There will come a point where each culture will experience a shift or change in cultural characteristics such as ideas, religions, technologies, languages, etc. How that change will impact the people varies with each culture. In this lesson, you will analyze cultural change as a result of cultural diffusion in various regions.

To review, cultural diffusion occurs when cultural traits of one culture spread to another. Take a look at the image of a food court below. Does this look like a food court that you have seen before? Do you recognize any of the restaurants? In which major city do you think this food court is located?

Source: Canal Walk Food Court, Henry M. Trotter, Wikimedia

The food court pictured is located in Cape Town, South Africa. You may recognize a few of the restaurants in the photo as American fast-food restaurants (McDonald's, Subway, and KFC). The spread of these popular American restaurants to South Africa is an example of cultural diffusion.

In the next section, you will examine some of the factors of cultural diffusion in various regions around the world.