Patterns Of Cultural Change Research Articles

Неолит и ранний бронзовый век Предбайкалья: хронология и пищевые тренды

Analyses of radiocarbon dates (all corrected for the freshwater reservoir effect) and associated stable isotope values obtained from the skeletal remains of ~560 individuals provide many new insights about Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers (HG) of the Cis-Baikal region, Eastern Siberia. The new radiocarbon evidence clarifies the culture history of the region by defining better the boundaries between the chronological (archaeological periods) and cultural (mortuary traditions) units, as well as our understanding of the transitions between them. Furthermore, differences between the four archaeological micro-regions with regard to the timing and duration of these culture historical units have come into focus for the first time. In terms of dietary patterns, the Early Neolithic foragers of the Angara and Southwest Baikal trended towards a greater reliance on aquatic foods. A similar trend was found in the Late Neolithic Isakovo group on the Angara, while the Late Neolithic Serovo group in the Little Sea trended towards an increased dietary reliance on terrestrial game. In the Early Bronze Age HG, a mosaic of dietary patterns was found: some groups experienced dietary shifts (frequently emphasizing different foods), while other groups displayed stability. Such differences were found even between close neighbours. All these results suggest significant variation in patterns of culture change within and between archaeological periods, mortuary traditions, and micro-regions. Some cultural patterns developed at a quick pace, others much more slowly; some appear to have collapsed rapidly, while others probably went through a more gradual transition to a different pattern. Additionally, this large set of radiocarbon dates allows novel insights into patterns of cemetery use: some seem to have been used continuously, others only sporadically, and some show long periods of disuse. Moreover, some cemeteries of the same mortuary tradition were apparently in use substantially earlier than others were even established. In sum, Cis-Baikal Middle Holocene HG strategies underwent a range of changes not only at the boundaries between relevant culture historical units but also within such units. New insights suggest considerable spatio-temporal variation in the nature, pace, and timing of these developments.

An Assessment of Cultural Changes in Rural Society in Gopalganj District of Bangladesh

The study was undertaken to assess the extent and pattern of cultural change in Gopalganj district of Bangladesh. To this end, primary data were collected from the rural people from Gopalganj Sadar, Tungipara and Kotalipara upazila of Gopalganj district. A multistage sampling technique was used in selecting the respondent. Five-point Likert scale was used to evaluate the attitudes of the rural people towards cultural changes in the study area. Descriptive statistics, tabular as well as graphical techniques were used in analyzing the data. Result found from the descriptive statistics indicates that majority of the respondents were within the age group of 31-40 years whereas 21% respondents fall within the age category of 51-60 years. In regards to educational background, it is found that majority of the respondents completed their primary education and 17% respondents completed higher secondary education. Regarding the occupational status of the respondents, it is seen that 39% were involved with crop production whereas 16% were livestock farming. The empirical results show that 34% rural people strongly agree and 47% agree with the idea that there is a recreational change in rural society. In terms of the food habit changes, it is observed that 24% of the respondents strongly agree that the pattern of food habit has changed in rural society whereas 3% strongly disagree in this regard. Findings of the study show that 43% of the respondents agree that there is an occupational change in the rural society, and 11% were strongly agree with the statement. With respect to the changes in the communication pattern in rural society, the present study shows that 23% of the rural people agree and 59% strongly agree with the view that communication pattern has changed in the rural society. In the past, Jatra pala, radio and puthi path were the dominant source of recreation whereas facebook, you tube, mobile phone and colour television are found as the main source of recreation at present. In regards to the occupational pattern of the respondents, it is found that crop production and paid labour were the principal occupation of rural people in the past whereas at present mobile and servicing related business, computer and accessories related business, fast food business, poultry farming, internet outsourcing related occupation is found as dominant.

The Important Role of New Media During the COVID-19 Pandemic

March 2020 became the beginning of a global phenomenon for global citizens when the World Health Organization (WHO) designated it as an “extraordinary event” that became known as the COVID-19 pandemic. More media, especially social media, are reporting on issues related to the pandemic. This research aims to analyze the important role of new media as a new tool that is applied during the current pandemic, using qualitative descriptive methods. The research results show that in this pandemic era, the use of new media has become a new “habit”. Every day, community activities, starting from work and schooling, have used new media, such as online channels that can support work or school activities as if done face-to-face. Currently, there are a number of activities carried out by the community using new media such as the Zoom Meeting application, Google Meet, IG Live, Youtube, WhatsApp Video, IG Video, and even other applications that may be custom-made by several company agencies to support the continued running of activities, in times of this pandemic. So, it can be concluded that current activities by the community during a pandemic era such as Work from Home (WFH) or School from Home (SFH), has become a pattern of cultural change in the society during a pandemic.

