Diffusion of Innovations - Failed Diffusion

Failed Diffusion

Rogers, in his "Diffusion of Innovation" writings, discussed a situation in Peru involving the implementation of water boiling to obtain higher health and wellness levels of the individuals living within the village of Los Molinas. The residents of the village have no knowledge of the link between proper sanitation and reduced levels of illness. The campaign was working with the villagers to try and teach them how to boil their water to make it healthier for consumption, as well as to burn their garbage, install working latrines, and report cases of illness to proper agencies. In Los Molinas, a stigma is linked to boiled water as being something that only the "unwell" consume, and thus, the idea of healthy residents boiling their water prior to consumption was frowned upon, and those who did so wouldn't be accepted by their society. Thus, the two-year campaign to help bring more sanitary ways of living to this village was considered to be largely unsuccessful. Much of the reason for the lack of success is because the social norms and standards of acceptance into society greatly outweighed the idea of taking on this innovation, even at the sake of the health, well-being, and greater levels of education to the villagers. This failure better exemplified the importance of the roles of the interpersonal communication channels that are involved in such a health-related campaign for social change. Burt, R.S. (1973) also looked at the process of diffusion in El Salvador and asks: Is there a differential influence exercised by social integration on participation in the diffusion process and is such influence, significant above that exerted by other important diffusion relevant variables?