluding remarks. Let’s take a more detailed look at each of the components:

Introduction 

Starting to write an essay is most likely one of the most time-consuming and mind-challenging procedures. Therefore, you can postpone writing your introduction and approach it right after you finish body paragraphs. Nevertheless, you should think of a suitable topic as well as come up with an explicit thesis. At the beginning of the introduction section, give some hints regarding the matter you are going to discuss. You have to mention your thesis statement after you have briefly guided the reader through the topic. You can also think of indicating some vital information about yourself, which is, of course, relevant to the topic you selected.

Your main body should reveal your ideas and arguments. Most likely, it will consist of 3-5 paragraphs that are more or less equal in size. What you have to keep in mind to compose a sound ‘my cultural identity essay’ is the argumentation. In particular, always remember to reveal an argument and back it up with evidence in each body paragraph. And, of course, try to stick to the topic and make sure that you answer the overall question that you stated in your topic. Besides, always keep your thesis statement in mind: make sure that none of its components is left without your attention and argumentation.

Conclusion 

Finally, after you are all finished with body paragraphs and introduction, briefly summarize all the points in your final remarks section. Paraphrase what you have already revealed in the main body, and make sure you logically lead the reader to the overall argument. Indicate your cultural identity once again and draw a bottom line regarding how your culture has influenced your personality.

Best Tips For Writing Cultural Identity Essay

Writing a ‘cultural identity essay about myself’ might be somewhat challenging at first. However, you will no longer struggle if you take a couple of plain tips into consideration. Following the tips below will give you some sound and reasonable cultural identity essay ideas as well as make the writing process much more pleasant:

• Start off by creating an outline. The reason why most students struggle with creating a cultural identity essay lies behind a weak structure. The best way to organize your ideas and let them flow logically is to come up with a helpful outline. Having a reference to build on is incredibly useful, and it allows your essay to look polished.
• Remember to write about yourself. The task of a cultural identity essay implies not focusing on your culture per se, but to talk about how it shaped your personality. So, switch your focus to describing who you are and what your attitudes and positions are. 
• Think of the most fundamental cultural aspects. Needless to say, you first need to come up with a couple of ideas to be based upon in your paper. So, brainstorm all the possible ideas and try to decide which of them deserve the most attention. In essence, try to determine which of the aspects affected your personality the most.
• Edit and proofread before submitting your paper. Of course, the content and the coherence of your essay’s structure play a crucial role. But the grammatical correctness matters a lot too. Even if you are a native speaker, you may still make accidental errors in the text. To avoid the situation when unintentional mistakes spoil the impression from your essay, always double check your cultural identity essay. 

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612 Culture Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

If you are writing a culture essay, topics are easy to find. However, their abundance can quickly become overwhelming – so we prepared this handy list of culture title ideas, along with writing tips and examples.

🤫 Culture Essays: Topics and Writing Tips

🏆 best culture topic ideas & essay examples, 👍 good essay topics about culture, 🎓 simple & easy culture title ideas, 📌 cultural topics and writing prompts, 🥇 most interesting culture topics to write about, ❓ research questions about culture.

Describing culture is a challenging task. You have probably stumbled across the concept if you study sociology, media, or a variety of other subjects. There are many cultural differences across the Earth. Each nation, community, and subgroup of people have its own values, vocabulary, and customs. In the 21st century, we can document and share them thanks to cross-cultural communication.

Since there is an almost infinite number of things to consider about this broad topic, our team has collected 582 topics about culture. Check them out on this page!

Culture essays present excellent opportunities for conducting extensive research. They allow students to analyze acute global problems and investigate the topic of diversity, customs, and traditions, as well as the significance of individuals’ cultural backgrounds. You can choose one of the many topics for your culture essay. You can find culture essay ideas online or ask your professor.

We suggest the following culture essay topics and titles:

• The significance of cultural identity in an individual
• Culture as a political instrument in the modern world
• The differences between the Eastern and the Western culture
• The role of culture in people from mixed origins
• The impact of religious views on culture
• Cultural diversity in the workplace
• Are there similarities among different cultures?
• The link between culture and gender roles

After selecting culture essay questions for discussion, you can start working on your paper. Here are some secrets of the powerful paper on the topic:

• Conduct preliminary research on the selected issue. Remember that you should find as much relevant information as possible while presenting a multifaceted perspective on the issue. Ask your professor about the sources you can use and stick to the instructions. Avoid using personal blogs or Wikipedia as the primary sources of information. Do not make a statement if you cannot support it with evidence.
• If you are writing a paper about a particular culture, think about whether you can talk to someone coming from this background. Such an approach can help you to include all the relevant information in your paper and avoid possible crucial mistakes.
• Remember that a well-organized culture essay outline is key for your paper. Think of the main points you want to discuss and decide how you structure your paper. Remember that each topic or subtopic should be stated in a separate paragraph, if possible.
• If it is necessary, check out essay examples online to see how you can organize the information. In addition, this step can help you to evaluate the relevance of the issue you want to discuss. Remember to include an introductory and concluding paragraph in which you will state the main points and findings of your paper.
• Avoid discriminating against some cultures in your essay. Remember that even if you do not understand the causes of some behaviors or norms, you should not criticize them in your paper. Instead, help the reader to understand them better and provide insight into important differences between cultures.
• Be accepting and try to be as accurate as possible. Support your claims with evidence from your preliminary research.
• If relevant, include graphs and charts to represent significant information. For example, you can visualize the presence of diversity in the workplace in different countries.
• Remember that the reader should understand the goal and idea of your paper clearly. Define all terms and avoid using overly complex sentences. Be concise but provide enough relevant information on the topic.
• Make sure that you use correct grammar and sentence structures in your essay. Even an excellent essay can look bad with grammatical mistakes. Grammar-free papers allow the reader to see that your opinion is credible. Check the essay several times before sending it to your instructor.

Do not forget to find a free sample in our collection that will help you get the best ideas for your writing!

