Page 163 - ESSAY WRITING - 4 September 2019

PART 3
Developing Your Ideas

Exercise 1 Reading an article

Read the article about cultural diffusion below carefully.

Cultural Diffusion

Anthropologists have long been interested in how culture moves or grows
from one place to another. The spread of culture is known as cultural

diffusion. An example of cultural diffusion is the spread of agriculture from
the Middle East to Europe and Asia a long time ago. Another more recent
example may be the spread of fast food restaurants from America to other
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areas of the world in the late 20 century.
Cultural diffusion can be classified into four different types: expansion,

relocation, hierarchical, and contagious. In expansion diffusion, an idea or
aspect of culture that starts in one area spreads out to other areas. The idea
remains in the original area and expands to others. Relocation diffusion

happens when ideas move from one area to another. The idea no longer
remains in the original location. When ideas or culture move from larger to
smaller locations or populations, this is called hierarchical diffusion. Finally,
contagious diffusion occurs when ideas or culture are spread from one

person to another in the same culture.
Cultural diffusion can happen due to many reasons. For example,
cultures that are located close to each other tend to have more contact,
which naturally results in a high rate of exchange of goods, trade, and

ideas. One example of cultural diffusion is between the United States and
Canada as both of these countries hold similar cultural values and ideas, likely
due to their close proximity to each other. Despite having different histories
and government systems, people in both countries consume similar media

and share the same cultural references.
When one country conquers another and forces its ideas and values on its
people, this is called forced diffusion. An example of this is when Spain and
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Portugal conquered areas of Central and South America in the 16

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