Republic of the Philippines

SURIGAO DEL SUR STATE UNIVERSITY

CHAPTER I

Introduction

Cultural Diffusion is the spreading of ideas, languages, and customs

from one culture to another. Culture is the way of life of a group of people who

share similar beliefs and customs. There are 8 aspects of culture namely;

social groups, languages, religion, history, daily life, art, government, and

economy. In the same way these aspects of cultures can spread when

cultures come into contact with one another. In the past, these aspects of

cultures spread slower than today. As we can see right now in our world

spreading these things are easily to do. What maybe the reason?

Globalization was happening through this year’s, as our days

modernized new methods of communication occurs that leads to rapid and

fast cultural diffusion. Cultural diffusion can happened in many ways; wars,

trade, travel and exploration, immigration, media, and communication.

Through this ways cultures has been spread around the globe, as we can see

right now different cultures from other countries was being practice here in our

country.

Philippine Cultures nowadays has been diffuse by other cultures.

Foods that we usually eat, clothes that we wore everyday, languages that we

spoke, and other things that we adapted from other countries. Our own

cultures was slowly vanishing as the globalization takes place and slowly

mixing other cultures.

This paper will let the people know that Philippine Cultures should be

preserving for the future Filipinos and also this study will share how important
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our own culture is. The status of Philippine cultures will also state on this

paper for the realization of the readers of what is really happening in our own

culture now and then.

CHAPTER II

Review of Related Literature

In a very simple definition of cultural diffusion it is when different Cultures are

spread or shared into different areas. It is the mixing or blending of different ideas,

beliefs, and innovations from one group to another. Everyday cultural diffusion is

happening. By just browsing through internet, watching television, and interacting to

other people from other nation, cultures are constantly interacting with each other.

These interactions lead to cultural diffusion. There are books and authors that we

can use as a tool for studying this topic which is “Cultural Diffusion: Status of

Philippine Cultures Now and Then”.

According to Pedrosa (2018), Filipinos have been changed. This can be

attributed to three things: the millions of Filipinos abroad, our present leader and

particular individuals obsessed with daring and perfection. But the change has still

far to go if we want to reclaim what we were in the early days of our history. I believe

that if we had not been colonized we might have been a different race altogether.

The millions of Filipinos who have gone to work and live abroad have absorbed

many cultures. They realized that there was much more to change in the country if

they were to return and help it pull itself up. The children of these Filipinos speak

many languages and they try hard to meld their origins with the new found cultures.

There are lists of cultural, social, personal and psychological factors observed in

the Philippines that lead to cultural diffusion. Communication is one of that lists

where the emergence of cheap smartphones, people relying more and more on free

texting via apps such as Line and Messenger, the reemergence of voice calls,
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thanks to features from apps like Whatsapp and Viber, the continuing shift of

advertising from traditional to digital, owning multiple mobile phones, the swelling

number of netizens and their reliance on online tools to keep in touch, and the last is

we have become more accepting of foreign cultures (American music, Korean pop

and television shows, Indian yoga, Chinese feng shui, Japanese anime). As what

stated by Go (2017).

Communication might also be the reason why there is cultural diffusion here in

our country. Mobile phones or smartphones through these devices other cultures

were easily spread and adopted by some of the Filipinos especially the youths in our

generation right now. Best example of that is in engaging Korean pop and learning

how to speak their language. We can see right now in our surroundings because

most of the Filipino teenagers idolize those individuals from other country especially

Koreans. They also tend to forget the local products that we have because of the

foreign products. They starting to love other products and ours were being

neglected.

According to Tolentino (2010), the Philippines’ History of the Inter-Cultural

Diffusion is through the culture from foreign populations; trade with China and Arabia

(10th to 16th century), Spanish colonization (1565-1898), American occupation (1898-

1946), Japanese Occupation (1942-1944), Liberation and Independence under

American rule. In the modern pop culture foreign influenced Philippines through

Japan ‘invasion’ (1980s) and manga/anime, Mexican ‘invasion’ (1990s) and

telenovelas, and Korean ‘invasions’ (2000 onwards) and K-Pop. Also Philippine

culture allows foreign cultures to adapt modern times and survive the pressures of

changing technology.
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The effects of globalization are immense and diverse. The usage of English

language is one of the most apparent effects of globalization on our culture. Although

English is important for us to be globally competitive, it has undervalued our native

languages. And it has pre-requisite to everyone who is seeking for a higher status in

society. Another, who wouldn’t recognize Avatar, Barney, Glee, Rain, Wonder Girls

or Kobe Bryant? Globalization has made it possible for us to be wired and plugged

into T. V. programs, movies, news, lifestyles, and entertainment of other countries. In

return, many Filipinos, especially youth, have forgotten the traditional Filipino

activities such as Moro-Moro, Kundiman, Sarsuela, etc. Moreover with the growth

of access to internet, most young Filipinos would spend more time in playing

computer games and updating their statuses on Facebook or twitter than playing

sports or doing productive work at home (Alulod, 2017).

