Traditional Media and Culture

Abstract

Over 60 years of American anthropological and sociological research writings have erected a concept of culture that restricts its role in planned change models to one of active or tacit resistance to change. It is suggested that the substitution of a contemporary, dynamic conceptualization of culture as developed by cognitive anthropologists and organizational communication researchers may have significant impact upon (a) our understanding of development, (b) perceptions of the relationship between development and culture, and (c) current formulations addressing the types and effectiveness of alternative communication channels used for planned change.