Where do new social trends come from?
Who originates fads or fashions? Who creates memes or trends?
After one is created, how does it spread and grow?
Most trends are created at the edge of society. The edge might be defined by wealth, location, life-style, or other dimensions. From, the edge, it is eventually transferred to the center.
Like an infectious disease, society is continually assailed with many new social trends. Most trends are ignored or rejected but a minority enter the society where they may briefly blossom or, rarely, become part of the society. The parallels to processes in biology are notable.
Throughout human history, societies have feared the outsiders who have strange customs and barbarous languages. Walled countries (Han China, imperial Japan, modern Cuba, Soviet Russia, etc) succeed in slowing the influx of social change but change is rapid when the barrier breaks.
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