Outcasts United: Hierarchical Diffusion

Here I am going to use the examples of the Clarkston Baptist Church the concept of hierarchical diffusion. In the last blog post (chapter 19), I mentioned that the Clarkston Baptist Church changed to meet the needs and tastes of the immigrants. This could not have happened if the church were the Catholic or Mormon churches. The geographic concept of hierarchical diffusion explains why.

First, a hierarchy is any idea or organization where information, authority or power moves in an orderly fashion from a few people at the top, down through a system of people that gets wider the further down it goes. The Catholic and Mormon churches are both hierarchical. In the case of the Catholics, authority goes from the Pope to Cardinals to Bishops to Priests. The Pope governs from Vatican City (the smallest sovereign government on earth), Cardinals minster from large cities that have a cathedral. Salt Lake City has the Cathedral of the Madeline. From there the church is organized into diocese that are overseen by Bishops. Each diocese is divided into a number of parishes that are care for by a priest. It is actually a little more complicated than that, but I think you get the point. Some of you will be familiar with the hierachy of the Mormon Church: Prophet, Apostle, Seventy, Stake President, Bishop. Each has authority over those below and responsibility for an increasingly larger area. Because the administration of these churches is so tight, they are able to keep the doctrines and activities of the entire hierarchy pretty consistent. In other words, things don't change unless it comes from the top-down.

The Baptist Church and the religion of Islam (a follower of Islam is a Muslim) are not hierachical. A leader of a congregation might have someone over him but each minister or imam has a great deal of flexibility to adapt their message to their parish. That is why the Baptist Church became the dominant sect in the southern United States. It was able to adapt, in particular to poor whites and blacks who were not allowed into more hierarchical Christian churches. As evidenced in Outcasts United The Baptist church that had been the religious choice of middle and lower-middle class whites since 1883 changed to become more attractive to Christians of African ethnicity. Thus, there was more singing, dancing and other activities that catered to those who identified with the culture of Africa.
This also explains, in part, why there is so much difference in the teachings and attitudes of Muslims towards people in the United States and Europe. Because Islam does not have a set hierarchy like that of Catholics or Mormons, there is great diversity in the way the Koran and the Sharia law that comes from it is interpreted and administered. That is why you can have countries such as Afghanistan where the interpretation and administration of the teachings of the Koran are extremely strict and places like Jordan and even the United States where the same Koran has a much, much more liberal interpretation and application. You recall that Luma did not wear a Burkah or even a head scarf but she still practiced aspects of Islam like abstaining from Pork. Since the religion is not hierarchical, these interpretations can vary greatly from congregation to congregation within a country.
Probably of more interest to you are the many examples of hierarchical diffusion in reverse. This is where some aspect of culture comes from the lower classes and moves upward to become popular among the mainstream population. Aspects of African American culture such as rap and hip-hop, ebonics (the speech of African Americans) and clothing styles became popular among a large number of Americans. The same goes with each of the different clothing types, Levi's (including all brands of denim), cargo shorts, t-shirts, carpenter pants, Dickies and Vans. All these and more started as a type of clothing used for a specific purpose, and then moved upward to become popular.