ANTHROP 2R03 Chapter Notes -Regla, Loa, Syncretism
24 Oct 2014
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Religious practices tend to be conservative due to the sacred nature and ancient aspect of a belief system but changes do occur and are necessary for a religion to endure. Sometimes change occurs too slowly, too quickly or not at all. Internal changes tend to be slower so societies with less technology. Change may also occur between societies through diffusion. If an idea moves to another society and the idea is used to invent a new trait, this is called stimulus diffusion. When a trait diffuses it can be altered to become consistent with the culture. Acculturation: strong influence from one culture onto another where political/economic control might be used. If the societies are similar, they may equally share traits and eventually merge. But normally one is stronger than the other causing the dominant society to establish control over the subordinate one. Once the dominated society has ceased to have its own identity, it is assimilated.
