What Is Cultural Diffusion in the United States?
Cultural diffusion in the United States is the spread of cultural beliefs from one group of people to another. Cultural diffusion is the mixing of many different types of culture through migration, commerce and trade, technology and better education.
Cultural diffusion takes place when people of a different ethnicity or religion move into a region and spread their culture to the natives. Culture consists of communication, behaviors, food, values and knowledge, and although many may be resistant to these changes, a large enough population can impart these cultural aspects on the native population of an area.
There are many examples of cultural diffusion that takes place across several large American cities. New York, for example, is a melting pot of various different cultures, despite the fact that the state itself is an English-speaking, Christian state.
Just as a variety of people, like Italians, Germans and Japanese, bring their cultures to America, Americans are responsible for cultural diffusion in countries other than the United States. American fast food restaurants opening in foreign countries is a good example of cultural diffusion, as well as American television shows that find their way to foreign audiences. Each of these things imparts a different culture to other countries and changes the way the natives of those countries behave and in some cases, think.
