Cotton, Clothing Consumption, Culture: From Small Beginnings to a Global Cultural System

Overview: Cotton has been a very popularly traded commodity throughout history, and its popularity continues to rise all over the world. Indeed, demand is expected to outstrip supply soon. Cotton is used not only to make almost every type of clothing but also in industrial products, but through its status as clothing, cotton has significant socio-cultural impacts as well. India, China, and the United States are the largest producers of cotton, responsible for over half of the total production volume in the world. Whereas China uses most of the cotton it grows internally, the United Sates exports between 40 and 60 percent of the cotton it produces. Ethics, sustainability, and environmental impacts have become major factors that determine how cotton is grown and used. Cotton is an especially resource-intensive crop, and attention has focused on genetically modified cotton and organic cotton as possible solutions. A major social issue is the labor practices in some cotton-producing countries that have led to greater demands, driven by organizations, consumers, and the press, for fairer conditions and initiatives like free trade.

To what extent does the consumption of cotton differentiate particular cultural contexts from others?

Do you think the adoption process in product diffusion theory is applicable to cotton-related products? Justify your standpoint with examples.