The term ‘culture’ is defined as: “the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group”. In order for behaviors and beliefs to change (and stay changed), the following components must play an important role:

* Media

For an entire culture to experience change, communication needs to happen on a massive scale. In technologically advanced civilizations, this occurs through television, websites, social networking, and cell phones – where information and ideas are spread to large amounts of people within short periods of time.

But media doesn’t have to be advanced in order to change a culture. In third-world countries and places where electricity and wealth are scarce, the influence of media takes less glamorous forms: newspapers, pamphlets, speeches, radios, and charismatic personalities.

Just as images from the Vietnam War eventually swayed public opinion, MTV boosted the music industry, and impassioned speeches and propaganda ignited the fury and Nationalism of Germans preceding World War II, media continues to have a powerful influence over the way culture is shaped.

* Religion/Morals

As cultures change, religious and moral beliefs either transform, become modified or rejected, or simply remain the same. Some societies reconcile new cultural changes into their existing moral code, while others discontinue the old values - claiming an entirely new worldview.

In Iran for example, the younger generation is discovering and adhering to new values that differ from the traditional systems held by their elders. In this circumstance, many teenagers, college students, and young adults are changing (or rejecting) their Islamic customs – ultimately changing their way of life. Contrarily, the people who are refusing to change continue to strictly adhere to their old religious beliefs and institutions.

Religious and moral beliefs can also be the catalyst of change – as witnessed by Martin Luther King’s fight for Civil Rights. Whether spirituality and morals are the cause or effect of change is irrelevant to the fact that they play a vital role within the process of instigating cultural change.

* Finances/Economies

The Industrial Revolution, The Gold Rush, The Great Depression, and the recent economic downturn are all examples of how the power of money influences culture.

Most people naturally want to live a life of comfort and wealth. When populations are being satisfied, people have little motivation to change. Unfortunately, poverty and greed can cause drastic cultural alterations.

In the United States, culture revolves around a tireless work schedule consisting of few vacation days. In India, finances often divide people into social caste systems. In the Middle East, wealth is determined through the power struggle for oil. Throughout the entire world, cultures experience significant changes due to the persuasive factors of wealth.

* Power/Politics

History has proven that the thirst for power has greatly influenced our world. Wars, Genocide, Embargoes, Mass Migrations, and Politics revolve around people’s desire for power.

The struggle for power influences our everyday lives: Corporations fight for product superiority, religions clash for popular support, politicians struggle for votes, broadcasters compete for viewership, and individuals apply for jobs. Power is conveyed as security, and populations will go at great lengths to obtain it, often willingly changing their culture in order to do so.

The factors of media, religion, morals, money, and power are frequently interconnected, combined to create a powerful combination that causes cultural transformation. In other instances, they work independently, creating cultural variation all on their own. No matter how it happens, these components are the basis for all sustainable cultural change.