• How Does Media Influence Culture and Society? The media has been instrumental in trying to explain to the people the meaning of culture and in the end enabling them to have a cultural identity.
• How Do Celebrities Influence Society? Celebrity Culture Positive Effects Introduction Negative Effects Positive Effects Conclusion Student Name Professor Name Course Date
• There Is No Place for Traditional Values in Modern Society Essay The value of culture in society is rapidly fading away as people continue to adjust to the patterns of modernisation. Modernisation, on the other hand, is the process of adopting new trends of life in […]
• 6 Barriers of Intercultural Communication Essay Cross cultural or intercultural communication is a part of the interaction of different people from different backgrounds and heritages. In this way, prejudice is inevitable blockage of cross-cultural communication as it is a source to […]
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• Cancel Culture: The Adverse Impacts Only recently, Gen Z created the term cancel culture to refer to the modern form of public shaming. Topic Sentence: The increased awareness of cancel culture has promoted sudden judgments and simplified complex problems.
• Culture in Human Behavior Essay The act of changing a culture can only be minimal because of the complexities of the study complexity Culture, serving as a categorical idea of people, is a school of thought that has anthropologists all […]
• Raymond Williams’ “Culture Is Ordinary” Williams discusses the Marxist’s ideas on the interpretation and discussion of the culture and disagrees with some of the raised views.
• James Rachels’ The Challenge of Cultural Relativism Essay The article “The Challenge of Cultural Relativism” by Rachels explores the issue of ethics. According to Rachels, cultural relativism fails to support the existence of universal moral standards.
• Is Culture Essential? The Role of Culture in Human Life Culture is an integral part of human life, and its significance may be observed from several perspectives: as a powerful means for people to adapt to the environment they have to live in, as a […]
• Relationship Between Language and Culture Essay The purpose of the essay is to clearly highlight the issue of intercultural communication with reference to language. Language is the first element that helps an individual to distinguish the cultural orientations of individuals.
• Filipino Food Essay However, because of the Spanish and American influence, meat, especially pork and chicken, are also served. So, Philippines is a country of festivals and a diversity of traditional dishes and beverages.
• Celebrity Culture Is Harmful to Society In this paper, it is argued that celebrity culture is harmful to society because of its effects on childhood development and the glorification of wrong behaviors based on its tendency to nurture bad role models.
• Social Cultural Impacts of Tourism The tourist-host relationship and thus the social cultural impact of tourism is affected by the differences between tourists and hosts, the type of contact between tourists and hosts, the importance of tourism in a community, […]
• What Is Popular Culture? Definition and Analysis Therefore, Storey observes that the incorporation of the true meaning of the word culture as a way of life and culture should be in the form of ‘signifying practices’ named above.
• Attend a Cultural Event: Different Ethnic Communities’ Identities The warm and incredible welcome of the Turkish citizens adds spice to this event and helps the visitors to be more enthusiastic throughout the festival.
• Culture and Anarchy by Mathew Arnold This is due to the lack of awareness to the new culture. The entire book of Arnold takes culture as collection of everything what is the best and perfect in the world.
• Pakistan: Culture and History Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a large culturally diverse country located at the crossroads of the strategically significant expanses of South Asia, Central Asia and Western Asia, and borders Afghanistan and Iran […]
• McDonald’s Cultural Issues in India Some of the issues which are discussed include Mcdonald’s historical background, the cultural and ethical issues at the organization’s operations, and the social responsibility issues in different regions where the organization has operations.
• Cultural Influences on Students Academic Performance Indeed as the definition is rightly put, practicing our culture is akin to cultivating our lives, with the help of tools and symbols that the society has bestowed on us. Others are of the opinion […]
• Power and Culture: Relationship and Effects The relational determination in a particular society is a product of the role and function of power in a designated society.
• Coca-Cola Company’s Cross-Cultural Management The company also possesses a vision, which is a guiding factor to the units of the business, which is achieved by laying out whatever they need to achieve in order to sustain their progress and […]
• Food Habits and Culture: Factors Influence The food habits of a group of people/community can be described as the reasons for eating, the methods used while eating, the types of food eaten, and the mode of storage.
• Cultural Competence: Indian Culture and Healthcare They also believed that, the disease was heredity and that if one member of the family suffered from one of the diseases, chances that somebody from the same family would contract the disease are high.
• Four Types of Corporate Management Culture After studying such aspects of the work of large organizations as the relationship between employees, the subordination system in the company, and employees’ attitudes and views on the development of the MNCs, Trompenaars states that […]
• The Advantages of Living in a Multicultural City Living in a multicultural city provides one with multiple benefits such as having opportunities to learn about other cultures, developing a better understanding of different cultures, and having more chances to improve one’s personality.
• Amazon Corporate Culture Issues Term Paper Problem Scenario: Amazon’s employees report about multiple cases of workplace disregard, the lack of benefits and praise as well as unfair ranking system that creates the need to analyze the corporate culture of the organization […]
• Festivals and Their Importance for Modern Culture Thematic festivals are trendy and vital for today’s culture: different music festivals, art and design festivals, and even sex festivals. Modern-day festivals are widespread around the Earth, and they often combine the elements of local […]
• Zara: Corporate Structure and Culture In Luthans, due to the large size and diversity of the organization, Zara has departmentalized itself in terms of the services and products it offers in the market.
• Nok Culture’s Main Characteristic Features One of the most significant pieces of art is the Nok art, a testament of the Nok culture. Discovery of the sculptures in 1943 indicate the use of iron, the practice of smelting for tools […]
• Cultural Comparison: The United States of America and Japan First of all, it is important to note that both the United States of America and Japan have notable similarities as far as their cultures are concerned.
• History of Children’s Literature in Western Culture Plato, one of the most notable rulers of the time, held it that story-telling sessions should take the form of a play and he insisted that professional storytellers and poets be the ones in charge […]
• Birthing Traditions and Practices Among Russian-Speaking Cultural Group Many things about Russia, its people, and its traditions remain a mystery for the average American, as a history of geopolitical and military confrontation, as well as the distance between the two countries, cause many […]
• Comparison of US and Germany Cultural Differences Power distance is the degree to which power is shared evenly in a community as well as the extent in which the community recognize and accepts this variation in power distribution among itself; this is […]
• USA And Nigeria: Hofstede’s Six Cultural Dimensions Comparison Considering the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory, the U.S.and Nigeria are similar in terms of masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long- term orientation, the half of all the suggested factors by Baack.
• Intercultural Communication Essay: Differences in Cultural, Religious, and Ethnic Backgrounds Identity management theories are also a form of intercultural communication theory developed to explain the cross-cultural aspect of communication where intercultural communication under this theory is seen to originate from the intercultural and intracultural types […]
• The Mughal Empire: Culture and Heritage The combination of the regions’ economic independence, the tensions between Hindus and Muslims, and the penetration of the subcontinent by the European economic powers led to the decline of the Mughal Empire.
• Existential Therapy and Multicultural Perspective Paying attention to the entire idea of existential therapy, the exploring meaning and values of the issue will be considered referencing to the authenticity of the ideas, priorities, and values.
• Globalization and Food Culture Essay The interviewee gave the examples of France, America, and China in her description of how food can affect the culture of a place and vice versa.
• Ethnicity Essay: Cultural Background in the Daily Lives of Children and Young People The idea of a child according to Montgomery and Kellett refers to a representation of a whole category of young people that are identified by their age and intellectual development and also their social maturity […]
• The Literature of the Renaissance Period The main features of the Renaissance culture which also determine the elements of the Renaissance literature are the philosophy of humanism, the secular character of the art pieces, and the orientation on the antique patterns.
• Culture in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe I also kill a cock at the shrine of Ifejioku, the god of yams” Ibo culture is shown through the world look of the Western society that is why the aspect of behavioral brutality was […]
• The Importance of Organizational Culture Essay Organizational culture and change is most valuable to an aspiring manager because it they form the basis of organizational success. It is imperative for managers to introduce change in the organization to encourage innovation and […]
• Porsche’s Strategy, Structure, and Culture The change of the legal form of the company allowed other people who were not members of the Porsche family to become members of the Executive Board of the company.
• Cultural Diversity in the UAE: Social and Economic Development This view is in line with Rabah’s emphasis on the importance of respecting cultural diversity in the process of nation-building because the concept is useful in solving conflicts and developing solutions that are beneficial to […]
• The Effect of Globalization on a World Culture The net result is a global culture; the effect and extent that global culture has gone in the world varied among nations and continents; developed countries have their culture more diffused and uniformity can be […]
• Cultural Differences Between Turkey and USA Spanish, Polish and Greek languages are also part of the oral communication of the people in America. The use of suffixes in Turkish language is very important and we can feel the grammatical functions of […]
• Wal-Mart Company’s Cross Cultural Communication This system of operation has resulted in one of the labor activists called Wang Shishu led demonstrations in order to convince the management not to cut the pay of the employees.
• Japan vs. Germany: Cultural Differences The first aspect of the matter is people’s activity in Japan and Germany within businesses as determined by culture and their habits and preferences in terms of distinguishing their work time and families.
• Philippines Dressing Culture and Customs The country borders South China Sea to the North and West, the Sulu Sea and Celebs Sea to the southwest, and the Philippines Sea to the east.
• How to Avoid Ethnocentrism – Essay on Promoting Cultural Relativism In an effort to understand ethnocentrism which is defined as, the tendency to believe that one’s cultural beliefs and their culture’s ethnic values to be superior to others.
• Diverse Contexts and Intercultural Communication at Work As the world moves to the global environment, the modern workplace becomes more and more diverse. When individuals are educated about intercultural differences are more likely to alter their communication styles to suit the needs […]
• My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) Cultural Analysis And the root of the word Miller is Greek and means apple in Greek. Overall, the treatment of the Greek culture in the movie is inelegant.
• Heritage Tourism and Cultural Tourism In the preservation of the sites for tourism purposes, it is clear that what is termed as the “culture of today” becomes the heritage of the future. There is a need to unveil the complexity […]
• UAE and Culture UAE’s society is multicultural. UAE culture has been defined by the Islamic religion as it is the most dominant in the region.
• The United States of America’s Culture These are however just general views on what the American culture really is, the next section of this paper will go to the specifics, and zero in into the following factors that determine the true […]
• Threats of Globalization on Culture of Individual Countries The world has become a “global village” this is due to the expansion of communication networks, the rapid information exchange and the lifting of barriers of visas and passports.
• Cultural Identity Theory: “How to Be Chinese” by Celeste Ng Thus, while recognizing the role that the specified cultural signifiers have for Asian American people in their attempts to retain their cultural identity, Ng also demonstrates the urge to introduce immediate change to prevent the […]
• Culture and Development in Nigeria The following are some of the organizations that are concerned with cultural developments in Nigeria:- The African development bank is involved in major activities in the water sector and in sanitation projects across Nigeria.
• Chinese Traditional Festivals and Culture Of all the Chinese festivals, the Spring Festival has the greatest value to the Chinese people with its value equated to the value of the Westerners attachment to Christmas.
• Emerson’s, Whitman’s and Thoreau’s Cultural Impact This movement was based on the belief in the unity of the world and God. The doctrine of “self-confidence” and individualism was developed by convincing the reader that the human soul was connected with God […]
• Religion and Cultural Belonging: “The Flea Palace” by Elif Shafak The old and the new, the Christianity and Islam, the East and the West are shown closely interconnected for example in the description of the two ancient cemeteries in Istanbul and in the development of […]
• Ramen Culture as a Vital Part of the Traditions in Japan Studying the history of the transformation of ramen culture and the role it plays in modern Japanese popular culture helps to explore the uniqueness of the phenomenon and understand the origins of its immense popularity.
• The Preservation of Our Cultural Heritage: Music for Entertainment and Communication Similar to how music plays a significant role in the lives of many people, it is an important aspect of history and culture.
• Adolf Hitler’s Cultural Theories in “Mein Kampf” So, according to Adolf Hitler, the foreign Aryan spirit was the awakener of Japanese people hence the bore a culture that they did not create.
• Cultural Norms: Fair and Lovely and Advertising Is the advertising of Fair & Lovely demeaning to women or is it portraying a product not too similar to cosmetics in general?
• Japanese Animations’ Effects on the Japanese Economy and Their Cultural Influence on Foreign Countries These artists incorporate the characteristic anime stylizations, gags and methodology in their piece of work to produce animations that are a bit similar to Japanese anime. The growing interest among foreign artists in anime is […]
• Pashtun Culture: Cultural Presentation This presentation will overview one of such groups – the Pashtun culture and the challenges a nurse may face working with its representatives.
• The Cultural-Individual Dialectic and Social Nature of Intercultural Relationships This specific type of dialectics is based on the idea that communication of persons depends not only on cultural aspects and differences but also on their individual attributes and visions. Thus, the cultural-individual dialectic is […]
• The Luo Culture of Kenya The Luo people are the indigenous people of Kenya living around lake Victoria, which lies in the western part of the country.
• Celebrity Culture and Its Influence on Society Before discussing the way Angelina Jolie and other celebrities affect modern society, it is necessary to identify the origins of the celebrity culture.
• Cultural Analysis – China and the Us In a bid to survive in such a market, it is crucial for the American investors to conduct a broad analysis of the cultural differences between China and the United States.
• Toyota’s Culture and Leadership Strategy Toyota’s Leadership and Culture Irrespective of numerous difficulties, the company is still one of the leaders of the industry. To understand the essence of the lean leadership, it is crucial to consider some peculiarities of […]
• Importance of Cultural Diversity Campaigns such as the Black Lives Matter may be attributed to lack of inclusion and appreciation of different cultures. For instance, the discussion of inclusivity in the 1970s focused on primary and secondary dimensions of […]
• The Influence of Ramayana on the Indian Culture If one considers the image provided in the work with the work itself, one notices the detailed depiction of the life and activities of the protagonist.
• The Overall Effects of Cultural Diversity in the Hospitality Industry The report focuses on analyzing the overall effects of cultural diversity in the hospitality industry. The nature of the industry’s workplaces and the way they deal with the issues concerning management of cultural diversity.
• Material and Nonmaterial Culture of Middle East The cultural heritage of the Middle Eastern countries is rooted in the deep history of humanity. The states of this territory almost entirely belong to the countries of the eastern part of the Islamic world.
• The Role of Ethnocentrism in Intercultural Communication The only way to control ethnocentrism is to avoid biases as we find better ways to understand other people’s point of view.
• Chinese New Year Foods: Chinese Culture and Traditions This piece of work will give an in depth discussion of Chinese culture with the central focus being on the Chinese New Year Foods and its relationship with the changes that have been experienced in […]
• Apple’s Cross-Cultural Problems in China In the case of Apple, the main issues have to do with employee management issues mostly associated with working conditions and compliance to Chinese labor laws.
• Political and Cultural Impact of Alexander the Great’s Conquests Due to many territories that he conquered, the dominion that Alexander the Great had was regarded as one of the greatest in the history of the world.
• Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: Structuralism and Post-Structuralism In the fields of literature, and design, architecture, in addition to marketing business and the interpretation of culture, history and law are started to analyze on the basis of post-structuralism in the nineteen sixties of […]
• The Kikuyu Community: Religion and Culture The community speaks the Kikuyu language. Kenya’s Kikuyu people are the most popular and largest ethnic group.
• Cancel Culture: A Persuasive Speech Cancel culture is a phenomenon of modern society that has arisen thanks to the development of social media. However, in this situation, it is difficult to determine who sets the boundaries of the morally correct […]
• Cultural Assimilation: Benefits and Challenges The mass migration of people leads to the fact that the population of the country is constantly growing, new nations come, and cultures are mixed, forming the so-called “melting pot”.
• Egypt’s History, Culture, Religion, and Economy Over the next three millennia, Egypt would see the rise and fall of several civilizations, including the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom.
• The Impact of the Internet in Culture and Daily Habits The growth of the internet has greatly improved our culture and society today with services it offers in the enrichment of our lives at work and at home.
• Tolerance and Respect for Cultural Differences The author concludes the essay in the third section by revisiting the thesis statement and highlighting the various approaches used to develop attitudes that promote respect and tolerance.
• Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication Styles Across Ethnic and Cultural Backgrounds In the essay, I discuss verbal and non-verbal communication styles across ethnic and cultural background, communication styles that a counselor may come across when dealing with culturally diverse clients and how a therapist can succeed […]
• How Does Culture Affect the Self Identity Personal Essay The economic background, family relations and ethnic distinctions have contributed significantly to the personality trait of being a low profile person who is considerate of others.
• Jamaican Family Cultural Practices The history of the Jamaicans in the United States began in 1619 when some blacks from Jamaica, as well as from the Caribbean islands migrated to the United States.
• Social Cultural Causes of Crime There is need to highlight the social cultural factors of crime and describe the necessary positive measures to prevent the occurrences of crime.
• The “Brave” Intercultural Film Analysis In their discourse in the forest, the princess and her mother realized the need for relationship rebuilding, mending the bond that led to a solution for the kingdom’s survival.
• Concept of Globalisation and Cultural Diversity The Concept of Globalisation Globalisation can be defined as the minimisation of the differences between people of the world and the maximisation of their similarities through interactions, cooperation and communication.
• Social and Cultural Aspects of Pre-Colonial Africa in Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart The novel emphasize on the encounters of the pre-colonial Africa and the effect of British colonialism during the 19th century. Gender disparity is clear in this village and the crimes are identified with gender where […]
• Culture Identity: Asian Culture Men on the other hand, are socialized to believe they should offer financial support to their families and ensure that the family is secure.
• Subjectivism and Cultural Relativism: Objections and Differences The key difference is that relativism relates the human experience to the influence of culture, while subjectivism states that right and wrong is a matter of personal opinion.
• Impact of Globalization on the Maasai Peoples` Culture This essay will therefore focus on the roles the aforementioned forces have played in changing the culture of the Maasai. Moreover, tourism has resulted in environmental degradation which is putting the Maasai on the brink […]
• The Fashion of the Hippie Culture Studying the fashion of the hippie culture is important because it illustrates the changes that society had undergone in the 1960s not only with regards to the style of clothing that people wore but also […]
• Saudi Arabian Culture In this view, observation of Islamic beliefs, norms, values, and traditions enables people to understand the Saudi Arabian culture and adopt it.
• Gang Culture in the USA: Symbols, Norms, Values The term culture refers to the norms and social behavior of a given community or group of people. Having the objects makes them feel brave and ready to act in the interest of the group […]
• Body Ritual Among the Nacirema: Cultural Study For instance, the research by Professor Linton is qualitative in the aspect that it tries to unearth the cultural practices and belief system of the Nacirema people.
• Cultural Assimilation, Acceptance and Identity in Julia Alvarez’s Poetry The girl from the new family reminded Alvarez of her own plight when she had moved to the United States and had not yet been accepted completely by the community.
• Importance of Cross-Cultural Management in International Business As earlier pointed out, a vital requirement for success in an international business setup is the ability of managers to comprehend and appreciate other cultures across the world.
• Cultural Pride and Cultural Baggage One of the articles that was written by Kincaid gives her experiences in England which portrays her cultural baggage as she finds it quite hard to fit in this society and to adopt a similar […]
• Cultural Competence: Jamaican Heritage Self-reflection as a way to improve one’s cultural competence Jamaican cultural ancestry Addressing social norms, cultural beliefs, behaviors, and the impact on health care Self-reflection has been regarded as an effective way to self-develop […]
• Diversity of Jamaican Culture The culture of Jamaica is a rich blend of the ways deriving from both Spanish and British eras which affected lives of the people on this small island.
• Communication Challenges in Intercultural Interactions This essay aims to show that communication in intercultural interactions is hindered by the communication style, body language, stereotypes, the tendency to evaluate, high anxiety, and differences in ways of completing tasks.
• Sustaining a Culture in Multinational Corporations The management has to deal with the diverse culture of the organizations to succeed in the global scene. The managers can pick employees from each of the countries in which the organization has operations or […]
• Cultural, Political, Economic and Legal Aspects of Doing Business in France The economy of this country is very strong, considered as the second largest in Europe, and fifth largest in the world.
• Impacts of Culture on Consumer Behaviour In addition, the impacts of the environment on the conduct of these consumers are made evident. For example, in the field of marketing, the phrase refers to acts and patterns of purchasing and buying.
• Culture Comparison Between China and Japan In Japan, it can be proved by the fact that the name Japan is written in the Chinese Kanji and not the Japanese Katakana or Hiragana.
• Influence of Political, Social, and Cultural Issues Political, social, and cultural factors in the world have significant influence on the economic and security status of a society. In the society, there are two types of poverty viz.the absolute poverty, and the relative […]
• Cultural Intelligence by Christopher and Elaine Mosakowski With this identification on how cultural intelligence affects or influences perceptions of people, and definition of the term, the authors continue exploring the major sources of cultural intelligence, the various cultural intelligence profiles, and ways […]
• Culture and Communication: Egypt Egypt is the origin of the earliest civilizations and has taken an important position in the Middle East as the connection between the Arab and Europe regions.
• Communication Culture: Hall’s High and Low-Context Model of Culture The differences in the modes and styles of communication are due to diverse cultures of the people from different countries. The aim of this report is to evaluate the concept of different communication cultures through […]
• Culture and Health Beliefs in Korea Buddhism and Confucianism have had the most profound impact on the spiritual world and the life of the Korean people, and more than half of the country’s cultural heritage is associated with these two religions.
• Socialization for the Transmission of Culture Cultural transmission is one of the basic constituents of recreating cultures and passing values from one person or group to others.
• Culture, Language and Influences on Development Therefore, mothers, as the main caregivers, have to understand what activities are more important for them and for their children regarding the peculiar features of the society they have to live in.
• Football Impact on England’s Culture This paper will study the various impacts of football both on the social life of people and on the economy of the country.
• Culturally Sensitive Care For Jehovah’s Witnesses They hold the belief that life is the representation of life and taking another human’s blood is equivalent to taking part in his life.
• Intercultural Relationships Importance However, this study does not mean that a person is born with a predetermined perception on things, only that genes can define the temperament of the person and can later suggest different preferences of beliefs […]
• Cultural Hybridization: The Beliefs, Language, and Social Habits The interaction between the Tai, Han and Zhuang was through conflicts between the majority group, the Han in the Northern regions and the minority Zhuang and the Tai in the southern regions of China.
• Cultural Belief System: Experiences and Traditions In most communities, the belief systems form the basis for validity of governance systems in the community as well as the acceptable laws governing behavior in the society.
• The Bhagavad Gita: The Role of Religion in Relation to the Hindu Culture From this point, it is important to focus on the Bhagavad Gita and its role for the Hindu culture in the context of the role of religion in the Hindu society because the scripture contains […]
• Italian Culture There is no post of the vice president in Italy and in the event that the president dies, elections will have to be held.
• Five Cultural Dimensions for Understanding the Values For instance, looking at Japan from the Hofstede five dimensional models will give the most significant drivers in the culture of the country in comparison to other countries across the world.
• Cultural Identity: Problems, Coping, and Outcomes The intensification of the processes of globalization, cultural integration, and expansion of contacts between representatives of different countries led to the gradual blurring of boundaries between national cultures and the loss of cultural identity.
