cultural diffusion

Definition of Cultural Diffusion

(noun) The transmission of cultural aspects (e.g., art, language, norms) from one location to another.

Examples of Cultural Diffusion

• Aesthetics of movies, architecture, and design following the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb.
• Coffee from Ethiopia being grown in South America and consumed worldwide.
• McDonald’s in the Middle East.
• Potatoes and tomatoes from Latin America becoming staple foods and cultural markers in Ireland and Italy, respectively.
• Spread of Hip Hop from the United States to other countries.
• Western adoption of Eastern cuisine.
• Loan words in the English lexicon that come from other languages.

Cultural Diffusion Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: cul·tur·al dif·fu·sion

Audio Pronunciation

International Phonetic Alphabet

• American English – /ˈkʌlʧərəl dɪˈfjuʒən/
• British English – /ˈkʌlʧərəl dɪˈfjuːʒən/

Usage Notes

• Plural: cultural diffusions
  
• Both material culture and nonmaterial culture transfer through cultural diffusion.
• Also called:
  • cultural borrowing
  • diffusion

Related Video

Additional Information

• Word origin of “cultural” and “diffusion” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
• Burciaga, José Antonio. 1993. Drink Cultura: Chicanismo. Santa Barbara, CA: Joshua Odell Editions/Capra Press.

Related Terms

• acculturation
• cultural pluralism
• culture
• enculturation
• language
• material culture
• nonmaterial culture
• norm

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Works Consulted

Andersen, Margaret L., and Howard Francis Taylor. 2011. Sociology: The Essentials. 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Brinkerhoff, David, Lynn White, Suzanne Ortega, and Rose Weitz. 2011. Essentials of Sociology. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Bruce, Steve, and Steven Yearley. 2006. The SAGE Dictionary of Sociology. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Delaney, Tim, and Tim Madigan. 2015. The Sociology of Sports: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.

Ferrante, Joan. 2011a. Seeing Sociology: An Introduction. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. 2010. The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology. 2nd ed. New York: Norton.

Henslin, James M. 2012. Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. 10th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Jary, David, and Julia Jary. 2000. Collins Dictionary of Sociology. 3rd ed. Glasgow, Scotland: HarperCollins.

Kimmel, Michael S., and Amy Aronson. 2012. Sociology Now. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).

Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).

Cite the Definition of Cultural Diffusion

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “cultural diffusion.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 20, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/cultural-diffusion/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

cultural diffusion. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/cultural-diffusion/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “cultural diffusion.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/cultural-diffusion/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“cultural diffusion.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/cultural-diffusion/>.