Selective cultural borrowing is the process where a culture adopts certain aspects from another culture that it finds desirable while intentionally rejecting others it does not wish to incorporate.
Understanding Selective Cultural Borrowing
This method of cultural interaction is a deliberate choice rather than a wholesale adoption. Cultures engaging in selective borrowing analyze the elements of another culture – such as technologies, ideas, artistic styles, or social practices – and choose only those they perceive as beneficial, useful, or congruent with their existing values and structures.
Key Aspects of Selective Borrowing
- Discrimination: It involves actively choosing some cultural elements while discarding others.
- Purposefulness: The borrowing is often driven by specific needs, goals, or perceived advantages.
- Adaptation: Borrowed elements may be modified to fit the existing cultural context.
An Illustrative Example
A well-known historical example of selective cultural borrowing, as mentioned in the reference, is the approach taken by the Japanese during their classical period. They adopted certain aspects of Chinese culture, which was highly influential in East Asia at the time. This included adopting the Chinese writing system (which evolved into Japanese scripts), governmental structures, Buddhism, and various art forms. However, they did not adopt all aspects of Chinese society or culture, selectively choosing what integrated best or served their specific purposes, maintaining unique Japanese traditions and developing distinct variations of borrowed elements.
This demonstrates how one culture can learn from and incorporate influences from another without losing its own identity or adopting foreign elements indiscriminately. It is a method that allows for growth and adaptation while preserving core cultural characteristics.
