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How Technology Shaped Culture?

In Japan, people greet each other by bowing, while in India, people greet each other by folding their hands. In western countries, people eat with forks and knives while in the Indian community, many eat with their right hands. These differences highlight something called “culture.”

According to Ralph Linton, culture can be defined as a way of life of the members of a society; a collection of ideas, norms, values and habits which the members learn, share and transmit from generation to generation. The culture in which a person is born plays a huge role in shaping the personality and behavior of that individual. Hence, it can be assumed that culture is an intrinsic part of the society in which we live.

However, since the dawn of globalization, modernization and industrialization, drastic changes in different cultures have been observed and the common driving factor for these changes is none other than technology.

Technology Has Unified Different Perspectives

Technology Has Unified Different PerspectivesEach culture doesn’t only have its own way of eating and greeting, but also its own perspective of seeing the world. In medieval times, for example, some western cultures used to believe that the earth was flat while some ancient Chinese used to believe in a square-shaped earth. However, today, technology, combined with science, has settled the fact that the earth is round and this has been accepted by most cultures.

This widely-accepted concept has given rise to a collective consciousness (Abraham, 2014), which can also be called cultural integration and collaboration.

Technology Created an Industrial Culture

There was a time when most economic activities of the world were centered on the agricultural sector. However, technology that powered the industrial revolution created a new and unified culture – the industrial culture. This significant shift from agricultural to industrial paved the way for migration, urbanization, secularization, change in family structure (Talcott Parsons) and many more.

Technology That Changed Everyday Life

Technology That Changed Everyday LifeThere’s no denying that technology has a significant influence on our daily life. However, there was a time when things weren’t the way they are today and when technology imposed itself on the then-way of life.

Let There Be Light and There Was Light

If you go back to ancient cultures, you will find that people used to light their houses by using reflections from mirrors along with candles. The advent of technology gave birth to the fluorescent bulb which eventually spread to different corners of the world.

How Food Will Be Made

In many Asian cultures, fire was considered a very holy and sacred element. This was one of the reasons why fire was then used for cooking food. But, it’s fact that most cultures today have shifted to gas stoves.

Way of Communicating

Communication is a cornerstone in today’s society and technology is seen to have played a huge role in improving the modes of communication across different cultures.

There was a time when people had to meet in order to discuss important things and interact. But, today, most cultures have mobile phones, emails, and social media platforms to communicate with each other.

Technology That Changed Mode of Transport

In most ancient medieval cultures, riding a horse used to be a sign of pride and tradition (Clutton and Brock) but today we have the advent of motor engine. And the mass production of automobiles led to the creation of commuters and vacationers.

Technology That Changed the Entertainment Industry

Technology That Changed the Entertainment IndustryWhen we talk about entertainment, the very first thing we tend to think about is Hollywood. It’s indeed a fact that television, over the past decades, has created a “cult” culture that revolves around Hollywood and reality TV shows.

 

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