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The Role of the Mass Media in Cultural Synthesis
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11043 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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Date : |
6 / 1986 |
2,596 Words |
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Maurice Goldsmith
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It's dark in this wood, soft mocker,
For whom have I swelled like
A seed?
What a bone-ache I have
Father of tensions, I'm down to my
Skin at last.
--Theodore Roethke
We live under great strain in our cultural environment. There are within it two strands-at present opposed to each other-which we must fashion as complementary if we are to survive.
The one strand, traditional and centuries old, is based upon values dominant in tribal societies, which have been taken over with minor modifications in our urban societies in which the tribe has long given way to the nation.
The other strand, comparatively recent, is based upon the impact of science and technology on societies in which current values are still, basically, the traditional ones.
I take 'cultural synthesis' to mean the process of securing the building up of the separate elements that constitute our culture into a connected whole, a joining of divided parts, to form "one culture." I define 'culture' as the complex of distinctive beliefs, attainments, traditions, etc., which make up our social/behavioral patterns. It is the complex of moral, intellectual, and aesthetic values that each society fosters in its pursuit of "the good life" for example, guarantees of personal freedom, absence of racial and
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