• Managing Cultural Diversity: A Case Analysis of Hilton Hotels Corporation The hospitality industry, in particular, is at the core of recent developments in globalization and labor migration as can be witnessed by the increasing mobility of the workforce and attempts within the industry to expand […]
• Culture and Health Correlation People’s culture influences the type of food they purchase and the way they prepare it, which is a vital determinant of health.
• Hall Stuart: Questions of Cultural Identity Hall states that it is important to theorize the notion of identity to make it more applicable. However, Hall still claims that it is important to understand what identity is.
• Managing Cultural Diversity in the Hospitality Industry This is common due to confusion and the inability to interact with others in the society. This refers to the level of integration in the society.
• Cross Cultural Management and International Business In this essay we will focus on the role of culture in international business situations and also the strategies and frameworks that are appropriate in cross-cultural management.
• Principles of Effective Cross-Cultural Communication Essay Most disagreements in businesses can be attributed to lack of skills in intercultural communication, which is more common when the sender and the recipient are of different cultures.
• How Geography Has Impacted the Development of Ancient Cultures They include: the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts, the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, and The Himalayas. To the Egyptians, the Nile River was also a source of transport, facilitating the movements of the people up and […]
• Comparison of the Australian and Indonesian Culture On the other hand, Indonesia is one of the countries with the largest population in the world and it has over two hundred ethnic groups who use different languages. Marriage is also important in the […]
• Haiti History and Culture The Haitian culture features the Spanish, American as well as the French music. The salad is provided as a supplement in Haitian meals.
• Multicultural Education Benefits: Functioning in a Pluralistic and Egalitarian Society Students are thus required to acquire knowledge and skills necessary to function effectively in a pluralistic and egalitarian society. The teacher is thus able to enhance socialization and transmission of culture while providing academic skills […]
• British and Brazilian People: Cultural Differences It is critical to make appointments in advance, not to begin business discussions before the host, and to be on time for a business meeting.
• Culture Influence on Intimacy and Human Relationships These intrigues emerge when understanding the influence of culture on human relationships by understanding the influence of collectivist and individualistic cultures on intimacy.
• Disneyland’s Cultural Dimension: USA v. France USA and France seem to be specific but in some instances, manifestation of a degree of difference is inevitable between the two countries.
• Culture and Identity: “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros The past is a driving force for the future and it is hard to erase that part of an individual’s life.
• Cultural Pollution:Traditions and Historical Concepts The cultures traditions and historical concepts of the Middle East have over the centuries been characterised as by a distinct sense of variety that stems from a whirlwind of customs and traditions.
• Heritage Tourism vs. Cultural Tourism Definition In contrast, cultural tourism fails to consider the experience of the past and is more concerned with the meeting the needs of the visitors.
• Western Culture Impacts on the UAE Local Lifestyle One of the countries that observe the impact of western culture on the life of the young generation in the United Arad Emirates.
• Servant Leadership in Indian Culture and Hindu Religion The basis of this approach is the reorientation of the values of the leader, who considers the empowerment of followers as a means and goal of his activity.
• Korean Culture: History and Principles Korean is one of the top 20 languages in the world in terms of the number of speakers. In brief, the Korean language is a synthesis of Chinese roots and modern developments.
• Tesco and Global Supermarket Chain in Hungary: Cultural Issues According to Radosevic and Yoruk, the authors of an article titled ‘International expansion and buyer-driven commodity chain: the case of Tesco,’ Tesco bought a 57% of supermarket chain in 1994, which included 41 stores in […]
• A Comparison Between Swedish and Australian Culture Impact of Culture on Life Experience and Belief System The interviewee explained that having been born in Sweden, where Lutheran is the main church, he followed the teachings of the Lutheran church.
• Society, Culture, and Civilization Thus, culture is a flexible feature of non-animal communities that penetrates their subsistence and helps to adjust to the surroundings. The last concept, civilization, is the consequence of the constant changes of the first two […]
• Building High Performance Culture: Zappos The peripheral goods and services are not essential, but they enhance the primary product and add value. However, creative telemarketers are the primary competitive advantage of the company and one of its most valued variants.
• The Erosion of Cultural Differences and Globalised Consumer Culture This paper looks into globalisation via cultural perspective whereby the mobility of people in the contemporary world has facilitated the understanding of new cultures and identities in a globalised world.
• Cultural Diffusion: Factors and Effects The process by which cultural traits and items are spread from one individual to another, either within a particular cultural setting or from one culture to another is known as cultural diffusion.
• IKEA Company’s Organizational Culture Thus, every worker is a carrier of the propagated IKEA culture, which in turn forms the basis for the success of the organization as a whole.
• Technology as a Form of Material Culture Typically, the advance in technology is necessitated by the desire of human beings to perform efficiently and to make life more comfortable.
• Cross-Cultural Management Major Theories The study of different languages helps one in comprehending what people have in common and also assist in comprehending the diversity that underlies languages, methods of creating and organizing knowledge and the several different realities […]
• The Impact of Fashion Marketing on Culture The primary aim of this study is to investigate the impact of fashion marketing, specifically in the clothing sector, on culture.
• Culture, Subculture, and Their Differences The different activities that people across the world engage in lead to the existence of different. When people develop negative impressions of the activities that their society undertakes they are said to be in a […]
• Cross Cultural Management Strategies: Brazil vs. America The failures in cross-cultural management mainly arise from the weaknesses of managers to consider the impact of cultural differences in their management practices.
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• Differences in Culture between America and Sudan
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• Cross Culture Management
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• History of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki
• Culture and Agriculture: Nature and Significance Understanding
• Mass Society and Popular Culture Theories
• People and Culture in Morocco
• The Renaissance and Its Cultural, Political and Economic Influence
• Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality
• Paisà (1946) by Roberto Rossellini: Style, Theme, and Cultural Value
• Cross-Cultural Environment Negotiations: Japan and America
• Cultural Convergence: The Interactions Between Different Cultures
• Cultural, Legal, Economic, and Political Aspects of Doing Business in China
• Language and Culture Interaction in English Language Teaching
• Identity, Language, and Culture
• African and Western Culture in the “Touki Bouki” Film
• What Role Does Food Play in Cultural Identity?
• Irish Culture and Stereotypes in The Quiet Man
• Anglo-American Culture and Healthcare Standards
• History: Cultural Exchanges in the Medieval Period
• Indian Custom and Culture Community
• Multicultural Diversity Conceptual Study
• The Depiction of Cultural Conformity and Moral Values in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”
• Disney and Its Impact on Popular Culture and Society
• Celebrations in School Culture
• The Jarawa People and Their Culture
• Hotpot Concept and Cultural Value
• American Culture and Indian Culture Comparison
• Islamic Culture and Civilization
• Starbucks in China and Cross-Cultural Values
• Cultural Bias in Counseling Practices
• Fundamentals of Intercultural Communication
• Cultural Role of Crepes in France
• Colombia’s and the US’ Cultural Dimensions
• Muriel’s Wedding as a Representation of Australian Culture
• Dance Analysis: Social and Cultural Context
• Police Officers and Cultural Differences
• eBay in Japan, Its Strategic and Cultural Missteps
• Hospitality Industry: Coping with Culture Shock
• How Chinese Culture Influences Foreign Businesses
• The Zulu Nation’s History and Culture
• Cultural Values Embeded in Soccer
• African Cultural Traditions and Communication
• Cross-Cultural Marketing and Cultural Differences in Markets
• Roman & Greek Mythology in Pop Culture: Examples, Referenses, & Allusions
• Appropriations, Prejudices and Cultural Cruise Control: Overview
• Adorno and Horkheimer ‘The Culture Industry’ Review
• John Donne’s Poetry Relate to the Culture
• Geography, Peoples and Culture Areas of Oceania
• Culture and Leadership in a Safe Industrial Environment
• Cultural Differences in Arranged Marriages
• Efficient Intercultural Interaction and Communication
• Cultural Traditions: Arranged vs. Autonomous Marriage
• Dubai’s Food, Dress Code and Culture
• Intercultural Communication Perspectives
• Youth Culture and Globalization
• Beauty and Culture
• Value and Meaning of Culture and Religion
• Sushi: History, Origin and the Cultural Landscape
• Cultural Differences in International Business
• Nike, Inc.: The Corporate Culture
• Impacts of Culture on Formulation of International Marketing Strategies
• Social and Cultural Diversity Statement
• HR Managers and Cultural Differences
• Cultural Revolution and Education in China During the 1960s-1970s
• Caribbean Rum: History and Culture
• Social, Cultural and Gender Inequality From a Global Perspective
• Kazakhstani Culture Through Hofstede’s Theory
• Cultures Are Eroded by Foreign Cultural Influences Including Media
• Cultural Influences on Big Five Personality Traits
• Matthew Arnold’s and Raymond Williams’ Ideas About Culture
• Distinct Lower Class Culture: An Impediment to Success
• IBM Company’s Multicultural Project Team Management
• The UK Cultural, Business and Political Environment
• The Role of Chinese Hats in Chinese Culture
• Cultural Diversity and Cultural Universals Relations: Anthropological Perspective
• Female Chauvinist Pigs: Raunch Culture and Feminism
• Ways to Improve Intercultural Communication
• Deaf in America: Voices From a Culture by Carol A. Padden, Tom L. Humphries
• Effect of Economy on Culture and Social Structure
• Cultural Diversity and Cultural Integration in Western Societies
• Cross-Cultural Sleeping Arrangements in Children
• Cross-Cultural Differences Between the US and Pakistan
• Vanilla: History, Culture and Production
• Cultural Diversity in the Play “Othello”
• Hofstede’s Cultural Model in Negotiations
• Cultural Linguistic Autobiography: An Experience of a Second Language
• Tourism & Cultural Change: A Critical Analysis
• Cultural Conformity: A Person’s Behavior and the Standard Determined by a Culture
• Discussion: Cultural Roots and Routes
• Intercultural Understanding in Hala Alyan’s Poems
• Bombas Firm’s Organizational Structure and Culture
• Ancient Greek Culture, Philosophy and Science
• Socio-Cultural Approach of Humanity Examination
• The Effect of Global Technology on Intercultural Communication
• Cultural Family Assessment in “Under the Same Moon” Film
• Culture and Public Administration Relationship in Canada
• The Egyptians and the Hindu Cultural Rites Comparison
• HP Company Internal Politics and Culture
• Heritage and Cultural Tourism
• The Effects of Diverse Culture of IKEA in UAE to Impact of Cultural Diversity on IKEA
• Intercultural Communication Patterns in the U.S. and UK
• Coping With Cultural Shock and Adaptation to a New Culture
• UK-Singapore Cultural Differences at Work
• Impact of Power on Organizational Culture
• Global Business Cultural Analysis: Japan
• Juno and Political, Social, and Cultural Ideology
• Food Culture and Obesity
• Culturally Informed Psychological Assessment
• The Cross-cultural Construct of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems
• Consumerism Culture: Challenges and Solutions
• Cultural Misunderstandings in Communication
• General Motors Company: Organizational Culture and Strengths
• Japanese Anime and Doujin Culture
• Greek Culture and Traditions
• The Influence of Heavy Metal on Japanese Culture
• The General Motors Firm’s Cultural Crisis
• Cultural Acceptance in Amy Tan’s “A Pair of Tickets”
• Culture of Simping and Why One Should Stay Away From It
• Singapore’s Culture and Social Institutions
• Marriott International: Analyzing Culture
• Africans in Mexico: Influence on the Mexican Culture
• W.L. Gore Company’s Culture of Innovation
• Nissan Motors Company: Cultural Change
• Bahrain Fashion: Culture and Antiquities
• Conformity: Western Culture vs. Islamic Culture
• Ways in Which an Organization’s Culture is Transmitted to its Members
• Cross Cultural Impacts on the Non-Verbal Communication
• The White House as a Cultural Symbol in US
• Subculture Theories: Response to the Dominant Culture
• Pursuing Professional Accountability and Just Culture
• LGBTQ Co-Culture: The Key Aspects
• Scott Joplin vs. Louis Armstrong: Integration of African American Culture
• Qantas Airways: Cross Culture and Safety Management
• Gender Inequality: On the Influence of Culture and Religion
• The History of the Hippie Cultural Movement
• Columbia Under Hofstede’s Cultural Analysis
• Cultural Traditions. Quinceanera vs. Sweet 16
• Google Inc. Employees’ Intercultural Competencies
• Linguistic Repertoire: Language Identity and Culture
• Harry Potter Stories and Impact on Pop Culture
• Cultural Products in Strategic Plan Development
• Social and Cultural Influences in Nursing Practice
• Etihad Airways: Organizational Culture
• Paris City Cultural Pattern
• Cultural Diversity Management in the Workplace
• Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar, Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap
• All Forms of Culture are of Equal Value
• Globalization: Not a Threat to Cultural Diversity
• Cultural Diversity in Correctional Facilities
• Is Cultural Relativism a Viable Way to Live?
• Cultural Assimilation in the “Spanglish” Movie
• Cultural Context of the Play “Poker” by Zora Hurston
• Compare and Contrast the Political Culture of Australia and Saudi Arabia
• Cultural Diversity in Hotel Industry
• Cultural Identity in “White Teeth” by Zadie Smith
• Multicultural Society in “Onion Tears” by Diana Kidd
• Handy and Schein Models in Organizational Culture
• Cultural Heritage of Oyo Empire in Africa
• Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective by Brettell & Sargent
• Adopting Marketing Strategy Across Cultural and Religious Divides: McDonald’s Home Market and Turkey
• Food, Eating Behavior, and Culture in Chinese Society
• Intercultural Cooperation and Its Importance for Survival
• Food and Culture Links
• Diverse Culture in the “Ongka’s Big Moka” Film
• Ethical, Legal and Multicultural Challenges in a Crisis
• Enron Company’s Organisational Culture Problem
• Pop Culture and Print Media: Trends Propagated by the Print Media
• The Effects of Modern Popular Culture on Personal Beliefs and Values
• African-American Cultural Group and the Provision of Services to African Americans
• Starbucks Corporation Organizational Culture
• Authenticity in Cultural Tourism Sites: A Critical Discussion
• An Academic Critique of Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory
• The Challenge of Human Rights and Cultural Diversity
• The Impact of Cultural and Religious Tourism on Communities
• Billboard as an Element of the Popular Culture
• American Cultural Imperialism in the Film Industry Is Beneficial to the Canadian Society
• Complexity of Managing Multinational Corporations: MNC Culture
• Multicultural Psychology as a Subspecialty of Psychology
• Cultural Change: Mechanisms and Examples
• The Māori Culture of New Zealand
• Expanding Chinese Cultural Knowledge in Health Beliefs
• Xerox: Organizational Culture and Change
• Struggle to Retain Culture: McDonaldization in China
• Culture, Globalization and Intercultural Adaptation
• Korean Popular Culture: Attractiveness and Popularity
• Jazz Social Dance and Impact on American Culture
• School Climate and Student Culture
• Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Organizational Culture
• Consumer vs. Organizational Buying and Culture
• Stereotyping in the Human Culture
• American Work Culture
• Socialization in a Multicultural Framework
• Popular Culture in the History of the USA
• Hip-Hop and the Japanese Culture
• Catholic Culture: Traits, Norms, Traditions
• Christianity Social and Historical Impact on Western Culture
• Family and Culture: Major Problems Facing Families Around the World
• Barbecue as a Southern Cultural Icon
• Ecuador: A Country Study, Culture, People and History
• Cultural Diversity & Communication in the Workplace
• Leisure and Recreation in a Multicultural Society
• Workplace Culture in Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener”
• The Culture of the Nacirema Society
• Cross-Cultural Management: Decision-Making
• Relations Between Homosexuality and Indian Culture
• Hofstede Labels the Chinese as a Collectivist Culture
• The Concept of Politeness in the Cross-Cultural Communication
• Acadian Culture in Cape Breton in Nova Scotia
• Cultural Adaptation Plan: Comparing Canada and the Philippines
• Sumerian and Mayan Cultural Similarities
• Culture, Emotions, and Psychology Relationships
• Culture Values Expression through Humanities
• Influence of African-American Culture on Rock n Roll Music
• Multicultural Orientation for Human Services Professionals
• Meaning of Culture and Its Importance
• Coffee in the Historical and Cultural Context
• Culture and Communication Problems in HRM
• Cultural Effects on Health Care Choices
• Culture of the Dominican Republic
• How Hutterites of Montana Maintain Their Culture and Effect It Has on State
• Organizational Culture & Leadership: Whirlpool Corporation
• American Pop Art Culture Review
• British Colonialism and Its Impact on Indian Culture
• Communication in a Cross-Cultural Project Team
• Philosophy of Multicultural Education
• Asian Community’s Cultural Values and Attitudes
• Soju Product: Socio-Cultural Environment Influence
• Porsche Brand’s Cultural Biography
• Effective Communication Strategies in a Culturally Diverse Workforce
• Cultural Traditions and Practices in the Novel the Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
• Concept of Cultural Differences in Society
• Weird Chinese Foods: Cultural Practices and Eating Culture
• The Myth of the Culture of Poverty
• Angels and Insects: The Issue of Incest in the Pop-Culture
• Singapore Geography and Culture
• “Food Colombusing” and Cultural Appropriation
• The Culture of Fast Food Consumption
• Purnell’s Model of Culturally Competent Care
• The “Friends” TV Show as a Cultural Artifact
• Cultural Appropriation: Christina Aguilera in Braids
• Cultural and Institutional Features: United Kingdom and China
• Cultural Competence: Purnell Model
• Comparison of 20th and 21st-Century Dress and Culture
• Anthropological Approach to Culture
• Traditional Korean Music and Culture
• Cultural Borrowing: Ethnic Fashion Obscures Cultural Identity
• Effects of the Language Barrier on Intercultural Communication
• Competitiveness and Intercultural Conflict in Qatar
• Printing Culture and the Chinese Society
• “High” and “Low” Culture in Design
• Popular Culture and Art Definition, Brief History and New Opportunities
• The Japanese and the US Cultural Dimensions
• The News Media Role in the Culture of Fear
• Food Culture in Mexican Cuisine
• Cross-Cultural Management in Multinational Corporations
• Customer Trends in the UK and Thailand
• Irish Culture in Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia
• The Concepts of Culture
• Arab Music and Cinema Development: Western Culture Impact
• Cross-Culture Conflicts in the Corning-Vitro Venture
• Culture Jamming
• Fashion as an Integral Aspect of Modern Culture: Identity Importance
• Cultural Influences on Personality
• Cultural Artifacts and the Importance of Humanities
• “Cross-Cultural Servanthood” by Duan Elmer
• The Essence of Cultural Ecology: The Main Tenets
• Food Preferences and Nutrition Culture
• Material Culture: Pottery
• International Movements and Cultural Barriers
• Spain’s Geography and Culture
• Tribal Tattoos: Cultural Appropriation and Appreciation
• The Tumultuous 1960s-1970s and the Reshaping of American Popular Culture
• Makeup for African American Women and Its Cultural Perspective
• Market Culture Report on Singapore and Hong Kong
• The Role of Language in Cultural Studies
• Cultural Conduct of Negotiating with a Japanese Firm
• Indian Culture and Its Distinctive Qualities
• Researching of Rituals in Culture
• Japan After Globalization: Culture and Ethnocentrism
• Multicultural Roman Empire History
• Culture Lag and Conflict Theory of Change
• Cultural Immersion Project for Homeless Group
• The Importance of Understanding National Culture
• Cultural Anthropology, Gender and Kinship
• Elements in Cross-Cultural Communication Competence
• Understanding Culture and Tradition as an Effective Way of Teaching Indigenous History
• Intercultural Communication: Self-Awareness’ Importance
• Cultural Approaches to Healthcare Delivery in the US
• Cultural Property and Its Protection in Armed Conflicts
• Nursing Ethic: Personal, Cultural and Spiritual Values
• Cultural Diversity in Clinical Setups
• Implications of Korean Culture on Health
• Mountain Men and Their Economic, Social, and Cultural Importance
• Organizational Culture, Innovation, and Performance: A Test of Schein’s Model
• The Brexit Decision: Leadership and Culture
• “The Woman Warrior” by Maxine Hong Kingston: Arguments About Prejudice, Gender, and Culture
• Corporate Culture: What Is Toyota Way?
• Cultural Artifact Advertisement of Makeup
• Jewish Family Cultural Perspective
• The Influence of American Popular Culture on the Heroes of “The Bluest Eye”
• Adorno’s Concept of Culture Industry
• Impact of Religion and Culture on Development
• The Macedonian Empire: Macedonian Culture
• Historical and Cultural Guide to Religion: “A History of God” by Karen Armstrong
• Race and Ethnicity in Three Pop Culture Artifacts
• Korean Popular Culture: Problem Statement
• “Christ and Culture” the Book by H. Richard Niebuhr
• Culture in the Medical Field
• Cultural Identity: the Position in Society
• Worship and Changes in Culture and Technology
• Cultural Issues in Healthcare
• Culturally Responsive Practices in Early Childhood Education
• Intercultural Communication in Contexts: Chapters Review
• Aging Ethical Issues and Cultural Differences
• Indigenous Australian Culture, History, Importance
• The Origin of Organizational Culture
• Superhero Movies in Contemporary Western Culture
• Orientalism: Asia in Australian Cultural Practices
• Marriott Hotel’s Promotion of Intercultural Synergy
• Science Integration Into Popular Culture: The Essence of Science in Popular Culture and Its Influence on Contemporary Society
• The Culture of Smartness in Education
• Jamaican Culture and Philosophy
• Pop Culture as a New Tool of Imperialism
• Cultural Assimilation of International Students
• St. John the Compassionate Company: Organizational Culture
• Culturally Responsive Teaching
• Social Work and Cultural Beliefs: Differences That Matter
• Multicultural Literacy: Patricia Polacco and Roald Dahl
• “The Value of Cultural Membership” by Will Kymlicka
• Austria’s Culture and Economic Analysis
• Farmer Definition and Culture
• Modern Art: A Cultural-Aesthetic Movement
• Leadership and Culturally Bound: Working and Communicating Together
• Cultural Diversity in Counseling: Multiculturalism as an Important Part of Our Lives
• Cross-Cultural Management in Emirates Airline
• A Discussion of Key Challenges Faced by MNCs in Developing a Cohesive & Inclusive Culture
• Cultural Background and First Language in Second Language Learners
• Australia: Being a Multicultural Society
• The Benefits of Cultural Diversity Management in a Hotel
• Cultural Theory: Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life
• The Key Cultural Clashes Between Disney and Its French Labor Force
• Cross-Cultural Management: Business With Customers From Different Cultural Backgrounds
• Cultural Diversity in Women and Sport Participation
• Managing Employees’ Cultural Values and Emotions
• Cultural Representation in Bollywood
• Cultural Differences: The Embracing Cultural Diversity
• Language and Culture: The Honorifics (Speech or System) of Japanese and Korean
• Popular or Mass Culture: Mimetic Analysis, Semiotics and Narrative
• Managing Cultural Diversity in International Business
• Culture of Nacirema People
• Cultural Relations: Impact on Global Human Cooperation
• Effects of Globalization on Native Non-Western Cultural Practices
• Bridging the Cultural Gap in a Medical Practice: Use of Body Language
• Interpersonal and Intercultural Communication in the UAE
• Primary Mode of Subsistence in the Zulu Culture
• The Hijab, Stereotyping and Cultural Differences Among American and Arab Muslim Women
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: The Cultural Significance of the Novella
• Jazz Music in American Culture
• Local Museums and Their Cultural Heritage
• High Culture and Low Culture: Disneyland Products
• Culture and Global Business
• Working Cross-Culturally: Forget “Business as Usual”
• Mexican vs. American Cultural Differences in Business
• The Western Cultural Narratives
• Socio-Cultural Issues and Health Assessment in Nursing
• The Role of Culture in Gospel Communication
• What Is the Relationship Between the Social Definition of Deviance and the Media’s Role in the Dissemination of Popular Culture?
• Disney Culture in China and United States
• Intercultural Research and Interview: Communication and the Approach
• Intercultural Communication in Business
• Bias and Cultural Competency in Health Care
• Portuguese Language and Cultural Facts
• “Beowulf” in Contemporary Culture
• The Cultural Context in Nursing and Healthcare
• Modern and Traditional Culture in the UAE
• The Parthenon and the Pantheon in Their Cultural Context
• IKEA’s and Home Depot’s Cross-Cultural Management
• Culture of Organizations. Twitter and LinkedIn
• Cross Cultural Issues in International Business
• Comprehensive Health Assessment Based on Developmental and Cultural Factors
• The Blackfoot Indians Culture and Historical Heritage
• About Counseling Cross-Culturally
• Integrity in Organizational Culture and Ethical Theories
• History of Pop Music in the World: Cultural and Social Changes
• History. A Coca-Cola Bottle as a Cultural Artifact
• Language & Cultural Impact on Sports Reporting
• Technological Progress, Mass Media and Loss of Emirati Culture
• Intercultural Communication: Paul Haggis’ “Crash”
• Ramadan as a Practice in Muslim Culture: Meaning and Importance
• The Igbo Culture: Use of Proverbs, Folktales and Song
• Cultural Prostitution: Okinawa, Japan, and Hawaii
• Intellectual, Scientific and Cultural Changes in Europe Towards the End of 19th Century
• Conflict Management in Japanese Culture
• Cultural Influences Affected the Interaction Between Officers and Residents
• Mathematics: Individual and Cultural Influences
• Why Does Popular Culture Affect Us?
• Why Does Culture Have a Prominent Position in I’m Research and Practice?
• Why Culture Alone Cannot Explain Morality, and Why It Matters?
• Who Was Right About Popular Culture?
• When Does Culture Generate Local Development?
• When Age and Culture Interact in an Easy and Yet Cognitively Demanding Task?
• What Do Virtual Culture and the Information Revolution Mean?
• What Would the Society Be Like Without Culture?
• What Role Does Culture Play in Influencing Human Health?
• How Has Globalization Affected Culture?
• What Role Does Culture Play in the Definition of Mental Illness?
• What Role Does Culture Play in the Development of an Effective Leader?
• What Was the Difference Between High and Popular Culture in the Eighteenth Century?
• Whether Immigrants Should Adopt the Local Culture?
• Which Society and Culture Have the Greatest Impact on the World Past and Today, Chinese or Western?
• Why Does Culture Attract and Resists Economic Analysis?
• Why Do Eastern Culture Religions Appeal to the Western Culture?
• Why Whites Embrace Black Culture, History, and Other?
• Which Social Processes Are More Important in Shaping Individual Identity: Social Structures or Culture and Socialisation?
• Where, When, and How African Culture Became a Part of the Culture of the Americas?
• What May Culture Contribute to Urban Sustainability?
• How Does Culture Affects How Students Interact?
• How Has the Internet Changed World Culture?
• How Does Culture Shapes the Economy?
• How Harry Potter Changed the World?
• How Radio, Advertising, Automobiles, and Movies Affected the Consumer Culture of the 1920S?
• What Does History and Culture of a Civilization Shape?
• What Does the Word Culture Mean?
• What Do Epics Say About a Particular Culture?
• Why Was Florence Considered Important for Culture and Arts?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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IvyPanda . "612 Culture Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." December 21, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/culture-essay-examples/.

