Cultural change follows patterned diffusion from small groups outward, implying universal principles

Evidence

Dynamic social-impact theory applies this idea of social impact to understanding the development and sharing of beliefs within a large group of individuals, such as a culture. Latané and his colleagues assume that relevant beliefs are spread throughout the culture because individuals communicate with other individuals (usually those who are in close physical contact with them). And, in line with the power of social influence, it is expected that over time the size of the majority endorsing a belief will increase and the size of the minority will decrease. However, in comparison to what would be expected in smaller groups, dynamic social-impact theory does not predict that a society will become completely homogeneous in their beliefs. Rather, because individuals share ideas with others who are nearby (their “neighbors”), it specifically predicts that clusters (or subcultures) of individuals who hold similar beliefs will develop within the larger culture, and thus that there will be cultural diversity. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1910 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

If the “older” popular culture, however commercially organized and crude in its appeals, seemed less of an “assault from the outside,” this was not because it was an authentic product of that culture, but because it was closer to—mirrored more faithfully or, better, worked more “authentically” along the groove of—the habits, attitudes, and unspoken assumptions of its working-class audience, and had more fully “indigenized” itself, by long cohabitation, as it were, within the complex history of the formations of an urban-industrial corporate class. If the new forms of mass culture were effecting change, it could only be because they too addressed themselves to the lived textures and complex attitudes of the culture in which they sought to embed themselves, working along its grooves, while at the same time inflecting and disconnecting them, dislodging them from within and attaching them to new modes of feeling, habits, and judgments—“unbending the springs of action.” — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 149 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Where we once pleaded for status in person (or through media reporting of real-life appearances at social events), there is now a twenty-four-hour, seven-day-a-week pageant of flexing on social media apps. Elites could once protect their status symbols behind information barriers and exclusive access to products; now nearly everything is available to nearly everyone. Meanwhile, the fragmentation of culture into the “long tail” has diluted the power of taste to serve as an effective means of social exclusion. And the inherent hyperspeed of the internet means fashion cycles pump out ephemeral fads rather than era-defining trends. Subcultures once provided society with a constant stream of cultural innovations, but the most notable outsider group of the twenty-first century has been the internet trolls rebelling against diversity, equity, and inclusion through revanchist slogans and memes. — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 30 (#builds-on, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The internet dismantled the mechanisms that once produced era-defining cultural trends — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 30; Social influence spreads beliefs locally, producing stable subcultural clusters instead of homogenization — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 1910; Cultural change works by inflecting existing attitudes, not by assaulting them — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 149 (+1 more)

Related

• Social influence spreads beliefs locally, producing stable subcultural clusters instead of homogenization (similarity 0.87)
• The dominant theory treats cultural change as random viral contagion (similarity 0.84)
• Localized communication clusters sustain cultural diversity of beliefs within a larger society (similarity 0.81)
• The internet dismantled the mechanisms that once produced era-defining cultural trends (similarity 0.79)
• Cultural change works by inflecting existing attitudes, not by assaulting them (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Social influence spreads beliefs locally, producing stable subcultural clusters instead of homogenization #contradicts (0.78) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1910
• Cultural change works by inflecting existing attitudes, not by assaulting them #contradicts (0.72) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 149