Modeling cultural change: Computational models of interpersonal influence dynamics can yield new insights about how cultures change, which cultures change more rapidly than others, and why.

Cultural change can occur as an emergent consequence of social influence dynamics within cultural populations. These influence dynamics are complex, and formal modeling methods-such as agent-based models-are a useful means of predicting implications for cultural change. These models may be especially useful if they not only model the psychological outcomes of interpersonal influence, but also model social network structures within a culture. When combined, these components provide a flexible modeling framework that allows other variables to also be modeled for the purposes of predicting plausible implications for cultural change. The article illustrates this approach by summarizing recent research that used these methods to model cross-cultural differences in the pace of cultural change. The article then identifies additional variables that could potentially be modeled within this conceptual framework, to produce additional insights-and additional new hypotheses-about different circumstances associated with different patterns of cultural change. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Middle Holocene hunter–gatherers of Cis-Baikal, Eastern Siberia: Chronology and dietary trends

Analyses of radiocarbon dates (all corrected for the freshwater reservoir effect) and associated stable isotope values obtained from the skeletal remains of ~650 individuals provide many new insights about Middle Holocene hunter–gatherers (HGs) of the Cis-Baikal region, Eastern Siberia. The new radiocarbon evidence clarifies the culture history of the region by defining better the boundaries between the chronological (archaeological periods) and cultural (mortuary traditions) units, as well as our understanding of the transitions between them. Furthermore, differences between the four archaeological micro-regions with regard to the timing and duration of these culture historical units have come into focus for the first time. In terms of dietary patterns, the Early Neolithic foragers of the Angara and Southwest Baikal trended towards a greater reliance on aquatic foods. A similar trend was found in the Late Neolithic (LN) Isakovo group on the Angara, while the LN Serovo group in the Little Sea trended towards an increased dietary reliance on terrestrial game. In the Early Bronze Age HGs, a mosaic of dietary patterns was found: some groups experienced dietary shifts (frequently emphasizing different foods), while other groups displayed stability. Such differences were found even between close neighbours. All these results suggest significant variation in patterns of culture change within and between archaeological periods, mortuary traditions, and micro-regions. Some cultural patterns developed at a quick pace, others much more slowly; some appear to have collapsed rapidly, while others probably went through a more gradual transition to a different pattern. Additionally, this large set of radiocarbon dates allows novel insights into patterns of cemetery use: some seem to have been used continuously, others only sporadically, and some show long periods of disuse. Moreover, some cemeteries of the same mortuary tradition were apparently in use substantially earlier than others were even established. In sum, Cis-Baikal Middle Holocene HG strategies underwent a range of changes not only at the boundaries between relevant culture historical units but also within such units. New insights suggest considerable spatio-temporal variation in the nature, pace, and timing of these developments.

Radiocarbon Dating of Early Dynastic Mesopotamia: Results, Limitations, and Prospects

AbstractThis paper describes the results of Bayesian modeling of radiocarbon dates from Early Bronze Age contexts in Southern Mesopotamia, modern-day southern Iraq. The model uses14C dates available in the literature, employing archaeological and textual information to correlate contexts from a number of important Mesopotamian sites. The insufficient number of dates makes it impossible to precisely define the chronology of the period in question; however, the analysis allows for observing patterns of cultural change otherwise invisible in archaeological and textual records. Firstly, it is suggested that there was a hiatus of at least a century between the latest protocuneiform texts and the earliest historical writing. Furthermore, the results seem to argue against a steady, gradual evolution of literate civilizations, indicating a more complex and varied process of development.

