Traditional Cultures Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Traditional Cultures - Research Paper Example Some marriage ideas have been borrowed from other societies and replaced the traditional ones, which is referred to as cultural loss while others have been created and accepted widely by other communities through diffusion. Dominant and powerful societies have expanded their cultural practices across borders; thus, forcing other societies to forsake their traditional cultural practices in marriage and adopt the new ones, which is known as acculturation. There are various levels of power among societies such as hard power, soft power, and structural power. Hard power refers to the use of military or economic forces in order to coerce societies to forsake their cultures and adopt new ones while soft power uses cooperative methods such as persuasion and attraction through various ways e.g. propaganda. Structural power involves the interaction of economic and political forces with ideological forces such as beliefs and values that play a significant part in the society. According to Havi land et al, globalization plays a significant role in shaping the future of the world. It refers to a process that transforms local traditions and cultures into global ones through external and internal migration; hence, resulting in investment, trade and cultural exchange across the borders. Globalization signifies the removal of mostly economic barriers in order to assist in inter-cultural relations. Thus, it is the best way to end discrimination since it encourages inter-cultural and inter-racial marriage, which promotes multiculturalism. However, globalization has changed how the marriage ceremony used to be conducted in Africa. Most African countries practiced traditional marriages where the bride and the groom got married under the customary law. It was a requirement for the family of the groom to pay dowry to the bride’s family before marriage, which was a tradition, passed from one generation to another. Through globalization, most African societies have borrowed the idea of weddings, which is a common practice in the west (Browning 102). As a result, the traditional