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Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, how to write a diversity essay: 4 key tips.

College Essays

If you're applying to college, you've probably heard the phrase "diversity essay" once or twice. This type of essay is a little different from your typical "Why this college?" essay . Instead of focusing on why you've chosen a certain school, you'll write about your background, values, community, and experiences—basically, what makes you special.

In this guide, I explain what a diversity college essay is, what schools are looking for in this essay, and what you can do to ensure your diversity essay stands out.

What Is a Diversity Essay for College?

A diversity essay is a college admissions essay that focuses on you as an individual and your relationship with a specific community. The purpose of this essay is to reveal what makes you different from other applicants, including what unique challenges or barriers you've faced and how you've contributed to or learned from a specific community of people.

Generally speaking, the diversity college essay is used to promote diversity in the student body . As a result, the parameters of this essay are typically quite broad. Applicants may write about any relevant community or experience. Here are some examples of communities you could discuss:

• Your cultural group
• Your race or ethnicity
• Your extended family
• Your religion
• Your socioeconomic background (such as your family's income)
• Your sex or gender
• Your sexual orientation
• Your gender identity
• Your values or opinions
• Your experiences
• Your home country or hometown
• Your school
• The area you live in or your neighborhood
• A club or organization of which you're an active member

Although the diversity essay is a common admissions requirement at many colleges, most schools do not specifically refer to this essay as a diversity essay . At some schools, the diversity essay is simply your personal statement , whereas at others, it's a supplemental essay or short answer.

It's also important to note that the diversity essay is not limited to undergraduate programs . Many graduate programs also require diversity essays from applicants. So if you're planning to eventually apply to graduate school, be aware that you might have to write another diversity statement!

Diversity Essay Sample Prompts From Colleges

Now that you understand what diversity essays for college are, let's take a look at some diversity essay sample prompts from actual college applications.

University of Michigan

At the University of Michigan , the diversity college essay is a required supplemental essay for all freshman applicants.

Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it.

University of Washington

Like UM, the University of Washington asks students for a short-answer (300 words) diversity essay. UW also offers advice on how to answer the prompt.

Our families and communities often define us and our individual worlds. Community might refer to your cultural group, extended family, religious group, neighborhood or school, sports team or club, co-workers, etc. Describe the world you come from and how you, as a product of it, might add to the diversity of the University of Washington.

Keep in mind that the UW strives to create a community of students richly diverse in cultural backgrounds, experiences, values, and viewpoints.

University of California System

The UC system requires freshman applicants to choose four out of eight prompts (or personal insight questions ) and submit short essays of up to 350 words each . Two of these are diversity essay prompts that heavily emphasize community, personal challenges, and background.

For each prompt, the UC system offers tips on what to write about and how to craft a compelling essay.

5. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

Things to consider: A challenge could be personal, or something you have faced in your community or school. Why was the challenge significant to you? This is a good opportunity to talk about any obstacles you've faced and what you've learned from the experience. Did you have support from someone else or did you handle it alone?

If you're currently working your way through a challenge, what are you doing now, and does that affect different aspects of your life? For example, ask yourself, "How has my life changed at home, at my school, with my friends, or with my family?"

7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?

Things to consider: Think of community as a term that can encompass a group, team, or place—like your high school, hometown, or home. You can define community as you see fit; just make sure you talk about your role in that community. Was there a problem that you wanted to fix in your community?

Why were you inspired to act? What did you learn from your effort? How did your actions benefit others, the wider community, or both? Did you work alone or with others to initiate change in your community?

Think about your community: How has it helped you? What have you done for it?

University of Oklahoma

First-year applicants to the University of Oklahoma who want to qualify for a leader, community service, or major-based scholarship must answer two optional, additional writing prompts , one of which tackles diversity. The word count for this prompt is 650 words or less.

The University of Oklahoma is the home of a vibrant, diverse, and compassionate university community that is often referred to as “the OU family.” Please describe your cultural and community service activities and why you chose to participate in them.

Duke University

In addition to having to answer the Common Application or Coalition Application essay prompts, applicants to Duke University may (but do not have to) submit short answers to two prompts, four of which are diversity college essay prompts . The maximum word count for each is 250 words.

We believe a wide range of personal perspectives, beliefs, and lived experiences are essential to making Duke a vibrant and meaningful living and learning community. Feel free to share with us anything in this context that might help us better understand you and what you might bring to our community .

We believe there is benefit in sharing and sometimes questioning our beliefs or values; who do you agree with on the big important things, or who do you have your most interesting disagreements with? What are you agreeing or disagreeing about?

We recognize that “fitting in” in all the contexts we live in can sometimes be difficult. Duke values all kinds of differences and believes they make our community better. Feel free to tell us any ways in which you’re different, and how that has affected you or what it means to you.

Duke’s commitment to inclusion and belonging includes sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. Feel free to share with us more about how your identity in this context has meaning for you as an individual or as a member of a community .

Pitzer College

At Pitzer, freshman applicants must use the Common Application and answer one supplemental essay prompt. One of these prompts is a diversity essay prompt that asks you to write about your community.

At Pitzer, five core values distinguish our approach to education: social responsibility, intercultural understanding, interdisciplinary learning, student engagement, and environmental sustainability. As agents of change, our students utilize these values to create solutions to our world's challenges. Reflecting on your involvement throughout high school or within the community, how have you engaged with one of Pitzer's core values?

The Common Application

Many colleges and universities, such as Purdue University , use the Common Application and its essay prompts.

One of its essay prompts is for a diversity essay, which can be anywhere from 250 to 650 words. This prompt has a strong focus on the applicant's identity, interests, and background.

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful, they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

ApplyTexas is similar to the Common Application but is only used by public colleges and universities in the state of Texas. The application contains multiple essay prompts, one of which is a diversity college essay prompt that asks you to elaborate on who you are based on a particular identity, a passion you have, or a particular skill that you've cultivated.

Essay B: Some students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. If you are one of these students, then tell us about yourself.

In a diversity essay, focus on an aspect of your identity or cultural background that defines you and makes you stand out.

What Do Colleges Look for in a Diversity Essay?

With the diversity essay, what colleges usually want most is to learn more about you , including what experiences have made you the person you are today and what unique insights you can offer the school. But what kinds of specific qualities do schools look for in a diversity essay?

To answer this, let's look at what schools themselves have said about college essays. Although not many colleges give advice specific to the diversity essay, many provide tips for how to write an effective college essay in general .

For example, here is what Dickinson College hopes to see in applicants' college essays:

Tell your story.

It may be trite advice, but it's also true. Admissions counselors develop a sixth sense about essay writers who are authentic. You'll score points for being earnest and faithful to yourself.

Authenticity is key to writing an effective diversity essay. Schools want you to be honest about who you are and where you come from; don't exaggerate or make up stories to make yourself sound "cooler" or more interesting—99% of the time, admissions committees will see right through it! Remember: admissions committees read thousands of applications, so they can spot a fake story a mile away.

Next, here's what Wellesley College says about the purpose of college essays:

Let the Board of Admission discover:

• More about you as a person.
• The side of you not shown by SATs and grades.
• Your history, attitudes, interests, and creativity.
• Your values and goals—what sets you apart.

It's important to not only be authentic but to also showcase "what sets you apart" from other applicants—that is, what makes you you . This is especially important when you consider how many applications admissions committees go through each year. If you don't stand out in some positive way, you'll likely end up in the crapshoot , significantly reducing or even eliminating your chances of admission .

And finally, here's some advice from the University of Michigan on writing essays for college:

Your college essay will be one of nearly 50,000 that we'll be reading in admissions—use this opportunity to your advantage. Your essay gives us insights into your personality; it helps us determine if your relationship with the school will be mutually beneficial.

So tell us what faculty you'd like to work with, or what research you're interested in. Tell us why you're a leader—or how you overcame adversity in your life. Tell us why this is the school for you. Tell us your story.

Overall, the most important characteristic colleges are looking for in the diversity essay (as well as in any college essay you submit) is authenticity. Colleges want to know who you are and how you got here; they also want to see what makes you memorable and what you can bring to the school.

An excellent diversity essay will represent some aspect of your identity in a sincere, authentic way.

How to Write an Effective Diversity Essay: Four Tips

Here are some tips to help you write a great diversity college essay and increase your chances of admission to college.

#1: Think About What Makes You Unique

One of the main purposes of the diversity essay is to present your uniqueness and explain how you will bring a new perspective to the student body and school as a whole. Therefore, for your essay, be sure to choose a topic that will help you stand apart from other applicants .

For example, instead of writing about your ability to play the piano (which a lot of applicants can do, no doubt), it'd be far more interesting to elaborate on how your experience growing up in Austria led you to become interested in classical music.

Try to think of defining experiences in your life. These don't have to be obvious life-altering events, but they should have had a lasting impact on you and helped shape your identity.

#2: Be Honest and Authentic

Ah, there's that word again: authentic . Although it's important to showcase how unique you are, you also want to make sure you're staying true to who you are. What experiences have made you the person you are today? What kind of impact did these have on your identity, accomplishments, and future goals?

Being honest also means not exaggerating (or lying about) your experiences or views. It's OK if you don't remember every little detail of an event or conversation. Just try to be as honest about your feelings as possible. Don't say something changed your life if it really had zero impact on you.

Ultimately, you want to write in a way that's true to your voice . Don't be afraid to throw in a little humor or a personal anecdote. What matters most is that your diversity essay accurately represents you and your intellectual potential.

#3: Write Clearly, Correctly, and Cogently

This next tip is of a more mechanical nature. As is the case with any college essay, it's critical that your diversity essay is well written . After all, the purpose of this essay is not only to help schools get to know you better but also to demonstrate a refined writing ability—a skill that's necessary for doing well in college, regardless of your major.

A diversity essay that's littered with typos and grammatical errors will fail to tell a smooth, compelling, and coherent story about you. It will also make you look unprofessional and won't convince admissions committees that you're serious about college and your future.

So what should you do? First, separate your essay into clear, well-organized paragraphs. Next, edit your essay several times. As you further tweak your draft, continue to proofread it. If possible, get an adult—such as a teacher, tutor, or parent—to look it over for you as well.

#4: Take Your Time

Our final tip is to give yourself plenty of time to actually write your diversity essay. Usually, college applications are due around December or January , so it's a good idea to start your essay early, ideally in the summer before your senior year (and before classes and homework begin eating up your time).

Starting early also lets you gain some perspective on your diversity essay . Here's how to do this: once you've written a rough draft or even just a couple of paragraphs of your essay, put it away for a few days. Once this time passes, take out your essay again and reread it with a fresh perspective. Try to determine whether it still has the impact you wanted it to have. Ask yourself, "Does this essay sound like the real me or someone else? Are some areas a little too cheesy? Could I add more or less detail to certain paragraphs?"

Finally, giving yourself lots of time to write your diversity essay means you can have more people read it and offer comments and edits on it . This is crucial for producing an effective diversity college essay.

Conclusion: Writing Diversity Essays for College

A diversity essay is a college admissions essay that r evolves around an applicant's background and identity, usually within the context of a particular community. This community can refer to race or ethnicity, income level, neighborhood, school, gender, age, sexual orientation, etc.

Many colleges—such as the University of Michigan, the University of Washington, and Duke—use the diversity essay to ensure diversity in their student bodies . Some schools require the essay; others accept it as an optional application component.

If you'll be writing diversity essays for college, be sure to do the following when writing your essay to give yourself a higher chance of admission:

• Think about what makes you unique: Try to pinpoint an experience or opinion you have that'll separate you from the rest of the crowd in an interesting, positive way.
• Be honest and authentic:  Avoid exaggerating or lying about your feelings and experiences.
• Write clearly, correctly, and cogently:  Edit, proofread, and get someone else to look over your essay.
• Take your time: Start early, preferably during the summer before your senior year, so you can have more time to make changes and get feedback from others.

With that, I wish you the best of luck on your diversity essay!

What's Next?

You understand how to write a diversity essay— but what about a "Why this college?" essay ? What about a general personal statement ? Our guides explain what these essays are and how you can produce amazing responses for your applications.

