Passing Ideas Vertically and Laterally
by Why are some things popular? How are ideas generated and passed around? Vertical and Lateral dissemination is the theory that things are spread either from the top down or among people through word of mouth. Here I look at what this means in American culture, and especially the relationship between television, radio, and advertising.
On the other hand, vertically disseminated ideas are passed down from top to bottom. A person (or group of people) in a position of power finds an idea, gives it value, and hands it down. This is how many aspects of American culture are generated. What makes American Eagle clothes cool to wear? Well, a lot of people wear them (or they use advertisements to make you think a lot of people wear them). And a lot of people doing a specific thing shows that there is value to it, and makes it useful. The sense that cultural ideas are necessarily useful is innate in us. So when we see many other people wearing a certain type of clothing or listening to a certain type of music we recognize it as successful. Now you can start to see why certain things are popular.
For most of human history lateral dissemination has been the method of choice. Information travelled slowly, and this generally kept communities small. There were personal relationships between people and information was shared locally, so it generally stayed local. Some ideas were spread, but it was at a very slow rate.
This changed starting with the invention of the telegraph. Now, instead of taking weeks for news to get from London to New York, it got there in minutes. The effects of this technology are apparent. Ideas could be spread even further and at greater speeds, so the volume of idea sharing skyrocketed. Fast forward to the present day and we can see the telescoping of this effect. Now ideas are being spread around the globe every second of every day. Millions of hours of television viewing and radio listening by diverse audiences draws the attention of companies able and willing to spend money to advertise during these shows. The bottom line for both the media and the advertisers is money. Television and radio will show whatever it takes to get viewers, and advertisers will do what it takes to sell products. This comes back to vertical dissemination. People at the top of the media and the product companies will do what it takes to sell their items as cool and popular, so they create the image that their brand is strong and successful.
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