Contemporary Causes of Diffusion
The same types of diffusion from the last topic still apply today — they just run at a completely different speed, thanks to technology that historical trade routes and missionaries never had access to.
Global air travel turned a months-long ocean voyage into a matter of hours, dramatically speeding up relocation diffusion. The internet and social media have done something even more dramatic for expansion diffusion: a video can reach millions of people across the globe within hours — contagious diffusion running at a speed no historical rumor or disease ever could.
Globalization — the growing interconnectedness of world economies and cultures — increases exactly the channels diffusion needs: more trade, more travel, more communication between distant places. Multinational corporations marketing the same products worldwide are expansion diffusion running through modern trade and marketing networks instead of ancient caravan routes. Hierarchical diffusion hasn’t disappeared either — trends still often start in major global cities before reaching smaller places — it just now takes days instead of years to trickle down.
All of this connects directly back to space-time compression from Unit 1: the same physical distance a historical religious movement needed generations to cross can now be crossed by an idea in days. Because modern technology exposes so many places to the same influences almost simultaneously, some scholars argue this contemporary speed is pushing global culture toward greater convergence than historical diffusion ever could.