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566 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 8 (1999)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0566 and id is 1 raw text is: PREFACE This issue of The Annals presents a disciplinary cross section of scholar- ship in the study of diffusion.' This collection of articles covers a diverse range of questions on diffusion and innovation applied to an equally diverse range of topics-fashionable clothing, community outreach, industrial pollution, political activism, morality policy, tobacco regulation, jazz music, and diffu- sion theory. The intention of this volume is not to present a picture of a gen- eral paradigm in diffusion studies, since, as Elihu Katz argues in his contri- bution to this volume, such a paradigm does not exist. This collection, however, familiarizes readers with basic hypotheses on diffusion that guide contemporary scholarship. Moreover, although no general paradigm rules diffusion studies, we believe this volume shows how studies in diffusion provide insights into social processes of innovation and communication, that is, the transmission and adoption of new ideas, new practices, and new technologies. DIFFUSION AND CULTURE The first two articles in this collection deal with the question of innovation and diffusion in the production of culture. Historians, anthropologists, and sociologists have been interested in locating the source of innovations in the creation of symbolic culture. Moreover, as Diana Crane argues in the first essay, the location of innovation is the first step in discovering its pattern of diffusion. The study of cultural diffusion since its beginnings in early anthro- pological studies also has directed particular attention to the reinvention of innovations as they diffuse within and between communities. The creation of symbolic culture, therefore, can be viewed as a recurring pattern of innova- tion, adoption, and reinvention. Diana Crane looks at innovation and diffusion in the international fashion industry. She argues that a top-down process of innovation and diffusion in fashion characterized this industry up to the 1960s. With changes in con- sumer status consciousness and industrial production of fashion, the post- 1960s industry exhibits more of a bottom-up process of diffusion whereby the industry carefully monitors the shifting tastes of consumers. Crane also argues that the case of the fashion industry suggests that a serious reevalu- ation is necessary in the application of basic models of cultural diffusion. Paul Lopes argues that the study of cultural diffusion must focus on the symbolic behavior of the creators of culture. Special attention must be paid to these creators' interpretive turn during the adoption of new cultural ele- ments and the social organization in which this occurs. He presents a case study of the musical evolution of jazz music in the twentieth century. He argues that this unique musical syncretism of folk, popular, and classical 8

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