Want more samples of college essay prompts? Read dozens of real prompts with our guide and learn how to answer them effectively.

Curious about what a good college essay actually looks like? Then check out our analysis of 100+ college essays and what makes them memorable .

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Hannah received her MA in Japanese Studies from the University of Michigan and holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California. From 2013 to 2015, she taught English in Japan via the JET Program. She is passionate about education, writing, and travel.

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Essay on social change: meaning, characteristics and other details.

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Here is your essay on Social Change! 

Introduction:

Change is the internal law. History and science bear ample testimony to the fact that change is the law of life. Stagnation is death. They tell us stories of man’s rise and growth from the Paleolithic age to the Neolithic age, then to the Stone Age and next to the copper age etc. On the stage of the world, scenes follow scenes, acts follow acts, and drama follows drama. Nothing stands still.

Image Courtesy : 2.bp.blogspot.com/_1-xvEOICRwA/SHQeR5CcI3I/AAAAAAAAAVs/OUtRL2GLZXg/s1600-h/PontmorlaisWest_CircusParade_1948-49_CliveArthur.jpg

The wheel of time moves on and on. The old dies and the young steps into the world. We ring out the old and ring in the new. A child changes into a boy, a boy into a youth and then into a man. The bud changes into a flower. The dawn turns into morning, morning into noon, noon into afternoon and afternoon into night.

It is said, “Today is not yesterday, we ourselves change. No change is permanent, it is subject to change. This is observed in all spares of activity. Change indeed is painful, yet needful”. Flowing water is wholesome, and stagnant water is poisonous. Only when it flows through and alters with changes, it is able to refresh and recreate.

Change is an ever-present phenomenon. It is the law of nature. Society is not at all a static phenomenon, but it is a dynamic entity. It is an ongoing process. The social structure is subject to incessant changes. Individuals may strive for stability, yet the fact remains that society is an every changing phenomenon; growing, decaying, renewing and accommodating itself to changing conditions.

The human composition of societies changes over time, technologies expand, ideologies and values take on new components; institutional functions and structures undergo reshaping. Hence, no society remains complete static. Incessant changeability is very inherent nature of human society.

A social structure is a nexus of present relationships. It exists because social beings seek to maintain it. It continues to exist because men demand its continuance. But the existing social structure is influenced by many factors and forces that inevitably cause it to change. Society is thus subject to continuous change.

The change of man and society has been the central and quite dominant concern of sociology right from the time when it emerged as branch of learning. The concern for social change is of great importance not only in studying past changes but also in investigating ‘future’ developments.

Meaning of Social Change :

Change implies all variations in human societies. When changes occur in the modes of living of individuals and social relation gets influenced, such changes are called social changes.

Social change refers to the modifications which take place in life pattern of people. It occurs because all societies are in a constant state of disequilibrium.

The word ‘change’ denotes a difference in anything observed over some period of time. Hence, social change would mean observable differences in any social phenomena over any period of time.

Social change is the change in society and society is a web of social relationships. Hence, social change is a change in social relationships. Social relationships are social processes, social patterns and social interactions. These include the mutual activities and relations of the various parts of the society. Thus, the term ‘social change’ is used to describe variations of any aspect of social processes, social patterns, social interaction or social organization.

Social change may be defined as changes in the social organization, that is, the structure and functions of the society.

Whenever one finds that a large number of persons are engaged in activities that differ from those which their immediate forefathers were engaged in some time before, one finds a social change.

Whenever human behaviour is in the process of modification, one finds that social change is occurring. Human society is constituted of human beings. Social change means human change, since men are human beings. To change society, as says Davis, is to change man.

Theorists of social change agree that in most concrete sense of the word ‘change’, every social system is changing all the time. The composition of the population changes through the life cycle and thus the occupation or roles changes; the members of society undergo physiological changes; the continuing interactions among member modify attitudes and expectations; new knowledge is constantly being gained and transmitted.

Defining Change:

The question to what social change actually means is perhaps the most difficult one within the scientific study of change. It involves the often neglected query of what ‘kind’ and degree of change in what is to be considered social change.

Most analysts of social change deal with this question implicitly somewhere in their theoretical system or in the context of the latter’s application to some empirical case. For the present purpose it should suffice to examine definitions that are frequently used to conceptualise change.

According to Jones “Social change is a term used to describe variations in, or modifications of any aspect of social processes, social patterns, social interaction or social organization”.

As Kingsley Davis says, “By Social change is meant only such alternations as occur in social organization – that is, the structure and functions of society”.

According to Maclver and Page, “Social change refers to a process responsive to many types of changes; to changes the man in made condition of life; to changes in the attitudes and beliefs of men, and to the changes that go beyond the human control to the biological and the physical nature of things”.

Morris Ginsberg defines, “By social change, I understand a change in social structure, e.g., the size of the society, the composition or the balance of its parts or the type of its organization”.

P. Fairchild defines social change as “variations or modifications in any aspects of social process, pattern or form.

B. Kuppuswamy says, “Social change may be defined as the process in which is discernible significant alternation in the structure and functioning of a particular social system”.

H.M. Johnson says, “Social change is either change in the structure or quasi- structural aspects of a system of change in the relative importance of coexisting structural pattern”.

According to Merrill and Eldredge, “Change means that large number of persons are engaging in activities that differ from those which they or their immediate forefathers engaged in some time before”.

Anderson and Parker define, “Social change involves alternations in the structure or functioning of societal forms or processes themselves”.

According to M.D. Jenson, “Social change may be defined as modification in ways of doing and thinking of people.

As H.T. Mazumdar says, “Social change may be defined as a new fashion or mode, either modifying or replacing the old, in the life of people or in the operation of a society”.

According Gillin and Gillin, “Social changes are variations from the accepted modes of life; whether due to alternation in geographical conditions, in cultural equipment, composition of the population or ideologies and brought about by diffusion, or inventions within the group.

By analyzing all the definitions mentioned above, we reach at the conclusion that the two type of changes should be treated as two facts of the same social phenomenon. Two type of changes are e.g. (i) changes in the structure of society, (ii) changes in the values and social norms which bind the people together and help to maintain social order. These two type of changes should not, however, be treated separately because a change in one automatically induces changes in the other.

For example, a change in the attitude of the people may bring about changes in the social structure. Towards the close of the 19 century, there was a tendency in the countries of Western Europe for families to grow smaller in size. There is a general agreement that this has been brought about mainly by voluntary restriction of births”.

In this case, a change in the attitude of the people is mainly responsible for change in the social structure. On the other hand, a change in the social structure may bring about attitudinal change among the members of the society. Transformation of rural society into industrial society is not simply a change in the structure of society. For example, industrialisation has destroyed domestic system of production.

The destruction of domestic system of production has brought women from home to factory and office. The employment of women gave them a new independent outlook. The attitude of independence instead of dependence upon men has become the trait of women’s personally. Hence, these two type of changes should not be treated separately but both of them should be studied together.

The problem of social change is one of the central foci of sociological inquiry. It is so complex and so significant in the life of individual and of society that we have to explore the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of social change in all its ramifications.

Characteristics of Social Change :

The fact of social change has fascinated the keenest minds and still poses some of the great unsolved problems in social sciences. The phenomenon of social change is not simple but complex. It is difficult to understand this in its entirety. The unsolved problems are always pressurising us to find an appropriate answer. To understand social change well, we have to analyse the nature of social change which are as follows:

1. Social Change is Social:

Society is a “web of social relationships” and hence social change obviously means a change in the system of social relationships. Social relationships are understood in terms of social processes and social interactions and social organizations.

Thus, the term social change is used to describe variation in social interactions, processes and social organizations. Only that change can be called social change whose influence can be felt in a community form. The changes that have significance for all or considerable segment of population can be considered as social change.

2. Social Change is Universal:

Change is the universal law of nature. The social structure, social organization and social institutions are all dynamic. Social change occurs in all societies and at all times. No society remains completely static.

Each society, no matter how traditional and conservative, is constantly undergoing change. Just as man’s life cannot remain static, so does society of all places and times. Here adjustment take place and here conflict breaks down adjustment. Here there is revolution and here consent. Here men desire for achieving new goals, and here they return to old ones.

3. Social Change occurs as an Essential law:

Change is the law of nature. Social change is also natural. Change is an unavoidable and unchangeable law of nature. By nature we desire change. Our needs keep on changing to satisfy our desire for change and to satisfy these needs, social change becomes a necessity. The truth is that we are anxiously waiting for a change. According to Green, “The enthusiastic response of change has become almost way of life.

4. Social Change is Continuous:

Society is an ever-changing phenomenon. It is undergoing endless changes. It is an “ongoing process”. These changes cannot be stopped. Society is subject to continuous change. Here it grows and decays, there it finds renewal, accommodates itself to various changing conditions.

Society is a system of social relationship. But these social relationships are never permanent. They are subject to change. Society cannot be preserved in a museum to save it from the ravages of time. From the dawn of history, down to this day, society has been in flux.

Social change manifests itself in different stages of human history. In ancient times when life was confined to caves (Stone Age), the social system was different from that of the computer age today. There is no fixity in human relationships. Circumstances bring about many a change in the behaviour patterns.

5. Social Change Involves No-Value Judgement:

Social change does not attach any value judgement. It is neither moral nor immoral, it is amoral. The question of “what ought to be” is beyond the nature of social change. The study of social change involves no-value judgement. It is ethically neutral. A correct decision on what is empirically true is not the same as correct decision on what ought to be.

6. Social Change is Bound by Time Factors:

Social change is temporal. It happens through time, because society exists only as a time-sequences. We know its meaning fully only by understanding it through time factors. For example, the caste system which was a pillar of stability in traditional Indian society, is now undergoing considerable changes in the modern India.

There was less industrialisation in India during 50s. But in 90s, India has become more industrialized. Thus, the speed of social change differs from age to age. The reason is that the factors which cause social change do not remain uniform with the changes in time.

7. Rate and Tempo of Social Change is Uneven:

Though social change is a must for each and every society, the rate, tempo, speed and extent of change is not uniform. It differs from society to society. In some societies, its speed is rapid; in another it may be slow. And in some other societies it occurs so slowly that it may not be noticed by those who live in them. For example, in the modern, industrial urban society the speed and extent of change is faster than traditional, agricultural and rural society.

8. Definite Prediction of Social Change is Impossible:

It is very much difficult to make out any prediction on the exact forms of social change. A thousand years ago in Asia, Europe and Latin America the face of society was vastly different from that what exists today. But what the society will be in thousand years from now, no one can tell.

But a change there will be. For example, industrialisation and urbanisation has brought about a series of interrelated changes in our family and marriage system. But we cannot predict the exact forms which social relationships will assume in future. Similarly, what shall be our ideas, attitudes and value in future, it is unpredictable.

9. Social Change Shows Chain-Reaction Sequences:

Society is a dynamic system of interrelated parts. Changes in one aspect of life may induce a series of changes in other aspects. For example, with the emancipation of women, educated young women find the traditional type of family and marriage not quite fit to their liking.

They find it difficult to live with their parents-in-law, obeying the mother-in-law at every point. They desire separate homes. The stability of marriages can no longer be taken for granted. The changing values of women force men to change their values also. Therefore, society is a system of interrelated parts. Change in its one aspect may lead to a series of changes in other aspects of the society.

10. Social Change takes place due to Multi-Number of Factors:

Social change is the consequence of a number of factors. A special factor may trigger a change but it is always associated with other factors that make the triggering possible. Social change cannot be explained in terms of one or two factors only and that various factors actually combine and become the ’cause’ of the change. M. Ginsberg observes: “A cause is an assemblage of factors which, in interaction with each other, undergo a change”. There is no single master key by which we can unlock all the doors leading to social change. As a matter of fact, social change is the consequence of a number of factors.

11. Social Changes are Chiefly those of Modifications or of Replacement:

Social changes may be considered as modifications or replacements. It may be modification of physical goods or social relationships. For example, the form of our breakfast food has changed. Though we eat the same basic materials such as meats, eggs corn etc. which we ate earlier, their form has been changed.

Ready-to-eat cornflakes, breads, omelets are substituted for the form in which these same materials were consumed in earlier years. Further, there may be modifications of social relationships. For example, the old authoritarian family has become the small equalitarian family. Our attitudes towards women’s status and rights, religion, co-education etc. stand modified today.

12. Social Change may be Small-scale or Large-scale:

A line of distinction is drawn between small-scale and large scale social change. Small-scale change refers to changes within groups and organizations rather than societies, culture or civilization.

According W.E. Moore, by small-scale changes we shall mean changes in the characteristics of social structures that though comprised within the general system identifiable as a society, do not have any immediate and major consequences for the generalised structure (society) as such.

13. Short-term and Long-term Change:

The conceptualization of the magnitude of change involves the next attribute of change, the time span. That is to say, a change that may be classified as ‘small-scale from a short-term perspective may turn out to have large-scale consequences when viewed over a long period of time, as the decreasing death rate since the 1960 in India exemplifies.

14. Social Change may be Peaceful or Violent:

At times, the attribute ‘peaceful’ has been considered as practically synonymous with ‘gradual’ and ‘violent’ with ‘rapid’. The term ‘violence’ frequently refers to the threat or use of physical force involved in attaining a given change. In certain sense, rapid change may ‘violently’ affect the emotions, values and expectations of those involved.

According to W.E. Moore, “A ‘true’ revolution, a rapid and fundamental alternation in the institutions or normative codes of society and of its power distribution, is rapid and continuous by definition and is likely to be violent, but may well be orderly as opposed to erratic”.

‘Peaceful’ has to do with the changes that take place by consent, acceptance or acquisition and that are enforced by the normative restraints of society.

15. Social Change may be Planned or Unplanned:

Social change may occur in the natural course or it is done by man deliberately. Unplanned change refers to change resulting from natural calamities, such as famines and floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruption etc. So social change is called as the unchangeable law of nature. The nature is never at rest.

Planned social change occurs when social changes are conditioned by human engineering. Plans, programmes and projects are made by man in order to determine and control the direction of social change.

Besides that by nature human beings desire change. The curiosity of a man never rests; nothing checks his desire to know. There is always a curiosity about unknown. The needs of human beings are changing day by day. So to satisfy these needs they desire change.

16. Social Change may be Endogenous or Exogenous:

Endogenous social change refers to the change caused by the factors that are generated by society or a given subsystem of society. Conflict, communication, regionalism etc. are some of the examples of endogenous social change.

On the other hand, exogenous sources of social change generally view society as a basically stable, well-integrated system that is disrupted or altered only by the impact of forces external to the system (e.g., world situation, wars, famine) or by new factors introduced into the system from other societies. For example, technological transfer and brain drain, political and cultural imperialism may lead to the diffusion of cultural traits beyond the limits of single societies.

17. Change Within and Change of the System:

The distinction between kinds of change has been developed by Talcott Parsons in his analysis of change ‘within’ and change ‘of the system, i.e., the orderly process of ongoing change within the boundaries of a system, as opposed to the process resulting in changes of the structure of the system under consideration. Conflict theorists draw our attention to the fact that the cumulative effect of change ‘within’ the system may result in a change ‘of’ the system.

To conclude, some of the attributes most frequently used in describing change are: magnitude of change (small-scale, large-scale changes), time pan, direction, rate of change, amount of violence involved. These dimensions should not be taken as either/or attributes but rather as varying along a continuum from one extreme to another (e.g., revolutionary vs evolutionary).

Other categorization that have been devised involve division of changes on the basis of such characteristics as continuous vs spasmodic, orderly vs erratic and the number of people (or roles) affected by or involved in change.

Although no hard and fast categories have yet been developed into which we can fit different types of change, the use of the foregoing distinctions, may be helpful in clarifying one’s conceptualization of any type of change or at least, they can help one to understand the complexities involved in developing a definition of the subject of social change.

Social Evolution :

In explaining the concept of social change, sociologists from time to time used words and expressions like evolution, growth, progress, development, revolution, adaptation etc. discarding one in preference to the other.

Though the concept of evolution was known to the generation preceding the publication of Darwin’s “Origin of Species”, the notion of social evolution was taken directly from the theories of biological evolution. Evolution in biological science means the developing of an organism.

It is a process by which a thing continuously adopts itself to its environment and manifests its own nature. Consequently it is a change which permeates the whole character of the object. Many social theorists from Herbert Spencer to Sumner applied this conception of ‘organic evolution’ in various ways to the explanation of social change.

The term ‘evolution’ is borrowed from biological sciences to Sociology. The term ‘organic evolution’ is replaced by ‘social evolution’ in sociology. Whereas the term ‘organic evolution’ is used to denote the evolution of organism, the expression of ‘social evolution is used to explain the evolution of human society.

It was hoped that the theory of social evolution would explain the origin and development of man. Anthropologists and Sociologists wanted to find a satisfactory and significant explanation of how our society evolved.

They were very much impressed by the idea of organic evolution which explain how one species evolves into another, and wanted to apply the same to the social world. Hence, the concept of social evolution is quite popular in sociological discussion.

Sociologists adopted the word ‘evolution’ to convey the sense of growth and change in social institutions. Social institutions are the result of evolution. They began to work to trace the origin of the ideas, institutions and of the developments.

