The Decline of Tradition

Writer and artist Edward Butterworth is an acute observer of human relationships. While travelling through India in 2005, he became aware of the social stresses brought on by the rapid modernization of traditional Indian society.

The Decline of Tradition interweaves stories of his encounters with people on his travels in South Asia with reflections on the content and processes of Indian traditions, and on traditional processes in general.

This thoughtful book examines the social control and psychological conditioning of the “next generation”—an important thread common to all traditional and hierarchical societies.

Interweaving travel writing with philosophic pondering, The Decline of Tradition is a reflection on the origins of traditions in indigenous non-hierarchical, oral, and often primitive tribal cultures. It explores the possibility of the formation of new variations and types of culture as traditional cultures decline.

Is inter-generational dialogue arising as an attempt at an evolutionary resolution to the global problems generated by industrial technology—or will the decline of traditions thrown the world into chaos?

The Decline of Tradition seeks to answer that and other critical contemporary questions.