Processes of Change

Throughout history, cultures have changed because of environmental conditions, internal pressures, or external forces. Change comes quickly, or it may occur slowly. In any event, anthropologists chronicle cultural change and offer explanations as to why it happens. Anthropologist Eugene Cooper has tracked cultural change as it is reflected in the craft of Chinese furniture-making during the 1970s and 1980s, and emphasizes that societies change with the use of new technologies. The key term, diffusion, is introduced and discussed within the context of the spread of the English language from the anthropologist to the group she or he studies. The video illuminates some of the benefits and problems that immigration poses for a culture. It focuses on the current migration of Mexicans and Central Americans to the United States. It illustrates why the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps was founded, and how their goals were formed in response to the perception that too many Mexican citizens were coming across the border into the United States illegally.