PSYC3500 Blogs
Cultural Transmission, 7 Key elements and The
Fall of Cultures.
Development of culture within people comes from the idea of cultural transmission, a social process
involving 'enculturation' and 'socialisation'. Processes involving learning to imitate others around
you such as family, peers, and teachers. Along with this there are 7 key elements that are how the
culture itself to transmitted and these are key pillars to a culture itself. These are social
organisations, language, customs & traditions, art & literature, religion, government, and economic
structure. This 7 can be observed in cultures across the globe and throughout history but this is a
western approach to the idea of culture so it may not apply accordingly to all areas across the globe
with how culture is developed as a whole and within individuals. Several studies and books have
been done on the topic over the years such as 'Cultural Transmission and Evolution' by Cavalli-Sforza
and Marcus Feldman and 'Theory and Observation in Cultural Transmission' by Cavalli et al (1982).
This does pose the question whether or not this is a universal to all people developing cultural within
oneself and if a culture can be formed without any of these highlighted 7 and whether or not a
culture is able to be up held without one of these 7.
For example throughout history a main part of any culture was the religious beliefs held by said
culture, religion was held to such a high regard that it one was the foundation to many basic laws
that still followed to this day but was also on the forefront of any advancement a society/culture
had. As years have gone on religion has had less of a grip on culture particularly in the west when it
comes to laws and social norms. Year after year there has been a steady decline in people following
Christianity and a steady increase in people saying they are Atheist.
Cultural Transmission, 7 Key elements and The
Fall of Cultures.
Development of culture within people comes from the idea of cultural transmission, a social process
involving 'enculturation' and 'socialisation'. Processes involving learning to imitate others around
you such as family, peers, and teachers. Along with this there are 7 key elements that are how the
culture itself to transmitted and these are key pillars to a culture itself. These are social
organisations, language, customs & traditions, art & literature, religion, government, and economic
structure. This 7 can be observed in cultures across the globe and throughout history but this is a
western approach to the idea of culture so it may not apply accordingly to all areas across the globe
with how culture is developed as a whole and within individuals. Several studies and books have
been done on the topic over the years such as 'Cultural Transmission and Evolution' by Cavalli-Sforza
and Marcus Feldman and 'Theory and Observation in Cultural Transmission' by Cavalli et al (1982).
This does pose the question whether or not this is a universal to all people developing cultural within
oneself and if a culture can be formed without any of these highlighted 7 and whether or not a
culture is able to be up held without one of these 7.
For example throughout history a main part of any culture was the religious beliefs held by said
culture, religion was held to such a high regard that it one was the foundation to many basic laws
that still followed to this day but was also on the forefront of any advancement a society/culture
had. As years have gone on religion has had less of a grip on culture particularly in the west when it
comes to laws and social norms. Year after year there has been a steady decline in people following
Christianity and a steady increase in people saying they are Atheist.