The term ‘evolution’ is derived from the Latin word ‘evolvere’ which means to ‘develop’ or ‘to unfold’. It is equivalent to the Sanskrit word ‘Vikas’. Evolution literally means gradually ‘unfolding’ or ‘unrolling’. It indicates changes from ‘within’ and not from ‘without’. The concept of evolution applies more precisely to the internal growth of an organism.

Evolution means more than growth. The word ‘growth’ connotes a direction of change but only of quantitative character e.g., we say population grows, town grows etc. But evolution involves something more intrinsic; change not merely in size but also in structure.

According to Maclver and Page, “Evolution involves something more intrinsic, a change not merely in size but at least in structure also”.

Ogburn and Nimkoff write, “Evolution is merely a change in a given direction”.

Ginsberg says, “Evolution is defined as a process of change which results in the production of something new but revealing “an orderly continuity in transition”. That is to say, we have evolution when” the series of changes that occur during a period of time appear to be, not a mere succession of changes, but a ‘continuous process’, through which a clear ‘thread of identity runs’.

Evolution describes a series of interrelated changes in a system of some kind. It is a process in which hidden or latent characters of a thing reveal themselves. It is a principle of internal growth. It shows not merely what happens to a thing but also what happens within it. “What is latent becomes manifest in it and what is potential is made actual.”

Evolution is an order to change which unfolds the variety of aspects belonging to the nature of changing object. We cannot speak of evolution when an object or system is changed by forces acting upon it from without. The change must occur within the changing unity.

Characteristics of Social Evolution :

According to Spencer, “Evolution is the integration of matter and concomitant dissipation of motion during which matter passes from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity.” Society, according to his view, is also subject to a similar process of evolution; that is, changing from a state of ‘incoherent homogeneity’ to a state of ‘coherent heterogeneity.’

Evolution is, thus, a gradual growth or development from simple to complex existence. The laws of evolution which were initially fashioned after the findings of charters. Darwin, came to be known as social Darwinism during the nineteenth century.

Spencer’s point of view can best be illustrated by an example. In the beginning, the most primitive stage, every individual lived an individualistic life, trying to know and do things about himself alone.

Every man was more or less similar, in so far as his ignorance about organized social life was concerned. In this sense, the people were homogenous. At that stage, neither they were able to organize their social life, nor could they work together. There was no system; nothing definite, expect their incoherent or loose-group-formations.

Thus, they formed “an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity,” But gradually, their experiences, realizations and knowledge increased. They learnt to live and to work together. The task of social organisation was taken on, division of labour was elaborated; and each found a particular type of work which he could do best. All worked in an organized and definite way towards a definite goal. Thus, a state of “definite, coherent heterogeneity” was reached.

Herbert Spencer has prescribed four important principles of evolution. These principles are:

1. Social evolution is on cultural or human aspect of the law of change of cosmic evolution.

2. Hence, social evolution take place in the same way at all places and progress through some definite and inevitable stages.

3. Social evolution is gradual.

4. Social evolution is progressive.

In addition to this characteristics, other features of social evolution are clearly evident which are discussed below.

Evolution is a Process of Differentiation and Integration:

The concept of evolution as a process of differentiation cum-integration was first developed by the German Sociologists Von Baer and subsequently by Spencer and many others.

(i) In order to understand this statement, i.e. evolution takes place through differentiation and Integration; we have to study the history of a society over a long, period of time. Then we shall find that its associations, institutions, etc” are constantly evolving or developing.

In social evolution, new and ever newer circumstances and problems are constantly appearing. In order to cope with them, new associations and institutions are evolved. For example, a community in a town previously. When the town had been a small community, its management was the responsibility of a Panchayat or a town area committee.

Now that the town has become a big commercial centre, its management is in the hands of a dozer different committees. One of them looks after the educational facilities, another looks after the sanitation, a third is deputed to look after the octroi, while a fourth manages the markets and so on. In this way, this differentiation increases with the evolution of the town.

(ii) But without Integration, this differentiation cannot take one anywhere. Hence, synthesis along with differentiation is necessary. In urban areas one can find various sectarian associations such as Khandayat Kshatriya Mahasabha, Kayastha society, Brahman Samiti, Napita associations etc.

At the same time, one also can find institutions: ‘Arya Samaj’,” etc. which synthesize and compromise associations based on various caste and class distinctions. Today, while new nations are coming into being in the human society, equally strong efforts are being made to create a world society by compromising these nations.

(iii) By virtue of this double processes of differentiation and integration, the efficiency of the society is being constantly increased. Division of labour is the magic word of modern economic evolution. By an increase in the number of associations and institutions in society, work in various spheres is performed more successfully. And because of the process of synthesis, various spheres take advantage of each other’s efficiency also.

Maclver points it out in a very systematic manner. According to him, evolution or differentiation manifests itself in society by (a) a greater division of society by labour, so that thereby a more elaborate system of cooperation, because the energy of more individuals is concentrated on more specific tasks, a more intricate nexus of functional relationships, is sustained within the group; (b) an increase in the number and the variety of functional associations and institutions, so that each is more defined or more limited in the range or character of its service; and (c) a greater diversity and refinement in the instruments of social communication, perhaps above all in the medium of language.

Various sociologists have laid stress on one or another of these aspect of evolution. Thus, Emile Durkheim has insisted on the preeminent importance of the social division of labour as a criterion of social development. Other writers have taken the various aspects together and sought to show that society passes through a definite series of evolutionary stages.

Social Evolution does not always proceed by Differentiation:

Morris Ginsberg writes, “The notion that evolution is a movement from the simple to the complex can be and has been seriously disputed.” In every field where we find the forces of differentiation at work, there the opposite trends are also manifested. For example in the development of languages, where the process of differentiation has been stressed, we have many disconnecting facts.

The modern languages derived from Sanskrit Like Bengali, Gujarati, Telugu and Tamil cannot be compared in their structure with the richness and diversity of their origin. Here the process is not towards differentiation but towards simplification.

In the development of religion too, the transition from fusion to differentiation is difficult to see. On the whole we find that social evolution does not always proceed by differentiation.

However in spite of the various difficulties, the concept of evolution still retains its usefulness. Maclver has strongly supported the principle of social evolution. He has criticised the practice of believing social evolution to be imaginary. Social evolution is a reality. Maclver has given some arguments in favour of the reality of social evolution.

He emphasizes, if we open the pages of History, we find that in the beginning there was no differentiation of institutions within human society or the performance of diverse functions. But latter on, as culture and civilization progressed, differentiation increased and it is even now increasing. This historical fact is an evidence of the extent and element of reality in the principle of social evolution.

Social Evolution and Organic Evolution :

Though ‘social evolution’ is borrowed from the biological concept of ‘organic evolution’, still then these two terms are not one and the same. There are some basic differences between the two which are as follows:

Firstly, organic evolution implies the differentiation in the bodily structure, which is generally in the form of new organs to use for different purpose. But social evolution does not imply this. Man is the centre of social evolution.

He need not have to develop new organ to adjust himself with changed conditions of life. Because man has the capacity of inventing tools, making instruments and devising techniques to control the forces of nature and to adjust himself with the natural conditions. He can look before and after.

Secondly, in organic evolution, the transmission of qualities takes place through biological heredity, i.e. through ‘genes’. But social evolution takes place through ideas, discoveries, inventions and experiences. Here the changes are transmitted mostly through the mental ability and genius of man.

Thirdly, in case of organic evolution only the descending generation is affected by the structural modification, alterations. But in social evolution even the old as well as the new generations are affected by it. For example, invention of new techniques and devices is influencing the present as well as the future generations.

Lastly, the organic evolution is continuous. There can be no break in it. It is continuous because of the irresistible pressure within the organisation and of environment or natural forces. But such a continuity may not be observed in the case of social evolution. It is subject to disruption. It is an intermittent. It lacks continuity.

Social Change and Social Evolution :

Social change is an ever-present phenomenon everywhere. When we speak of social change, we suggest so far no law, no theory, no direction, even no continuity. Social change occurs in all societies and at all times. No society remains completely static. The term ‘social change’ itself is wholly neutral, implying nothing but differences that take place in human interactions and interrelations.

In explaining this concept of social change, modern sociologists from time to time used different words and expressions. Evolution is one of them. Many social theorists form Herbert Spencer to Sumner applied this conception of evolution in various ways to the interpretation of social change. But many modern theorists, particularly American, have abandoned the idea that social change takes place by evolutionary stages.

Evolution describes a series of interrelated changes in a system of some kind. It is a process in which hidden or latent characters of a thing reveal themselves. It shows not merely what happens to a thing but also what happens within it.

Evolution is an order of change which unfolds the variety of aspects belonging to the nature of changing object. We cannot speak of evolution when an object or system is changed by forces acting upon it from without.

The change must occur within the changing unity. Evolution is a process involving a changing adaptation of the object to its environment and a further manifestation of its own nature. Consequently, it is a change permeating the whole character of the object, a sequence in which the equilibrium of its entire structure undergoes modification.

According to Maclver, evolution is not mere change. It is an immanent process resulting in increased complexity and differentiation. He writes, “the Kernel of organic evolution is differentiation, a process in which latent or rudimentary characters take a distinct and variable form within the unity of the organism.”

Maclver further says, evolution or differentiation manifests itself in society by (a) a greater division of labour resulting in great specialization (b) an increase in the number and variety of functional associations, (c) a greater diversity and refinement in the means of social communication. “When these changes are proceeding, society is evolving”, concludes Maclver.

The concept of progress found notable expression in the writings of the French Philosophers such as Turgot, Condorcent and Fancis Bacon of the 18th century and has been a dynamic agent in the social activity of modern man. Sociologists such as Saint Simon, Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer were the earlier exponents of the idea of progress. According Comte, it was the intellectual elite who could bring about an era of progress.

Etymologically, the word progress means “moving forward.” But moving forward or backward, progress or regress are relative terms. If it be remarked that such and such country has progressed, no meaningful information can be extracted from such a statement unless the direction towards which progress has been made be known.

In this way, progress is not mere change. It is a change in particular direction. The word progress cannot be appended to change in every direction. For example, if the condition of agriculture in a particular country worsens and a famine results, it is undeniably a change, but it will not be called progress. Progress means moving forward in the direction of achievement of some aim.

Different thinkers have defined progress in different ways. The important definitions are as follows:

Maclver writes, “By progress we imply not merely direction, but direction towards some final goal, some destination determined ideally not simply by the objective consideration at work.

Lumely defines, “Progress is a change, but it is a change in a desired or approved direction, not in any direction.”

Ginsberg defines progress as “A development or evolution in a direction which satisfies rational criterion of value”.

According to Ogburn, “Progress is a movement towards an objective thought to be desirable by the general group for the visible future.

Burgess writes, “Any change or adoption to an existent environment that makes it easier for a person or group of persons or other organized from of life to live may be said to represent progress”.

Progress means an advance towards some ideally desirable end. Since progress means change for the better it definitely implies a value judgement of highly subjective character. For value, like taste, has no measuring rod.

A particular social change may seem to be progressive to one person to another it may seem retrogression, because they have different values. The concept of social progress is, therefore, subjective but it has reference to an objective condition.

Criteria of Progress :

It is difficult to explain the criteria of progress which are relative to their temporal context. Social values determine progress. Whether any change will be considered as progress or not depends upon the social values. Social values change with time and place. The criteria of progress change with the change of social values. Hence, it is difficult to formulate a universally acceptable criterion of progress. However, the following can be tentatively suggested.

Health and Longevity of Life:

Average length of life is one index of progress whether the world is growing better. But it does not necessarily follow from this that a longer life must be more pleasurable and better.

In the opinion of some persons, wealth or economic progress is a criterion of progress.

Population:

Some people are of the view that an increase in population is a sign of progress. But over-population cannot be a sign of progress.

Moral Conduct:

According to some thinkers, moral conduct is the criterion of progress.

Since life has many facets, it is not possible to formulate any one criterion of progress. But is stated that the integrated development of society is the criterion of progress. Integrated development comprehends all mental, physical and spiritual aspects including above criteria.

Nature of Progress :

By analysing above definitions, we find that progress is a change, a change for the better. When we speak of progress, we simply not merely direction, but direction towards some final goal. The nature of the progress depends upon two factors, the nature of the end and the distance of which we are from it.

The modern writers today speak of social progress though they do not have a single satisfactory explanation of the concept. In order to have a better understanding of the meaning of progress, we have to analyse the following attributes.

1. Progress is Dependent upon Social Values:

Progress dependent upon and is determined by social values. It means that progress does not have precisely the same meaning at all times and places, because values change from time to time. There is no object which can uniformly or eternally be considered valuable irrespective of time and place.

Due to this reason, Maclver and Page have written, “The concept of progress is a chameleon that take on the colour of the environment when we feel adjusted to that environment, and some contrasting colour when we feel maladjusted.

2. There is a Change in Progress:

Change is one of its essential attributes. The concept of progress presupposes the presence of change. Without change, there can be no progress.

3. In Progress the Desired End is Achieved:

The progress is not mere change. It is a change in a particular direction. Broadly speaking, progress means an advance towards some ideally desirable end. It always refers to the changes that leads to human happiness. Not all changes imply progress.

4. Progress is Communal:

Progress from its ethical point of view, may be personal but from the sociological point of view, is communal since sociology is that science of society. In it, the individual is taken into consideration only as a part of society. Only that change, whose influence can be felt on entire community or society for its betterment or welfare, can be called social progress.

5. Progress is Volitional:

Progress does not come about through inactivity. Desire and volition are needed for progress. Efforts have to be made and when these efforts are successful it is called progress. It is an uphill task. It must be remembered that every effort is not progressive.

6. Progress is Variable:

The concept of progress varies from society to society, place to place and from time to time. It does not remain constant in all times and of all places. That which is today considered as the symbol or progress may tomorrow be considered and treated as a sign of regress. For example, in India, free mixing of young boys and girls may be interpreted as an indication of regress, whereas the same may symbolise progress in the Western Countries.

7. Criteria of Progress are Variable:

As stated earlier criteria of progress are relative to their temporal context. Social values determine progress. But social values change with time and place. Therefore, criteria of progress vary from place to place. Further, different scholars have prescribed different criteria of progress. For example, health and longevity have been considered as criteria of progress by some, while other have taken economic security, moral conduct as the criteria of progress.

8. Progress does not have a Measuring Rod:

The term progress is very much subjective and value-loaded. It is not demonstrable with a degree of certainty. We cannot show it to others unless they first accept our evaluations. We may or may not agree that there is progress, but we cannot prove it. Progress is a reality which is immeasurable and undemonstrable. Anything that cannot be demonstrated and measured scientifically cannot be rejected socially. It is especially true in the case of progress.

To conclude, progress conveys the sense of something better and improved. The advancement in technology was opposed to contribute to progress. But, these developments did not carry the sense of progress. It was advancement only in a particular direction.

The comprehensiveness of progress was missing. The extremes of poverty and health, of ignorance and enlightenment had continued to coexist as ever before. Progress as conceived over the ages past, is now considered to be illusive. The end of progress, it has come to be accepted, cannot be determined.

The ‘progress’ in the West did not meet all its ends. It did not bring the fulfillment, that was taken to be its true aim. For this, the use of the term progress was considered inappropriate. The application of the term fell into disfavour. More so, the growing belief that sociology should be value-free also discouraged the use of this expression.

Social Change and Social Progress :

Change is the basic content of both evolution and progress. But the term change is wholly neutral, only suggesting variation in a phenomena over, a period of time. The moment the specifications like direction, desirability, and value-judgement are added to change, another terminology ‘progress’ becomes necessary to describe the process of change.

Progress is not mere change. It is a change in particular direction. It cannot be appended to change in every direction. The word progress means moving forward in the direction and achievement of some desired goal. It is certainly a change, a change for the better not for the worse. The concept of progress always involves and implies value judgement. It is not possible to speak of progress without reference to standards. Not all changes imply progress.

But social change is a generic term, an objective term describing one of the fundamental processes. There is no value-judgement attached to it. It is true that some changes are beneficial to mankind and some are harmful.

But social change is neither moral nor immoral, but amoral. The study of social change involves no value-judgement, while the concept of social progress implies values judgement. Social progress means improvement, betterment, moving to a higher level from a lower level.

Social Evolution and Social Progress :

In the earlier theories of biological evolution, the concept of social evolution was intimately connected with social progress. For the social evolutionists of the nineteenth century from Auguste Comte to Herbert Spencer and Lester F. Ward, social evolution was, in effect, social progress. Modern sociologists, particularly Americans, do not hold this proposition.

They point out that evolution does not mean progress, because when a society is more evolved it does not necessarily follow that it is more progressive. If it would have been progressive, Maclver and Page remark that people in the more evolved society are better or better fitted to survive or more moral or more healthy than those we call primitive. Even if the opposite were true, it would not refute the fact that their society is more evolved.”

Social evolution should also be distinguished from social progress. Firstly L.T. Hobhouse says, evolution means a sort of growth while .social progress means the growth of social life in respect of those qualities to which human beings attach or can rationally attach value. The relation between the two is thus a ‘genus-species’ relation.