Obsidian resource use from the Jomon to Okhotsk period on Rebun Island: An analysis of archaeological obsidian

Hokkaido obsidian sources have been widely exploited by hunter-gatherer groups in Northeast Asia since the Upper Paleolithic (~30,000cal. BP). Rebun Island is located 50km from the northwest tip of Hokkaido in the Sea of Japan. Given that obsidian does not occur naturally on Rebun Island, all obsidian materials found there are the result prehistoric transportation of these resources. Examination of 133 obsidian artifacts collected from excavations on Rebun Island employing portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) provides data for assessment of obsidian resource use during the Middle Jomon, Epi-Jomon, and Okhotsk periods on Rebun Island. Previously published data are also consulted for the Late and Final Jomon, and Epi-Jomon period on Rebun Island. The findings of this study suggest that the most prevalent changes in obsidian resource use on Rebun Island occur between the Middle and Late Jomon periods, and the Late Jomon and Okhotsk periods. These results demonstrate that variation in obsidian resource use during these periods is closely associated with patterns of culture change, in Hokkaido, and on Rebun Island.

Potential and limits of evolutionary explanations of culture: a diachronic approach

The aim of this article is to present some proposals concerning how broadly Darwinism can be applied to the realm of culture. Particular attention is paid to the models here called diachronic, which suggest the existence of patterns of cultural change over time according to the theory of natural selection. By means of a broader epistemological analysis, the relationship between an evolutionary explanation and a historical explanation is considered with a view to tracing the common features of the models in question and bringing to light their relative theoretical cogency and structural limitations. Finally, and more speculatively, potential areas for future research are indicated.

Sandra Willson

In 1959, a young Sydney lesbian, Sandra Willson, shot and killed a taxi driver as a form of protest against social attitudes toward lesbianism. She spent 18 years in prisons and psychiatric hospitals before her release in 1977. Taking Sandra Willson as a case study, this article will explore the ways in which social disapproval of lesbianism was expressed in 1950s Sydney and the impact this had on women’s lives, relationships and identities. By the time of Willson’s release in the late 1970s, Sydney represented a very different place in which to articulate a lesbian identity; a place in which same-sex desire was beginning to be acknowledged in the press and in cultural media, and where feminist and gay activists were challenging long-standing negative attitudes toward homosexuality. Sandra Willson’s experience offers an opportunity to trace shifting notions of lesbianism between the 1950s and the 1970s in Sydney and to consider how these broader patterns of cultural change might have impacted on individual women.This article has been peer-reviewed.

Don't Predict the Future–Direct it! Comments on the intellectual history, the Logical and Applicative Visibility, and the Underlying Assumptions of Directed Evolution (DE)

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. —Alan Kay 1 It is obvious that there are patterns of cultural change—evolution in the neutral sense—and any theory of cultural change worth more than a moment's consideration will have to be Darwinian in the minimal sense of being consistent with the theory of evolution by natural selection of Homo sapiens. —Daniel Dennett 2 The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet. —William Gibson 3 It is the magician's wand, by means of which he may summon into life whatever form and mould he pleases. —Charles Darwin commenting on the power of artificial selection 4 This article introduces an applied Theory of Evolution of Artificial Systems, called Directed Evolution (DE). The theory is grounded in fifty years of research on Inventive Engineering known as TRIZ, which started in the former Soviet Union by G. Altshuller and continues today. The theory has generated a set of Patterns and Lines of Evolution that represent a compilation of trends that document strong, historically recurring tendencies in the development of manmade systems in general and technological systems in particular. Directed Evolution is the systematic applied-oriented process for “predicting” future generations of a system by inventing them along these evolutionary patterns. The current article introduces the theory, reflects on its basic underlying logic, and provides a broad historical context and intellectual justification for such an effort. It shows that the quest of DE theory and practice falls well within the boundaries of past pursuits to identify evolutionary patterns of complex systems and to use these patterns to control and manipulate possible futures of artificial systems.

Change or Decay? An interpretation of late Holocene archaeological evidence from the Hamersley Plateau, Western Australia

AbstractData collected from the Hamersley Plateau over the last four decades are examined for patterns in the archaeological record. Data relating to the timing of the archaeological appearance of backed artefacts, seed‐grinding technology and rock art are currently too few to indicate major cultural changes with certainty. Increases in numbers of radiocarbon dates from archaeological sites on the Hamersley Plateau are evident in the late Holocene. This can be interpreted as a pattern of cultural change or natural decay in datable material. I conclude that taphonomic bias is the most important variable in the distribution of the radiocarbon date sample from the Hamersley Plateau. That said, further accumulation of dates and data may show archaeological changes in the Hamersley Plateau that represent local expressions of broader trends in the Australian semi‐arid and arid zones.

