Trans-Cultural Impacts on the Future

Value systems from other cultures are already affecting leisure activities in the US. Yoga is becoming popular in the US among middle-class women. However the US capatilistic imprint as been put on yoga. Whereas in India yoga was a personal activity in the US it is a multi-billion dollar industry with franchised yoga studios, brand names, clothing lines, etc. The art of meditation went through this process in the 70s when Transindental Meditation became a brand name and a francise business. The American business of yoga is coming to the large cities in India where franchise yoga studios are starting to appear.
The many Asian graduate students who have come to the US to study science, mathematics, medicine, engineering, etc. have made some changes in graduate eduction. The Asian students prefer to teach the classes themselves and rely on the faculty for support from a front-row seat. Asian students tend to study together making graduate training a group rather than an individual activity. Chinese students are now returning to China to teach American-style graduate courses at the Chinese universities. There is a demand for these courses because it is becoming increasingly more difficult for Chinese students to come to the US to study (financial reasons, immigration laws).

Thus, we see a blending of cultures in these two examples.

Transcultural impacts on the future is the theme of this online forum. But what does "transcultural" means?
In my mind, shaped by political sciences and anthropology, 'transcultural' describes the values that transcend cultures. This is another way, more politically correct, to talk about what is 'universal' which word seems sometimes to be an insult to the variety of cultures. Yet, 'universality', and the character of what is universal, is nothing else then 'humanity', the common character to all mankind. Therefore, from my personal point of view,'transcultural impacts on the future' could be rephrase with other words: 'how these universal values shape our future?' Hence this huge and pristine question: what makes us human? What is common to each of us, whatever our generation, gender, culture? What brings us together in a common recognition of our brotherhood, transcending our respective cultures?

During my presentation on 'Future of Terror' at the WFS in Boston, last year,I had suggested that Pakistan - West Asia region needed to be watched. The countries of this region were characterized by high population growth rates, huge economic disparities and weak State structures. what I had not been able to take into account was the impact zof technology on these societies. So, we had Facebook in addition to the three key factors above, and the result was the Arab Spring'.
Where the 'Arab Spring' eventually ends up shall in good measure be determined by the capacity of these societies to assimilate technology and the philosophy of technology that comes with it.
The point that I am trying to make is that Culture and Cultural Choices in our time are determined by technology and technological change. And, as the pace of technological change continues to increase it is bound impact cultural choices (and changes) across the world. That in turn shall impact cultural values and also alter the nature of relationship between society and culture.
(I shall continue the argument in second part later. Meanwhile, shall welcome any comments.)

Mohan K. Tikku
New Dekhi /INDIA

I think that in the future the selection of cultures will be more heterogene and personal selection of IT-connectivity modes compose an integral part of personal appearances. In human beings there are physiological and psycological features that are fairly sustainable by nature. In the future there will be personal selections of connectivity modes that are fairly persistent. However, taking into considertation the whole humankind, emerging personal profiles give heterogenity of cultures. I am quite positive, since confrontation between cultures and personalities reinforces mutual understanding, trust and acceptance. However there will be small groups expressing movements against harmony co-existence of cultures, but these voices will be weak.

This has been a fascinating exchange. Perhaps I can add a slightly different view on “cross-cultural.” When cross cultural means cross-subcultural. Over the last decade I have been a visitor in an inmate culture in a maximum security prison. I’ve had the luxury to come and go as a college professor teaching sociology, but also teaching an introductory futures course in a college program. While I cannot claim empirical evidence for any of this I have been struck by the obvious lifestyle differences between inside and outside. As this relates to futuring I’ve witnessed at least three fascinating “cross-cultural” elements that impact futures. First, the notion of “time” itself and more importantly “doing time” is a futures phenomenon in itself. Living in the present and visioning a time for release in an uncertain future. Secondly, inmates find themselves living on an island within a culture suspended in time as the outside world speeds to an alternative future. Finally, taking a futures class seemed to provide a vehicle for cultural transcendence. Visioning worlds that could be in a future time that cannot be in the present seems to provide mental tools for grasping that speeding other world.

Lifestyle Matters,
More than Race, Ethnicity, or Economic Class!
Offie C. Wortham, PhD

As obvious as the above title may seem, this truth is generally denied or beyond the comprehension of the general public. People have been categorized or generalized by race or ethnicity for centuries with the erroneous assumption that these vague and unclear classifications would yield correct and meaningful information to formulate successful policies and programs to solve a multitude of social and political problems.
There are certain standards and patterns of behavior in our society that are admired and respected. There are others that are not. These patterns cut across lines of socio-economic class and even education. Even among the least educated and less affluent there is an awareness of when a person “has no class.” The lifestyle of an individual is a more accurate indicator of the values, morals, ethics and even problems of an individual than their race or ethnicity.
Adults in the past were miss-educated to believe that various ethnic groups were either inferior or superior intellectually and morally. This is what we call racism. Certain aspects of a group’s culture; their music, their diet, their religion, their speech, their dress, the way they walked, and even their art, were deemed inferior and sometimes almost sub-human.
The group in power tends to set the standards of what is considered civilized or uncivilized behavior. Whatever they do and like is correct, and everyone else is lacking in terms of proper conduct. (If the minority groups had been in power, the classifications would have been reversed, and the lifestyles of the dominant group would have been labeled as inferior and ignorant.) In some societies people are even killed or put in prison for simply violating manmade social norms. Drinking alcohol was once a crime in the United States! So was gambling, fornication, not believing in a God, homosexuality, and interracial marriages! Today, this lack of tolerance for variations in behavior includes the current laws against the use of certain drugs, and the persistent belief that time in prison improves human behavior.
Conforming to the lifestyle of the group in power usually assures individuals of more acceptance and less discrimination. People like to associate with people who are as much like them as possible. We feel more comfortable with those who share a common language, religion, culture, and worldview. On the one hand we preach diversity, but in reality, we want to be with people who are just like us. This could be intellectually, spiritually, or who dress as we do, like the same past-times or hobbies, sports, music, or even art.
The Obama phenomena can be understood better if we view his acceptance as an acceptance of a preferred lifestyle. Highly educated, financially successful, articulate, clean-cut and “nice looking,” moderate in his politics, somewhat religious, and a good family man. This is the perfect image America wants to project to the world, and to itself. In the past, his color and his ethnicity simply meant that he was a member of a race that was generally uneducated, poor, inarticulate, unattractive, a follower of a primitive and emotional religion, and either born out of wedlock, or the unmarried parents of children being raised in poverty and ignorance. Obama transcended the racial issue by having the perfect lifestyle that we all desire! This far over-shadowed his mixed ancestry. His equally intelligent and successful wife even gave up her $250,000 a year job to be at his side as the First Lady! Is there any woman in America, of any color, that cannot fanaticize about having such a choice?
My point here is that we reject certain groups or individuals because of their speech, their mannerisms, their behavior, their lack of interest in education, and their appearance. The amount of money they make does not move them up one notch in social acceptance, as long as they continue to act like immoral and ignorant clowns. We have always discriminated by lifestyle throughout history. Only recently have we become confused and introduced race or ethnicity as primary factors in determining human behavior, and forgot that lifestyle is really much more important than race.