Social Sciences and History / Unit 10 SSH 0914 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Expansion or Relocation: Classifying a Diffusion
The idea
Diffusion is the spread of ideas, objects, inventions and practices from place to place, and the exam asks which type a case shows. Expansion diffusion spreads outward from a core area that holds the idea, and it takes two forms: contagious, by person-to-person contact like a disease, and hierarchical, down a hierarchy, from large cities to smaller ones or from leaders to followers. Relocation diffusion occurs when people migrate and carry their ideas and objects with them, so the idea moves with the movers and the core may empty. The test is whether the core keeps the idea while it spreads, and whether spread follows contact or rank.
In practice
Given "a rumor passing through a crowded market", contagious expansion. Given "a fashion adopted first in the capital, then in provincial cities, then in towns", hierarchical expansion. Given "a cuisine appearing in a new country with its immigrants", relocation. Given "a religion spreading along a trade route from convert to neighbor", contagious expansion. Given "a technology taken up by headquarters before branch offices", hierarchical. Ask first whether the carriers stayed or moved, then whether the path was proximity or status.
Where people slip
The trap is calling any migration-borne spread expansion; if the carriers left, it is relocation. The second trap is hierarchical against contagious: distance governs one, rank the other, and both are expansion.
Your place on the trail
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