Cultural evolution of male song types in Darwin's medium ground finches, Geospiza fortis

To examine the patterns and causes of cultural change in a bird species, the changes in frequency, between-generation transmission, and demographic success of different male song types were studied in a population of Darwin's medium ground finches, Geospiza fortis, on Isla Daphne Major, Galápagos over a 6-year period (1979–1984). Males in this population sang one of four simple discrete song types throughout their lifetimes and males with different song types differed in body size. Sons generally sang the same song type as that of their fathers, although the percentage of sons who learned non-paternal song types (25% of all father-son pairs) was higher than previously reported for this population. There were frequency-dependent changes in the relative numbers of different song types over time: the type that was most common at the start of the study declined significantly in frequency over the 6-year period while the three less common types showed equivalent increases in relative abundance. This non-random, pattern of cultural change was at least partially caused by both direct and indirect selection on male song type. Direct selection occurred because males with the less common songs survived longer; this relationship was independent od possible effects of body size on survival. Males with the less common songs also produced more yearling offspring. However, this difference is best explained as an indirect, correlated effect of a positive relationship between male body size and fecundity. Finally, males with less common songs also produced more sons who recruited to the breeding population, which is indirect evidence that the song type of a young male may influence his chances of becoming a breeder. This demonstration of fitness differences between males with different, song types argues that biological and cultural evolution are more closely coupled processes in these birds than in previously studied species.

The Effect of Incidental Conversation on Memory for Focal Colors

Plog, Stephen 1986a Group Mobility and Locational Strategies: Tests of Some Settlement Hypotheses. In Spatial Organization and Exchange: Archaeological Survey on Northern Black Mesa. Stephen Plog, ed. Pp. 187-223. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. 1986b Patterns of Demographic Growth and Decline. In Spatial Organization and Exchange: Archaeological Survey on Northern Black Mesa. Stephen Plog, ed. Pp. 224-255. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. 1986c Understanding Cultural Change in the Northern Southwest. In Spatial Organization and Exchange: Archaeological Survey on Northern Black Mesa. Stephen Plog, ed. Pp. 310-336. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. Plog, Stephen, and Shirley Powell 1984 Patterns of Cultural Change: Alternative Interpretations. In Papers on the Archaeology of Black Mesa, Arizona, Vol. 2. Stephen Plog and Shirley Powell, eds. Pp. 209-216. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. Powell, Shirley L. 1983 Mobility and Adaptation: The Anasazi of Black Mesa, Arizona. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. Powell, Shirley, Peter P. Andrews, Deborah L. Nichols, and F. E. Smiley 1983 Fifteen Years on the Rock: Archae-

The Mass Society and Group Action Theories of Cultural Production: The Case of Stylistic Innovation in Jazz

Two theoretical orientations to cultural production are presented: the mass society and group action theories. It is argued that the two theories provide alternative, but not mutually exclusive, explanations for changes in cultural content and that the case of stylistic change in jazz between 1920 and 1940 presents an appropriate empirical test. Examining data on black jazz, its musicians and audiences in Detroit, it is found that a group action explanation has more power than a mass society explanation. Only one of the three stylistic changes isolated in a musicological analysis is causally related to the integration of jazz into the system of popular music production, whereas the other two changes are best accounted for by the purposive action of musicians as a group. Implications are drawn for the sociology of jazz as well as the study of cultural production. Jazz is an art form which, like film, has gone through rapid changes since its origins in the early part of this century. Such patterns of cultural change provide a rich but underutilized data base for studies of cultural production (Peterson, c). The stylistic changes that occurred in jazz between the two World Wars could be accounted for by two distinct theoretical orientations to cultural production in twentieth century Western societies. In this paper I will examine the relative explanatory power of the mass society and group action orientations to cultural production. The mass society and group action orientations provide alternative, but not mutually exclusive, explanations for changes in cultural content in modern societies. According to mass society theory the sources of such

