DIFFUSIONISM

Diffusionism is the term used by anthropologists and sociologists to account for the spread, through time, of artistic culture, traditions, language, music, myths, religious beliefs, social organization, and technological developments from one society or group to another.

In simple terms Diffusionism means transformation of culture (change) and evolution of society.

Diffusionism is a school of thought which uses the comparative method to explain why different societies are at different levels in terms of their development. It maintains that societal change takes place when societies borrow cultural traits from one another. It is the process of change whereby cultures meet and interact with one another and thus elements and traits are borrowed and get diffused.

Historically there have been two broad approaches to Diffusion:

1. Extreme Diffusionists – were a British group who believed that civilization has originated only once in human history in Ancient Egypt. All aspects of civilization, ranging from technology to religion, spread to other parts of the world from there.
2. Historical Diffusionists – maintained that civilization originated in the Middle Eastern areas like Syria, Iraq and Persia where there was more literacy and then spread to other parts of the world.

Various cultural thinkers contributed to the concept of Diffusionism. One such cultural thinker was Alfred L. Kroeber. According to him, diffusion is a process by which cultural material spreads. The diffused cultural material contains specific elements by which diffusion can be recognized. He put forward the concept of ‘idea transmission’ or ‘stimulus transmission’. He extended the concept of diffusion to independent inventions or growths. For e.g., porcelain making in Europe developed due to conscious experiments performed in order to reproduce the porcelain imported from China. Another example is the Chinese discovery of tones in their languages which are probably due to the exposure to Buddhists who took Sanskrit with them when they travelled to China in order to propagate their religion (Buddhism) there.

Thus through Diffusionism, a broad idea is passed on from one culture to another, but the receiving culture or civilization only internalizes those pieces of the original idea which are suitable for them.

DIFFUSIONISM AND MEDIA

Diffusion theory provides:

• A framework that helps understand why media literacy is adopted by some individuals and not by others.
• Media literacy supporters can use diffusion theory to explain, predict and account for factors that increase or impede the diffusion of innovations.
• A closer look at the communication channels used to spread the word about media literacy, the time taken and explains what the society who adopts the ideas is like.
• Help in introducing new ideas into the social system including new hardware and software components.

Thus transmission takes place in 5 stages

1. Awareness of innovations especially through mass media
2. Adoption by a group of innovators
3. Acceptance by opinion leaders who try the innovations themselves
4. Spread the ideas from opinion leaders to their followers
5. Change now only those who have adopted the innovations but more people begin to adopt successful innovations.