Patterns of Diffusion in the United States

M OST OF THE hypotheses concerning diffusion of culture have been developed by use of archaeological data and by studies of primitive tribes. Wissler' and Linton2 give fairly comprehensive statements of these hypotheses. Only a few studies have been made applying the hypotheses of the anthropologists to present-day civilized society. Of those done in the United States, perhaps those of the following authors are outstanding: Rice,3 who found that attitudes of political radicalism were most intense at certain centers and that they graded off from these centers, their intensity being modified by state boundaries, trade areas, type of farming, and other factors; Willey and Rice,4 who demonstrated the importance of communication and transportation agencies in diffusion and showed the influence of wealth, race, urbanization, and other factors on the spread of such an artifact as the radio; Bowers,' who traced diffusion of amateur radio transmitters from the coasts inland and from larger to smaller urban centers; and Pemberton,6 who found consistent gradients from large cities outward, in percent of families with radio receiving sets. It will be noted that all of these studies, with the exception of that made by Rice, deal with so-called material culture traits. The present author was more interested in nonmaterial culture traits, or social inventions. He wished to test these hypotheses relative to diffusion of social inventions: i. That inventions arise at certain centers within a culture area and spread by degrees to the periphery of the area-the so-called circle or ripple-in-stream pattern of diffusion; 2. That this concentric spread is modified by density of population, urbanization, transportation and communication facilities, wealth, and education, among other factors; 3. That diffusion takes place in a cyclical pattern, both temporally and spatially. The periods in this cyclical pattern, as worked out by Chapin,7 are: first, slow growth and resistance to innovation; second, rapid growth and experimentation; third, diminished growth, consolidation and simplification of structure. Linton's stages of presentation, acceptance, and integration8 correspond closely to Chapin's.