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U.S. citizens are volunteering for the Peace Corps in record numbers: 8,079, to be exact. This represents a 37-year high. About 17 percent of Volunteers are people of color and about 5 percent, or 400, are over the age of 50.
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For most people in the United States, the fall season is testament to major changes—perhaps most obviously the change in color and appearance of trees, with brilliant colors, then bare branches. We—all of us—experience change in our culture, too, albeit less obviously: avant-garde architecture, edgy music, revolutionary cars, new expressions in our speech, even new kinds of danger.
Culture also responds to environmental change and to political upheaval. The United States, as well as many other industrialized countries, is slowly adopting new energy sources, having moved from wood to coal to oil, and now harnessing renewable resources such as wind. Communication and commerce are changing by leaps and bounds. And many countries, especially in Eastern Europe, have experienced convulsive change to their way of life with the fall of communism. This month, we showcase Peace Corps accounts from countries that have witnessed change in their cultures. |
| World Wise Reading |
“Looking Back” by Carla Bachechi [communism falls]
“Just Like the Old Days” by Jonathan Phillips [enduring traits]
“America Gave Me to You” by C.D. Glin [witnessing new freedom]
“Where There's Smoke” by Steve Iams [new technology] |
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 Culture Change:
An Introduction to the Processes
and Consequences of Culture Change
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