culture, reform & change
Rolfe Windward (IBALWIN who-is-at mvs.oac.ucla.edu)
Mon, 30 Oct 95 08:04 PST
Angel and Ana's posts bring up an item that may (or may not) need to be
placed in Angel's "list" and that is what appears to be the increased rate
of "interculturation" (Lemke?) or cultural hybridization. I haven't
researched this explicitly so I can't say how robust the notion is or,
assuming it to be real, whether it is a sign of hope or despair, but it
seems to me that global changes and increasingly peripatetic populations
have also dramatically expanded the interface(s) between cultural groups; to
the point where many are no longer distinct (assuming there was ever a time
that they really were).
In my own research, most of my subjects could only be "assigned" to a
cultural category under the grossest of definitions and many express values
that seem more consistent with mass or "pop" culture than any other "type."
Despite the horrible consequences of exacerbated social identity (e.g., the
former Yugoslavia) there seems to be something else, vital and adaptive,
going on; for good or ill, I agree our theories probably need to catch up.
Rolfe Windward
UCLA GSE&IS
ibalwin who-is-at mvs.oac.ucla.edu