According to Beltran (2018), in the past, harana was the courtship tradition, letter

sending was the usual communication, and bahay kubo was everybody’s home.

Today, couples court each other through text and social media, and houses have

evolved to be luxurious.
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CHAPTER III

Results and Discussion

American music, Korean pop and television shows, Indian yoga, Chinese feng

shui, and Japanese anime these are the outcome of the Globalization in the

Philippines. We can see in our generation today that our own culture which is

Philippine Cultures was slowly vanishing and has been forgotten by others especially

the youths. Cultural diffusion is really happening since before during the colonization

of Spaniards, Japanese, and Americans. We might not recognize it but if we look

closely, our own cultural is now succumbing by other cultures.

The researcher asks 10 people about their insights in the Philippine cultures in

our generation today. All of them said that “…. our own cultures were being

colonized and modernize also as the colonizers and globalization takes place in our

country.” According to the research 56% of Filipinos showed a strong tendency to

automatically associate inferiority with Filipino culture and superiority with American

culture. In the Philippines, 1 out of 2 (50%) Filipinos admit to using skin-whitening

products- the most well-known “symptom” of CM (E.J.R David Ph.D. 2017).

The Philippine cultures right now is in trouble as our generation was rapidly

modernized. There are some Filipino people are feeling ashamed and embarrassed

for being a Filipino. Globalization was really a big impact in our country not just in our

country but also in the whole wide world. Cultural diffusion won’t exist without

globalization. As the days passed the baro’t saya was being forgotten and replace by

the branded shirts, the traditional larong pinoy was replace by the popular online

games, the cassette where we heard some news was being replace by the television
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and online news, and many more. Therefore, the researcher found out that cultural

diffusion is really happening in the Philippines.

CHAPTER IV

Conclusion

Be proud, be an active Filipino in our own culture. Love our own products

despite of the modernization. Globalization is the integration and interdependence

among people across societies. In early stages of contact among societies,

resources, products, and ideas were exchanged through trade and travel.

Globalization was the first thing is this world that is why there is cultural diffusion.

Philippines is a tropical country where there are so many unique traditions and

cultures who practiced by the Filipinos, but as the time passed by these traditions

was being neglected by other Filipinos.

Those things that we usually do before was now forgotten because of the

technology that we had right now. It is very sad to think that also our own language

was now slowly replaced by other languages. An example of that is as we can see

right now in our country most of the new born babies the parents will usually teach

their children English words that can a baby uttered.

American music, Korean pop and television shows, Indian yoga, Chinese feng

shui, and Japanese anime these are the outcome of globalization in the Philippines

where cultural diffusion is also present because of this integration and

interdependence. Our country is our own precious stone that we Filipinos can be

shared to other countries. It isn’t bad to know other cultures but forgotten our own is

a sign disrespects in our country. The sacrificed of our national heroes to have our

own are useless for we can see in the Filipino youth’s today they tend to love foreign
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things. Be an active Filipino; love our own nation despites of the controversial

diffusion that we are experiencing right now.

REFERENCE

Beltran, W. (2018). The Filipino Culture Then and Now in the ABMMA Exhibit

Pedrosda, C. (2018). Have Filipinos changed? The Philstar global

Go, C., & Go, J. (2017). Cultural trends changing how Filipinos Behave

Alulod, J. S. (2017). The Effect of Globalization on Philippine Culture

Tolentino, C. (2010). Industry: Fusion of Pop-Cultures. A Source of Creative

and Services

Dowdy, C.D.S . (2017). Cultural Diffusion. bookbuilder.cast.org

David, E.J.R. (2017). Some Basic Info about Colonial Mentality Among

Filipinos

El Saba, A. (2015). The Philippine Culture and Tradition.