Contemporary Causes of Diffusion

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to (per CED LO SPS-3.A, EKs A.3 and A.4):

• Identify the contemporary forces that drive cultural diffusion: urbanization, globalization, media, technological change, politics, economics, and social relationships (per EK SPS-3.A.3).
• Explain how communication technologies and time-space convergence reshape and accelerate interactions among people (per EK SPS-3.A.4).
• Distinguish cultural convergence from cultural divergence as the two contradictory outcomes the CED names explicitly.
• Identify the global rise of English as a contemporary diffusion phenomenon and connect it to the loss of indigenous languages (per EK SPS-3.A.4).
• Apply Skill 5.B: explain a contemporary diffusion outcome across multiple geographic scales (global, national, local).

Per CED EK SPS-3.A.3, "cultural ideas and practices are socially constructed and change through both small-scale and large-scale processes such as urbanization and globalization. These processes come to bear on culture through media, technological change, politics, economics, and social relationships." Per CED EK SPS-3.A.4, "communication technologies, such as the internet and the time-space convergence, are reshaping and accelerating interactions among people; changing cultural practices, as in the increasing use of English and the loss of indigenous languages; and creating cultural convergence and divergence."

How "contemporary" is different from "historical"

Topic 3.5 covered colonialism, imperialism, and trade — forces with centuries-long timescales and physical displacement of people, goods, or armies. Topic 3.6 covers forces that operate at much faster speeds and across smaller social distances. A meme can travel the world in hours. A Korean drama can spawn thousands of new fans in a city that has never had a Korean diaspora. The mechanisms remain the four diffusion types from Topic 3.4 — but the speed and reach have changed dramatically.

Time-space convergence

Time-space convergence is the shrinking of perceived distance between places due to faster transportation and communication. The phrase comes from geographer Donald Janelle (1968). A trip from New York to London took ~6 weeks by sailing ship in 1800, ~6 days by steamship in 1900, ~6 hours by jet today, and ~0 seconds by internet for information. Two places that are physically far apart can now be experientially close. This is the engine behind much contemporary diffusion.

Per CED EK SPS-3.A.3 and EK SPS-3.A.4, the CED names urbanization, globalization, media, technological change, politics, economics, and social relationships as forces. Plus the time-space convergence concept and the internet specifically.

Per CED EK SPS-3.A.4, communication technologies create both cultural convergence and cultural divergence. The pairing is intentional. The same internet that spreads global English also lets a Welsh-speaking teenager find a community of other Welsh speakers. The CED expects students to see both sides.

The endangered language case

Per EK SPS-3.A.4, communication technologies cause "the increasing use of English and the loss of indigenous languages." Of about 7,000 living languages, roughly 40% are endangered. UNESCO estimates that one language dies approximately every two weeks. The cause is partly convergence (young speakers shift to dominant national languages for economic reasons), but partly divergence (where revitalization movements succeed, languages can recover — Hebrew is the most successful modern revival case).

Four cases that show contemporary diffusion forces and the convergence/divergence dual outcome.

South Korea · Hallyu (K-Wave) Diffusion

~$13B cultural exports (2023)

The Korean Wave (Hallyu) is contemporary cultural diffusion at high speed. K-pop, K-drama, Korean cosmetics, and Korean food spread through internet platforms (YouTube, Netflix, TikTok) to global youth audiences. South Korea has become a major cultural exporter primarily through digital communication technology — not through colonialism or imperialism.

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New Zealand · Maori Language Revival

~50% increase in Maori speakers since 1996

Te Reo Maori was nearly lost by the 1970s due to convergence pressure from English. New Zealand's deliberate divergence response — Maori-language broadcasting, immersion schools (Kohanga Reo), official language status, government promotion — has produced a revival. Cultural divergence in operation, using some of the same media tools as convergence.

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China · Selective Convergence

~1.05B internet users (~75% of population)

China presents a partial-convergence case. Global brands (KFC, Starbucks, Tesla) thrive; global platforms (Google, Facebook, X) are blocked and replaced by Chinese equivalents (Baidu, WeChat, Weibo). Communication technologies do diffuse culture, but the Chinese state actively manages which directions diffusion can flow. A reminder that convergence is not inevitable.

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Bolivia · Indigenous Language Defense

37 official languages (2009 constitution)

Bolivia's 2009 constitution recognized 36 indigenous languages alongside Spanish, an explicit divergence-strengthening move. Quechua and Aymara have official status; bilingual education is standard; courts use indigenous languages. The state policy uses contemporary tools (constitutions, education systems, broadcasting) to push back against the convergence pressure of Spanish.

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1. The CED's contemporary causes (urbanization, globalization, communication technology) are all 20th- and 21st-century phenomena. But colonialism, imperialism, and trade still operate. When does it make sense to call diffusion "contemporary" versus "historical"? Where is the line?
2. Time-space convergence has shrunk the world dramatically over the past 200 years. Identify a specific cultural practice that exists today only because of time-space convergence (would not exist if travel and communication still took weeks).
3. EK SPS-3.A.4 names two opposite outcomes: cultural convergence and cultural divergence. Pick one specific case (a city, a country, a language community) and identify both convergence and divergence happening there at the same time.
4. The CED specifically names "the increasing use of English and the loss of indigenous languages" as effects of contemporary diffusion. What conditions cause an indigenous language to be lost? What conditions allow one to be revived?
5. The internet is sometimes called "the great equalizer" of cultural diffusion because it lets small communities reach global audiences. Is that a convergence force or a divergence force? Use one specific example to defend your answer.

Draft alignment — pending educator review. AP HG codes correspond to the official College Board Course and Exam Description (Effective Fall 2020, V.1). Statements below are paraphrased in CountryReports' own voice; refer to the College Board's published CED for verbatim wording.

AP® and Advanced Placement® are registered trademarks of the College Board. The College Board was not involved in the production of this material and does not endorse it. Standards statements above are paraphrased; codes refer back to the official College Board CED, the NCSS C3 Framework, the Common Core State Standards, and other cited frameworks.