Social progress is only one among many possibilities of social evolution; any or every form of social evolution is not a form of social progress. For example, caste system in India is a product of social evolution. But it does not signify progress. Hobhouse concludes, “that it is good, the fact that society has evolved is no proof that it progressed.

Secondly, evolution is merely change in a given direction. It describes a series of interrelated changes in a system of some kind. It refers to an objective condition which is not evaluated as good or bad. On the contrary, progress means change in a direction determined ideally. In other words, it can be said, progress means change for the better not for the worse.

It implies a value-judgement. The evolutionary process may move in accordance with our notion of desirable change, but there is no logical necessity that it should. The concept of progress necessarily involves a concept of end. And the concept of end varies with the mentality and experience of the individual and the group.

The affirmation of evolution “depends on our perception of objective evidences, whereas the affirmation or denial of progress depends on our ideals.” It follows that evolution is a scientific concept and progress is an ethical concept. Evolution is a demonstrable reality; out the term progress is very much subjective and value-loaded and is not demonstrable with a degree of certainty.

While social evolution is clearly distinguished from social progress, we must not loose sight of their relationships. Ethical valuations or ideas (Progress) are socially determined and hence determine the objective phenomena (Evolution) of society. They have always been powerful in shaping and moving the world. In some manner they are active in every process of social change. “All social change has this double character.”

From the above analysis we find, though the above three concepts, social change, social evolution and social progress share many common reference points, they have different intellectual framework. They all articulate same consequential effects.

In all the three processes, one cause produces a number of effects, the effect and cause get intermixed to produce other new effects, again new connections between cause and effect are established and so on goes the process.

Factors of Social Change :

A sociological explanation of change refers not only to the structure that changes but also the factors that effect such a change. Social change has occurred in all societies and in all periods of time. We should, therefore, know what the factors are that produce change. Of course there is little consensus among the representatives of theoretical proposition on the sources.

Besides, the linear as well as the cyclical theorists paid little attention to the determinations of factors involved in social change. Morris Ginsberg has made a systematic analysis of the factors which have been invoked by different writers to explain social change.

Here, our analysis is confined to sociological implantation of the origins and causes of change. Cause will be defined here as set of related factors which, taken together, are both sufficient and necessary for the production of a certain effect.

Attempt has been made to take up each factors of social change by itself and find out the way in which it effects social change. These factors are treated independently, purely for purpose of understanding and we are not of the view that they can influence social change independent of other factors.

Technological Factor :

Technological factor constitute one important source of social change. Technology, an invention, is a great agent of social change. It either initiates or encourages social change. Technology alone holds the key to change. When the scientific knowledge is applied to the problems of life, it becomes technology. In order to satisfy his desires, to fulfill his needs and to make his life more comfortable, man builds civilisation.

The dawn of this new civilization is the single most explosive fact of our lifetimes. It is the central event, the key to the understanding of the years immediately ahead. We have already crossed the first wave (agricultural revolution). We are now the children of the next transformation i.e. the third wave.

We go forward to describe the full power and reach of this extraordinary change. Some speak of a “Looming Space Age”, “Information Age”, “Electronic Era”, or “Global ‘ Village”. Brezezinski has told us, we face a “Technetronic Age”. Sociologist Daniel Bell describes the coming of a “Post-Industrial Society”. Soviet futurists speak of the STR-‘The Scientific-Technological Revolution”. Alvin Toffler has written extensively about the arrival of a “Super Industrial Society”.

Technology is fast growing. Every technological advance makes it possible for us to attain certain results with less effort, at less cost and at less time. It also provides new opportunities and establishes new conditions of life. The social effects of technology are far-reaching.

In the words of W.F. Ogburn, “technology changes society by changing our environment to which we in turn adapt. This change is usually in the material environment and the adjustment that we make with these changes often modifies our customs and social institutions”.

Ogburn and Nimkoff have pointed that a single invention may have innumerable social effects. According to them, radio, for example, has influenced our entertainment, education, politics, sports, literature, knowledge, business, occupation and our modes of organisation. They have given a list consisting of 150 effects of radio in U.S.A.

The pace of change in the modern era is easily demonstrated by reference to rates of technological development. The technological revolution enabled human kind to shift from hunting and gathering to sedentary agriculture and later to develop civilizations.

Technological revolutions enabled societies to industrialize urbanize, specialize, bureaucratize, and take on characteristics that are considered central aspects of modern society. “Modern technology,” remarks the economic historian David Landes, “produces not only more, faster; it turns out objects that could not have been produced under any circumstances by the craft methods of yesterday.

Most important, modern technology has created things that could scarcely have been conceived in the pre-industrial era the camera, the motor car, the aeroplane, the whole array of electronic devices from the radio to the high speed computer, the nuclear power plant, and so on almost adinfinitum…. The result has been an enormous increase in the output and variety of goods and services, and this alone has changed man’s way of life more than anything since the discovery of fire…”

Every technological revolution has brought about increase in the world population. Development and advancement of agriculture resulted in the increase of population in the agricultural communities; rise of commerce gave birth to the populous towns, international trade and international contact and the industrial revolution set the human society on the new pedestal.

Technological changes have influenced attitudes, beliefs and traditions. The factory system and industrialization, urbanization and the rise of working class, fast transport and communication have demolished old prejudices, dispelled superstitions, weakened casteism, and has given rise to the class based society.

Ogborn even goes to the extent of suggesting that the starter in motor car had something to do with the emancipation of women in the America and Western Europe. Development in transport and communication has changed the outlook of the people.

Railways in India have played tremendous role in bringing about social mixing of the people. It has helped people to move out of their local environments and take up jobs in distant corners of the country. Movement of people from East to West and North to South has broken social and regional barriers.

There have come into existence new vocations and trades. People have begun to give up their traditional occupations and are taking to work in the factories and in the offices-commercial as well as Government. This has also made possible the vertical mobility.

A person can now aspire to take up an occupation with higher status than he could have ever thought of in the pre-technological days. Technology has brought about Green Revolution with abundance and variety for the rich.

The rapid changes of every modern society are inextricably interwoven or connected with and somehow dependent upon the development of new techniques, new inventions, new modes of production and new standards of living.

Technology thus is a great bliss. It has made living worthwhile for the conveniences and comfort it provides, and has created numerous vocations, trades and professions. While, giving individual his rightful place, it has made the collectivity supreme.

Technologies are changing and their social consequences are profound. Fundamental changes brought by technology in social structure are discussed as under:

1. Birth of Factory System:

The introduction of machines in the industry has replaced the system of individual production by the factory or mill system. It has led to the creation of huge factories which employ thousands of people and where most of the work is performed automatically.

2. Urbanisation:

The birth of gigantic factories led to urbanisation and big cities came into existence. Many labourers, who were out of employment in rural areas migrated to the sites to work and settled around it. As the cities grew, so did the community of ‘labourers and with it was felt the need for all civic amenities which are essential for society. Their needs were fulfilled by establishing market centers, schools, colleges, hospitals, and recreation clubs. The area further developed when new business came to it with the formation of large business houses.

3. Development of New Agricultural Techniques:

The introduction of machinery into the industry led to the development of new techniques in agriculture. Agricultural production was increased due to the use of new chemical manure. The quality was also improved by the use of superior seeds. All these factors resulted in increase of production. In India, the effect of technology is most apparent in this direction because India is preeminently an agricultural country.

4. Development of Means of Transportation and Communication:

With the development of technology, means of transportation and communication progressed at a surprising rate. These means led to the mutual exchanges between the various cultures. Newspapers, radios, televisions etc. helped to bring news from every corner of the world right into the household. The development of the car, rail, ship and aeroplane made transportation of commodities much easier. As a result national and international trade made unprecedented progress.

5. Evolution of New Classes:

Industrialisation and urbanisation gave birth to the emergence of new classes in modern society. Class struggle arises due to division of society into classes having opposite-interests.

6. New Conceptions and Movements:

The invention of mechanism has also culminated in the generation of new currents in the prevalent thinking. ‘Trade Union’ movements, ‘Lockouts’, ‘Strikes”, “Hartals’, ‘Processions’, ‘Pen down’ became the stocks-in-trade of those who want to promote class interest. These concepts and movements become regular features of economic activity.

The effects of technology on major social institution may be summed up in the following manner:

Technology has radically changed the family organisation and relation in several ways.

Firstly, small equalitarian nuclear family system based on love, equality, liberty and freedom is replacing the old, authoritarian joint family system. Due to invention of birth, control method, the size of family reduced.

Secondly, Industrialisation destroying the domestic system of production has brought women from home to the factories and office. The employment of women meant their independence from the bondage of man. If brought a change in their attitudes and ideas. It meant a new social life for women. It consequently affected every part of the family life.

Thirdly due to technology, marriage has lost its sanctity. It is now regarded as civil contract rather than a religious sacrament. Romantic marriage, inter-caste marriage and late marriages are the effects of technology. Instances of divorce, desertion, separation and broken families are increasing.

Lastly, though technology has elevated the status of women, it has also contributed to the stresses and strains in the relations between men and women at home. It has lessened the importance of family in the process of socialisation of its members.

Technology has effected wide range of changes in our religious life. Many religious practices and ceremonies which once marked the individual and social life, have now been abandoned by them. With the growth of scientific knowledge and modern education, the faith of the people in several old religious beliefs and activities have shaken.

Economic life:

The most striking change due to technological advance, is the change in economic organisation. Industry has been taken away from the household and new types of economic organisation like factories, stores, banks, joint stock companies, stock-exchanges, and corporation have been setup. It has given birth to capitalism with all its attendant evils.

Division of labour, specialization of function, differentiation and integration all the products of technology. Though it has brought in higher standard of living, still then by creating much more middle classes, it has caused economic depression, unemployment, poverty, industrial disputes and infectious diseases.

Effects on State:

Technology has affected the State in several ways. The functions of the State has been widened. A large number of functions of family, such as educative, recreation, health functions have been transferred to the State.

The idea of social welfare State is an offshoot of technology. Transportation and communication are leading to a shift of functions from local Government to the Central Government. The modern Government which rule through the bureaucracy have further impersonalised the human relations.

Social life:

Technological innovations have changed the whole gamut of social and cultural life. The technological conditions of the modern factory system tend to weaken the rigidity of the caste system and strengthen industrializations. It has changed the basis of social stratification from birth to wealth. Urbanization, a consequence of technological advance, produces greater emotional tension and mental strain, instability and economic insecurity.

There is masking of one’s true feelings. Socially, the urbanites are poor in the midst of plenty. “They feel lonely in the crowd”. On all sides, one is confronted with “human machines which possess motion but not sincerity, life but not emotion, heart but not feelings”. Technology has grown the sense of individualism. It has substituted the ‘handi work’ with ‘head work’.

It is clear from the above explanation that technology has profoundly altered our modes of life and also thought. It is capable of bringing about vast changes in society. But is should not be considered as a sole factor of social change. Man is the master as well as a servant of the machine. He has the ability to alter the circumstances which have been the creation of his own inventions or technology.

Cultural Factor of Social Change :

Among all the factors, cultural factor is the most important which works as a major cause of social change. Culture is not something static. It is always in flux. Culture is not merely responsive to changing techniques, but also it itself is a force directing social change.

Culture is the internal life forces of society. It creates itself and develops by itself. It is men who plan, strive and act. The social heritage is never a script that is followed slavishly by people. A culture gives cues and direction to social behaviour.

Technology and material inventions may influence social change but direction and degree of this depends upon the cultural situation as a whole. “Culture is the realm of final valuation”. Men interpret the whole world. He is the master as well as the servant of his own inventions or technology.

To employ Maclver’s simile, technological means may be represented by a ship which can set sail to various ports. The port we sail to remains a cultural choice. Without the ship we could not sail at all. According to the character of the ship we sail fast of ‘slow, take longer or shorter voyages.

Our lives are also accommodated to the conditions on ship board and our experiences vary accordingly. But the direction in which we travel is not predestinated by the design of the ship. The port to which we sail, the direction in which we travel, remains totally of a cultural choice.

It should be noted that technology alone cannot bring vast changes in society. In order to be effective “The technology must have favourable cultural support”. When the cultural factor responds to technological change, it also reacts on it so as to influence the direction and character of social change.

It may be noted that culture not only influences our relationship and values but also influences the direction and character of technological change. For example, different countries like Great Britain, Soviet Union, U.S.A. and India may adopt the same technology, but in so far as their prevalent outlook on life differs, they will apply it in different directions and to different ends.

The atomic energy can be used for munition of war and for production purposes. The industrial plant can turn out armaments or necessaries of life. Steel and iron can be used for building purposes and for warships. Fire can be used for constructive and destructive purposes.

For a better understanding of the relationship between culture and technology, let us analyse here the concept of “cultural lag”.

Cultural Lag:

The concept of ‘cultural lag’, has become a favourite one with sociologists, it is an expression that has a particular appeal in an age in which inventions discoveries and innovations of many kinds are constantly disturbing and threatening older ways of living. In this context, it will serve also to introduce the principle that cultural conditions are themselves important agencies in the process of social change.

The concept of ‘cultural lag’ was first explicitly formulated by W.F. Ogburn in his treaties entitled ‘Social Change’. Lag means crippled movement. Hence, ‘cultural lag’ means the phases of culture which fall behind other phases that keep on moving ahead.

Ogburn’s idea of ‘cultural lag’ is perhaps one of the most important concept influencing the fact of discussion regarding technology and social change. Ogburn distinguishes between “material” and ‘non-material’ culture.

By ‘material culture’ he means things which are ‘tangible’, visible, seen or touched like goods, tools, utensils, furniture, machine. But the ‘non-material’ culture includes things which cannot be touched or tangible such as family, religion, skill, talent. Government and education etc.

According to Ogburn, when changes occur in ‘material culture’, those in turn stimulate changes in ‘non-material’ culture, particularly in what he terms the ‘adaptive’ culture. According to Ogburn, material culture changes by a process which is different in pace from changes in non-material culture.

The larger the technological knowledge of a society, the greater the possibility of a new combinations and innovations. Thus, material culture tends to grow exponentially. Because society cannot develop methods of controlling and utilizing new technology before the technology is accepted and used. There exists a “cultural lag” in creating controls and altering social relationship related to new conditions brought about by new technology.

Cultural lag is due to man’s psychological dogmatism. He is wedded to certain ideologies regarding sex, education and religion. On account of his dogmatic beliefs and ideologies, he is not prepared to change his social institutions. The failure to adopt social institutions to the changes in the material culture leads to cultural lag.

But Maclver points out that “unfortunately it is often adopted without adequate analysis and consequently it has not been developed in a clear and effective manner. According to him, the distinction is not a workable one. Nor again should be assumed that, it is always the ‘material’ or that the main problem is one of adapting the ‘non-material’ to the ‘material’ culture.

Maclver also observes that the term ‘lag’ is not properly applicable to relations between technological factors and the cultural patterns or between the various components of the cultural pattern itself. He has used different words like, ‘technological lag’, ‘technological restraint’, for the resulting imbalance in the different parts of culture.

Kingsley Davis, in his ‘Human Society’ holds that the aspect of culture cannot be divided into material and non-material and that this distinction in no way helps us to understand the nature of technology. Other sociologists, Sutherland, Wood Ward and Maxwell, in their book ‘Introductory Sociology’ point out that Ogburn is guilty of over simplifying the processes of social change.

Social change is a complex phenomenon. The rate, speed and direction of social change is not the same everywhere. So it cannot be explained by simply saying that change first takes place in material culture and thereafter in non-material culture. Ogburn has taken an over simple materialistic view of society.

In spite of various shortcomings, Ogburn’s theory of cultural lag has been proved to be beneficial for the understanding of the cultural factor in bringing about social change. It has been acknowledged by all that there is an intimate connections between the technological advance and our cultural values.

Hence, we may note here that our culture, our thoughts, values, habits are the consequences of technological changes; the latter also is the consequences of changes of the former. Both technology and cultural factors are the two important sources of social change. The two are not only interdependent but also interactive. Man does not simply want a thing but he wants a thing which may also be beautiful and appealing to his senses.

Dowson and Gettys, in introduction to Sociology’, rightly remark, “Culture tends to give direction and momentum to social change to set limits beyond which social change cannot occur.

It is the culture which has kept the social relationship intact. It makes people think not of their own but also of the others. Any change in cultural valuation will have wider repercussion on the personality of the individual and the structure of the group. Every technological invention, innovation, new industrial civilization or new factor disturbs an old adjustment.

The disturbance created by mechanism was so great that it seemed to be the enemy of culture, as indeed all revolutions seem. The wealth-bringing machine brought also, ugliness, shoddiness, haste, standardization. It brought new hazards, new diseases, and industrial fatigue.

That was not the fault of the machines and power plants. It was due to the ruthlessness and greed of those who controlled these great inventions. But human values or cultural values reasserted themselves against economic exploitation. Culture began, at first very slowly, to redirect the new civilization. It made the new means of living at length more tractable to the uses of personality and new arts blossomed on the ruins of the old.

