 K-Pop has become a very popular music style, despite the fact that less than 5 percent of the world’s population speaks Korean. According to Spotify, a media (music and podcasts) streaming service, K-Pop has been streamed 134 billion minutes since 2014. Additionally, Spotify has calculated that the top 5 countries that stream K-Pop are the United States, Japan, Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico. This has caused many people to wonder: how did K-Pop become so popular?

1. Predict: What could be some reasons K-Pop became so popular around the world? List at least 3 reasons. 

Explore The Vocabulary: What is Cultural Diffusion? 

different cultures are spread into different areas.

 It is the mixing or blending of different ideas, beliefs, and innovations from one group to another. For Example, McDonald’s first opened in the United States in 1955. Fast Food Restaurants originated in America however quickly spread all over the world. Today there are McDonald's locations in 120 countries!

Practice: Click on the green button to read the description for each image below. Then answer the multiple-choice questions to identify the cultural diffusion that is happening in each image. 

Use the images above to answer the multiple choice questions. 

 Explore The Example: BTS and Cultural Diffusion

BTS, a boy band from South Korea, has made a global impact with their music. Their songs are primarily sung in their native language. But for BTS, music transcends language, and nothing shows this more than the sheer diversity of their fan base. While they are able to spread Korean influences to a wide audience with more than 34 million followers on Twitter and listeners from all over the world; their music also blends many styles seen in diverse genres such as rap, pop, hip-hop, and more. 

Watch the video carefully to identify any examples of cultural diffusion. 

2. Analyze: Describe 1-2 ways the BTS music video from above could show cultural diffusion. Where do you think these influences originated from? * Think about the language, fashion, dance, and music that you observed in the video. 

Apply Your Knowledge: Cultural Diffusion in the Past and Present 

This is an opportunity to apply what they’ve learned from the lesson. 

(P) Cultural Diffusion Past & Present in your MyMCPS classroom 

Click here to open the Document in MyMCPS: 

https://mcpsmd.instructure.com/courses/587968/modules/items/15930197

Identify examples of cultural diffusion In multiple forms of media. 
Discuss where examples of cultural diffusion originated from.

Bortel What can K-Pop teach us about Cultural Diffusion?