Religious Trends Among College Students, 1948-79

Identical surveys of Williams College men in 1948, 1967, 1974, and 1979 asked about religious beliefs and behavior. The trend from 1948 to 1967 was one of liberalization and disengagement from church life; from 1967 to 1974 there was little change;from 1974 to 1979 there was a slight shift toward conservative beliefs and greater church participation. Apparently a lowpoint in traditional religiosity occurred on many campuses in about 1972-75. The percentage of students reporting that they had once reacted against the beliefs taught them increased from 1948 to 1974 but not thereafter; the median age of the reaction fell two years from 1948 to 1974, but it did not change to 1979. The hypothesis that church rejection by some students is a part of a general rejection of institutions found little support. Of all population groups, none is more sensitive to shifts in the cultural climate than college students. Past research shows that college students shift in attitudes from decade to decade or from half-decade to half-decade much more than does the total adult population (Hoge, b). This greater volatility of students seems to result from both their greater independence from institutional commitments and their greater proximity to intellectual life. Yankelovich argues that college students are a kind of forerunner group for cultural innovation generally, and that the basic pattern of cultural change in America is diffusion from college students to other young people, then to the total population. Thus college students are important to anyone attempting to understand religious change in America. A number of trend studies have been done on college students, spanning the past half-century. They have found a fall-rise-fall pattern in traditional religious commitment, with a high level *Financial support for this research came from the Spencer Foundation and from the Boys Town Center at Catholic University. ? 1981 The University of North Carolina Press. 0037-7732/81/020517-31$01.50

Culture, Values, and Food Safety

As patterns of culture change, problems concerning man's food supply also change. It seems rather quaint read in Thomas Hobbes' philosophical treatise Leviathan (Hobbes 1651b) that the Nutrition of Commonwealth in Plenty ... conveyed by convenient conduits . . . from two breasts of our common Mother, Land and Sea. The Matter of this nutriment, he continued, consisteth in Animals, Vegetals and Minerals . . . layd . . . us, in or near surface of earth and acquire them there needeth no more but labor and industry of receiving them. In a similar vein, John Locke (1690), physician-philosopher-political theorist, said that anyone could have as much of nature's food products as he could use to any advantage of life. Whatever he could acquire by his labor would be removed from common use and would become his private property. Both Locke and Hobbes were aware that food could become focus of intense concern and controversy among individuals and nations. Although Locke justified acquisition of land and things through labor, he added that a person could rightly acquire only as much as he could consume before it spoils, since nothing was made ... for man spoil or destroy. Indeed, whatever beyond what one can use it spoils is more than his share and belongs others. There must be enough and as good left in common for others. That, said Locke, what distributive justice requires. Hobbes pointed a darker side of human nature:

Geological and ecological perspectives on the Middle Pleistocene

This paper evaluates the geological and paleoecological implications of a Wenner-Gren symposium Stratigraphy and Patterns of Cultural Change in the Middle Pleistocene. The deep-sea, glacial-eustatic, loess, alluvial, and palynological records suggest between six and eight cold-warm cycles since the Brunhes-Matuyama magnetic reversal of 700,000 BP. Till and outwash stratigraphies are inadequate to provide a valid nomenclature for the numerous glacials preceding the Würm. Since at least five of the glacials since 700,000 BP were sufficiently severe to produce permafrost in midlatitude Europe, the “glacial Pleistocene” begins with the Brunhes-Matuyama. Although earlier cold-warm cycles extend well back into the early Pleistocene, with extensive glaciation and repeated floral decimations in higher latitudes, the first record of permafrost in the Rhine Basin 700,000 BP argues that major climatic oscillations of the Brunhes epoch were of glacial-interglacial amplitude. It is therefore recommended that a Lower-Middle Pleistocene boundary be linked to the practicable and universally applicable chronometric horizon provided by the Brunhes-Matuyama reversal, while the Middle-Upper Pleistocene limit can continue to be drawn at the base of the last, Eemian Interglacial (130,000 BP). The tropical African record presently contributes little to general understanding of the Middle Pleistocene, while the climatic cycles of higher latitudes are of limited value in analyzing mid-Pleistocene records of the tropical continents. Problems of stratigraphic control and environmental contexts for archeological sites are discussed.

Patterns of Cultural Change in a Salish Flathead Community

The author used the Thematic Apperception Test and three other psychological tests in 1968 to investigate changes in the culture of a Flathead Reservation community. The study examined several aspects of the modal personality forms in a contemporary Salish Flathead community to see if the Salish had adopted white psychological patterns along with Western technology. The sample included on- and off-reservation whites and reservation Indians divided according to degree of Indian blood and economic status. The results for the on-reservation groups were remarkably consistant, suggesting that neither internarriage nor the rising economic level of the Indians has caused a shift in psychological orientation. The TAT results for the reservation whites suggest that they, at least during adolescence, have assumed some of the less obvious Indian values. As expected, the off-reservation whites differed considerably from the on-reservation sample.