To conclude, social systems are directly or indirectly the creation of cultural values. So eminent sociologist Robert Bierstedt has rightly remarked, “What people think, in short, determines in every measure… what they do and what they want”. Thus, there a definite relation is a definite relation between changing beliefs and attitudes and changing social institutions. So Hobhouse says, there is “a broad correlation between the system of institutions and mentally behind them”.

Demographic Factor of Social Change:

The demographic factor plays the most decisive role in causing social change. The quantitative view of demography takes into account the factors that determine the population: its size, numbers, composition, density and the local distribution etc.

The population of every community is always changing both in numbers and in composition. The changes in population have a far-reaching effect on society. During the 19th century, the population of most countries of Western Europe fell down. During the same time also, the death rate of these countries declined. This double phenomenon is unprecedented in the history of man.

Population changes have occurred all through human history. It is due to various reasons such as migration, invasion, and war, pestilence, changing food supply and changing mores. There was depopulation and overpopulation in times past. The swift and steady decline of both the birth rate and death in the past 70 years or so witnesses to a great social transformation.

In a society where the size or number of female children is greater than the number of male children, we will find a different system of courtship, marriage and family disorganisation from that where the case is reverse. Women command less respect in that community where their numbers are more.

It has always been recognised that there exists a reciprocal relation between population and social structure. The social structure influences population changes and is affected by them. It is beyond doubt that economic conditions and population rates are interdependent. Increasing 254 Social Change interaction results from an increase in the size and density of population. Increase in population also leads to an increase of social differentiation and a division of labour.

With the changes in size, number and density of population, changes take place in composition. The most important reasons for the contemporary population explosion are the tremendous technological changes on the one hand and a most spectacular advance in controlling the diseases by science and preventive medicines on the other hand.

Advancement in science and technology is indirectly boosting the world population by delaying the death rate. For example, take the case of ‘Malaria’. This disease was responsible for the death of million of people in India and other countries.

But it has now been completely eliminated by destroying the malaria carrying mosquitoes with the use of pesticides. Surgery too has advanced so much today. The vital organs of human body such as kidney and heart can be transplanted or replaced when worn out.

The growth of population has given birth to a great variety of social problems such as unemployment, child labour, wars, competition and production of synthetic goods. It has led to urbanization with all its attendant evils.

Countries with growing population and relatively limited resources have an incentive to imperialism and to militarism. These attitudes in turn, encourage a further increase of population. Increase in population threatens the standards of living and thus inspires a change of attitude.

Due to unprecedented growth of population in the 19th century, the practice of birth control took a new development. This practice (use of contraceptive), in turn, had many repercussions on family relationships and even on attitudes towards marriage.

With a change in population, there is also a change in a pattern of ‘consumption’. Societies having large number of children are required to spend relatively large amounts of money on food and education. On the other hand, societies with large proportions of elderly people have to spend relatively more amount on medical care.

In some cases, population changes may initiate pressures to change political institutions. For example, changes in the age, sex or ethnic composition of a people of then complicates the political process of country.

Besides, there is a close relationship between the growth of population and the level of physical health and vitality of the people. Because there are many mouths to feed, none gets enough nutritious food to eat, as a result chronic malnutrition and associated diseases become prevalent.

These, induce physical incompetence, apathy and lack of enterprise. Due to these people’s low level of physical well-being, they are socially backward and unprogressive. They show their indifference to improve their material welfare. An underfed, disease-ridden people are lethargic people.

Moreover, if the growth of population is checked, it would mean a higher standard of living, the emancipation of women from child-bearing drudgery, better care for the young and consequently a better society.

Demographers have shown that variation in the density of population also affects nature of our social relationship. In a low population density area, the people are said to exhibit a greater degree of primary relationship whereas in the area of high density of population, the relationship between people is said to superficial and secondary. In the opinion of Worth, high density areas witness the growth of mental stress and loneliness of life.

The importance of demography as a factor of social change has been realised by various sociologists and economists. An eminent French sociologist, Emile Durkheim, went on to the extent of developing a new branch of sociology dealing with population which he called “Social Morphology” which not only analyses the size and quality of population but also examine how population affects the quality of social relationships and social groups.

Durkheim has pointed out that our modern societies are not only characterised by increasing division of labour but also specialisation of function. The increasing division of labour and specialization of function have a direct correlation with the increasing density of population. He stresses on the fact that in a simple society with comparatively lesser number of people, the necessity of complex division of labour is less felt.

This society, according to Durkheim, is based on “mechanical solidarity”. But as the groups grow in size and complexity with the increase in population, the “services of the experts” are more required. The society, according to him, moves towards “organic solidarity”. There is, so to say, a drift from mechanical to organic solidarity.

M. David Heer, in his book “Society and Population”, has developed a “theory of demographic transition”. The theory was popularised just after the end of World War-II. It has provided a comprehensive explanation of the effects of economic development both on fertility and mortality decline.

Schneidar and Dornbusch, in their book “Popular Religion”, have pointed that decline in mortality rate evokes several changes in social structure. They have stressed on the point that due to decline in mortality rate in USA since 1875, negative attitude towards religious beliefs have been cultivated by the people.

They also point out that in a society wherein children die before reaching the age of five, parents may not develop a strong emotional attachment to their children and also in a high mortality society, arranged marriages are common, but in a low mortality society love marriages become the dominant feature. Again when mortality rate is high, individual tends to have a weaker orientation towards the future and stronger orientation towards the present.

Thomas Robert Malthus, an English cleargyman, mathematician and economist, was one of the earliest demographers. In his work, “An Essay on the Principles of Population”, published in 1978, he mentioned that under normal conditions, population would grow by geometrical progression, whereas the means of subsistence would grow by arithmetical progression. The imbalance or lag or gap between the two would create a lot of problems for society.

That is why, Malthus has pleaded for two types of checks which can keep the population down. He spoke of hunger and disease as positive check, and late marriage and enforced celibacy as the preventive check.

From the above analysis, we find that demographic factor has been contributing to the great transformations in society’s socioeconomic and political structure throughout human history. For example, most countries in Asia where more than half world population is now living, is characterised by high birth rate. These countries in general and Indian society in particular, are passing through a critical period of great poverty, unemployment and moral degeneration.

The gap between the living standards of general masses of these countries and that of the developed countries is widening. The gap is cruelly frustrating the third world country’s hopes for development.

With the current rate of population increase, it is expected that the total requirements for future health, education, housing and many other welfare needs are bound to increase. This will certainly bring the drastic changes not only in the microstructures, but also in macrostructures of Indian society.

Related Articles:

• Difference between Social and Cultural Change
• Cultural Change: Main Factors and Causes of Cultural Change

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Cultural Relations Collection - climate change essays

The Cultural Relations Collection explores the work of the British Council and reflects on our approach to cultural relations around the globe. These essays also discuss the theory and practice of cultural relations more broadly. They are a starting point for discussion. They look afresh – with a common cultural relations lens – across global developments in a range of thematic areas. These include arts, science, higher education, schools, climate, civil society, exams and assessment, and the English language.

On this page, you can find the climate change essays in this collection.

Not (just) a protest: the youth strike for climate as cultural exchange and collaborative text.

Chloé Germaine Buckley and Benjamin Bowman discuss the School Strike for Climate, the global movement initiated by Greta Thunberg in August 2018. They consider the strikes as a form of global cultural exchange and a process that envisions the world as it could be. The authors draw on a range of materials produced by young people, from informal protest signs to songs. This essay is part of the British Council’s Climate Connection.

Rethinking the unthinkable: what can educational engagements with culture offer the climate crisis?

Charlotte Nussey considers the ways in which education and cultural relations offers lessons, new ideas and ways of talking and listening about the climate emergency. Nussey argues that the climate emergency cannot be addressed by technical responses and innovations alone, but requires a socio-cultural response, inclusive of culture and education. The essay spotlights the Transforming Universities for a Changing Climate project, and how higher education institutions in the Global South contribute to tackling climate change. This essay is part of the British Council’s Climate Connection.

Empowering a world without fossil fuels: a crisis of culture

Sam McNeilly addresses the relative failure of communicating climate change. Rooted in the ‘energy humanities’, Mcneilly argues that effectively communicating the climate emergency requires increased attention to what drives it: the culture of fossil fuels. Cultural relations can serve to ensure justice is central to shifts away from fossil fuels and transforming existing cultural practices. This essay is part of the British Council’s Climate Connection.

Emergencies, emergences, engagement: cultural relations and climate action

Carla Figueira and Aimee Fullman argue for the need to avoid distant, apocalyptic visions of climate change. Instead, they suggest telling ‘better stories’ about where we want to go and the sort of world we want to live in. They argue that cultural relations, and cultural relations organisations, can play a key role in shaping this new framing of climate change. Cultural relations is an underutilised resource in addressing the climate emergency, and cultural relations organisations have an important part to play. This essay is part of the British Council’s Climate Connection.

Making sense of climate change in the digital age

Nina Schuller argues that new communication technologies may be a double-edged sword. They stretch outwards and bringing people closer together, or being used as a vehicle for promoting certain interpretations of the world over others. Using Wikipedia as a case study, Schuller notes how our knowledge of climate change is subjected to the politics of translation. In this context, Schuller discusses how non-Western knowledges often give way to Eurocentric epistemologies. This essay is part of the British Council’s Climate Connection.

An obtuse triangle: the nexus between digital skills, soft power and climate change mitigation in Georgia

Jessica Gosling discusses the ‘obtuse triangle’ of unusual suspects: climate change mitigation, soft power and digital skills, using the nation of Georgia as a case study. Gosling argues that digital skills, ‘vital instruments of soft power’, are crucially important for building a low-carbon economy and prosperity in the south Caucasian country. Given that climate change is a global emergency, the exchange of information between different cultures and regions of the world becomes crucial for climate mitigation. This essay is part of the British Council’s Climate Connection.

On 22 September, we hosted a roundtable 'New Voices on International Cultural Relations - Culture and Climate Actionevent' to mark the publication of this new series of essays on climate change. This roundtable discussed the idea that (as the author of one of the essays puts it) ‘climate change is a crisis of culture.’, and examined the role of culture, and cultural relations, in climate action. We reflected on the specific tasks and challenges that cultural relations practice must address in responding to the climate crisis. 

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Essays About Culture Shock: Top 5 Examples and 7 Prompts

Writing essays about culture shock promotes awareness, improves character, and fosters meaningful interactions; reading our top examples and prompts to get started.

Two things stood out when I visited Thailand: the beautiful tourist destinations and the country’s food. I enjoyed the meals and snacks, especially  Roti Sai Mai . It’s a sweet candy floss rolled into a salted roti sheet. My peers, however, liked eating Nhon Mhai or silkworms sprinkled with pepper and soy. I knew the country had exotic foods, but it still shocked me. 

Culture shock happens when one is unfamiliar with the environment and culture of a place they’re visiting. People who usually experience this are international students, migrant families, and first-time travelers like myself. An effective way to promote awareness of its  symptoms and stages  is through writing essays about the subject.

5 Essay Examples

• 1. What Is the Culture Shock? By Anonymous on EduBirdie.Com
• 2. Long Essay on Culture Shock by Prasanna
• 3. Cultural Shock and Adaptation by Anonymous on GradesFixer.Com
• 4. Culture Shock — What Is It by Anonymous on IntervarsityChicago.Org
• 5. My Experience of Culture Shock in the United States by Anonymous on GradesFixer.Com

1. Culture Shock: Defined

2. symptoms of culture shock, 3. the phases of culture shock, 4. how to overcome culture shock, 5. factors and effects of culture shock, 6. is culture shock normal, 7. my personal experience of culture shock, 1. what is the culture shock  by anonymous on edubirdie.com.

“Culture shock is the result of national culture. Everyone has a culture which he or she grows, works, and lives. Because of that difference, people are having trouble to adapt new culture.”

In this essay, the author uses students studying abroad as an example to explain culture shock. They mention that culture shock is inevitable even if students prepare themselves for the problems they may face when moving to another country. As a result, students become unfocused and stressed and develop psychological problems.

According to the writer, culture shock is an insurmountable problem, but there are ways to reduce its impact, especially on students. It includes orientation programs from universities, research about the new culture they will encounter, and human interaction. You might be interested in these essays about city life .

2. Long Essay on Culture Shock  by Prasanna

“Traveling to a foreign country is one of the best ways to step outside your monotonous life. The fear of facing unfamiliar situations holds many people from stepping out of their comfort zone. When you reach a new country, you will have the opportunity to see and experience things that you were longing for, have fun and enjoy the atmosphere that you can’t do in your home country.”

Prasanna describes culture shock’s many benefits that significantly improve one’s life. For example, it assists in breaking routines so one can adapt to others’ customs. It leads to individuals being more flexible and expanding their horizons. 

Culture shock also helps build self-confidence and overcome challenges. People make new friends and create new experiences by exposing themselves to unfamiliar cultures, places, and groups. The new knowledge about a foreign place dramatically influences one’s personality and promotes self-growth. Ultimately, Prasanna believes that culture shock is difficult at first, but one becomes comfortable with the changes around them as the day goes by.

Looking for more? Check out these essays about globalization .

3. Cultural Shock and Adaptation  by Anonymous on GradesFixer.Com

“… The differences of how people live, their beliefs, values are rather obvious. We not only find no evidence of convergence – we actually find that the gap between the value system of rich and poor countries have been growing, not shrinking, during the past 20 years.”

This essay contains various quotes from people knowledgeable about culture shock, such as Michael Minkov, the author of  “Cultural Differences in a Globalizing World.”  The writer says that traveling abroad is more than just enjoying the sights, festivities, and food. It’s about learning and understanding how its people live — the travelers’ difficulties in understanding these lead to culture shock. Since this is a broad and sensitive topic, the author believes that people should learn about the culture and its differences to know its causes and develop effective methods to overcome them.

4. Culture Shock — What Is It  by Anonymous on IntervarsityChicago.Org

“Culture Shock is the disorientation and change that is experienced after an international relocation… You will feel as if you are in the wrong place; everything will appear abnormal and you will often find things hard to comprehend.”

The author defines culture shock as mental confusion brought on by moving to a foreign country, locale, school, and workplace. Various factors contribute to culture shock, and its effects differ from one person to another. For students and employees, culture shock makes them unproductive and tired. 

The essay further explains that the usual cause of culture shock is homesickness. People feel various indicators like insomnia, anger issues, irritation, and many others. Their advice to readers dealing with culture shock is to look for its causes to handle it properly to avoid adverse effects. You might also be interested in these essays about culture shock .

5. My Experience of Culture Shock in the United States  by Anonymous on GradesFixer.Com

“Many of the customs of the new culture may seem odd or uncomfortably different from those of your home country. Being in a new and unfamiliar place can be challenging even for the experienced traveler, and it is normal to feel frustrated and isolated.”

Being from Kazakhstan and using a Hollywood movie as a basis for American life, the author has no idea that pursuing their dream of living in The Land of the Free will give them culture shock. The writer discusses three significant differences between their home country and America.

First, compared to their native land, where people only befriend those they trust, Americans are approachable and make easy friends with strangers. Second, privacy and personal space are nonexistent in America. Lastly, Americans’ ideas of equality spill into how they talk and dress.

7 Prompts for Essays About Culture Shock

Use this prompt to discuss culture shock by talking about its literal meaning, experts’ views, and your idea of it. Then, pick what’s consistent across these varying explanations to create a comprehensive definition of culture shock. Add relevant citations from reliable sources to strengthen your statements and make the essay more informative. 

If you find this topic complex, simplify it and write a five-paragraph essay instead.

Some common symptoms of culture shock are feeling isolated, bored, and irritated. However, it differs in the stage, cause, or degree of culture shock a person has. For this prompt, briefly discuss the definition of culture shock and then identify its symptoms. Expound on each stage’s indicators and how long a person typically goes through these symptoms. The essay must also explain how these signs differ from one individual to another.

There are  four stages of culture shock : honeymoon, frustration, adjustment, and acceptance. Explain each stage and focus on what causes an individual to transition from one phase to the next. Add how long each stage lasts and what feelings are involved. Include examples so readers can better understand each stage.

Certain situations do not allow an individual to return to a familiar environment to get rid of culture shock. In this prompt, center your essay on ways to help people cope with culture shock. Search for effective ways to adapt to the changes, such as developing new hobbies and making friends in the new place. 

Climate, language, social roles, values, and unspoken rules are some factors that contribute to culture shock. For this prompt, briefly explain culture shock and list its common causes to help the reader verify if they’re experiencing this phenomenon. Then, discuss how these factors lead to culture shock by offering examples and include some of its positive and negative effects.

To write this prompt, you need to find reliable references such as demographic statistics to determine the number of people experiencing culture shock worldwide. After gathering data, analyze and discuss your findings. 

Remember to answer the question prompt and summarize your conclusions at the end of your essay. Here’s an example statement: Based on research , 85% of international students experience culture shock, and their top problem is adjusting to the country’s language.

Share a story of your travel or move to another location where you experienced culture shock. Write about the reason for your transfer and describe where you came from versus where you moved to. Include how long you stayed in the place and what culture shock symptoms you felt. Add how this experience affected you and your expectations whenever you visit a new location. If you are interested in learning more, check out our essay writing tips !

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

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